Lecture 11: Forgetting & Biology of Memory i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. Forgetting a. Inability to retrieve information, due to poor encoding, rehearsal, storage or retrieval b. Serial position effect i. Remember info at beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list better than info in middle We Have Some Control a. Spacing effect- distributed study leads to better retrieval than massed practice i. Studying 1 hour each night for 5 nights is better than studying 5 hours in 1 night Encoding Failure a. We cannot remember what we did not encode Rehearsal Failure a. Failure to effectively connect new information with prior knowledge due to poor elaboration Retrieval Failure a. Tip of the tongue i. Can say things about the word (number of letters, starting letter, etc.) but can’t retrieve the word Interference a. Proactive interference i. Information learned earlier interferes with information learned later b. Retroactive interference i. Information learned later interferes with information learned earlier c. Sleep avoids retroactive interference and leads to better recall Memory Construction a. Memory is a constructive process b. We filter or fill in missing pieces of information to make our recall more coherent c. Misinformation effect i. Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an even ii. Eyewitness reconstruct memories when question about the event Source Amnesia a. Attributing an event to the wrong source i. Something we have experienced, heard, read, or imagined ii. Related to misinformation effect Storing Implicit & Explicit Memories a. Explicit memory (declarative) i. Processed in hippocampus b. Implicit memory (procedural) i. Processed in part by cerebellum Hippocampus a. A neural center in the limbic system that processes explicit memories Retrograde Amnesia a. Loss of memory for the past i. Severity will depend on extent of damage xii. b. Believed to be related to the consolidation process Anterograde Amnesia a. Remember events from before trauma cannot make new memories b. Makes life extremely difficult i. Patient HM had hippocampus removed to control seizures