Chapter 5 (Long-term memory)

I. Summery and Reflection for chapter5 (Long-term memory)
Long-term memory has 3 forms. Episodic memory: memories that happened to you and let us go back in time to experience earlier episodes. Semantic memory: arranged knowledge about the world, words and factual information. Procedural memory: our knowledge about practical applications.
There 3 aspects of long-term memory
1.Encoding
2.Retrieval
3.Autobiographical memory (events and topics related to our own everyday life)
Encoding: how do we remember items that we processed; materials we processed in depth or materials we processed in shallow manner? Items we process in depth resulted in permanent retention of information than the later (depth-of-processing approach).
Deep levels of processing:
1. Distinctiveness : we use deep processing to identify a stimulus’s differences from other memory traces
2. Elaboration: we use deep processing in terms of meaning and interconnected concepts
Encoding Specificity: we recall much better if the context in the encoding and retrieval context match
Emotions mood and memory
Emotion is reaction to a specific stimulus, mood is long lasting experience. Cognitive physiologists recognize that emotion and mood control our cognitive processes. We normally remember enjoyable stimuli than other stimuli. We also remember much better if our mood and nature of the information matches.
Retrieval: how accurate can we retrieve information that was Encoded? There are two groups of retrieval tasks; implicit and explicit tasks. Explicit memory task, we intentionally prepare ourselves to recall information that we learn before the task or test. Whereas in implicit memory, there is no intention of remembering the material learned before, in fact the test/task is not related to previous learnt material.
Autobiographical Memory: memory for events related to yourself. It also consists of images about the events, emotional reaction, and procedural information. Flashbulb memories: memories that we first learned about an unexpected and emotionally affecting event. How we remember the shocking event in detail; the imagery of surrounding, what the people look like during the event, and how we react to it.
Recovered memory and false-memory: people who had experienced childhood abuse recall memories about the abuse as “recovered memory”. False memory suggests that most of the recovered memories are created memories about events that never happened.
2. How does it fit into what I have learned already in this course?
At first it was how we perceive objects we see, sounds we hear, on the next chapter after that, we looked at how cognitive tasks attention and consciousness in relation to cognitive processes. This chapter extends to another part of cognitive process with bounded ability of our cognitive process in limited memory called Working memory. This chapter emphasizes about long-term memory opposite to working memory, when I learned about short-term memory that is a temporary storage for what my brain is working on current events but in case of long-term memory, it composes the experiences, events and information that we have stored over life time.
3. What am I still not clear on?
So what can we conclude about recovered-memory and false memory? The book concludes that both perspectives are partially correct, but can we generalize that childhood “bad” memories can be recovered and they are believable? How about false memory, what about an individual who was guided into believing that he was abused?
4. How would I apply this to my own teaching/work?
I think that when teaching concepts from previous course or grade the implicit memory can be used by just simply providing students with some materials without mentioning what people are expected to recall. For example if you place an individual who had forgotten the word “driving” due to some head injuries and if you place him/her behind the wheel he might be able to drive using implicit memory cognitive task. This can also be applied for technical courses; students who may not remember the names of parts of a computer or a machine and are placed on the practical environment they might remember how to work on that machine.
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
The author supports her claim with laboratory based research on false memory where we create words or events that never happened and PET scans with other research techniques, have not conclusively put that correct and incorrect recall of abuse. It would make it more believable if it was supported with the details of the research, with questions like the group that they perform the PET scan, were they actually abused or random group of people? On the Factors Affecting the accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony, the author did not provide specific research conducted on why and how memory errors occur. The 4 factors mentioned lack detailed research evidences. It would be nice if research studies were mentioned to make me a believer. I believe the eye witness testimony I believe most of the author’s cases, how many people are in jail because of an eye witness error these days?
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
It is important because long-term memory plays an important role in cognitive tasks in education and training. Long-term memory is where we want to store when we learn new materials so that they can be applied in so many applications and cognitive tasks in life, such as reading, operating machinery, using a computer and so on. Long term memory is where we want to store our useful information from the past and present.
7. When would I actually use this-under what kind of circumstances and for what kind of students?
I would use this long-term memory information I learned, I would take all the theories mentioned into consideration when planning lessons and training. For example, how do we retrieve information from the past? What triggers those memories? So when planning a lesson I would think of current events where students can relate their individual experiences that can be applied to the current cognitive task?
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, and/or better?
I think that we should plan a lesson for students using implicit memory and see what students can come up with. For example the game we designed can be a good example for implicit memory task that does not directly pressure students to remember specific concepts.