Short-Term Memory

Scientists believe that short-term memories do not dissapear after some seconds, but that they gradually become more imprecise. In the University of California, they have found the opposite to this idea. Their subjects were able to retain certain colors for about for second but it suddenly dissapeared and it did not become imprecise. Weiwei Zhang and Steve Luck conducted and experiment on 12 adults in which they could prove the accuracy of short-term memory and the probability that it still existed. In the first test, three squares, each with a different color, flashed for a tenth of a second on a computer screen. After a time of 1, 4 or 10 seconds a wheel showing the entire spectrum of colors appeared on the screen. The three squares also reappeared, only now they had no color and one of them was highlighted. The participants were asked to recall the color of the highlited square and click on the color that best matched it. They had to repeat this 150 times with each color. When each of them could remember very closely the color of the box, they clicked very close to it on the wheel, which means that the distance between the click and the actual color indicates the accuracy of the memory. If they clicked at random on the wheel, the colored had disappeared from their memory. The second test conducted is very similar to the first one, only that they used different shapes instead of using colors. The researchers were able to conclude that the brain is "more like a laptop computer that continues working at the same speed until it suddenly shuts down.” You can relate this to real life situations because many people have difficulties understanding why their short-term memory is bad. By understanding that you are able to retain things for certain amount of time and that it does not become unaccurate, you are able to help people reform and make better their short-term memory with the use of shapes and colors like they did.  Also, it can be applied to a research experiment conducted on the short-term memory of people with schizophrenia.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429091806.htm

In this article they are trying to say that the smells that are first smelled are better stored in our brain and have a better level than others that we dislike. The researchers include Yaara Yeshurun, Hadas Lapid, Yadin Dudai, and Noam Sobel, of the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot, Israel. "We found that the first pairing or association between an object and a smell had a distinct signature in the brain," even in adults, said Yaara Yeshurun of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. In the study, the adults were presented with an object first with one type of pleasant or unpleasant smell and sounds, and then with a second one while their brains were imaged by functional magnetic resonance imaging. The researchers found that people were able to remember early associations with bad odors or sounds that were unpleasant and also that they could predict what the person was going to remember. "We expected a unique representation of initial or 'first' olfactory associations but did not expect that it would materialize even in cases where the behavioral evidence did not indicate a stronger memory," Yeshurun said. They can see how when two regions of the brain work together, they are able to recall some memories or senses that were earlier stored. this can be applied to people who are having problems woth traumas and help them forget about them because it helps a person localize where they are storing unpleasant memoies and how to get rid of them. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091105132448.htm

Language of Emotions

A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says that when you make an advertisement or a message in a person's native language, that it will be more likely to trigger an emotion. Authors Stefano Puntoni, Bart de Langhe, and Stijn van Osselaer (Erasmus University, the Netherlands) studied bilingual and trilingual countries and Europe and saw how messages in the native language of each population triggered an emotion more than a message that was provided in their second language. They believe that this is due to the difficulty of understanding and percieving the message in a different language than the one that they feel more comfortable, and that this depends on the personal memories too. Consumers usually have more personal memories with words in their native language than in their second language. They alo found that it had a greater effect in women than in men due to the fact that women have more emotional memories stored. This can be applied in real life because when someone is trying to express a message and have an effect on a certain population or society, they should try to use the native language in them in order to have a greater effect. This, possibly used in advertisements of some new product, or even politics.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081215111433.htm

Early Scents

What is Memory and How Does it Work?

1. Explain sensory memory?
Sensory memory is when you use senses to store event or objects you saw in your memory. It is the first level of memory.
2. An example would be that I use my eyes in order to observe something and then store that image in my memory.When you see an object and then dissapears you stay with that image.
3.The capacity of sensory memory?
 Our brains can gather a lot of information but most of that information dissapears fast and just stays in our memory for a short amount of time. There is two sources for sensory memory:
-iconic memory (visual sensory memory)-less than 1 second
-echoic(auditory sensory memory)less than 4 seconds.
4.Concept of short term memory?
MEMORY BEFORE LONG TERM COMES IN AND GOES OUT IN HEAD BETWEEN 30 TO 40 SECOND THE MORE YOU ANALYZE IT IN SHORT TERM IT WILL STAY IN LONG TERM
5-What is the "magic number" as it relates to short-term memory and who conducted the experiment which established this measurement?The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information. remember seven things dont remember more than 5.
6.What is chunking?
chunking refers to a strategy for making more efficient use of short-term memory by recoding information. It gathers pieces of information to remember it better and put it into one group instead of having them all seperated.
7.What has been determined to be the ideal size of "chunks" for both letters and numbers?
The size of chunks would be 2, 3, or 6 letters or numbers.
8.Which mode of encoding does short-term memory mostly rely on, acoustic or visual?
Acoustic
9.Explain the duration and capacity of long-term memory?
The capcity is unlimited because its been shown their is no limit to what we can store. The duration is permenent  meaning a lifetime.
10.Explain in detail the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory?
Memory starts as stimuli that we sense some of it goes into short term, if hold on to it or reherse it in short term then we can move it to long term, so once it gets there that information stays.
11.Identify three criticisms or limitations of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory?
"The three-box model suggests that there is nothing in between short-term and long-term memory. The three-box model implies that there is just one short-term system and just one long-term system.The Atkinson-Shiffrin model does not give enough emphasis to unconscious processes."
http://www.psywww.com/intropsych/ch06_memory/criticisms_of_the_classic_three-box_model.html
12.Explain the Levels of Processing Model of memory?
first shallow processing that would be like maintenance when you reapeat things so that you dont forget them. deep processing is like elaborative rehearsal  is when you compare something you don't know  to something that you already know so that you recall it later.
13.What is maintenance rehearsal - give an example.
Maintenance rehearsal is when you reapeat something over and over again so that you dont forget them. When i say someones name over  AND OVER AGAIN IN ORDER NOT TO FORGET.
14. What is elaborative rehearsal - give an example.
WHEN i REMEMBER SOMEONES NAME BECAUSE ITS THE SAME AS MY FAVORITE SINGER.
Who developed the Levels of Processing Model and the concepts of maintenance and elaborative rehearsal?
Craik and Lockhart

Memory Video

• After watching the video in class, i understand the importance and the relationship that memory has on our life and how it affects our way of living. Memory, defines who you are and the way you act, it creates an identity. Eventhough memory can not be directyly seen, you understand that it is constantly changing and growing. Everyday, every second of your life, you are experiencxing new things that are stored into your memory, and can later be recalled. You are constantly learning and interacting with the environmnent, which makes your memory increase. usually, it is said that you begin to remember and recall events and things from your memory at about 2 years old, when you start to maybe reason a little.
• On the first part of the video, they are conducting a self recognition test with a mirror in several small children. They are placed in front of a mirror to see what is their reaction. Then they are placed again infront of the mirror and get some paint in their nose to see how they react and if they are able to recognize that it is them, who has paint in the nose. Many of the children don't even recognize themselves, while others touch the mirror thinking that it is something on the mirror. Just two of the tested kids are abvle to recognize themselves and touch their noses. It is important to know who you are since you are a toddler because it is part of your identity. Then, they conducted an experiment to see how good is their mental image and memory. They make them store a small lion into a cabinet. Two weeks later, they were asked to find the lion and no one was able to find it and remember were it was, except for Toby and jenny who were able to find it. This demonstrates how the brain has not developed yet when you are a little kid.
• On the second part of the video, they show a man who was born with amnesia, and is unable to recall and understand his past. He constantly watches pictures with his parents to understand who he is, but he can not remember it after some hours. he has to write things in order to remember them because his brain did not fully develope and has problems with his memory. They conducted an experiment on him to see if he could remember and draw a picture after an hour of not watching it, and he was unable to draw an accurate drawing. His hypocampus is not recognizing things and that is affecting his way of living. From this man, I can see how our memory is vital in our every day things, and how it affects his way of living and communicating with others.