PSC 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Implicit Memory, Memory Span, Explicit Memory
PSC 001 – Lecture 12 – Memory
● What is Attention?
○ Attention: The process of focusing awareness on a particular stimulus while
ignoring other stimuli
■ Attention is Limited
● Hard to attend to and perform two tasks at once
● Especially if they rely on the same sensory or mental mechanisms
○ ex., driving and cell phone use
● Separate systems use parallel processing to simultaneously
process multiple types of information
● We can selectively attend to one feature by blocking further
processing of other features
● What is Memory?
○ Meo: The eous sste’s capacit to acuie ad etai skills ad
knowledge
■ Memories make up our sense of self
■ Memory is subjective--filtered through our perceptions and previous
knowledge
○ Phases of Memory
■ Encoding: Processing information so that it can be stored
■ Storage: Retention of encoded representations over time
■ Retrieval: Act of recalling or remembering stored information when
needed
○ Three Memory Systems
■ Short-term/Working Memory
● Memory span: The capacity of working memory
● Memory span is limited:
○ Older estimated capacity 7 +/- 2 items
○ May be as few as 4 items
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Can be improved by chunking: organizing information into
meaningful units to make it easier to remember
■ Long-term Memory
● Long-term Memory: Relatively permanent storage of information
○ Nearly limitless capacity
○ Anything longer than ~30 seconds
○ Explicit Memory
■ Explicit memory: System underlying conscious memories
● Used to retrieve declarative memories: cognitive information we
can say we know or consciously bring to mind
■ Episodic eo: Meo fo oe’s pesoal past epeieces
■ Semantic memory: Memory for knowledge about the world
○ Implicit Memory
■ Implicit memory: System underlying unconscious memories
● Linked to unconscious/automatic processing
● Cosists of eoies ou soeties ca’t put ito ods
■ Procedural/motor memory: Involves motor skills and behavioral habits
● Can take time to form
● Very resistant to decay
○ Prospective Memory
■ Prospective memory: Remembering to do something at some future time
● Takes up resources available for other things (e.g. attention or
working memory)
● Involves both automatic and controlled processes
● What Gets Stored in LTM?
○ Nearly limitless capacity, but only want to store useful information
○ Information about environment that helps us adapt
● How is LTM Organized?
○ Levels of processing model:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Attention: the process of focusing awareness on a particular stimulus while ignoring other stimuli. Hard to attend to and perform two tasks at once. Especially if they rely on the same sensory or mental mechanisms. Separate systems use parallel processing to simultaneously process multiple types of information. We can selectively attend to one feature by blocking further processing of other features. Me(cid:373)o(cid:396)(cid:455): the (cid:374)e(cid:396)(cid:448)ous s(cid:455)ste(cid:373)"s capacit(cid:455) to ac(cid:395)ui(cid:396)e a(cid:374)d (cid:396)etai(cid:374) skills a(cid:374)d knowledge. Memories make up our sense of self. Memory is subjective--filtered through our perceptions and previous knowledge. Encoding: processing information so that it can be stored. Storage: retention of encoded representations over time. Retrieval: act of recalling or remembering stored information when needed. Memory span: the capacity of working memory. Older estimated capacity 7 +/- 2 items. May be as few as 4 items. Can be improved by chunking: organizing information into meaningful units to make it easier to remember. Long-term memory: relatively permanent storage of information.