Studying and Encoding Memories Learning Targets 311 Define memory and explain how memory is measured 312 Discuss how psychologists describe the human memory system 313 Describe the differences between explicit and implicit memories ID: 933864
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Slide1
Unit 7 Cognition
13-17%
Slide2Module 31
Studying and Encoding Memories
Learning Targets
31-1
Define
memory
, and explain how memory is measured.
31-2
Discuss how psychologists describe the human memory system.
31-3
Describe the differences between explicit and implicit memories.
31-4
Discuss the information we process automatically.
31-5
Explain how sensory memory works.
31-6
Describe our short-term and working memory capacity.
31-7
Describe the effortful processing strategies that help us remember new information.
31-8
Discuss the levels of processing and their effect on encoding.
Slide3How is memory defined?the persistence of learning over time through the
encoding, storage, and retrieval of
information
Slide4Research on memory’s extremes has helped us understand how memory works.Some disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, slowly strip away memory.
At the other extreme are people whowould win gold medals in a memory Olympics.
Slide5Alzheimer’s diseasea progressive neurodegeneration and fatal condition
Slide6memory degeneration
Alzheimer’s disease begins as difficulty remembering new information and progresses into an inability to do everyday tasks.
Family members and close friends become strangers; complex speech devolves to simple sentences; the brain’s memory centers weaken and wither. (Desikan et al., 2009)
Slide7What about the other extreme?Russian journalist Solomon Shereshevskii,
or ‘S’, had merely to listen while other reportersscribbled notes. ‘S
’ could repeat up to 70 digits, if they were read about 3 seconds apart in an otherwise silent room. He could recall digits or words backward as easily as forward.
Slide8How is memory measured?recall
retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time
recognition
identifying items previously learned
relearning
learning something more quickly
when you learn it a second or later time
Slide9How do we measure memory on tests in school?
recall
a fill-in-the-blank question, short answer or essay promptrecognition
multiple choice or matching
relearning
studying for a final exam over the entire year’s course content
Slide10How do we measure memory in life events?recall
telling your friend about the time you won a goldfish at the carnival
recognition
seeing a brand of cereal on the grocery shelf and recognizing it from the commercial
relearning
traveling to Costa Rica and pulling back the Spanish you learned in 10
th
grade
Slide111. What Would You Answer?Caitlin, a fifth grader, is asked to remember her
second- grade teacher’s name. What measure of retention will Caitlin use to answer this question?A. storage
B. recognitionC. relearningD. recallE. encoding
Slide12Rapidly read aloud, eight times over, the following list:
JIH, BAZ, FUB, YOX, SUJ, XIR, DAX, LEQ, VUM, PID, KEL, WAV, TUV, ZOF, GEK, HIW.
Now look away and try to recall the items.
Slide13How did Hermann Ebbinghaus test speed of relearning?
Pioneering memory researcher Hermann Ebbinghaus randomly selected a sample of syllables, like those you just saw, practiced them, and tested himself on his ability to accurately recall the items.
The day after learning such a list, Ebbinghaus could recall few of the nonsense syllables. But they weren’t entirely forgotten.
Slide14What were Hermann Ebbinghaus’ findings?
Ebbinghaus found that the more times he practiced a list ofnonsense syllables on Day 1, the less time he required to relearn
it on Day 2. Speed of relearning is one measure of memory retention. (From Baddeley, 1982.)
Slide15How do psychologists describe the human memory system?
Psychologists propose an
information-processing model which likens human memory to computer operations. To remember any event, we must…
Encode (put in) the new information…
store (organize) the information….
retrieve
(pull out) the information.
Slide16What is parallel processing?considering many aspects of a problem
simultaneously; the brain’s naturalmode of information processingfor many functions
Slide17How does parallel processing function?Recall from Module 18 that when a person sees an object, they don't see just one thing, but rather many specific aspects that combined, allow the person to identify the
object in its entirety.
Slide18What did early models of memory formation look like?
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin proposed a three-stage model of memory.
sensory memory:
the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
short-term memory: memory that holds a few items
briefly before the information is stored or forgotten.
long-term memory
:
relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.
Slide19How have early models been modified?Today’s researchers recognize other ways long-term memories form. For example, some information slips into
long-term memory via a “back door,” without our consciously attending to it (automatic processing).
So much active processing occurs in the short-term memory stage that many now prefer the term working memory.
Slide20What is working memory?a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from
long-term memory
Slide21How does Baddeley’s model address working memory?
Alan Baddeley’s (2002) model of
working memory, includes visual-spatial and auditory rehearsal of new information. A hypothetical
central executive (manager) focuses our attention, and pulls information from long-term memory to help make sense of new information.
Slide22What is the role of the central executive?Baddeley’s idea of a central executive
is key to the new model. The central executive coordinates focused processing without which, information often fades.
Slide23What are explicit and implicit memories?
explicit memory
retention of facts and experiences from long-term memory that one can consciously know and “declare”(Also called declarative memory.)
implicit memory
retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations in long-term memory independent of conscious recollection
(Also called
nondeclarative
memory.
)
Slide24How do explicit and implicit memories differ?
explicit memory
We encode explicit memories through conscious effortful processing; encodingthat requires attention andconscious effort.
implicit memory
Automatic processing is unconscious encoding ofincidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such
as word meanings.
Slide25What information do we process automatically?space
Can you remember the page or side of the book certain charts, graphs or material is located?
time
Have you ever retraced your steps through the sequence of your day to find a lost item?
frequency
Can you recall how many times today you have run into a good friend?
Slide26Look at these letters for one second.
Slide27What was George Sperling’s sensory memory experiment?When George Sperling (1960)
flashed a group of letters similar to this for 1/20th of a second, people could recall only about half the letters.
But when signaled to recall a particular row immediately after the letters had disappeared, they could do so with near-perfect accuracy.
http://www.garyfisk.com/anim/iconic.swf
Slide28What is iconic memory?Sperling’s sensory memory experiment demonstrated
iconic memory, a fleeting sensory memory of visual stimuli. For a few tenths of a second, our eyes register a picture-image memory of a scene, and
we can recall any part of it in amazing detail.
Slide29What is echoic memory?We also have an impeccable, though
fleeting, sensory memory for auditory stimuli, called echoic memory (Cowan, 1988; Lu et al., 1992).
Picture yourself in class, as your attention drifts to thoughts of the weekend. If your mildly irkedteacher tests you by asking, “What did I just say?” you can recover the last few words from yourmind’s echo chamber. Auditory echoes tend to linger for 3 or 4 seconds.
Slide30How are short-term and working memory related?
Recall that short-term memory refers to what we can briefly retain.
The related idea of working memory also includes our active processing, as our brain makes sense of incoming information and links it with stored memories. What are the limits of what we can hold inthis middle, short-term stage?
Slide31What is our short-term memory capacity?George Miller (1956) proposed that we can store somewhere between 5 and 9 pieces of information (often referred to as 7 +/- 2) in short-term memory.
Other researchers have confirmed that we can, if nothing distracts us, recall about seven digits.
But the number varies by task; we tend to remember about six letters and only about five words. (Baddeley et al., 1975; Cowan, 2015)
Slide32How fast do short-term memories disappear?
Psychologists Peterson and Peterson asked subjects to remember three-consonant groups, such as CHJ. Without rehearsal, after 3 seconds, people recalled the letters only about half the time; after 12 seconds, they seldom recalled them at all.
Slide33What is our working memory capacity?
Working memory capacity varies, depending on age and other factors. Compared with children and older adults, young adults have a greater working memory capacity.
Slide34What is the benefit of a large working memory capacity?
Having a large working memory capacity—the ability to juggle multiple items while processinginformation—tends to aid information retention after sleeping and creative problem solving.
(De Dreu et al., 2012; Fenn & Hambrick, 2012; Wiley & Jarosz, 2012)
Slide35What are some effortful processing
strategies that can help us encode and retrieve?
chunking
mnemonics
hierarchies
Several
effortful processing
strategies can boost our ability to form new memories. Later, when we try to retrieve a memory, these strategies can make the difference between success and failure.
Slide36Look at the letters and numbers below for one minute. Then look away and try to recall as many as you can.
F B I C I A D E A F E M A I R S
1 8 6 1 1 8 6 5 1 9 1 4 1 9 1 8
Slide37Would it be any easier to memorize now?F B I C I A D E A F E M A I R S
1 8 6 1 1 8 6 5 1 9 1 4 1 9 1 8
Slide38What is chunking?
Chunking
is organizing items into familiar, manageable units. 16 items would be too much for the STM to hold, but chunked into 5 meaningful items, fits the 7 +/- 2 capacity of short-term memory.Were you able to recall the letters easier when chunked or grouped in the second way?
Slide39Do you know these acronyms and acrostics?H O M E S
My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Up Nine Pancakes
R O Y G B I V
Slide40What is a mnemonic device?memory aids, especially thosetechniques that use vivid imagery
and organizational devices, like acronyms or acrosticsWe more easily remember concrete,
visualizable words (like bicycle or book)than we do abstract words (like peace or love).
Slide41What is the peg-word system
The peg-word system is a mnemonic device that utilizes visual imagery and this simple jingle.First, memorize the peg-word pairs on the right.
One – bun Two – shoe Three-tree Four-door Five-bee hive
Six – sticksSeven – heavenEight – gateNine – swineTen - hen
Slide42How does the peg-word system work?Next visually associate the peg-words with to-be-remembered items. Close your eyes and see the image you create. Really focus on it.
Now let’s try a short grocery list to remember:Carrots? Stick them into the imaginary
bun. See it?Milk? Fill the shoe with it. See it?Paper towels? Lay them over the tree branch. See it?
Think bun, shoe, tree and you see their associated images: carrots, milk, paper towels.
Slide43Try the peg-word technique to memorize the characteristics of the four stages of sleep from Module 23.
One – bun Two – shoe
Three-tree Four-door NREM-1: hypnogogic sensations and hallucinations
NREM-2: sleep spindlesNREM-3: delta waves, hard to awakenREM: rapid eye movement, dreams, muscle paralysis
Slide44How do hierarchies aid retrieval?When we organize words or concepts into hierarchical groups, as illustrated here with some of the concepts from this section, we remember them better than when we see them presented randomly.
Slide45How would you use hierarchies to group this list of grocery items?
Carrots, yogurt, pretzels, orange juice, bananas, milk, eggs, oranges, beans, chicken, bacon, cheese, crackers, popcorn, red peppers, sour cream.
Categorizing items into hierarchies increases recall.
Slide46How would you use hierarchies to group this list of grocery items? Cont.
Did you make categories such as: PRODUCE: carrots, oranges, beans, red peppers, bananasDAIRY: milk, eggs, sour cream, yogurt, cheeseMEAT: bacon, chicken produce
SNACKS: pretzels, crackers, popcornWhere did you place ‘orange juice’?
Slide47How would you use hierarchies to group the information on memory in this Unit?
long-term memory, short-term memory, working memory, sensory memory, explicit and implicit memory, iconic and echoic imagery
Categorizing items into hierarchies increases recall.
Slide48How can the spacing effect impact memory retrieval?The spacing effect
is the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed
study or practice.Massed practice (cramming) can produce speedy short-term learning and a feeling of confidence. But to paraphrase Ebbinghaus (1885), those who learn quickly also forget quickly.
Distributed practice produces better long-term recall.
Slide49How can the testing effect impact memory retrieval?One effective way to distribute practice is repeated self-testing, a phenomenon that researchers
Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke (2006) have called the
testing effect. Testing does more than assess learning and memory: it improves them. (Brown et al., 2014; Pan et al., 2015; Trumbo et al., 2016)
Slide50What is the best strategy for learning?“Two techniques that studentsfrequently report using for studying—
highlighting (or underlining) text and rereadingtext—[have been found] ineffective.” Happily, “retrieval practice (or testing) is a powerful
and general strategy for learning.”Roediger (2013)
Slide51What are two levels of processing?Shallow processing
encodingon a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words
Deep processingencodingsemantically, based on the
meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention
Slide52Rapidly answer the following questions:Fergus Craik and
Endel Tulving’s work on processing levels showed the deeper, semantic processing triggered by the third question yielded better recall than did the shallower processing elicited by the second or first question.
Slide532. What Would You Answer?Which of the following is most likely to lead to semantic encoding of a list of words?
A. thinking about how the words relate to your own lifeB. practicing the words for a single extended period
C. breaking up the practice into several relatively short sessionsD. noticing where in a sentence the words appearE. focusing on the number of vowels and consonants in the words
Slide54AP® Exam Tip
Are you often pressed for time?
The most effective way to cut down on the amount of time you need to spend studying is to increase the meaningfulness of the material. If you can relate the material to your own life—andthat’s pretty easy when you’re studying psychology—it takes less time to master it.
Use this tip while studying for the AP® exam.
Slide55Why should I make material meaningful?From his experiments on himself, Ebbinghaus
estimated that, compared with learning nonsense syllables, learning meaningful material required 1/10th the effort.
As memory researcher Wayne Wickelgren noted, “The time you spend thinking about material you are reading and relating it to previously stored material is about the most useful thing you can do in learning any new subject matter.”
Slide56What is the self-reference effect?Most people excel at remembering personally relevant information.
Asked how well certain adjectives describe someone else, we often forget them; asked how well the adjectives describe us, we often remember them. This tendency, called the self-reference
effect, is especially strong in members of individualist Western cultures. (Symons & Johnson, 1997; Wagar & Cohen, 2003)
Slide57Learning Target 31-1 Review
Define
memory, and explain how memory is measured.
Memory
is learning that has persisted over time, through the storage and retrieval of information.
Evidence of memory may be seen in an ability to
recall
information,
recognize
it, or relearn
it more easily on a later attempt.
Slide58Learning Target 31-2 Review
Discuss how psychologists describe the
human memory system.
Psychologists use memory models to think and communicate about memory.
Information-processing models involve three processes: encoding, storage
,
and
retrieval
.
Through
parallel processing
,
the human brain processes many things simultaneously.The connectionism information-processing model views memories as products of interconnected neural networks.
Slide59Learning Target 31-2 Review cont.
Discuss how psychologists describe the
human memory system.
The three processing stages in the Atkinson-Shiffrin model are
sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory
.
More recent research has updated this model to include two important concepts: (1)
working memory
,
to stress the active processing occurring in the second memory stage; and (2)
automatic processing
, to address the processing of information outside of conscious awareness.
Slide60Learning Target 31-3 Review
Describe the differences between
long-term explicit and implicit memories.
Explicit
(declarative) memories—our conscious memories of facts and experiences—develop with
effortful processing
,
which requires conscious effort and attention.
Implicit
(
nondeclarative
) memories—of skills and classically conditioned associations—happen without our awareness, through automatic processing.
Slide61Learning Target 31-4 Review
Discuss the information we
process automatically.
In addition to skills and classically conditioned associations, we automatically process incidental information about space, time, and frequency.
Slide62Learning Target 31-5 Review
Explain how sensory memory works.
Sensory memory
feeds iconic and echoic information into working memory for active processing.
An iconic memory is a very brief sensory memory of visual stimuli; an
echoic memory
is a three- or four-second sensory memory of auditory stimuli.
Slide63Learning Target 31-6 Review
Describe our short-term
and working memory capacity.
Short-term memory capacity is about seven items, plus or minus two, but this information disappears from memory quickly without rehearsal.
Working memory capacity varies, depending on age, intelligence level, and other factors.
Slide64Learning Target 31-7 Review
Describe the effortful processing strategies
that help us remember new information.
Effective effortful processing
strategies include chunking, mnemonics, hierarchies, and distributed practice sessions (which produce results due to the
spacing effect
).
The
testing effect
is the finding that consciously retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information enhances memory.
Slide65Learning Target 31-8 Review
Discuss the levels of processing and
their effect on encoding.
Depth of processing affects long-term retention.
In shallow processing,
we encode words based on their structure, appearance, or sound.
Retention is best when we use
deep processing
,
encoding words based on their meaning.
We also more easily remember material that is personally meaningful—the self-reference effect.
Slide66Module 32
Storing and Retrieving Memories
Learning Targets
32-1
Discuss the capacity of and location of our long-term memories.
32-2
Describe the roles of the frontal lobes and hippocampus in memory processing.
32-3
Describe the roles of the cerebellum and basal ganglia in memory processing.
32-4
Discuss how emotions affect our memory processing.
32-5
Explain how changes at the synapse level affect our memory processing.
32-6
Analyze how external cues, internal emotions, and order of appearance influence memory retrieval.
Slide67Talk with your partner:Which is more important—
your experiences or your memories of them?
Slide68What is the capacity of long-term memory?Our capacity for storing long-termmemories is essentially limitless.
One research team, after studying the brain’s neural connections, estimated its storage capacity as “in the same ballpark as the
World Wide Web.”(Sejnowski, 2016)
Slide69Where is long-term memory stored?Psychologist Karl Lashley
(1950) trained rats to find their way out of a maze, then surgically removed pieces of their brain’s cortex and retested their memory. No matter which small brain section he removed, the rats retained at least a partial memory of how to navigate the maze.
Memories are brain-based, but the brain distributes the components of a memory across a network of locations.
Slide70What role do the frontal lobes play in processing explicit memories?Remember from Module 31 that explicit memory is retention of facts and experiences in the long-term memory that one can consciously know and “declare”.
Explicit memories are either semantic (facts and general knowledge) such as
George Washington was our first presidentorepisodic (experienced events) such as I had a clown at my 6th
birthday party.
Slide71What role do the frontal lobes play in semantic and episodic memory?semantic memory
Recalling a password and holding it in working memory, forexample, would activate the left frontal lobe.
episodic memoryCalling up a visual party scene would more
likely activate the right frontal lobe.
Slide72the hippocampus
Explicit memories for facts and episodes are processed in thehippocampus (orange structures in image to the right)and fed to other brain regions for storage.
Hippocampus: a subcortical limbic system structure in the temporal lobes
Slide73What is the role of the hippocampus in memory processing?Cognitive neuroscientists have found that the
hippocampus, a temporal-lobe neuralcenter located in the limbic system, can be likened to a “save” button for explicit memories.
Brain scans reveal activity in the hippocampus and nearby brain networks as people form explicit memories of names, images, and events. (Squire & Wixted, 2011; Wang et al., 2014)
Slide74What does the research show about
the subregions of the hippocampus?
One subregion is active as peopleand mice learn social information.
(Okuyama et al., 2016; Zeineh et al., 2003)
Part of the hippocampus is active as memory champions engage in spatial mnemonics.
(Maguire et al., 2003a)
The rear hippocampal region, which processes spatial memory, grows bigger as London cabbies navigate the city’s complicated maze of streets.
(
Woolett
& Maguire, 2011)
Slide75What is memory consolidation?Memories are not permanently stored in the hippocampus
. Instead, this structure seems to act as a loading dock where the brain registers and temporarily holds the elements of a to-be-remembered episode—its smell, feel, sound, and location.
Then, like older files shifted to a basement storeroom, memories migrate for storage elsewhere. This process is called memory consolidation.
Slide76How does sleep aid memory consolidation?During deep sleep, the
hippocampus processes memories for later retrieval.Researchers have watched the hippocampus
and brain cortex displaying simultaneous activity rhythms during sleep, as if talking.(Euston et al., 2007; Mehta, 2007). The brain may be replaying the day’s experiences as it transfers them to the cortex for long-term storage. (Squire & Zola-Morgan, 1991)
Slide77Bringing it all together…When our learning
is distributed over days rather than crammed into a single day, we experience more sleep-induced memory consolidation.
And that helps explain the spacing effect.Given time to consolidate new learning over many sleep cycles makes recall easier!
Slide78So how are implicit memories processed?Your hippocampus and frontal lobes are processing sites for your
explicit memories. But you could lose those areas and still, thanks to automatic processing, lay down
implicit memoriesfor skills and newly conditioned associations.
Slide79Consider this story…A brain-damaged patient had amnesia which left her unable to recognize her physician as, each day, he shook her hand and introduced himself.
One day, she yanked her hand back, for thephysician had pricked her with a tack in his palm. The next time he returned to introduce himself she refused to shake his hand but couldn’t explain why. Having been classically conditioned,
she just wouldn’t do it. Having an implicit long-term memory, she felt what she could not explain.
Slide80the cerebellumthe “little brain” at the rear
of the brainstem; functionsinclude processing sensory input, coordinating movementoutput and balance, and enabling nonverbal learning and memory.
Slide81What role does the cerebellum play in memory processing?The cerebellum
plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit memories created byclassical conditioning.
With a damaged cerebellum, people cannot develop certain conditioned reflexes, such as associating a tone with an impending puff of air—and thus do notblink in anticipation of the puff. (Daum &
Schugens, 1996; Green & Woodruff-Pak, 2000)
Slide82What role do the basal ganglia play in memory formation?The basal ganglia
, deep brain structures involved in motor movement, facilitate formation of our procedural memories (nondeclarative or implicit)for skills.
(Mishkin, 1982; Mishkin et al., 1997) The basal ganglia receive input from the cortex but do not return the favor of sending information
back to the cortex for conscious awareness of procedural learning.
Slide83What is infantile amnesia?As adults, our
conscious memory of our first four years is largely blank, an experience called infantile amnesia.In one study, events that children experienced and discussed with their mothers at age 3 were 60 percent remembered at age 7 but only 34 percent remembered at age 9.
(Bauer et al., 2007)
Slide84What are two influences that contribute to infantile amnesia?
First, we index much of our explicit memory with acommand of language that young children do not possess.
Second, the hippocampus is one of the last brain structures to mature, and as it does, more gets retained. (Akers et al., 2014)
Slide85the amygdalatwolima-bean-sized neural clustersin the limbic system; linked to
emotion
Slide86What role does the amygdala play in memory processing?Stress hormones focus memory.
Stress provokes the amygdala to initiate a memory trace that boosts activity in the brain’s memory- forming areas.
(Buchanan, 2007; Kensinger, 2007)It’s as if the amygdala says, “Brain, encode this moment for future reference!” The result? Emotional arousal can sear certain events into the brain, while disrupting memory for irrelevant events. (Brewin et al., 2007;
McGaugh, 2015)
Slide87What role do each of the pictured structures play in memory formation and recall?
Slide881. What Would You Answer?What two parts of the brain are most involved in implicit memory?
A. frontal lobes and basal gangliaB. amygdala and hippocampusC. amygdala and cerebellum
D. cerebellum and basal gangliaE. frontal lobes and hippocampus
Slide89How do emotions affect our memory processing?Emotional events produce tunnel vision memory.
They focus our attention and recall on high priority information, and reduce our recall of irrelevant details. (Mather & Sutherland, 2012)
Whatever rivets our attention gets wellrecalled, at the expense of the surrounding context.
Slide90Where were you when….Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election?
Did that event trigger emotional responses for you? Tears of happiness or perhaps, despair?
If so, that memory may be a flashbulb memory.
Slide91What is a flashbulb memory?A
flashbulb memory is a clear, sustained long-term memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
For instance, those born in the 1940’s and 50’s can usually remember exactly where they were when President Kennedy was shot.Those who experienced the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle in January 1986, can typically recall exactly where they were.
And sadly, many Americans can recount precisely where they were and what they were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001.
Slide92How can a sea slug help us understand memory?
Aplysia, the California sea slug, which neuroscientist Eric Kandel studied for 45 years, has increased our understanding of the neural basis
of learning and memory.
Slide93How does serotonin release at the synapse impact memory processing?
Eric Kandel and James Schwartz observed synaptic changes during learning in the neurons of Aplysia.
When learning occurs, the slug releases more of the neurotransmitter serotonin into certain neurons. These cells’ synapses then become more efficient at transmitting signals. Experience and learning can increase—even double—the number of synapses,
even in slugs. (Kandel, 2012).
Slide94How does Kandel’s research impact human memory processes?
In experiments with people, rapidly stimulating certain memory-circuit connections has increased their sensitivity for hours or even weeks to come. The sending neuron now needs less prompting to release its neurotransmitter, and more connections exist between neurons.
This increased efficiency of potential neural firing, called long-term potentiation (LTP), provides a neural basis for learning and remembering associations. (Lynch, 2002; Whitlock et al., 2006)
Slide95What is long-term potentiation (LTP)?an increase in a cell’sfiring potential after brief, rapid
stimulation; a neural basis forlearning and memory
Slide96How does LTP impact receptor sites?An electron microscope image (a) shows just one receptor site (gray) reaching toward a sending neuron before
long-term potentiation. Image (b) shows that, after LTP, the receptor sites have doubled. (From Toni et al., 1999)
Slide97What research confirms LTP as a physical basis for memory?
Drugs that block LTP interfere with learning. (Lynch & Staubli, 1991)
Drugs that mimic what happens during learning increase LTP. (Harward et al., 2016)
Rats given a drug that enhanced LTP learned a maze with half the usual number of mistakes.
(Service, 1994)
Slide98Review the diagram below, then look away and see how much of it you can recreate.
Slide99How do cues help with memory retrieval?When you encode into memory a target piece of information, such as the name of the person sitting next to you in class, you associate with it other bits of information about your surroundings, mood, seating position, and so on.
These bits can serve as retrieval cues that you can later use to access the information. The more retrieval cues you have, the better your chances of finding a route to the suspended memory.
Slide100What are the best retrieval cues?The best retrieval cues come from associations we form at the time we encode a memory—smells, tastes, and sights that can evoke our memory of the associated person or event.
To call up visual cues when trying to recall something, we may mentally place ourselves in the original context.
Slide101What is priming?the activation, oftenunconsciously, of particular
associations in long-term implicit memory
Slide102AP® Exam Tipperceptual set
a tendency to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others
primingthe implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus
Slide103How does priming work?After seeing or hearing the word
rabbit, we are later more likely to spell the spoken word hair/hare as h-a-r-e,
even if we don’t recall seeing or hearing rabbit.
Slide104Can you explain the relationship?How does your understanding of long-term implicit memory help you understand
priming? Explain the relationship.
Slide105What is an example of priming?If, walking down a hallway, you see a poster of a missing child, you may then unconsciously be primed to interpret an ambiguous adult-child interaction as a possible kidnapping.
(James, 1986) Although you no longer have the poster in mind, it predisposes your interpretation. Implicit memory of the poster impacts your later response to the situation.
Slide106What is context-dependent memory?Putting yourself back in the context where you earlier experienced something can prime your memory retrieval
. Remembering, in many ways, depends onour environment. (Palmer, 1989)
When you visit your childhood home or neighborhood, old memories surface.
Slide107How does context enable recall?When scuba divers listened to a word list in two different settings (either 10 feet underwater or sitting on the beach), they
recalled more words if tested in the same place. (Godden & Baddeley, 1975)
Slide1082. What Would You Answer?John noticed that he did better on his chemistry exams when he takes them in the same seat that he sits in during class. If he is properly prepared for each exam, then _____ may explain his difference in scores.
A. recallB. context effects
C. explicit memoryD. the serial position effectE. flashbulb memory
Slide109Has this happened to you?Have you ever run into a former teacher in an unusual place, such as at the store or park?Perhaps you recognized the person but struggled to figure out who it was and how you were acquainted.
Experiencing something outside the usual setting
can be confusing.
Slide110What is the encoding specificity principle?the idea that cues and
contexts specific to a particularmemory will be most effective inhelping us recall it
Slide111What is state-dependent memory?What we learn in one physiological state—be it drunk or sober—may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state.
What people learn when drunk they don’t recall well in any state (alcohol disrupts memory storage). But they recall it slightly better when again drunk.
If you study while on the treadmill, increasing your heart rate, you will likely have better recall of the material when your heart rate is accelerated again.
Slide112What is mood-congruent memory?thetendency to recall experiences that
are consistent with one’s currentgood or bad emotional state (mood)
Slide113How does mood-congruency impact the duration of our moods?
Mood effects on retrieval help explain why our moods persist.
When happy, we recall happy events and therefore see the world as a happy place, which helps prolong our good mood. When depressed, we recall sad events, which darkens our interpretations of current events. For those of us predisposed to depression, this process can help maintain a vicious, dark cycle.
Slide114What is the serial position effect?our tendency to recall best the last(
recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list
Slide115What does research show about the serial position effect?
In experiments, when people viewed a list of items (words, names, dates, even experienced odors) and immediately tried to recall them in any order, they fell prey to the serial position effect.
(Reed, 2000)
Slide116Why does the serial position effect influence memory retrieval?Subjects briefly recalled the last items especially quickly and well (a
recency effect), perhaps because those last items were still in working memory. Recall that echoic information remains in the sensory memory for about 4 seconds.
But after a delay, when their attention was elsewhere, their recall was best for the first items (a primacy effect). This is likely due to enhanced rehearsal of the first items.
Slide1173. What Would You Answer?Which of the following is an example of the serial position effect?
A. remembering the most important assignment youhave to complete for school tomorrowB. remembering the skills you learned early in life, such as walking
C. remembering the beginning and end of your grocerylist, but not the items in the middleD. remembering the names of the first two co-workersyou met on the first day of your new jobE. remembering where you left your cell phone when
you cannot find it
Slide118Learning Target 32-1 Review
Discuss the capacity of and
location of our long-term memories.
Our long-term memory
capacity is essentially unlimited.Memories are not stored intact in the brain in single spots. Many parts of the brain interact as we form and retrieve memories.
Slide119Learning Target 32-2 Review
Describe the roles of the frontal lobes
and hippocampus in memory processing.
The frontal lobes and
hippocampus are parts of the brain network dedicated to explicit memory formation.
Many brain regions send information to the frontal lobes for processing.
The hippocampus, with the help of surrounding areas of cortex, registers and temporarily holds elements of
explicit memories
before moving them to other brain regions for long-term storage
(memory consolidation)
.
Slide120Learning Target 32-3 Review
Describe the roles of the cerebellum
and basal ganglia in memory processing.
The cerebellum and basal ganglia are parts of the brain network dedicated to implicit memory formation.
The cerebellum is important for storing classically conditioned memories.
The basal ganglia are involved in motor movement and help form procedural memories for skills.
Many reactions and skills learned during our first four years continue into our adult lives, but we cannot consciously remember learning these associations and skills— infantile amnesia.
Slide121Learning Target 32-4 Review
Discuss how emotions affect
our memory processing.
Emotional arousal causes an outpouring of stress hormones, which lead to activity in the brain’s memory-forming areas.
Significantly emotional events can trigger very clear explicit, episodic,
long-term flashbulb memories
.
Slide122Learning Target 32-5 Review
Explain how changes at the synapse
level affect our memory processing.
Long-term potentiation (LTP) appears to be the neural basis for learning and memory. In LTP, neurons become more efficient at releasing and sensing the presence of neurotransmitters, and more connections develop between neurons.
Slide123Learning Target 32-6 Review
Analyze how external cues, internal
emotions, and order of appearance influence memory retrieval.
External cues activate associations that help us retrieve memories; may occur without our awareness, as it does in
priming.
Returning to the same physical context or emotional state
(
mood congruency
)
in which we formed a memory can help us retrieve it.
The
serial position effect
accounts for our tendency to recall best the last items and the first items in a list.
Slide124Module 33
Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory
Learning Targets
33-1
Explain why we forget.
33-2
Discuss how misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our memory construction, and describe how we decide whether a memory is real or false.
33-3
Analyze why reports of repressed and recovered memories have been so hotly debated.
33-4
Describe the reliability of young children’s eyewitness descriptions.
33-5
Discuss how you can use memory research findings to do better in this and other courses.
Slide125William James on forgetting…“If we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as
ill off as if we remembered nothing.”~William James, 1890
William James(1842-1910)
Slide126The woman who can’t forget.
Jill Price remembers every day of her life since age 14 with detailed clarity, including both the joys and the hurts.Jill possesses a very detailed episodic
long-term memory.
Slide127Let’s pause for a quote…“Whenever I see a date flash on the television (or anywhere for that matter)
I automatically go back to thatday and remember where I was, whatI was doing, what day it fell on, andon and on and on and on.
It is nonstop, uncontrollable, and totally exhausting.”~Jill Price
Slide128Who was H.M.?Henry Molaison, or H.M., had much of his
hippocampus removed in order to stop persistent seizures. This resulted “in severe disconnection of the remaining hippocampus” from the rest of the brain.For the rest of his life,
Molaison was unable to form new conscious memories. For about half a minute he could keep something in mind, enough to carry on a conversation.When distracted, he would lose what was just said or what had just occurred.
Slide129How is H.M.’s brain still being studied?Although studied throughout his life, Jacopo
Annese and other scientists at theUniversity of California, San Diego’s Brain Observatory are preserving Henry
Molaison’s brain for the benefit of future study.
Slide130What are two types of forgetting?anterograde amnesia
aninability to form new memories due to injury or illnessAs with H.M., he could recall his past, but not make new memories.
retrograde amnesia
an inabilityto retrieve information from one’s past due to injury or illness
Slide1311. What Would You Answer?Which of the following is an example of anterograde amnesia?
A. Halle can remember her new locker combination, but her memory of last year’s combination is blocked.B. William has lost his memory of the 2 weeks before he had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor.
C. Louis can remember his past, but nothing since experiencing a brain infection 4 years ago.D. Maddie can’t remember the details of when she was mugged downtown 6 months ago.E.
Kalund knows French, Latin, and Spanish and frequently gets them confused on exams.
Slide132What type of memory loss is depicted in this cartoon?
Slide133When do we forget?Forgetting can occur at any memory stage – encoding, storage or retrieval.
When we processinformation, we filter, alter, or lose much of it.
Slide134Why do we forget?1
encoding failure
2storage decay3
retrieval failure
Slide135What is encoding failure?Much of what we sense we never notice, and what we fail to encode, we will never remember.
Slide136What is storage decay?After learning lists of nonsense syllables, such as YOX and JIH,
Ebbinghaus studied how much he retained up to 30 days later.He found that memory for novel information fades quickly, then
levels out.
Hermann
Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve
Slide137What research has been conducted on the forgetting curve?Harry Bahrick
(1984) found a similar forgetting curve for Spanish vocabulary learned in school.Compared with those just completing a high school or college Spanish course, people 3 years out of school had forgotten much of what they had learned.
Slide138What is retrieval failure?Often, forgetting is not memories faded but memories unretrieved
. We store in long-term memory what’s important to us or what we’ve rehearsed
. But sometimes important events defy our attempts to access them.
Slide139What are two factors that influence memory retrieval errors?
proactive interference
the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information…so, the old ‘stuff’ you learned last month is getting in the way of the new ‘stuff’ you are trying to remember now….
retroactive interference
the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of
old
information
…so, the new ‘stuff’ you learned this week is making it hard to remember the ‘stuff’ you learned a few months ago…
Slide140What are some examples of interference?proactive interference
If you buy a new combination lock, your well-rehearsed old combination may interfere with your retrieval of the new one.
retroactive interferenceIf someone sings new lyrics to the tune of an old song, you may have trouble remembering the original words.
Slide141What are some other examples of interference?proactive interference
You changed your email password last week, but you still keep typing in the old password.
retroactive interferenceYour teacher gives a cumulative exam covering all 10 chapters from the first semester, but you can only recall the more recent material, not the chapters from the beginning of school.
Slide142With your partner, create a situation or example that illustrates each of the following four retrieval errors. retrograde amnesia
anterograde amnesia
proactive interference
retroactive interference
Slide143Interpret this graph.
What does this graph show about the relationship between retroactive interference and sleep?
Slide144What does the research show?Information presented in the hour before sleep suffers less retroactive
interference because the opportunity forinterfering events is minimized.
Slide1452. What Would You Answer?
Suzanne gets a new phone number. Each time she tries to give someone the new number, she gives her old one instead. The fact that her old number is causing difficulty remembering the new is an examples of
A. retroactive interference.B. retrograde amnesia.C. priming.
D. proactive interference.E. anterograde amnesia.
Slide146What is motivated forgetting?Memory is an “unreliable, self-serving historian.” (
Tavris & Aronson, 2007, p. 6)
Sigmund Freud suggested that people may forget unwanted memories, either consciously or unconsciously. In other words, they may be ‘motivated’ to forget….forgetting may be in people’s best interests sometimes.
Slide147Consider this study…Researchers told some participants (but not others) about the benefits of frequent
toothbrushing. Those individuals informed about the benefits of toothbrushing then recalled (more than others did) having frequently brushed their teeth in the preceding two
weeks. (Ross et al., 1981)
Slide148Check your understanding… can you label the independent variable (IV) and dependent variable (DV) in Tavris’ study?
Researchers told some participants (but not others) about the benefits of frequent
toothbrushing. Those individuals then recalled (more than others did) having frequently brushed their teeth in the preceding two weeks.
Slide149What is repression?Sigmund Freud, a psychoanalyst, proposed that forgetting may be due to
repression - the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Slide150Margaret McKinnon would disagree.Psychologist Margaret McKinnon, interviewed 15 passengers who nearly died in a plane crash and found that all exhibited vivid, detailed memories.
With trauma comes not repression, but, far more often, “robust” memory.
Slide151Which president was Alexander Hamilton?2
nd4th
5th7th
8th
Write down your answer then stay tuned!
Slide152What is reconsolidation?a process in which previously stored memories,when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again
Our memories are like Wikipedia pages, capable of continuous revision. When we “replay” a memory, we often replace the original with a slightly modified version, rather like what happens in the telephone game, as a whispered message gets progressively altered when passed from person to person.
(Hardt et al., 2010)
Slide153What is the misinformation effect?occurs when misleading information hasdistorted one’s memory of an event
Elizabeth Loftus demonstrated that when exposed to subtle misleading information,people may misremember.
(Loftus et al., 1992)
Slide154How did Elizabeth Loftus test the misinformation effect?
Two groups of people watched a film clip of a traffic accident and then answered questionsabout what they had seen. (Loftus & Palmer, 1974)
Slide155How did leading questions influence recall?Those asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they
smashed into each other?” gave higher speed estimates than those asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they hit
each other?”
Slide156And now… the misinformation.One week later, when
asked whether they recalled seeing any broken glass, people who had heard smashed were more than 2x as likely to report seeing glass fragments.
In fact, the clip showed no broken glass.
Slide157What did you answer on the TRY IT?Sometimes our mind tricks us into misremembering
dates, places, and names. In one study, many people mistakenly recalled Alexander Hamilton—the subject of a popular Broadway musical whose face also appears on the U.S. $10 bill—as a
U.S. President. (Roediger & DeSoto, 2016)
Slide158How does imagination impact memory?Repeatedly
imagining nonexistent actions and events can create false memories.Misinformation and imagination effects occur partly because visualizing something and actually perceiving it activate similar brain areas. Imagined
events also later seem more familiar, and familiar things seem more real. The more vividlywe can imagine things, the more likely they are to become memories. (Loftus, 2001; Porter et al., 2000)
Slide159How can digitally altered photographs produce imagination inflation?When Slate
magazine readersin 2012 were shown a doctored photo of U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad shaking hands, 26 percent recalled the event—despite it
never having happened. (Frenda et al., 2013)
Slide160What is source amnesia?faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined (Also called
source misattribution.) Source amnesia tends to affect a person’s explicit memory and along with the misinformation
effect, is at the heart of many false memories.
Slide161What are some examples of source amnesia?We may recognize someone but have no idea where we have seen the person.
We may tell a friend some gossip, only
to learn we got the news from that friend.A friend tells you about an internet story about the woman who had 75 cats. You know you have heard the story before, but cannot remember where.
Slide162How does “Mr. Science” help us understand source amnesia?Preschoolers interacted with “Mr. Science,” who engaged them in activities such as blowing up a balloon with baking soda and vinegar.
Three months later, on three successive days, their parents read them a story describing some things the children had experienced with Mr. Science and
some they had not.
Slide163What were the results?When a new interviewer asked what Mr. Science had done with them— “Did Mr. Science have a machine with ropes to pull?”
—4 in 10 children spontaneously recalled him doingthings that had happened only in the story. They recalled a false memory.
(Poole & Lindsay, 1995, 2001)
Slide164What is déjà vu?that eerie sense that “I’veexperienced this before”
Cues from the current situation mayunconsciously trigger retrieval ofan earlier experience.
Source amnesia is one possible explanation for this phenomenon.
Slide165So how can we tell true memories from constructed memories?
It is hard to separate false memories from real ones.False memories can be persistent and feel like real ones.
We more easily remember the gist than the events themselves.
Slide166Talk with your partner.Can you think of an instance when you were sure you remembered something, only to discover later that your memory—or some aspect of it—was false?
Which of the memory construction errors we discussed might be to blame?
Slide167Why have reports of repressed and recovered memories been so hotly debated?
The debate (between memory researchers and somewell-meaning therapists) focuses on whether memories of early childhood abuse are
repressed and can be recovered during therapy.Professional organizations seek to find common ground between the potential for doubting true accusations of abuse and the potential for false accusations.
Slide168So, can memories of child abuse be reconstructed as well?Sometimes, a well-meaning therapist,
the misinformation effect and rehearsal of incorrect information can lead to false accusations of child abuse.
Slide169What are three arguments against repression of child abuse memories?
Psychologists question whether repression ever occurs.
Traumatic experiences typically lead to vivid, persistent, haunting memories.
When memories are 'recovered' after long periods of amnesia, particularly when extraordinary means were used to secure the recovery of memory, there is a high probability that the memories are false.”
Slide170What do psychologists agree on?Psychologists now agree that
(1) sexual abuse happens;(2) injustice happens; (3) forgetting happens; (4) Recovered memories are commonplace;
(5) memories of things that happened before age 4 are unreliable (infantile amnesia); (6) Memories “recovered” under hypnosis are especially unreliable; and(7) memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting.
Slide171How reliable are young children’s eyewitness descriptions?
If memories can be sincere, yet sincerely wrong, how can jurors decide cases in which children’s memories of sexual abuse are the only evidence?
Slide172What research has been conducted on children’s recall?Stephen
Ceci and Maggie Bruck’s studies of children’s memories have made them aware of how easily children’s memories can be molded.
For example, they asked 3-year-olds to show on anatomically correct dolls where a pediatrician had touched them. Of the children who had not received genital examinations, 55 percent pointed to either genital or anal areas.
Slide173How reliable is children’s recall?In one analysis of eyewitness data from over 20,000 participants, children regularly identified innocent
suspects as guilty. (Fitzgerald & Price, 2015)
“[The] research,” said Stephen Ceci, “leads me to worry about the possibility of false allegations. It is not a tribute to one’s scientific integrity to walk down the middle of the road if the data are more to one side.”
Slide174How can you use memory research to do better in your courses and on the AP® Exam?
Memory research findings suggest the following
strategies for improving memory: study repeatedly,make material meaningful,
activate retrieval cues,
use mnemonic devices, minimize interference,
sleep more,
and test yourself to be sure you can retrieve,
as well as recognize, material.
Slide175Learning Target 33-1 Review
Explain why we forget.
Anterograde amnesia
is an inability to form new memories due to injury or illness.
Retrograde amnesia is an inability to retrieve old memories due to injury or illness.
Normal forgetting happens because we have never encoded information, because the physical trace has decayed, or because we cannot retrieve what we have encoded and stored.
Slide176Learning Target 33-1 Review cont.
Explain why we forget.
Retrieval problems may result from
proactive interference,
as prior learning interferes with recall of new information, or from retroactive interference, as new learning disrupts recall of old information.
Some believe that motivated forgetting occurs, but researchers have found little evidence of
repression
.
Slide177Learning Target 33-2 Review
Discuss how misinformation, imagination,
and source amnesia influence our memory construction, and describe how we decide whether a memory is real or false.
Repeatedly “replaying” memories may alter them, leading to the introduction of inaccuracies (a process called
reconsolidation
).
In experiments demonstrating the
misinformation effect
,
people have formed false memories by incorporating misleading details—either after receiving wrong information after an event, or after repeatedly
imagining
and rehearsing something that never happened.
Slide178Learning Target 33-2 Review cont.
Discuss how misinformation, imagination,
and source amnesia influence our memory construction, and describe how we decide whether a memory is real or false.
When we reassemble a memory during retrieval, we may attribute it to the wrong source
(source amnesia
).
Source amnesia may help explain
déjà vu
.
False memories feel like real memories and can be persistent but are usually limited to the main gist of the event.
Slide179Learning Target 33-3 Review
Analyze why reports of repressed
and recovered memories have been so hotly debated.
The debate focuses on whether memories of early childhood abuse are
repressed and can be recovered during therapy.
Professional organizations seek to find common ground between the potential for doubting true accusations of abuse and the potential for false accusations.
Slide180Learning Target 33-3 Review cont.
Analyze why reports of repressed
and recovered memories have been so hotly debated.
Psychologists now agree that (1) sexual abuse happens; (2) injustice happens; (3) forgetting happens; (4) recovered memories are commonplace; (5) memories of things that happened before age 4 are unreliable; (6) memories “recovered” under hypnosis are especially unreliable; and (7) memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting.
Slide181Learning Target 33-4 Review
Describe the reliability of young
children’s eyewitness descriptions.
Children are susceptible to the misinformation effect
, but if questioned in neutral words they understand, they can accurately recall events and people involved in them.
Slide182Learning Target 33-5 Review
Discuss how you can use memory
research findings to do better in this and other courses.
Memory research findings suggest the following strategies for improving memory: Study repeatedly, make material meaningful, activate retrieval cues, use mnemonic devices, minimize interference, sleep more, and test yourself to be sure you can retrieve, as well as recognize, material.
Slide183Module 34
Thinking, Concepts, and Creativity
Learning Targets
34-1
Define
cognition
,
and describe the functions of concepts.
34-2
Discuss the factors associated with
creativity
,
and describe some ways of fostering creativity.
Slide184What is cognition?all the mentalactivities associated with thinking,
knowing, remembering, andcommunicating
70
Slide185conceptsmental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, orPeople
Ex: chairs, boats, trucks
Slide186prototypea mental image or best example of a categoryEx: specific car, boat, tree, bird
While chairs can come in all shapes and sizes, modern models and antique creations, the basic four-legged, chair with a back often serves as the prototype for ‘chair’.
EPCOT?
Slide187Can you think of examples?concept
What examples could be included in the concept ‘bird’?
prototype
What is the best example of ‘bird’? What is the ‘birdiest bird’?Does the prototype change if you live in New York City? Miami, Florida?
Slide1881. What Would You Answer?When asked to think of a dog, many people think of a golden retriever. In this case a golden retriever is people’s _________ for a dog.
A. prototypeB. concept
C. déjà vuD. morphemeE. heuristic
Slide189How do prototypes help form concepts?
Matching new items to a prototype providesa quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (or
concepts).Concepts help us understand our world.
Slide190How do we categorize people?When we categorize people, we mentally shift them toward our category prototypes.
Slide191What research has been conducted?When Belgian students viewed a blended face in
which 70 percent of the features were Caucasian and 30 percent were Asian, the students categorized the face as Caucasian.
Slide192What were the results?Likewise, if shown a 70 percent Asian face, the students later remembered a more prototypically Asian face.
Corneille et al., 2004
Slide193Into which category (concept) would you put the following items?Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?
Is a whale a fish or a mammal?
Is a 16-year old female a girl or a woman?
Slide194What happens when events, people or items do not match our prototypes?
When symptoms don’t fit one of our disease prototypes, we are slow to perceive an illness.(Bishop, 1991)
People whose heart attack symptoms (shortness of breath, exhaustion, a dull weight in the chest) don’t match their heart attack prototype (sharp chest pain) may not seek help.
When behaviors don’t fit our
discrimination prototypes—of White against Black, male against female, young against old—we often fail to notice prejudice.
Slide195What is creativity and what are two kinds of thinking?
Creativity is the ability to produce new (novel) and valuable (useful) ideas.
convergent thinkingnarrowing
the available problem solutions todetermine the single best solutionEx: deductive logic used by Sherlock Holmes
divergent thinking
expanding
the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that
expands in different
directions
Ex: developing new ideas and theories
Slide196Slide197What are some examples?convergent thinking
Aptitude tests (such as the SAT) typically require convergent thinking
—an ability to provide a single correct answer.divergent thinking
Creativity tests (How many uses can you think of for a brick?) require
divergentthinking—the ability to consider many different options and to think in novel ways.
Slide198Practice your divergent thinking.How many uses can you create for a paper cup?How many different ways can you use a brick?
Compare your lists with a partner
.
Slide199What are the five components of creativity according to Robert Sternberg?expertise
imaginative thinking skills
a venturesome personalityintrinsic motivation
a creative environment
Slide200What is a venturesome personality?A venturesome personality seeks new experiences,
tolerates ambiguity and risk, and perseveresin overcoming obstacles.
Princeton mathematician Andrew Wiles pondered for more than 30 years, a mathematical puzzle left by Pierre de Fermat, a seventeenth-century mischievous mathematical genius. Wiles said he labored in near-isolation from the mathematics community partly to stay focused and avoid distraction.
Slide201What is imaginative thinking?Cartoonistsoften display creativity
as they see things in new ways or make unusualconnections.
Slide202How to boost your creativity…
Develop your expertise.
Allow time for incubation (think hard on a problem, then set it aside and come back to it later).
Set aside time for the mind to roam freely. Experience other cultures and ways of thinking.
Slide2032. What Would You Answer?Mental activities associated with remembering, thinking, and knowing are called
A. cognition.B. concepts.C. prototypes.
D. convergent thinking.E. divergent thinking.
Slide204Learning Target 34-1 Review
Define
cognition, and describe the functions of concepts.
Cognition
refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
We use
concepts
,
mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people, to simplify and order the world around us.
We form most concepts around
prototypes
,
or best examples of a category.
Slide205Learning Target 34-2 Review
Discuss the factors associated with
creativity, and describe some ways of fostering creativity.
Creativity
, the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas, is supported by a certain level of aptitude. But whereas aptitude tests require
convergent
thinking
, creativity tests require
divergent
thinking.
Sternberg has proposed that creativity has five components: expertise, imaginative thinking skills; a venturesome personality; intrinsic motivation; and a creative environment that sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas.
Slide206Unit 7
Cognition
Slide207What are two problem solving strategies?algorithm
a methodical, logicalrule or step-by-step procedure that guarantees
solving a particular problemheuristic
a simple thinkingstrategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-pronethan an
algorithm
Slide208What are some examples?algorithm
When asked to open an unused locker in the school hallway, you try every combination in a specific order…0-0-0, 0-0-1, 0-0-2, etc. until you find the solution.
heuristicWhen asked to open an unused locker in the school hallway, you stop by the main office to see if the secretary has a list of combinations for each locker.
Slide209What word can you find in these letters?SPLOYOCHYG
algorithm
Try each letter in each of the ten positions—907,200 combinations in all.
heuristic
Group letters that often appear together (
CH
and
GY
) and exclude rare letter combinations (
YY
).
Slide210Discuss with your partner.How would you find guava juice in the grocery store using an algorithm? Heuristics?
Slide211What is insight?a sudden realization of a
problem’s solution; contrasts withstrategy-based solutionsSometimes, no problem-solving strategy (such as algorithms or heuristics) seems to be at work at all, and we arrive at a solution to a problem in a quick instance…an “aha!” moment.
Insight strikes suddenly, with no prior sense of “getting warmer” or feeling close to a solution.
Slide212What research has been conducted on insight?
In one study, researchers asked people to think of a word that forms a compound word or phrase with each of three other words in a set (such as pine, crab, and
sauce) and to press a button to sound a bell when they knew the answer. A sudden Aha! Insight led to about half the solutions.
Slide213What is happening in the brain?
Before the ‘aha!’ moment, the problem solvers’ frontal lobes(involved in focusing attention) were active. At the instant of discovery, there was a burst of activity in the right temporal lobe, just above the ear.
Slide214What research has been conducted on insight in non-human animals?Psychologist Wolfgang
Köhler placed a piece of fruit and a long stick outside the cage of a chimpanzee named Sultan, beyond his reach. Inside the cage,
Köhler placed a short stick, which Sultan grabbed, using it to try to reach the fruit. After several failed attempts, the chimpanzeedropped the stick and seemed to survey the situation. Then suddenly (as if thinking “Aha!”), Sultan jumped up and seized the short stick again. This time, he used it to pull in the longer stick—which he then used to reach the fruit.
Slide215What are three obstacles to problem solving?confirmation bias
fixation
mental set
Slide216What is confirmation bias?a tendency tosearch for information that supportsour preconceptions and to ignore or
distort contradictory evidenceEx: Peter
Wason: rules for 2-4-6
Slide217Why we look only for supporting evidence.Confirmation bias
leads us to seek evidence for our ideas more eagerly than we seek evidence
against them.
Slide2181. What Would You Answer?Thom believes that his congresswoman is honest. He quickly looks for examples of her giving to charity and chooses to ignore her ethics violations that have recently been in the news.
Which type of cognitive bias is impacting Thom’s decision making?A. confirmation bias.
B. intuition.C. mental set.D. availability heuristic.E. overconfidence.
Slide219How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?
Discuss your answer with a partner.
Slide220Did you solve it?To solve this problem, you must view it from a new perspective, breaking the fixation of limiting
solutions to two dimensions.
Slide221What is fixation?the inability to see a problem from a newperspective; an obstacle to problem-solving
In the previous TRY IT, did you fixate on a two-dimensional solution? Why? Was two-dimensional a direction in the problem? Why did you add that rule?
Slide222Attach the candle to a wall using these items!
Slide223Slide224Functional FixednessFunctional Fixedness: inability to see another use for an object beyond its intended purpose or function
Two String Problemhttps
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaI7N6J3rAc
Slide225Slide226What is mental set?A prime example of fixation is mental set
, ourtendency to approach a problem with the mind-set ofwhat has worked for us previously.
Slide227What goes next?Given the sequence O-T-T-F-?-?-?, what
are the final three letters?Write down your answer.
Slide228Most people have difficulty recognizing that the three final letters areF(ive),
S(ix), and S(even). The next one might be easier now…
Given the sequence J-F-M-A-?-?-?,what are the final three letters?
Solutions that worked in the past often
do work on new problems. Mental sets can have positive outcomes.
Slide229Mental SetMental Set 1: There are only six eggs in the basket. Six people take only one of the eggs each. How is it that one egg can still be left in the basket?
Mental Set 2: What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in a thousand years?
Slide230Mental Set AnswersMental Set 1: the sixth person takes the basket with the egg in it
Mental Set 2: the letter “m”
Slide2319 Dot PuzzleUse 4 or less
straight lines to connect all the dots without lifting your pen or pencil.If you solve this puzzle you are most likely experiencing insight.
Slide232Use 4 or less straight lines to connect all the dots without lifting your pen or pencil.
Slide233Slide234Slide235What is intuition?an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
Slide236What are two intuitive mental shortcuts?representativeness heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent,
or match, particular prototypes;may lead us to ignore other relevant informationavailability heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory;if instances come readily to
mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume suchevents are common
Slide237How can the representativeness heuristic lead to stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination?
Consider the reaction of some non-Arab travelerssoon after 9/11, when a young male of Arab descent boarded their plane. The young man fit (represented) their “terrorist” prototype, and the representativeness
heuristic kicked in. His presence evoked anxiety among his fellow passengers—even though nearly 100 percent of those who fit this prototype are peace-loving citizens.
Slide238Consider this…One mother of two Black and three White teens asks other parents, “Do store personnel follow your children when they are picking out their Gatorade flavors? They didn’t follow my White kids.
Do your kids get pulled out of the TSA line time and again for additional screening? My White kids didn’t”
(Roper, 2016)
Slide239The end result…If people have a prototype—a stereotype—of delinquent Black teens, or terrorist Arabs, they may
unconsciously use the representativeness heuristic when judging individuals. The result, even if unintended, is racism.
Slide240Representativeness by Amos Tversky and David Kahneman
Susan is very shy and withdrawn, invariably helpful, but with little interest in people, or
in the world of reality.A meek and tidy soul, she has a need for order and structure, and a passion for detail.Is Susan a
Librarian, a Teacher, or a Lawyer?Tversky, Amos, and David Kahneman
. 1974. Judgment UnderUncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Science 185:1124-1131.
Slide241How can the representativeness heuristic aid in problem solving?If a young man wants to win the affections of a young woman, he may notice that she plays on the varsity basketball team, and frequently wears Celtics jerseys to school. The young woman fits the young man’s idea of an athlete and so he buys two tickets to the NBA finals and asks her if she would like to go.
His behavior (buying tickets) is based on how well the young woman represents his idea (concept) of sport-loving athlete. He believes she will say Yes!
(And of course… she does!)
Slide242What is the availability heuristic?estimating the likelihood of events based
on how fast they come to mind…their ‘availability’ in memoryIf instances come readily to mind
(perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.
Slide243AP Exam TipMake sure you understand thedifference between representativenessand availability heuristics.
AP® exam takers have confused them.
Slide244We often fear the wrong things…In 2015 and again in 2016, feared Islamicterrorists shot and killed fewer Americans than
did armed toddlers. (Ingraham, 2016; LaCapria
, 2015)“ Don’t believe everything you think.” ~Bumper sticker
Slide245What are we afraid of?
In the three monthsafter 9/11,fear of flying led more Americans to travel by car, and some to die.
Slide246Why do we fear the wrong things?
Slide247How does the
availability heuristic
add to our fears?
Slide2482. What Would You Answer?After seeing a news story about a kidnapping we are more afraid of kidnapping, even though it is a very rare occurrence. What of the following is the term for this phenomenon?
A. intuition insightB. confirmation biasC. belief perseverance
D. mental setE. availability heuristic
Slide249How are our decisions and judgments affected by overconfidence?
Overconfidence is the tendency tobe more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our
beliefs and judgments.Sometimes our decisions and judgments go awry simply because we are more confident than correct.
Slide250What is the planning fallacy?
Overconfidence often leads to a planning fallacy— overestimating our future leisure time and income.
(Zauberman & Lynch, 2005) Students and others often expect to finish assignments ahead of schedule. In fact, such projects generally take about twice the predicted time
. (Buehler et al., 1994, 2002) Anticipating how much more time we will have next month, we happily accept invitations. And believing we’ll surely have more money next year, we take out loans or buy on credit.
Slide251What is belief perseverance?clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
____The more we come to appreciate why our beliefs might be true, the more tightly we cling to them.For instance, in politics, once we have explained to ourselves why candidate X or Y will be a better
commander-in-chief, we tend to ignore evidence undermining our belief.
Slide252What research has been conducted on belief perseverance?A classic study of belief perseverance
engagedpeople with opposing views of capital punishment. (Lord et al., 1979)After studying two supposedly new research findings, one supporting and the other refuting the claim that the death penalty deters crime, each side was more impressed by the study supporting its own beliefs.
And each readily disputed the other study.
Slide253What is the takeaway from the research?Showing the pro- and anti-capital-punishmentgroups the
same mixed evidence actually increased their disagreement.
Rather than using evidence to draw conclusions, they used their conclusions to assess evidence—a phenomenon also known as motivated reasoning.
Slide254Belief Perseverance
Earlier in 2011, some Americans demanded to see President Obama's birth certificate to prove that he was born in America. However, even after the President provided the public with this document, proving that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, many Americans still refused to believe that he was American born.
Belief Perseverance- insisting that a belief is true, even though sufficient evidence has been provided contradicting it.
"psychological tunnel vision
"
Slide255Have a discussion.How does the concept of overconfidence and belief perseverance help explain national divisions along political partisan lines?
Slide256What is framing?the way an issue isposed; how an issue is worded can
significantly affect decisions andjudgments
Slide257Which sounds more like something you might agree with?“gun safety” or “gun control” laws
“undocumented workers” or “illegal aliens,”
“carbon offset fee” or a “carbon tax,”
Slide258How does framing impact judgments and decisions?Framing—the way we present an issue—can be a powerful tool of persuasion.
Imagine two surgeons explaining the risk of an upcoming surgery. One explains that during this type of surgery, 10 percent of people die. The other explains that 90 percent survive. The information is the same. The effect is not. In real life surveys, patients and physicians overwhelmingly say the risk is greater when they hear that 10 percent
die. (Marteau, 1989; McNeil et al., 1988; Rothman & Salovey, 1997)
Slide2593. What Would You Answer?Many people prefer meat that is 80 percent lean instead of 20 percent fat, even though they are the same thing. Which concept is being used when the same information is presented in a more
desirable way?A. intuition
B. insightC. framingD. overconfidenceE. perseverance
Slide260How do smart thinkers use intuition?
Implicit knowledge that we’ve recorded in our brains but can’t fully explain, shows itself in the smart and quick judgments of experienced nurses, firefighters, art critics, and car mechanics.
To make adaptive and quick decisions, intuition allows us to go with our gut, recognize stranger danger when we see it.
Our mind’s unconscious track makes good use intuitively of what we are not consciously processing.
Unconscious, automatic influences are constantly affecting our judgments.
Slide261Putting it all together…Letting a problem incubate while
we attend to other things can pay dividends.(Dijksterhuis & Strick, 2016)
Facing a difficult decision involving a lot of facts, we’re wise to gather all the information we can, and then say, “Give me some time not to think about this, even to sleep on it.” Thanks to our ever-active brain, nonconscious thinking (reasoning, problem solving, decision making, planning) can be surprisingly astute.
(Creswell et al., 2013; Hassin, 2013; Lin & Murray, 2015)
Slide262Take a few minutes to review.
Slide2634. What Would You Answer?A teacher has received false information that one
of your friends is a cheater. Explain how each of the following can lead the teacher to continue in this false belief:
overconfidencemental set
confirmation bias
Slide264Learning Target 35-1 Review
Describe the cognitive strategies that
assist our problem-solving and the obstacles that hinder it.
An
algorithm is a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees a solution to a problem.
A
heuristic
is a simple thinking strategy that is usually speedier than an algorithm but is also more error-prone. It can result in both correct and incorrect solutions.
Slide265Learning Target 35-1 Review cont.
Describe the cognitive strategies that
assist our problem solving and the obstacles that hinder it.
Insight
is not a strategy-based solution, but rather a sudden flash of inspiration that solves a problem.
Obstacles to problem solving include
confirmation
bias
,
which predisposes us to verify rather than challenge our hypotheses, and
fixation
, such as mental set, which may prevent us from taking the fresh perspective that would lead to a solution.
Slide266Learning Target 35-2 Review
Discuss the meaning of
intuition
Intuition is the effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thoughts we often use instead of systematic reasoning.
Slide267Learning Target 35-2 Review cont.
Describe how the availability and
representativeness heuristics influence ourdecisions and judgments.
Heuristics enable snap judgments which can result in correct or incorrect decisions.
The
representativeness
heuristic
leads us to judge the likelihood of things in terms of how they represent our prototype for a group of items.
Using the
availability heuristic, we judge the likelihood of things based on how readily they come to mind, which may lead us to fear the wrong things.
Slide268Learning Target 35-3 Review
Discuss the factors that exaggerate
our fear of unlikely events.
We fear (1) what our ancestral history has prepared us to fear, even though these risks may no longer be significant; (2) what we cannot control; (3) what is immediate; and (4) what is most readily available in memory.
We remember and fear disasters more than ongoing, less dramatic threats.
Slide269Learning Target 35-4 Review
Describe how our decisions and
judgments are affected by overconfidence, belief perseverance, and framing.
Overconfidence
can lead us to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs.
When a belief we have formed and explained has been discredited,
belief
perseverance
may cause us to cling to that belief. A remedy is to consider how we might have explained an opposite result.
Framing
is the way a question or statement is presented. Subtle differences in presentation can dramatically alter our responses.
Slide270Learning Target 35-5 Review
Discuss how smart
thinkers use intuition.
Smart thinkers welcome their intuitions (which are usually adaptive), but also know when to override them.
When making complex decisions, we may benefit from gathering as much information as possible and then taking time to let our two-track mind process it.
As people gain expertise, they grow adept at making quick, shrewd judgments.
Slide271Unit 7
Cognition
Slide272languageour spoken, written,or signed words and the ways we
combine them to communicatemeaning
Language transmits knowledge and allows for mind-to-mind communication.
Slide273What are the structural components of language?
phoneme
~in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
morpheme~in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning;
may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
grammar
~
in a language, a system of rules that enables us to
communicate with and understand others
Slide274phoneme
Linguists surveying nearly 500 languages have identified 869 different phonemes in human speech, but no language uses all of them (Holt, 2002;
Maddieson, 1984).To say bat,
English speakers utter the phonemes b, a, and t.3
phonemes!To say that:
th
, a
and
t
Also 3
phonemes
!Phonemes are sounds, not letters and not the same as syllables.
Slide275morphemeMost morphemes
combine two or more phonemes. Some are words, while others are parts of words.
Slide276examples of morphemesEvery word in a language contains one or more morphemes
.The
word “readers,” for example, contains three (3) morphemes: “read,” (1)“er” (2) (signaling that we
mean “one who reads”), and “s” (3) (signaling that we mean not one, but multiple readers).
Slide277grammarRules for word order and word meaning help us to understand language.
Two components of grammar are semantics and syntax.
Semantics is about selecting the correct word to convey the meaning you intend.Syntax
is about putting the words into the correct order according to grammatical standards of your language.
Slide278Noam Chomsky on grammar"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”Noam Chomsky
, a linguist, used this sentence to illustrate correct syntax (the nouns, adjectives and verbs are all in their proper place grammatically) but poor
semantics (the choice of words do not convey the appropriate meaning…what is a ‘green idea’ and how can it be ‘colorless’?)
Slide279Test your skills.Rapid bouquets deter sudden neighbors.
Discuss the correct and incorrect application of the grammar rules of syntax and semantics in the sentence above.
Slide2801. What Would You Answer?Think about the word “prepares,”
Each “r” can be considered a _____________.“pre” is considered a ___________________.
There are _____________ morphemes in the word.There are _____________ phonemes in the word.
Slide2812. What Would You Answer?The prefix “pre” in “preview” or the suffix “ed
” in “adapted” are examples ofA. phonemes.
B. morphemes.C. babbling.D. semantics.E. syntax.
Slide282How do we acquire language and what is universal grammar?Linguist Noam Chomsky has argued that language is nature’s gift—an unlearned human trait, separate from other parts of human cognition.
He theorized that a built-in predispositionto learn grammar rules, which he called
universal grammar, helps explain why preschoolerspick up language so readily and use grammar so well.
100
Slide2833. What Would You Answer?According to Noam Chomsky, language acquisition occurs most especially because of
A. exposure to language in early childhood.B. instruction in grammar.C. reinforcement for babbling and other early verbal
behaviors.D. imitation and drill.E. linguistic determinism.
Slide284Early language acquisitionChildren’s language development moves from simplicity to complexity. Infants start without
language (in fantis means “not speaking”).
Yet by 4 months of age, babies can recognizedifferences in speech sounds. (Stager & Werker, 1997)
Slide285How does receptive language develop?In one study, babies preferred looking at a face that matches a sound—an
ah coming from wide open lips and an ee
from a mouth with corners pulled back. (Kuhl & Meltzoff, 1982) Recognizing such differences marks the beginning of the development of babies’
receptive language, their ability to understand what is said to and about them.
Slide286babbling stage
Beginning around 4 months, the stage ofspeech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds (phonemes) is at first unrelated to the household language.
Long after the beginnings of receptive language, babies’ productive language—their ability to produce words—matures.
Slide287one-word stage
the stage inspeech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words
Around their first birthday, most children enter the one-word stage. They have alreadylearned that sounds carry meanings and now begin to use sounds—usually only one barely recognizable
syllable, such as ma or da—
to communicate meaning.
Slide288two-word stage
At about 18 months, children’s learning of language explodes from about a word per week to a word per day. By their second birthday, most have entered the two-word stage.
A 2-year-old’s speech contains mostly nouns and
verbs (“Want juice”). Their speech follows rules of
syntax, arranging words in a sensible order. English-speaking children typically place adjectives before nouns—
white house
rather than
house white.
Spanish reverses this order, as in
casa
blanca
.
Slide289telegraphic speechThe
two-word stage produces sentences in which a child speaks like atelegram—“go car”
—using mostlynouns and verbs so it is referred to as telegraphic speech.
Slide2904. What Would You Answer?Eighteen-month-old Becca is in the telegraphic speech phase. Which of the following best represents something she might say?
A. “Mama”B. “Yogurt please”
C. “Katie fall”D. “The dog is fuzzy”E. “I love you mommy”
Slide291What was your first word?How closely do your first experiences with language match up with the research? Did you talk earlier than your peers? Later?
Slide292What is the critical period of language development?Childhood seems to represent a
critical (or “sensitive”) period for mastering certain aspects of language before the language-learning window slowly closes.
(Hernandez & Li, 2007; Lenneberg, 1967)Later-than-usual exposure—at age 2 or 3—unleashesthe idle language capacity of a child’s brain, producing a rush of language. But by about age 7,those who have not been exposed to either a spoken or a signed language lose their ability to
master any language.
Slide293Can we learn a new language as adults?Ten years after coming to the United States, Asian immigrants took an English grammar test.
Although there is no sharply defined critical period for second language learning, those who arrived before age 8 understood American English grammar as well as native speakers did. Those who arrived later did not.
(Data from Johnson & Newport, 1991.)
Slide294Do you speak a second language?Consider a language you began to learn after
learning your first language (if you later learned to speak a second language at home, if you are learning a second language at school, or if you just picked up some words or phrases from a new language while traveling). How did your learning this other language differ from learning your first language?
Does speaking it feel different?
Slide295Deafness and experience.The impact of early experiences is evident in language learning in prelingually
(before learninglanguage) deaf children born to hearing non-signing parents.
These children typically do not experience language during their early years. Natively deaf children who learn sign language after age 9 never learn it as well as those who learned it early in life.
Slide296What is aphasia?impairment of language, usually caused by lefthemisphere damage either to
Broca’s area (impairing speaking)or to
Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding)
Slide297What brain areas are involved in language processing and speech?in 1865, French physician Paul
Broca confirmed a fellow physician’s observation that after damage to an area of the left frontal lobe (Broca’s
area) a person would struggle to speak words, yet could sing familiar songs and comprehend speech. A decade later, German investigator Carl Wernicke discovered that after damage to a specific area ofthe left temporal lobe (
Wernicke’s area), people were unable to understand others’ wordsand could speak only meaningless sentences.
Slide298Broca’s area
helps controllanguage expression—an area of the frontal lobe, usually in theleft hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in
speech
Slide299Wernicke’s areaa brainarea involved in languagecomprehension and expression;
usually in the left temporal lobe
Slide300How are language and ideas related?Linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf contended that “language itself shapes a [person’s] basic ideas.” His hypothesis of
linguistic determinism proposed that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us.For instance, the Hopi, a Native American tribe, have no past tense for their verbs, and so could not readily
think about the past.
Slide301Limitations to Whorf’s hypothesisToday’s psychologists believe that a strong form of Whorf’s
linguistic determinism is too extreme. We all think about things for which we have no words.
And we routinely have unsymbolized (wordless, imageless) thoughts, as when someone, while watching two men carry a load of bricks, wondered whether the men would drop them. (
Heavey & Hurlburt, 2008;
Hurlburt et al., 2013)
Slide302What is linguistic influence?the weaker form of “linguistic relativity”—the idea that language
affects thought (thus our thinking and world view is “relative to” our cultural language)
Slide303words influence our thinkingIn Papua New
Guinea, Berinmo children have words for different shades of “yellow,” which might enable them to spot and recallyellow variations more quickly.
Slide304On the color spectrum, blue blends into green—until we draw a dividing line between the portions we call “blue” and “green.”
Although equally different on the color spectrum, two different items that share the same color name, as the two “blues” do above, are harder to distinguish than two items with different names - “blue” and “green.”
(
Özgen, 2004)
Slide305thought and language combineThe traffic runs both waysbetween thinking and language.
Thinking affects our language,which affects our thought.
Slide306Do we think in images?Indeed, we often think in images. Artists think in images. So do composers, poets,mathematicians, athletes, and scientists.
We often think in images when we use nondeclarative(procedural) memory (our automatic memory system
for motor and cognitive skills and classically conditioned associations).
Slide307Let’s look at the research…For someone who has learned a skill, such as ballet dancing, even
watching the activity will activate the brain’s internal simulation of it. (
Calvo-Merino et al., 2004)Imagining a physical experience activates some of the same neural networks that are active during the actual experience.
(Grèzes &
Decety, 2001).
Slide308How does imagination produce winners?One experiment on mental practice and basketball free-throw shooting tracked the University of Tennessee women’s team over 35 games.
(Savoy & Beitel, 1996).
During that time, the team’s free-throw accuracy increased from approximately 52 percent in games following standard physical practice, tosome 65 percent after mental practice. Players had repeatedly imagined makingfree throws under various conditions, including being “trash-talked” by their opposition.
Slide309How can visualization improve grades?
Two groups of introductory psychology students facing a midterm exam one week later. (Taylor et al., 1998)The first group spent five minutes each day visualizing themselves scanning the posted grade list, seeing their A, beaming with joy, and feeling
proud. This daily outcome simulation had little effect, adding only 2 points to their exam score average. The second group spent five minutes each day visualizing themselves effectively studying—reading the textbook, going over notes, eliminating distractions, declining an offer to go out.
Slide310What were the results?This daily process simulation
paid off: The group began studying sooner, spent more time at it, and beat the others’ average score by 8 points.The point to remember:It’s better to spend your fantasy time planning
how to reach your goal than to focus on yourdesired destination.
Slide3115. What Would You Answer?Jacque learned to speak Italian when she was in the
first grade and was able to speak, read, and writeItalian fairly well by the fourth grade. She moved to a new school system that did not have Italian as a choice for World Languages, so she decided to take Spanish.
Sometimes she found herself saying andwriting words in Italian as she completed her Spanishassignments. Often, she remembered the vocabularyin Italian before she said the word in Spanish.
Slide3126. What Would You Answer?Sometimes she felt like knowing Italian helped her learn Spanish, but sometimes she thought it just confused her!
When Jacque was in her Spanish classroom, shefelt more at ease with the Spanish language. When she went to a French restaurant, she was frustrated because the menu was unreadable to her.
Slide3137. What Would You Answer?Use an example to show how each concept is related
to Jacque’s experiences.Working memory
Explicit memoryEffortful processing
Context-dependent memoryProactive interference
Explain how these brain structures play a role inJacque’s memory processing.
Hippocampus
Amygdala
Slide314End
Slide315Learning Target 36-1 Review
Describe the structural
components of a language.
Phonemes
are a language’s basic units of sound.
Morphemes
are the elementary units of meaning.
Grammar—
the system of rules that enables us to communicate— includes
semantics
(rules for deriving meaning) and
syntax (rules for ordering words into sentences).
Slide316Learning Target 36-2 Review
Discuss how we acquire language, and
explain the concept of universal grammar.
Linguist Noam Chomsky has proposed that all human languages share a universal grammar—the basic building blocks of language—and that humans are born with a predisposition to learn language.
As our biology and experience interact, we readily learn the specific grammar and vocabulary of the language we experience as children.
Slide317Learning Target 36-3 Review
Discuss the milestones in language
development.
Language development’s timing varies, but all children follow the same sequence.
Receptive language (the ability to understand what is said to or about you) develops before productive language (the ability to produce words).
At about 4 months of age, infants
babble
,
making sounds found in languages from all over the world.
By about 10 months, their babbling contains only the sounds found in their household language.
Slide318Learning Target 36-3 Review cont.
Discuss the milestones in language
development.
Around 1-year, children begin to speak in single words. This
one-word stage evolves into the two-word stage (telegraphic speech
)
utterances before the 2
nd
birthday, after which they begin speaking in full sentences.
Slide319Learning Target 36-3 Review part III
Identify the critical
period for acquiring language.
Childhood represents a critical period for language learning; lack of exposure to a spoken or signed language by age 7 results in an inability to master any language. Deaf children born to hearing, non-signing parents often demonstrate the impact of early language experiences.
Slide320Learning Target 36-4 Review
Discuss the brain areas that are involved
in language processing and speech.
Two important language- and speech-processing areas are
Broca’s area, a region of the left frontal lobe that controls language expression, and
Wernicke’s
area
,
a region in the left temporal lobe that controls language reception (and also assists with expression).
Language processing is spread across other brain areas as well, where different neural networks handle specific linguistic subtasks.
Slide321Learning Target 36-5 Review
Describe the relationship between
thinking and language, and discuss the value of thinking in images.
Whorf’s
linguistic determinism
hypothesis suggested that language defines thought; it may be more accurate to say that language influences thought.
Different languages embody different ways of thinking, and immersion in bilingual education can enhance thinking.
We think in images when we use
nondeclarative
memory which can increase our skills when we mentally practice upcoming events.