Long Term Memory

1. Hamza Bin Aamir2. Sidra3. Qistaas4. M.Ali5. AmaanUllah

INTRODUCTION

What is Long Term Memory?

The place where data is stored for a Long time.

Long term memory is very large! It is robust. Information can be encoded, stored,

and retrieved.

Types of Long Term Memory

Declarative: memory for facts!

Procedural: memory for skills and procedure.

Declarative Memory Is Further Broken Down:

Semantic : words, concepts, information that can be described and applied.

Episodic : personal experiences and events.

Emotional : learned emotional responses to various stimuli (e.g., fear response when seeing spiders etc.).

Loss of Memory

Anterograde amnesia: the inability to form new explicit long-term memories for events following brain trauma or surgery. Explicit memories formed before are left intact. Cause possibly is damage to hippocampus

Retrograde amnesia: the disruption of memory for the past, especially espisodic memory. After brain trauma or surgery, there often is retrograde amnesia for events occurring just before.

Infantile/child amnesia: the inability as adults to remember events that occurred in our lives before about 3 years of age. Due possibly to fact that hippocampus is not fully developed.

Recall: Direct retrieval of facts or information

Serial Position Effect:

• Hardest to recall items in the middle of a list

• Primacy effect: easier to remember items first in a list than items in the middle, because first items are studied the most

• Recency effect: easier to remember items last in a list than items in the middle, because the last items were last studied

Serial Position Effect

Graphic: Serial Position Effect

Comparison of Three Stages of Memory

Sensory1. Large capacity2. Contains

sensory information

3. Very brief retention (1/2 sec for visual; 2 secs for auditory)

Short Term1. Limited

capacity2. Acoustically

encoded3. Brief storage

(up to 30 seconds w/o rehearsal)

4. Conscious processing of information

Long Term

1.Unlimited capacity

2.Semantically encoded

3.Storage presumed permanent

4.Information highly organized

Retrieving Information from Memory

• Recall: a measure of long-term memory retrieval that requires the reproduction of the information with essentially no retrieval cues.

• Recognition: a measure of long-term memory retrieval that only requires the identification of the information in the presence of retrieval cues.

• Relearning: the savings method of measuring long-term memory retrieval, in which the measure is the amount of time saved when learning information for the second time.

Measuring Retrieval

Encoding failure theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting is due to the failure to encode the information into long-term memory

Forgetting Due toEncoding Failure?

Storage decay theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting is due to the decay of physical traces of the information in the brain; periodically using the information helps to maintain it in the brain

The “Use it or lose it” theory!

Forgetting Due toDecay in Storage?

Interference theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting is due to other information in memory interfering

Proactive interference: old information interferes with the retrieval of newly-stored information

Retroactive Interference: newly-stored information interferes with the retrieval of previously-stored information

Forgetting Due toInterference?

Cue-dependent theory: a theory that proposes that forgetting is due to the unavailability of the retrieval cues necessary to locate the information in long-term memory.

This is one explanation for why we do not seem to have many memories from early childhood (ages 3 to 6 or so)

Forgetting Due toLoss of Cues?

Mechanism of LTM

Cellular Mechanisms of Long Term Memory

Strengthen existing synapses. Create new synapses. Grow new neurons

Strong evidence from primate studies (Gould et al (1999).

How do we encode information into Long Term Memory?

The more we process information, the better it is remembered.

The longer we are exposed to information, the better we remember it.

The more we rehearse a piece of information, the higher its probability of being remembered

Improving Encoding

Mnemonics: a memory aid Method of loci: a mnemonic in which sequential

pieces of information are encoded by associating them with sequential locations in a very familiar room or location.

Peg-word system: a mnemonic in which the items in a list to be remembered are associated with the sequential items in a memorized jingle (“Every good boy does fine”)

Spacing (distributed study) effect: long-term memory is better when spaced study is used than when massed study (cramming) is used

Long Term PotentiationA Molecular Mechanism for Memory

Changes in the structure of neurons due to increased use.

Causes both the pre and post-synaptic neuron to become more efficient.

Improving Memory

Knowledge of Results: Feedback allowing you to check your

progress

Recitation: Summarizing aloud while you are learning

Rehearsal: Reviewing information mentally (silently)

Selection: Selecting most important concepts to memorize

Organization: Organizing difficult items into chunks; a type of

reordering

Some Ways to Improve Memory

Whole Learning: Studying an entire package of

information at once, like a poem

Part Learning: Studying subparts of a larger body of

information (like text chapters)

Progressive Part Learning: Breaking learning task into a

series of short sections

Serial Position Effect: Making most errors while

remembering the middle of the list

Overlearning: Studying is continued beyond bare mastery

More Ways to Improve Memory

Spaced Practice: Alternating study sessions with brief rest

periods

Massed Practice: Studying for long periods without rest

periods• Lack of sleep decreases retention; sleep aids consolidation • Hunger decreases retention

Yet More Ways to Improve Memory

Mnemonics: Memory “tricks”; any kind of memory system

or aid - Using mental pictures- Making things meaningful- Making information familiar- Forming bizarre, unusual or exaggerated mental

associations

A Last Method to Help Memory