CEP wk2

1. Sensory and Short-
term Memory

2. Human Memory: Basic Questions
• How does information get into memory?
• How is information maintained in memory?
• How is information pulled back out of
memory?
• Memory timeline
– Short term – recent?
– Long term – remote?
– Operational definitions

3. Memory
So how do we get information in to memory?

4. And how do we get information from memory?
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Echoic memory
Iconic memory
Short-Term memory
Working memory
Long-Term memory

5. Sensory Memory

6. Sensory Memory: ICONIC

7. A F 2 H
4 T U 7
M R 9 P
Sperling Task: Partial Report
A F 2 H
“4…T…U…?”
M R 9 P
♪

8. A F 2 H
4 T U 7
M R 9 P
High tone
Low tone
Mid tone
Sperling Task: Partial Report

9. Sensory Memory
•Iconic (visual)
▪high capacity (~9 items)
▪very short duration (~1sec)

10. Sensory Memory: ECHOIC
Do you want to get a cookie?
Do I what?
Oh… a cookie, yeah sure..

11. Glucksberg & Cowen, 1970
“G8KAWHVXPECRT”“….QZ5M42F”
2sec300ms Etc..
Sensory Memory: ECHOIC

12. Glucksberg & Cowen, 1970
Sensory Memory: ECHOIC

13. Short Term Memory
A temporary store for holding small amount of information
in mind in an active, readily available state.

14. Short Term Memory
Serial Position Curve: Murdock (1962)
WHY??

15. H.M.

16. Short Term Memory
Serial Position Curve: Murdock (1962)
H.M.

17. Capacity Limitations
Short Term Memory

18. Modal Model of Memory:
Short Term Memory

19. Short Term Memory
Duration
• 20 to 30 seconds
• Depends…
–Whether information is rehearsed
– Whether there is interference

20. Judgment of Learning (JOL): estimates of
how well one has learned something
Nelson and Dunlosky (1991)

21. Shorter Term Memory
Results: Delay condition led to predictions that
were over 2 times more accurate

22. Atkinson-Shriffrin Model

23. Working Memory
• System involved in holding information in mind
needed to complete complex tasks in the face of
interfering processes and distractions
• Composed of three components
– Central executive
– Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
– Phonological loop

24. Stroop Task
Kane & Engle, 2001
Which condition should be less error prone?
What differences between groups do you expect?

25. Working Memory
Characteristics
• Domain specificity
– Separable forms of processing
– Domain specific disruption

26. Working Memory
The Phonological Loop
and V-S Sketchpad
separable but work
together
– DUAL CODE THEORY
(Paivio, 1975)

27. Working Memory
Resource Limited (source of individual differences)
• State differences
– Situational demands can reduce amount of WM resources
available
• Trait differences
– Some individuals generally have more WM resources to
work with
• Emphasis is on limits in attention not # items stored

28. Measuring Working Memory
(12*5) – 3 = 24?
E
(4*8) -9 = 38
P
Recall?
T AG
W D E
(12*5) – 3 = 24?
E
(4*8) -9 = 38
P
Recall?
T AG
W D E
Complex SpanSimple Span

29. Working Memory
Is WM important? YES!
WM Predicts: reading comprehension, math
problem solving, vigilance, multi-tasking,
distractibility and fluid intelligence
Also associated with optimistic thinking, emotion
regulation, self control and happiness… and
more!

30. Short Term Memory
Attention moves information from the sensory systems
into short-term memory for further processing.

31. Attention: Getting Information
Into Short-Term Memory
• The role of attention
– Focusing awareness
– Selective attention = selection of input
• Filtering: early or late?
• Multitasking

32. Selective Attention
• Big questions…
• How do we select what we attend to?
• What happens to the information we don’t
attend to?

33. Selective Attention
• Consciousness as attentional focus
– Dichotic listening/Shadowing
– Cocktail Party Effect

34. Selective Attention:
Change Blindness
The Monkey Business Illusion The Movie Perception Test
• Change Blindness:
– The phenomenon in which some prominent feature of
the visual environment is dramatically changed without
the perceiver apparently noticing.
– This is NOT due to:
• A failure to take notice of the feature that is eventually
changed.
• The fragility of visual STM.
• LTM for complex scenes is not very detailed.

35. Change Blindness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWSxSQsspiQ

36. Divided Attention

37. Divided vs. Skill-Focused Attention
• Novices & the less-proficient foot for experts
benefit from on-line attentional monitoring of
step-by-step performance, BUT high-level skill
execution is harmed!