2.1C Cognitive Psychology
Thinking & Remembering
Lectures
1
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Information Processing Model
Stimuli.
Enters to your sensory register. (Decay and interference)
You put attention to it, and it passes through short-term memory. (If you don’t put
attention on it > forgetting)
Short-term memory: if you don’t rehearse it enough forgetting occurs.
You encode that information to your long-term memory.
You can retrieve the item and have it in your short-term memory if you rehearse it
enough. (Forgetting in long-term memory: depends on age, hippocampus gets smaller,
type of retrieval and memory strategy)
In every step of model less amount of information goes further to your understanding.
(Bottleneck)
Attention
From sensory register to short-term memory.
Selective attention: a situation in which people are instructed to pay attention to
certain kinds of information while ignoring other ongoing information.
Divided attention: a situation in which people try to pay attention to 2 or more
simultaneous messages, responding appropriately to each message. (If tasks are similar,
harder)
Short-term memory
Keeps the information is active for a short period of time.
You can store it under long-term memory.
Encoding
From short-term memory/working memory to long-term memory.
Chunking: forming groups of items according to their connections and relevance.
Retrieval
From long-term memory to working memory where you process it further.
Retrieval: process of recovering target information and bringing that back into the
awareness.
Depends on encoding type (elaborate encoding), retrieval strategy, attentional cues
such as context dependence.
2
Long-term memory
Declarative memory: long-term memory system responsible for retention of personally
experienced episodes and factual information about the world. EXPLICIT.
o Episodic memory: memory for events, experiences and situations. Memory for
personally experienced events that include contextual elements. (Time or place)
Celebrating a birthday. WHEN AND WHERE THE MEMORY HAPPENED?
, o Retrieval of episodic memory: associated with recollective experience. Reliving
the experience. (remembering the soccer game) Vulnerable to forgetting. (might
mix with other soccer games, blending)
o Semantic memory: describes one’s organized knowledge about the world that
does not include contextual elements from episodic memory. Knowing when
someone’s birthday is. WHAT IT IS?
o Retrieval of semantic memory: does not involve recollective experience.
Involves retrieval of an isolated fact. (First president of USA) Resistant to
forgetting. WHAT?
Procedural memory: Knowing how to do things. (Riding a bike, playing an instrument)
Activation of motor memory. Even people with amnesia remembers this. INTERNAL.
Autobiographical memory
Under episodic memory.
Features an experience of remembering.
Reliving the aspects of the memory. (how you kicked the ball, what you felt)
Past events related to your personal self.
Serves social and directive functions.
Social and cultural context determine your memories.
Assessment methods
Galton-Crovitz method: a word, a memory about the word.
Autobiographical retention
Recency effect: You generally remember events that have happened sooner.
Childhood amnesia: 0-3y: no memories because the brain is still developing. Only major
memories are remembered between age 3-5y. Sibling born, moving to another country.
Reminiscence bump: 15-40y: more memories and more recall. cognitive peak. You
encode more. Life stability period. Firsts, important events.
o If the memories are happy & important: yes
o If the memories are traumatic & sad: no
Conway
Retrieval of memory: life-time period (childhood) > general events (birthday parties) >
specific memories (age 5 birthday party)
Eyewitness Testimonies
Hard to identify a person or remember an event because you were not expecting the
crime to happen.
Guilty verdicts…
Schema theory
o Recall involves a process in which all the relevant information is used to construct
the details of an event based on what must have been true.
o Eyewitness testimony of a bank robbery aligns with the bank robbery schema of the
witness.
Thinking & Remembering
Lectures
1
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Information Processing Model
Stimuli.
Enters to your sensory register. (Decay and interference)
You put attention to it, and it passes through short-term memory. (If you don’t put
attention on it > forgetting)
Short-term memory: if you don’t rehearse it enough forgetting occurs.
You encode that information to your long-term memory.
You can retrieve the item and have it in your short-term memory if you rehearse it
enough. (Forgetting in long-term memory: depends on age, hippocampus gets smaller,
type of retrieval and memory strategy)
In every step of model less amount of information goes further to your understanding.
(Bottleneck)
Attention
From sensory register to short-term memory.
Selective attention: a situation in which people are instructed to pay attention to
certain kinds of information while ignoring other ongoing information.
Divided attention: a situation in which people try to pay attention to 2 or more
simultaneous messages, responding appropriately to each message. (If tasks are similar,
harder)
Short-term memory
Keeps the information is active for a short period of time.
You can store it under long-term memory.
Encoding
From short-term memory/working memory to long-term memory.
Chunking: forming groups of items according to their connections and relevance.
Retrieval
From long-term memory to working memory where you process it further.
Retrieval: process of recovering target information and bringing that back into the
awareness.
Depends on encoding type (elaborate encoding), retrieval strategy, attentional cues
such as context dependence.
2
Long-term memory
Declarative memory: long-term memory system responsible for retention of personally
experienced episodes and factual information about the world. EXPLICIT.
o Episodic memory: memory for events, experiences and situations. Memory for
personally experienced events that include contextual elements. (Time or place)
Celebrating a birthday. WHEN AND WHERE THE MEMORY HAPPENED?
, o Retrieval of episodic memory: associated with recollective experience. Reliving
the experience. (remembering the soccer game) Vulnerable to forgetting. (might
mix with other soccer games, blending)
o Semantic memory: describes one’s organized knowledge about the world that
does not include contextual elements from episodic memory. Knowing when
someone’s birthday is. WHAT IT IS?
o Retrieval of semantic memory: does not involve recollective experience.
Involves retrieval of an isolated fact. (First president of USA) Resistant to
forgetting. WHAT?
Procedural memory: Knowing how to do things. (Riding a bike, playing an instrument)
Activation of motor memory. Even people with amnesia remembers this. INTERNAL.
Autobiographical memory
Under episodic memory.
Features an experience of remembering.
Reliving the aspects of the memory. (how you kicked the ball, what you felt)
Past events related to your personal self.
Serves social and directive functions.
Social and cultural context determine your memories.
Assessment methods
Galton-Crovitz method: a word, a memory about the word.
Autobiographical retention
Recency effect: You generally remember events that have happened sooner.
Childhood amnesia: 0-3y: no memories because the brain is still developing. Only major
memories are remembered between age 3-5y. Sibling born, moving to another country.
Reminiscence bump: 15-40y: more memories and more recall. cognitive peak. You
encode more. Life stability period. Firsts, important events.
o If the memories are happy & important: yes
o If the memories are traumatic & sad: no
Conway
Retrieval of memory: life-time period (childhood) > general events (birthday parties) >
specific memories (age 5 birthday party)
Eyewitness Testimonies
Hard to identify a person or remember an event because you were not expecting the
crime to happen.
Guilty verdicts…
Schema theory
o Recall involves a process in which all the relevant information is used to construct
the details of an event based on what must have been true.
o Eyewitness testimony of a bank robbery aligns with the bank robbery schema of the
witness.
