MEMORY

MEMORY
MEANINGFUL FRAMEWORK
There are so many people who use schemata to organize current knowledge and provide a meaningful framework for future understanding. In psychology and cognitive science, a schema (plural schemata or schemas) describes an organized pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them.[1] It can also be described as a mental structure of preconceived ideas, a framework representing some aspect of the world, or a system of organizing and perceiving new information.[2] Schemata influence attention and the absorption of new knowledge: people are more likely to notice things that fit into their schema, while re-interpreting contradictions to the schema as exceptions or distorting them to fit. Schemata have a tendency to remain unchanged, even in the face of contradictory information. Schemata can help in understanding the world and the rapidly changing environment.[3] People can organize new perceptions into schemata quickly as most situations do not require complex thought when using schema, since automatic thought is all that is required. Through the use of schemata, a heuristic technique to encode and retrieve memories, the

majority of typical situations do not require much strenuous processing. People can quickly organize new perceptions into schemata and act without effort.[7]
However, schemata can influence and hamper the uptake of new information (proactive interference), such as when existing stereotypes, giving rise to limited or biased discourses and expectations (prejudices), lead an individual to "see" or "remember" something that has not happened because it is more believable in terms of his/her schema.[8] For example, if a welldressed businessman draws a knife on a vagrant, the schemata of onlookers may (and often do) lead them to "remember" the vagrant pulling the knife. Such distortion of memory has been demonstrated. Schemata are interrelated and multiple conflicting schemata can be applied to the same information. Schemata are generally thought to have a level of activation, which can spread among related schemata. Which schema is selected can depend on factors such as current activation, accessibility, and priming.
PICTURE AND WORDS
This relates to paivio theory of dual-coding, Dual-coding theory, a theory of cognition, was hypothesized by Allan Paivio of the University of Western Ontario in 1971. In developing this theory, Paivio used the idea that the formation of mental images aids in learning (Reed, 2010).
According to Paivio, there are two ways a person could expand on learned material: verbal associations and visual imagery. Dual-coding theory postulates that both visual and verbal information is used to represent information (Sternberg, 2003). Visual and verbal information are processed differently and along distinct channels in the human mind, creating separate representations for information processed in each channel. The mental codes corresponding to these representations are used to organize incoming information that can be acted upon, stored, and retrieved for subsequent use. Both visual and verbal codes can be used when recalling information (Sternberg, 2003). For example, say a person has stored the stimulus concept “dog” as both the word 'dog' and as the image of a dog. When asked to recall the stimulus, the person can retrieve either the word or the image individually, or both simultaneously. If the word is

recalled, the image of the dog is not lost and can still be retrieved at a later point in time. The ability to code a stimulus two different ways increases the chance of remembering that item compared to if the stimulus was only coded one way.
There are limitations to the dual-coding theory. Dual-coding theory does not take into account the possibility of cognition being mediated by something other than words and images. Not enough research has been done to determine if words and images are the only way we remember items, and the theory would not hold true if another form of codes were discovered (Pylyshyn,
1973). Another limitation of the dual-coding theory is that it is only valid for tests on which people are asked to focus on identifying how concepts are related (Reed, 2010). If associations between a word and an image cannot be formed, it is much harder to remember and recall the word at a later point in time. While this limits the effectiveness of the dual-coding theory, it is still valid over a wide range of circumstances and can be used to improve memory (Reed, 2010).
TYPES OF DUAL CODING
Analogue codes are used to mentally represent images. Analogue codes retain the main perceptual features of whatever is being represented, so the images we form in our minds are highly similar to the physical stimuli. They are a near-exact representation of the physical stimuli we observe in our environment, such as trees and rivers (Sternberg, 2003).
Symbolic codes are used to for mental representations of words. They represent something conceptually, and sometimes, arbitrarily, as opposed to perceptually. Similar to the way a watch may represent information in the form of numbers to display the time, symbolic codes represent information in our mind in the form of arbitrary symbols, like words and combinations of words, to represent several ideas. Each symbol (x, y, 1, 2, etc.) can arbitrarily represent something other than itself. For instance, the letter x is often used to represent more than just the concept of an x, the 24th letter of the alphabet. It can be used to represent a variable x in mathematics, or a multiplication symbol in an equation. Concepts like multiplication can be represented symbolically by an "x" because we arbitrarily assign it a deeper concept. Only when we use it to represent this deeper concept does the letter "x" carry this type of meaning.
PAYING ATTENTION IN THE FIRST PLACE
Memory has the ability to encode at the starting point to store and recall information. Memories give an organism the capability to learn and adapt from previous experiences as well as build relationships.
Encoding allows the perceived item of use or interest to be converted into a construct that can be stored within the brain[citation needed] and recalled later from short term or long term memory. Working memory stores information for immediate use or manipulation which is aided through hooking onto previously archived items already present in the long-term memory of an individual.
TYPES OF ENCODING
Visual, elaborative, organizational, acoustic, and semantic encodings are the most intensively used.
Other encodings are also used.
Visual encoding[edit]

Visual encoding is the process of encoding images and visual sensory information. This means that people can convert the new information that they stored into mental pictures (Harrison, C., Semin,
A.,(2009). Psychology. New York p. 222) Visual sensory information is temporarily stored within our iconic memory[1] and working memory before being encoded into permanent long-term storage.[2][3]
Baddeley’s model of working memory states that visual information is stored in the visuo-spatial sketchpad.[1] The amygdala is a complex structure that has an important role in visual encoding. It accepts visual input in addition to input from other systems and encodes the positive or negative values of conditioned stimuli.[4]
Elaborative Encoding[edit]
Elaborative Encoding is the process of actively relating new information to knowledge that is already in memory. Memories are a combination of old and new information, so the nature of any particular memory depends as much on the old information already in our memories as it does on the new information coming in through our senses. In other words, how we remember something depends in how we think about it at the time. Many studies have shown that long-term retention is greatly enhanced by elaborative encoding.[5]
Acoustic encoding[edit]
Acoustic encoding is the encoding of auditory impulses. According to Baddeley, processing of auditory information is aided by the concept of the phonological loop, which allows input within our echoic memory to be sub vocally rehearsed in order to facilitate remembering.[1] When we hear any word, we do so by hearing to individual sounds, one at a time. Hence the memory of the beginning of a new word is stored in our echoic memory until the whole sound has been perceived and recognized as a word.[6]
Studies indicate that lexical, semantic and phonological factors interact in verbal working memory. The phonological similarity effect (PSE), is modified by word concreteness. This emphasizes that verbal working memory performance cannot exclusively be attributed to phonological or acoustic representation but also includes an interaction of linguistic representation.[7] What remains to be seen is whether linguistic representation is expressed at the time of recall or whether they] participate in a more fundamental role in encoding and preservation.[7]
Other senses
Tactile encoding is the processing and encoding of how something feels, normally through touch.
Neurons in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) react to vibrotactile stimuli by activating in synchronisation with each series of vibrations.[8] Odors and tastes may also lead to encode.
Organizational encoding is the course of classifying information permitting to the associations amid a sequence of terms.
In general encoding for short-term storage (STS) in the brain relies primarily on acoustic rather than semantic encoding.
Semantic encoding
Semantic encoding is the processing and encoding of sensory input that has particular meaning or can be applied to a context. Various strategies can be applied such as chunking and mnemonics to aid in encoding, and in some cases, allow deep processing, and optimizing retrieval.
Words studied in semantic or deep encoding conditions are better recalled as compared to both easy and hard groupings of nonsemantic or shallow encoding conditions with response time being the deciding variable.[9] Brodmann’s areas 45, 46, and 47 (the left inferior prefrontal cortex or LIPC) showed significantly more activation during semantic encoding conditions compared to nonsemantic encoding

conditions regardless of the difficulty of the nonsemantic encoding task presented. The same area showing increased activation during initial semantic encoding will also display decreasing activation with repetitive semantic encoding of the same words. This suggests the decrease in activation with repetition is process specific occurring when words are semantically reprocessed but not when they are nonsemantically reprocessed.[9] Lesion and neuroimaging studies suggest that the orbitofrontal cortex is responsible for initial encoding and that activity in the left lateral prefrontal cortex correlates with the semantic organization of encoded information.
REPEAT, REPEAT

Classical conditioning (also Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning) is a kind of learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus
(US). Usually, the CS is a neutral stimulus (e.g., the sound of a tuning fork), the US is biologically potent (e.g., the taste of food) and the unconditioned response (UR) to the US is an unlearned reflex response (e.g., salivation). After pairing is repeated (some learning may occur already after only one pairing), the organism exhibits a conditioned response (CR) to the CS when the CS is presented alone. The CR is usually similar to the UR (see below), but unlike the
UR, it must be acquired through experience and is relatively impermanent.[1]
Classical conditioning differs from operant or instrumental conditioning, in which a behavior is strengthened or weakened, depending on its consequences (i.e., reward or punishment).[2]
A classic experiment by Ivan Pavlov exemplifies the standard procedure used in classical conditioning.[3] First Pavlov observed the UR (salivation) produced when meat powder (US) was placed in the dog's mouth. He then rang a bell (CS) before giving the meat powder. After some repetitions of this pairing of bell and meat the dog salivated to the bell alone, demonstrating what
Pavlov called a "conditional" response, now commonly termed "conditioned response" or CR.
In conditioning the CS is not simply connected to UR. For example, the CR usually differs in some way from the UR; sometimes it is a lot different. For this and other reasons, learning theorists commonly suggest that the CS comes to signal or predict the US, and go on to analyze the consequences of this signal.[4] Robert A. Rescorla provided a clear summary of this change in thinking, and its implications, in his 1988 article "Pavlovian conditioning: It's not what you think it is.
PROCEDURES FOR CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (REPEATITION)
Ivan Pavlov provided the most famous example of classical conditioning, although Edwin Twitmyer published his findings a year earlier (a case of simultaneous discovery).[3] During his research on the physiology of digestion in dogs, Pavlov developed a procedure that enabled him to study the digestive processes of animals over long periods of time. He redirected the animal’s digestive fluids outside the body, where they could be measured. Pavlov noticed that the dogs in the experiment began to salivate in the presence of the technician who normally fed them, rather than simply salivating in the presence of food. Pavlov called the dogs' anticipated salivation, psychic secretion. From his observations he predicted that a stimulus could become associated with food and cause salivation on its own, if a particular stimulus in the dog's surroundings was present when the dog was given food. In his initial experiments, Pavlov rang a bell and then gave the dog food; after a few repetitions, the dogs started to

salivate in response to the bell. Pavlov called the bell the conditioned (or conditional) stimulus (CS) because its effects depend on its association with food.[6] He called the food the unconditioned stimulus
(US) because its effects did not depend on previous experience. Likewise, the response to the CS was the conditioned response (CR) and that to the US was the unconditioned response (UR). The timing between the presentation of the CS and US affects both the learning and the performance of the conditioned response. Pavlov found that the shorter the interval between the ringing of the bell and the appearance of the food, the stronger and quicker the dog learned the conditioned response.[7]
As noted earlier, it is often thought that the conditioned response is a replica of the unconditioned response, but Pavlov noted that saliva produced by the CS differs in composition from what is produced by the US. In fact, the CR may be any new response to the previously neutral CS that can be clearly linked to experience with the conditional relationship of CS and US.[2][5] It was also thought that repeated pairings are necessary for conditioning to emerge, however many CRs can be learned with a single trial as in fear conditioning and taste aversion learning.

Diagram representing forward conditioning. The time interval increases from left to right.
Forward conditioning[edit]
Learning is fastest in forward conditioning. During forward conditioning, the onset of the CS precedes the onset of the US in order to signal that the US will follow.[8][9] Two common forms of forward conditioning are delay and trace conditioning.



Delay conditioning: In delay conditioning the CS is presented and is overlapped by the presentation of the US.
Trace conditioning: During trace conditioning the CS and US do not overlap. Instead, the CS begins and ends before the US is presented. The stimulus-free period is called the trace interval.
It may also be called the conditioning interval. For example: If you sound a buzzer for 5 seconds and then, a second later, puff air into a person’s eye, the person will blink. After several pairings of the buzzer and puff the person will blink at the sound of the buzzer alone.

The difference between trace conditioning and delay conditioning is that in the delayed procedure the
CS and US overlap.

Simultaneous conditioning[edit]

Classical conditioning procedures and effects
During simultaneous conditioning, the CS and US are presented and terminated at the same time.
For example: If you ring a bell and blow a puff of air into a person’s eye at the same moment, you have accomplished to coincide the CS and US.

Second-order and higher-order conditioning[edit]
Main article: Second-order conditioning
This form of conditioning follows a two-step procedure. First a neutral stimulus (“CS1”) comes to signal a
US through forward conditioning. Then a second neutral stimulus (“CS2”) is paired with the first (CS1) and comes to yield its own conditioned response.[10] For example: a bell might be paired with food until the bell elicits salivation. If a light is then paired with the bell, then the light may come to elicit salivation as well. The bell is the CS1 and the food is the US. The light becomes the CS2 once it is paired with the
CS1

Backward conditioning[edit]
Backward conditioning occurs when a CS immediately follows a US.[8] Unlike the usual conditioning procedure, in which the CS precedes the US, the conditioned response given to the CS tends to be

inhibitory. This presumably happens because the CS serves as a signal that the US has ended, rather than as a signal that the US is about to appear.[11] For example, a puff of air directed at a person's eye could be followed by the sound of a buzzer.
Temporal conditioning[edit]
Temporal conditioning is when a US is presented at regular intervals, for instance every 10 minutes.
Conditioning is said to have occurred when the CR tends to occur shortly before each US. This suggests that animals have a biological clock that can serve as a CS. This method has also been used to study timing ability in animals. (see Animal cognition).

Zero contingency procedure[edit]
In this procedure, the CS is paired with the US, but the US also occurs at other times. If this occurs, it is predicted that the US is likely to happen in the absence of the CS. In other words, the CS does not
"predict" the US. In this case, conditioning fails and the CS does not come to elicit a CR.[12] This finding that prediction rather than CS-US pairing is the key to conditioning - greatly influenced subsequent conditioning research and theory.
Extinction[edit]
Main article: Extinction (psychology)
In the extinction procedure, the CS is presented repeatedly in the absence of a US. This is done after a
CS has been conditioned by one of the methods above. When this is done the CR frequency eventually returns to pre-training levels. However, spontaneous recovery (and other related phenomena, see
"Recovery from extinction" below) show that extinction does not completely eliminate the effects of the prior conditioning. Spontaneous recovery is when there is a sudden appearance of the (CR) after extinction occurs.

PASSAGE TIME, INTERFERENCE, AND MOOD
This could also be refer to as mood congruency memory, it is stated that no ones memory can redefine a past information or action the same way unless if they have been schemed. Mood dependence is the facilitation of memory when mood at retrieval is identical to the mood at encoding, or the process of memory. When a human encodes a memory, he or she not only records the visual and other sensory data, he also stores his mood and emotional states. A persons present mood thus will affect the memories that are most easily available to her, such that when she is in a good mood she recalls good memories (and vice versa). The associative nature of memory also means that one tends to store happy memories in a linked set. Different from mood-congruent memory, mood-dependent memory occurs where the congruence of current mood with the mood at the time of memory storage helps to recall the memory. Thus, the likelihood of remembering an event is higher when encoding and recall moods match up. However, it seems that only authentic moods have the power to produce these mood-dependent effects.
THEORIES OF EMOTION

Mood is defined as a state or quality of feeling at a particular time.[2] When attempting to discover the biological factors that influence mood, it is difficult to find scientific proofs. The psychological study of the mind is built on theories. However, much has been discovered in the study of the brain. The following are a few theories and areas of study of the mind used to further our knowledge of the mind.
Somatic theories
See also Somatic theories
Somatic theories of emotion claim that bodily responses are essential to emotions, rather than judgements. In the 1880s, William James provided the first modern version of such theories.[3] The
James–Lange theory, seen by many as his masterwork, lost favor in the 20th century, but has regained popularity more recently due largely to theorists such as John Cacioppo, António Damásio, Joseph E.
LeDoux and Robert Zajonc who are able to appeal to neurological evidence.
Neurobiological theories
See also Neurobiological theories
Based on discoveries made through neural mapping of the limbic system, the neurobiological explanation of human emotion is that emotion is a pleasant or unpleasant mental state organized in the limbic system of the mammalian brain. If distinguished from reactive responses of reptiles, emotions would then be mammalian elaborations of general vertebrate arousal patterns, in which neurochemicals
(for example, dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin) step-up or step-down the brain's activity level, as visible in body movements, gestures, and postures. This hypothesis that synaptic plasticity is an important part of the neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory is now widely accepted.[4]
Cognitive theories
See also Cognitive theories
In cognitive psychology, the human mind is seen to be a structured system for handling information.[5]
Several theories argue that cognitive activities such as judgments, evaluations, or thoughts are necessary for an emotion to occur. Richard Lazarus argues this by saying it is necessary to capture the fact that emotions are about something or have intentionality. Such cognitive activity may be conscious or unconscious and may or may not take the form of conceptual processing.
Written in 1958, Donald Eric Broadbent's Perception and Communication was the first book entirely devoted to human information processing. This book introduced the notion of several distinct kinds of storage systems (memories) of limited capacity and of attention as a mechanism for filtering incoming information. CONNECTING CONCEPTS TO FEELINGS….
Emotions figures out thinking to make us remember information, In psychology and philosophy,

emotion is a subjective, conscious experience characterized primarily by psychophysiological expressions, biological reactions, and mental states. Emotion is often associated and considered reciprocally influential with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, and motivation.[1] It also is influenced by hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin, oxytocin, cortisol and GABA. Emotion is often the driving force behind motivation, positive or negative.[2] An alternative definition of emotion is a "positive or negative experience that is associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity."[3]

The physiology of emotion is closely linked to arousal of the nervous system with various states and strengths of arousal relating, apparently, to particular emotions. Emotions are a complex state of feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence our behaviour.
Those acting primarily on emotion may seem as if they are not thinking, but cognition is an important aspect of emotion, particularly the interpretation of events. For example, the experience of fear usually occurs in response to a threat. The cognition of danger and subsequent arousal of the nervous system (e.g. rapid heartbeat and breathing, sweating, muscle tension) is an integral component to the subsequent interpretation and labeling of that arousal as an emotional state. Emotion is also linked to behavioral tendency. Extroverted people are more likely to be social and express their emotions, while introverted people are more likely to be more socially withdrawn and conceal their emotions.
Research on emotion has increased significantly over the past two decades with many fields contributing including psychology, neuroscience, endocrinology, medicine, history, sociology, and even computer science. The numerous theories that attempt to explain the origin, neurobiology, experience, and function of emotions have only fostered more intense research on this topic. Current areas of research in the concept of emotion include the development of materials that stimulate and elicit emotion. In addition PET scans and fMRI scans help study the affective processes in the brain.
PTSD is also important for emotions, Posttraumatic stress disorder[note 1] (PTSD) may develop after a person is exposed to one or more traumatic events, such as sexual assault, warfare, serious injury, or threats of imminent death.[1] The diagnosis may be given when a group of symptoms, such as disturbing recurring flashbacks, avoidance or numbing of memories of the event, and hyperarousal, continue for more than a month after the occurrence of a traumatic event.[1]
Most people having experienced a traumatizing event will not develop PTSD.[2] Women are more likely to experience higher impact events, and are also more likely to develop PTSD than men.[3]
Children are less likely to experience PTSD after trauma than adults, especially if they are under ten years of age.[2] War veterans are commonly at risk for PTSD.
SLEEPING, STRESS, EATING AND EXERCISE
When you work out, a few things probably run through your mind: changing your body composition, burning calories, building more muscle and strengthening your cardiovascular system. But did you know that there is one body part that most of us neglect to think about in terms of exercise? This specific organ helps you do, well, everything! What is it? Your brain.
Researchers have much more to learn about the brain, but over the last decade scientists have learned quite a bit about the effects of exercise on the brain—both physical and intellectual. It turns out that by exercising regularly and
"training your brain," you can boost your brain power just like physical activity can strengthen your muscles.
The Link Between Working Out and Brain Power
One study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that regular sweat sessions can increase the size of a region of the brain called the hippocampus—a part of the brain that begins to decline around age 30 in most adults. The hippocampus is tucked deep in the brain and plays an important role in learning and memory. According to researchers, a larger hippocampus is associated with better performance on spatial reasoning and other cognitive tasks.

Another study in Neurology showed that exercise may help slow brain shrinkage in people with early Alzheimer’s disease. In the study, adults diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s who were less physically fit had four times more brain shrinkage than normal older adults. A study from 2010 in the journal, Brain Research found an association between physical fitness and children's brain power, too. In the study, researchers found that, on average, fit 9- and 10-yearold children had larger hippocampi and performed better on memory tests than their more sedentary peers.
How Exercise Helps the Brain
Here are a few more ways that exercise boosts brain power, according to AARP.



It improves concentration and attention. When you're fit, you have faster reaction times and can better focus on relevant information.



It promotes neurogenesis. Although it hasn't been proven in humans, animals that are given the opportunity to run on exercise wheels have shown increases in the creation and survival of new brain cells in the hippocampus.



It may improve memory. In animals, running also increases the strength of synaptic connections, thereby improving long-term memory.



It reduces gray-matter loss. Fit people show less of a decrease in gray matter than is normally seen with aging. 

It changes gene patterns. Exercise changes the expression patterns of a wide array of genes, with some becoming more active and some showing less activity. Many of the genes that become more active are known to play roles in the structure and adaptability of synapses, suggesting a direct role for exercise in synapse density.

It enhances blood flow. Exercise also increases the density and size of brain capillaries, which increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain. This may in turn help support the survival of new neurons and help your neurons fire more quickly. Our ability to remember things depends on getting brain cells to make new connections.
They do this best when they are highly excited - that is why we tend to remember events which happen when we are feeling emotionally or intellectually stimulated.
There is one key messenger in the brain which keeps brain cells excited - acetylcholine
In fact, drugs which mimic the effect of this chemical have been found to boost memory in people with
Alzheimer's.
This key chemical is made from choline, which is found in eggs, liver and soybeans.
Vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower also seem to help memory. Researchers found people who eat these do better than peers on memory tests.

TOP TIP: Eggs could make a real difference to your memory. Eat them regularly.