In the last section, we talked about a variety of models
related to depth of processing. In this section we begin to talk about the
last aspect of memory and that is retrieval, forgetting, and recall. So
let’s begin with a discussion of forgetting which we start with slide two.
The first question one must ask is, “How do we forget information? What
happens?” There are many, many different types of theories to answer these
questions and listed here. So let’s start talking about the first of these
theories called decay theory.
Decay theory, as we see in slide three, is very
straightforward. That is, memory traces decay as time passes. The problem is
there is little evidence to support decay theory. In addition, as we saw
earlier, the Penfield studies show that we don’t have a lot of decay.
Information remains in there for a long period of time.
So what’s the second type of theory? Well, as we see in
slide four, it is called interference theory. Again, interference theory
talks about retrograde interference and proactive interference. In
retrograde interference, new learning interferes with our ability to recall
old information while proactive interference or old information interferes
with our ability to recall new information. The theory contends that memory
traces are lost as other memory traces occur before and after the stimulus
is present. So, the information is basically blocked.
Now another theory is shown in figure five. It relates to
what we call retrieval cues. In general what happens say these theorists is
that we have different retrieval cues. Thus we can’t recall the information
from where it was before.
So, if we have these problems, how accurate is memory?
This begins in slide six. Essentially, memory is often inaccurate. The early
studies of really drive home this point. Basically the classic study is by
Easterbrook. What Easterbrook found is that as you change arousal in
animals, they narrow their attention to particular things. That is a real
good defense mechanism. So, for example, if you see the lion over there in
the corner of the woods, you don’t really want to be focusing on other
things such as the sky. And as that lion gets closer and closer you spend
more and more attention to that stimulus. So when you are aroused you narrow
your attention.
Easterbrook also contends that humans tend to focus on
just a few details and not the entire situation. He calls this the weapon of
focus hypothesis. Now there’s a related aspect of this model and that is
called the Yerkes-Dodson law. What the Yerkes-Dodson model (shown in slide
seven) contends is that there’s an optimal level of arousal for any
particular task. In essence performance is poorer at very low levels of
arousal or very high levels of arousal. Thus, the optimal level of arousal
is in the middle.
So how does all of this stuff apply to memory? Well as we
can see in slide eight, higher arousal leads to better retention. But not
too much arousal. Because as your arousal increases, you become more and
more narrowly focused. Thus you only encode smaller amounts of information.
Thus in general, intermediate arousal is best for when you’re trying to
recall something.
So what are the implications for testing and when you take
an exam? Well as you can see in slide nine, a little anxiety may actually
increase your performance. However, if you have too much anxiety, it is
detrimental to your performance.
Now in addition to that, we have other aspects of memory.
These are called flashbulb memories. Flashbulb memories are basically sudden
significant events that people feel are in your minds forever. There are a
variety of different ones out there. The Oklahoma City bombing, September 11
destruction of the World Trade Centers in New York, the Challenger
explosion, Mt. St. Helen’s eruption, the Kennedy assassination, and Pearl
Harbor are examples. In each of these events, you have are specific memories
of what was going on in your mind and what you were doing during each of
these particular times. Even today individuals can recall what they were
doing when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese empire in the early
1940s.
Flashbulb memories (as we see in slide 11) are also highly
emotionally charged and people vividly recall many details of what was going
on when they received the news; where they were, what they were doing, or
whom they were with. The problem with these memories, is that they are often
distorted. That is, some of the information is forgotten or even inaccurate.
Now the way that you saw the information or the way that
you receive the information will also have an implication for flashbulb
memories. For example, were you there, or did you see it on TV. If you’re
there, the accuracy actually increases. Thus, there may be special cases for
increased accuracy under high stress conditions.
The task used to recall information is also important when
trying to recall information or get information out. As we discussed
earlier, what kind of task are you trying to do? Are you getting a recall
task where you have to memorize and flush it? Are you getting a recognition
pass such as a multiple choice exam, or relearning task? So lets again
review these.
Again as we see in slide 15, a free recall task, you’re
recalling words in any order. Again, it is very difficult. The classic
example is a “fill in the blank” exam. It can be increased by pneumonic
techniques and that can very specifically increase the number of words that
you actually recall.
Recognition tasks, again, as we see in slide 17, provide
cues. The classic example is the multiple choice test. Again the cues can be
anything, they can be words or pictures. The problem is, the more cues, the
more difficult it is to recall. I multiple choice exams, the more choices
that you have, the harder it is to recall the correct item. Thus a four item
multiple choice exam for each question is much easier than an eight item
multiple choice exam. Ultimately this relates to false alarms which are part
of signal detection theory (which I’m not going to talk about in this
section).
Other problems relate to the cues that are provided. This
is shown in slide 19. That is, , the cues will influence the kind of
information that you recall. It also depends upon the distracters. Are they
very close distracters in recognition tasks or are they very more distant
distracters.
Another aspect that will have an impact on memory is the
mood the person is in. This is called the mood congruency effect. Eich and
Metcalf studied subjects when they were recalled happy or sad words
listening to happy or sad music. Basically what they found is the test words
they had to recall were better when they matched a study mood. So, happy
moods with happy music and sad words with sad music got better recall than
when they were mixed. This is shown in slide 21. Basically, happy words with
sad music or sad words with happy music had poor recall.
Now, we have a couple of other memory aspects that we need
to discuss. The first is what is called reconstructive memory.
Reconstructive memory is something very simple. It is basically memories
that people try to do inferentially from what they can recall. This can be
extremely accurate. So let’s take an example. Tell me what this process is.
I’m just going to read this statement.
The procedure is quite simple. First arrange items into
different groups, of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how
much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of
facilities, that is the next step. Otherwise you’re pretty well set. It is
important not to overdue things, that is, it is better to do too few things
at once than too many. In the short run, this may not seem important but
complications can easily arise and a mistake can be expensive as well.
First the whole procedure may seem complicated. Soon,
however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to see
any answer the necessity of this task in the immediate future, but then one
can never tell and after the procedure is completed, one arranges the
material in a different groups then they are placed in their appropriate
places. Eventually the process will need to be repeated again, however, this
is part of life.
So what you need to do is, since I’ve provided some information to you think
what the paragraphs are describing. You can enhance your recall if you
provide information about the topic at the beginning of the material. That
is, the recall is much better than after reading the material and then
trying to figure out what it is. So, what is this simple thing that we have
to do?
Well as we can see in slide 25, it’s doing the laundry and once I say doing
the laundry, all of those things that I just described a couple slides ago
make a lot of sense.
Now there’s inferential intrusions into recall. This relates to what we call
explicit and implicit memories. Explicit memories are basically things that
we are consciously aware of when we retrieve them, while implicit memories
are memories of experiences you cannot consciously retrieve. So let’s give a
couple examples. The first example is shown in slide 28. It is the feeling
of knowing something, it’s on the tip of the tongue, such as you can almost
recall someone’s name but you’re just not quite able to recall it.
A second example can be where we are fairly accurate. This
classic example occurs in game shows where we guess at the answer.
Basically, we judge that we know the answer much faster than we can
accurately recall.
So in conclusion, there are lots of issues in relation to
memory and cognition. As a result, issues related to memory and cognition
have lots of implications for school, work load and other situations.
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