Entry 13 : MEMORY UNIT BLOGS

Entry 1 - first memory

During this class, we discussed memory by recollecting our very first memory during childhood. The mean age of the class was between 3-4 years old. However, my first memory was somewhere between 1-2 years old. I remember that I was at my old house. I felt very confident of myself that I could prepare my own hot milk since I’ve seen my mother did it several times. It seemed very simple, basically adding powdered milk and pouring hot water. I therefore added some powdered milk and went to the thermos to pour some water. However, I wasn’t careful while pouring the boiling water causing it to pour all over my hand. It was very painful, but I didn’t cry. I simply sat on my sofa and pretended that it didn’t happen since my parents might scold me for fooling around. I rubbed my burn hand on the sofa until the wound got worse. Later, my parents finally found out.

The majority of the class (7 people) remembered a positive memory such as drawing, eating, or playing. Five people (including myself) remembered a negative memory such as being burnt, throwing up, or crying. According to Mr. Anthony, remembering something at an age less than 3 years old is impossible since our brain is not fully developed yet. It is therefore conclusive that our early memories are only remembered by their emotional effects towards us. Also, memories are malleable which means they are changeable and reconstructed due to several factors such as being told about it from our parents or recollecting it from pictures. Furthermore, our memories are viewed as a “video camera” since we see ourselves in the memory rather than seeing the things we were doing.


Entry 2 -short term memory

When dealing with memory, it is evident that people tend to remember the first and last part of the memory well, but miss the middle. Short term memory is a type of memory that is pertained for a very brief period of time. Today we did an experiment in class to test our effectiveness of our short term memory. Mr. Anthony read out groups of numbers, increasing by one digit after each one. We were to listen quietly then write it down once the number is completely said. The first group was 3 digits long while the last group was 12 digits long. My score was 9 since I was able to memorize the digits correctly till the group with 9 digits. The class average was 6.5. Therefore we concluded that our memory was somewhere between +/- 7. The longer the digits, the more difficult it is. I found that I missed the middle portion of the groups, but managed to remember the first part and the last part of each group correctly. Not remembering the digits correctly may be a result of various factors such as distractions from our environment. However, one great difficulty that we faced was the lack of pattern in these numbers which caused it to be extremely difficult to memorize. We therefore tried again with 16 digits. This time, Yuki was able to memorize all 16 digits and recite them correctly since she found the patterns in the digits to be the starting and ending years of the world wars. A solution to short term memory problem is to group the numbers into sequences that we are more familiar with. For example 1914191819391945 could be grouped as 1914 1918 1939 and 1945. This creates a pattern and makes memorizing these digits easier. By doing this experiment, we managed to determine the capacity of our memory.









Entry 3 - meaning enhances recall

Today we explore the capability of our long term memory by doing an experiment called “meaning enhances recall”. In this experiment, a set of 20 words on separate pieces of paper are shown to us and also read out. At the corner of every piece of paper, a letter A or B is present. If a letter A is present, we must think of the number of syllables the word has. If a B is present, we must think whether the word is pleasant or unpleasant. After the 20 words have been shown and read out, we must write down the words on a piece of paper, not necessarily in order. I got 16/20 words correct, 8 A words, and 8 B words. The mean of the class for A words is 5.09 while the mean for B words is 7.09. The total mean is 12.27. The majority of the class (7) remembered more B words than A words. Two people remembered equal numbers of B and A words. Two people remembered more A words than B words. B words are more memorable because it is associated with pleasant or unpleasant feelings, which gives meaning to the word. On the other hand, counting syllables has no meaning and therefore less A words are memorable. However, it is impossible for us to block our association of an A word since the word may remind us of something in our experience despite the directions to only count syllables. This experiment illustrates the memory model where the words on the papers are the external events we are being exposed to. These words are processed through sensory memory by sight and hearing. This process may result in lost of certain details. It is later encoded into our short term and long term memory, where only certain words are correctly remembered. When we are asked to write them down on a piece of paper, the process of retrieval occurs where we retrieve our memories of the words and write them down. This experiment therefore illustrates our process of memory and retrieval.



Entry 4- all purpose memory activity

In our experiment today, we listened to 14 words that are said continuously. Once we heard all the words, we had to write as much as we remember down on a piece of paper in any order. The words were as follows: bed, quilt, dark, silence, fatigue, clock, snoring, night, toss, tired, artichoke, turn, rest, and dream. I managed to remember 11 words total. The class results are as follows.
However, we found something amazing about the results when 3 people out of our group of 10 wrote down “sleep” when it wasn’t one of the words. This is because all the other words are related to “sleep” so the person automatically thinks that sleep is part of the set of words spoken. This effect is probably due to memory reconstruction, where the person relates the set of words to sleep and therefore resulting in writing down the word “sleep” itself. From the results, we can see that the first word and the last word were remembered by most people. The words in the middle are remember by less people. This phenomenon is called serial position effect where primary and recent words are more likely to be remembered. Some words like “artichoke” are also remembered by a majority of people due to its “uniqueness” and our unfamiliarity of the word. It is also notable that “fatigue” is remembered well probably due to the sound of the word. This is called semantic distinctiveness. The word “night” was said 3 times and is therefore not included in the graph since it would be impossible for a person to disregard a word that is said three times. This repetition of words is a technique called rehearsal which helps the person recall a memory more efficiently. Another technique is chunking which could be used with the words “toss” and “turn” since it usually comes together. However, since we might not be that familiar with the phrase “toss and turn” not everybody chunked both words together. These techniques contribute to the remembrance of a certain memory, hence the name “all purpose memory activity”.



Entry 5 – the rumor chain activity

The following story was told to a person and will be later transferred to a second and third person according to this model: 1 to 2 to 3

A QANTAS international 747 that was going to Los Angeles took off from Bangkok international Airport. A passenger near the rear of the aircraft announced that he was hijacking for the Peoples’ Revolutionary Army.

The Hijacker then held a 357 magnum gun to the head of Jack Straw, a flight attendant, and forced him to open the cockpit’s door. There the hijacker held the gun at the head of the pilot, Jane Smith, and forced her to change course to Cuba. While the pilot radioed Bangkok to report the situation she suddenly threw the microphone at the hijacker who fell backwards through the open cockpit door and onto the floor. The angry passengers forced the gun off him and tied him up. The plane returned To Bangkok and in a few minutes the hijacker was arrested.

As the story was told from the first person to the third person, there were several facts that we observed. Certain details where missing out. This is called leveling where the memory is being simplified according to what the listener feels is important. The plot of the story, however, remained the same. For example, the detail that the hijacker was from the “people’s revolutionary army” was left out, but did not affect the flow of the story. Another observation that we noticed was the emphasis of certain material. This is called sharpening where certain aspect of the story was emphasized. For example, the plane number (747) and the gun (357 magnum) remained throughout the experiment despite minor changes. The last aspect, assimilation, is the changing of details to better fit the subject’s own background or knowledge (schema). When the first person heard about Jane Smith, the pilot, she changed it to “air hostess” since her schema of a female staff on the plane matches “air hostess” and not pilot. This activity is a small scale imitation of what could potentially happen when an eye witness is asked to recollect the crime. Changes in memory may cause the alteration of the truth.