Serial Position Effect: Predictions Of The Stage Theory Of Memory

Memory is one of the most important things we have in our life because it involves in almost every part of our mind including problem solving, decision making, and our interest in life. We depend on it because it helps us make good decisions in life. Memory is the solution in learning and thinking and we use it in our everyday life. Think about the first time you kissed someone you loved or the time you learned how to tie your shoe for the first time. Those are all forms of memory whether they are short or long term. If you do not remember anything from the past then you are having a hard time managing your memory. Without memory you would be exposed to new and extraordinary things in life. Take for example, “Aliens, Love where are they?” by John Hodgman and “Jon” by George Saunders. John Hodgman and Jon both teach readers how without memories we would have a difficult time knowing who we are, who we love, and what we want in life.

The Memory Interference Test (MIT) is a computerized experiment that gauges the cognitive functioning of undergraduate students through visual or auditory prompts to test memory. The MIT is particularly used to test patient’s memory in situations where a brain injury is in question, the results in performance are compared to standardized scores of their peers. There is an inverse relationship between the amount of memory target items and performance: as the number of items the subject was exposed to increased their performance significantly decreased (Komori 2016). Does previous expose to the MIT and thus previous exposure to other target items account for the decrease in number of correct items?

Memory is divided into three categories. These categories consist of: sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory, out of these short term memory is the main focus in this essay. It has been widely researched due to interest of how much memory can be stored, how long this memory can be stored for and what information is memorised.

This had led psychologists within the approach to explain that memory is build up of three stages: encoding (where information is received), storage (where the information is held) and retrieval (where the information is recalled if necessary.)

* Levels of processing theory- proposes that deeper levels of processing results in us remembering information for a longer period of time

There is substantial research backing this model. For example Murdock (1962) found the serial position effect which shows when presented with a list of items, participants recalled those shown at the beginning (primary) and those at the end (recency);

Memory is a set of cognitive processes that allow us to remember past information (retrospective memory) and future obligations (prospective memory) so we can navigate our lives. The strength of our memory can be influenced by the connections we make through different cognitive faculties as well as by the amount of time we spend devoting to learning specific material across different points in time. New memories are created every time we remember specific event, which results in retrospective memories changing over time. Memory recall can be affected retrospectively such as seeing increased recall in the presence of contextual cues or false recall of information following leading questions. Memory also includes the process

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this experiment was to test whether a delay before recall would affect the serial position effect. The experiment was done by getting participants to take part in a simple tests; hearing words read out, then after they are read out, recalling them and writing them down. Two of these tests took place, one without a gap before recall, and one with. The results only partly supported previous research, with both tests showing a higher number of people remembering words at the start of the list, but unlike previous research findings, the last words of the list were not remembered

Memory provides a sense of personal identity. Memories that were made from the past create the person that they have become today. It helps to ground judgments and with reasoning. As an illustration, one day a young girl was shopping at the mall with a group of friends and they deiced to steal a cute

Atkinson’s and Shiffrin’s (1968) multi-store model was extremely successful in terms of the amount of research it generated. However, as a result of this research, it became apparent that there were a number of problems with their ideas concerning the characteristics of short-term memory. Building on this research, Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed an alternative model of short-term memory which they called working memory. Baddeley and Hitch (1974) argued that the picture of short-term memory (STM) provided by the Multi-Store Model is far too simple. According to the Multi-Store Model, STM holds limited amounts of information for short periods of time with relatively little processing. It is

The serial position effect is memory that reaches the long term memory is usually easier to recall because of the position at beginning or end of a given list. The Ebbinghaus curve identifies and measures each word though percentage and how easy or hard it was to recall a word regarding its position on the list of first, middle or end. In serial position effect I believe that our brain might give up in the middle of the list or whatever is given to us to recall because we did not pay as much attention to the words or make a connection.

Memory is both an essential, yet complex, psychological process that relies on numerous neuroanatomical structures, including parts of the prefrontal cortex, cerebral cortex, temporal lobe, amygdala, cerebellum, basal ganglia, and the hippocampus, just to name a few. However, almost all areas of the human brain are connected to the systematic functioning of memory. According to Okano, Hirano, & Balaban (2000), differentiation between the process of memory and the process of learning is important in order understanding the neurobiological aspects of memory, although both are very closely connected. The researchers define memory as a behavioral modification resulting from innate experiences, while the act of learning is more of a process for

Retrieval failure, this theory indicates that when information is stored in the memory [long term] and

Prior to the early 1970s the prominent idea of how memories were formed and retrieved revolved around the idea of processing memory into specific stores (Francis & Neath, 2014). These memory stores were identified as sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. In contrast to this idea, two researchers named Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart proposed an idea linking the type of encoding to retrieval (Goldstein, 2015). This idea is known as the levels of processing theory. According to this theory, memory depends on the depth of processing that a given item is received by an individual (Goldstein, 2015). Craik and Lockhart stressed four points in supporting their theory. First, they argued that memory was the result of a series of analyses, each level of the series forming a deeper level of processing than the preceding level (Francis & Neath, 2014). The shallow levels of processing were believed to hold less importance and are defined as giving little attention to meaning of an item. Examples of which include focusing on how a word sounds or memorizing a phone number by repeating it over and over again (Francis & Neath, 2014) (Goldstein, 2015). The deeper levels processing involve paying close attention to the meaning of an item and relating that meaning to something else, an example of which would be focusing on the meaning of a word rather than just how the word sounds (Francis & Neath, 2014) (Goldstein, 2015). The second point Craik and Lockhart

Memory makes us. It is, to an extent, a collection of unique and personal experiences that we, as individuals, have amassed over our lifetime. It is what connects us to our past and what shapes our present and the future. If we are unable remember the what, when, where, and who of our everyday lives, our level of functioning would be greatly impacted. Memory is defined as or recognized as the “sum or total of what we remember.” Memory provides us the ability to learn and adjust to or from prior experiences. In addition, memory or our ability to remember plays an integral role in the building and sustaining of relationships. Additionally, memory is also a process; it is how we internalize and store our external environment and experiences. It entails the capacity to remember past experiences, and the process of recalling previous experiences, information, impressions, habits and skills to awareness. It is the storage of materials learned and/or retained from our experiences. This fact is demonstrated by the modification, adjustment and/or adaptation of structure or behavior. Furthermore, we as individuals, envision thoughts and ideas of the present through short-term memory, or in our working memory, we warehouse past experiences and learned values in long-term memory, also referred to as episodic or semantic memory. Most importantly, memory is malleable and it is intimately linked to our sense of identity and where we believe we belong in the world.