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The cognitive science behind memory (Short-term / working memory (WHAT…
The cognitive science behind memory
Short-term / working memory
WHAT
Spontaneously decays
over time (~10-15 seconds) but items may be retained for up to a minute, depending on the content.
Research on Short-term memory was shaped by
Baddeley (2001)
who issued a
model of working memory
.
Can be extended by repetition or
rehearsal
(either by reading items out loud, or by mental simulation), so that the information re-enters the short-term store and is retained for a further period.
When several elements (such as digits, words or pictures) are held in short-term memory simultaneously, they effectively compete with each other for recall.
New content, therefore, gradually pushes out older content (known as
displacement
), unless the older content is actively protected against interference by rehearsal or by directing attention to it.
Any outside
interference
tends to cause disturbances in short-term memory retention, and for this reason people often feel a distinct desire to complete the tasks held in short-term memory as soon as possible.
Additional useful resources:
TED talk
:
Peter Doolittle
: How your "working memory" makes sense of the world: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWKvpFZJwcE
Learning in the brain
https://sites.google.com/view/efratfurst/learning-in-the-brain
What is Working Memory?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQJlDEQ0Myo
WHY
Tracy Alloway
has led the development of research in this area:
http://tracyalloway.com/working-memory-and-learning/
Working memory impacts all areas of learning from kindergarten to college.
1 in 10 students have poor working memory
A student with poor working memory will not ‘catch up’ with their peers.
Working Memory CAN be trained!
Working memory predicts learning success
APPLICATION
Diagnosis:
Possible Difficulties with short-term / working memory if:
remembering what was occurring just before a break
problems repeating back a verbal instruction
Repetition
and
rehearsal
Is there any
interference
in my classrom that I can reduce or prevent?
Sensory memory
WHY
The brain is designed to only process information that will be useful at a later date, and to allow the rest to pass by unnoted.
High impact teaching involves all five senses
WHAT
Sensory memory
(sometimes referred to as
Visual, auditory or kinaesthetic memory
is the shortest-term element of memory.
It is the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli have ended.
It acts as a kind of
buffer
for stimuli received through the
five senses
of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, which are retained accurately, but very briefly.
Visual stimuli: Iconic memory
Aural stimuli: Echoic memory
Touch: haptic memory
Smell
May actually be even more closely linked to memory than the other senses, possibly because the olfactory bulb and olfactory cortex (where smell sensations are processed) are physically very close - separated by just 2 or 3 synapses - to the hippocampus and amygdala (which are involved in memory processes).
Thus, smells may be more quickly and more strongly associated with memories and their associated emotions than the other senses, and memories of a smell may persist for longer, even without constant re-consolidation.
For example, the ability to look at something and remember what it looked like with just a second of observation is an example of sensory memory.
APPLICATION
As information is perceived, it is therefore stored in sensory memory automatically and unbidden. Unlike other types of memory, the sensory memory cannot be prolonged via rehearsal.
Consider all five senses when preparing teaching resources.
Additional useful resources:
Memory Test: Test your visual memory
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5YDhx6O5fQ
http://www.human-memory.net/brain.html
Long-term memory
WHY
Get students to learn for the long-term
: The term long-term memory refers to the unlimited capacity memory store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time.
Encouragement for students that they can learn anything
: Theoretically, the capacity of long-term memory could be unlimited, the main constraint on recall being accessibility rather than availability.
WHAT
One of the earliest and most influential distinctions of long-term memory was proposed by
Tulving (1972)
.
Procedural memory
: knowing how to do things, i.e. memory of motor skills. It does not involve conscious (i.e. it’s unconscious - automatic) thought and is not declarative. For example, procedural memory would involve knowledge of how to ride a bicycle. Procedural knowledge involves “knowing how” to do things e.g. playing the piano, ride a bike; tie your shoes and other motor skills. It does not involve conscious thought (i.e. it’s unconscious - automatic).
Semantic memory
: storing information about the world. Declarative knowledge involves “knowing that”, for example Paris is the capital of France, horses are animals, your friend’s birthday etc. It involves conscious thought and is declarative. Recalling information from declarative memory involves some degree of conscious effort – information is consciously brought to mind and “declared”.
Episodic memory
: storing information about events (i.e. episodes) that we have experienced in our lives. It involves conscious thought and is declarative. An example would be a memory of our 1st day at school or that we caught the bus to college today.
Evidence
for the distinction between declarative (procedural and semantic) and procedural memory:
research on patients with amnesia
Research has found that patients with amnesia tend to have more difficulty in retaining episodic and semantic information following the onset of amnesia.
It appears that their ability to retain declarative information is impaired. Their memory for events and knowledge acquired before the onset of the condition tends to remain intact, but they struggle to store new episodic or semantic memories. In other words, their procedural memory appears to be largely unaffected.
They can recall skills they have already learned (e.g. riding a bike) and acquire new skills (e.g. learning to drive).
APPLICATION
Short-term memories can become long-term memory through the process of
consolidation
, involving
rehearsal
and
meaningful association
.
Additional useful resources:
http://www.human-memory.net/types_short.html
http://www.human-memory.net/processes_consolidation.html
https://www.simplypsychology.org/anterograde-amnesia.html
The process of forgetting
Short-term memory
A
nerve impulse has merely ceased being transmitted
through a particular neural network
In general, unless an
impulse
is reactivated, it
stops flowing through a network after just a few seconds
.
Long-term memory
Despite our everyday impressions of forgetting, it seems likely that long-term memory actually decays very little over time, and can store a seemingly
unlimited
amount of information
almost indefinitely
.
There is some debate as to whether we actually ever "forget" anything at all, or whether it just becomes increasingly difficult to access or retrieve certain items from memory.
‘Forgetting to remember’
is an interesting idea that conveys the importance of prioritising what should be remembered - ultimately what’s important to remember is the information that we need access to in the future.
Forgetting to Remember
http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2018/11/30-1
Sensory memory
The stimuli detected by our senses can disappear almost instantaneously.
It can either deliberately ignored, in which case the memory trace disappears, or it can be perceived, in which case they enter our sensory memory. This process is usually considered to be totally outside of conscious control and does not require any conscious attention.
What is memory?
Memory is our ability to encode, store, retain and subsequently recall information and past experiences in the human brain.
Structure of presentation
Facets of memory
Key theorists
Implications for classroom practice
Assessment
What are the facets of memory
Connect theories with theorists
Connect sensory stimuli with memory types
Connect types of long-term memory with examples