2.1C Thinking and remembering 2021/2022- Lecture 2 - Peter Hullegien- Thinking and remembering - Sept 2021
1. Prospective memory: remembering to perform a planned action or recall a planned intention at some future
point in time.
Time-based: at a specific point in time
Event-based: when specific circumstances occur (for instance seeing a blue icon during the lecture to
remember you that you can scroll through your phone).
2. Retrospective memory: recall of things from the past.
Example: Steve Titus accused on a crime based on only eyewitness testimony.
> 75 000 people/year in US accused of a crime based on eyewitness testimonies that rely on a memory, yet
memories are not as accurate as they claim to be.
Memory researchers have been warning against this since 1970s but were only accepted since 1990s with DNA
research allowing people wrongfully convicted based on mistaken identity to be acquitted.
Atkinson & Shiffron: often compared memory to a computer.
Suggests there are three distinct storage systems; Sensory Store, Short-Term Memory (STM), Long-Term
Memory (LTM). Information moves through these systems under the control of various cognitive processes
such as attention and rehearsal. Memory is the set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve info over
diff periods of time.
Capacity of the long-term memory is extensive but unknown and consists of a hierarchical organization.
1. Procedural (skill: driving a car so many times becomes automatic, you can’t explain how you learned it but
you’re able to do it without thinking) and
2. Declarative (facts: the capital of France).
Declarative consists of a. semantic memory (what, facts, word meaning), reflected in ‘I know’
statements, no recollective experience, learned over many interactions and is resistant to forgetting.
b. Episodic memory (when and where, bound to specific time and place and remember the experiences, I
remember being at that place at that time and this was happening e.g. last bday party, what you ate for
brekkie yesterday), reflected in ‘I remember’ statements, there’s a recollective experience (‘reliving’)
and is vulnerable to forgetting.
However, our long term memory is not like a computer, as our memory is subject to change.
Remembering episodic memories involves 3 stages:
1. Encoding: initial learning of info. ‘Here’s something I want you to remember’. The better you encode, the
more likely you would successfully recall it later. Happens all the time, you’re constantly registering and
encoding everything in your memory. Consists of:
Continuous encoding: happening all the time (taking the train everyday)
Selective attention, consisting of:
1. Distinctiveness (took the train but there was a bomb warning so everyone had to wait for the
police and fire brigade to come and check)
2. Emotional content (the more emotional, the stronger encoded: commuters felt anxious about the
bomb warning which causes stronger encoding)/ flash bulb memories (memories that bring up such
big emotions that from those moments a ‘picture was taken’ by memory, the memories are super
detailed and vivid e.g. 9/11, Paris attacks, warzones).
While you’re encoding: you interface it with long term memory and relate it to past knowledge and attach
meaning to memory.
2. Storage: maintaining info over time
1. Prospective memory: remembering to perform a planned action or recall a planned intention at some future
point in time.
Time-based: at a specific point in time
Event-based: when specific circumstances occur (for instance seeing a blue icon during the lecture to
remember you that you can scroll through your phone).
2. Retrospective memory: recall of things from the past.
Example: Steve Titus accused on a crime based on only eyewitness testimony.
> 75 000 people/year in US accused of a crime based on eyewitness testimonies that rely on a memory, yet
memories are not as accurate as they claim to be.
Memory researchers have been warning against this since 1970s but were only accepted since 1990s with DNA
research allowing people wrongfully convicted based on mistaken identity to be acquitted.
Atkinson & Shiffron: often compared memory to a computer.
Suggests there are three distinct storage systems; Sensory Store, Short-Term Memory (STM), Long-Term
Memory (LTM). Information moves through these systems under the control of various cognitive processes
such as attention and rehearsal. Memory is the set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve info over
diff periods of time.
Capacity of the long-term memory is extensive but unknown and consists of a hierarchical organization.
1. Procedural (skill: driving a car so many times becomes automatic, you can’t explain how you learned it but
you’re able to do it without thinking) and
2. Declarative (facts: the capital of France).
Declarative consists of a. semantic memory (what, facts, word meaning), reflected in ‘I know’
statements, no recollective experience, learned over many interactions and is resistant to forgetting.
b. Episodic memory (when and where, bound to specific time and place and remember the experiences, I
remember being at that place at that time and this was happening e.g. last bday party, what you ate for
brekkie yesterday), reflected in ‘I remember’ statements, there’s a recollective experience (‘reliving’)
and is vulnerable to forgetting.
However, our long term memory is not like a computer, as our memory is subject to change.
Remembering episodic memories involves 3 stages:
1. Encoding: initial learning of info. ‘Here’s something I want you to remember’. The better you encode, the
more likely you would successfully recall it later. Happens all the time, you’re constantly registering and
encoding everything in your memory. Consists of:
Continuous encoding: happening all the time (taking the train everyday)
Selective attention, consisting of:
1. Distinctiveness (took the train but there was a bomb warning so everyone had to wait for the
police and fire brigade to come and check)
2. Emotional content (the more emotional, the stronger encoded: commuters felt anxious about the
bomb warning which causes stronger encoding)/ flash bulb memories (memories that bring up such
big emotions that from those moments a ‘picture was taken’ by memory, the memories are super
detailed and vivid e.g. 9/11, Paris attacks, warzones).
While you’re encoding: you interface it with long term memory and relate it to past knowledge and attach
meaning to memory.
2. Storage: maintaining info over time
