The Rumor Chain
The fifth experiment involving memory was the Rumor Chain, when a person listens to the original paragraph, then passes it on verbally to the second person, and the second person tells the third. The paragaph wasn't short. It is about a hijacker in a plane who was caught at the end of the story.
We see evidences of levelling (simplifying materials), sharpening (highlighting or overemphasizing some materials), and assimilations (changing details to better fit the subject's own background or knowledge-schemas).
The first volunteer already showed sign of the incomplete sensory input, because she left out the part about the People's Liberation Army. Moreover, she forgot that Jane Smith was actually the pilot, showing signs of schema developing. Usually a pilot is associated with male, and air hostess with female, therefor she associated the name "Jane" with female (air hostess). Possibly, because the first person is a girl, she is not famliar with guns, therefore correctly restated the detail of the gun. The second person, who is a boy who plays a lot of shooting games, knows exactly how the gun is like. Normally speaking, the Magnum 357 is referred to as .357 (notice the decimal point), and not surprisingly, he told the third person .357. This assimilation device shows how he related the word he heard with his own background knowledge. The airline's name "Quantas" remained throughout all three speakers, possibly because of its unfamiliar sounding which caught attention.
~Daniel
All Purpose Memory Activity
Today we did the fourth experiment on our memory. We listened to a set of 14 words, at about one second each. Then we wrote down what we remembered. Out of the 14 words, I remembered 8, which is a little lower than the class average. Everyone remembered the first word, and nearly as much remembered the last word. Three people (10 students in class) remembered hearing a word that was not actually said. A word was repeated three times, and so everyone got it. Weird-sounding word were also popular. The chunking process was supposed to work, but we are not familiar with that phrase, therefore the chunking didn’t.
There is an evidence of the serial position effect. Everyone wrote down the first word “bed”, and 6 people remembered the last word “dream”. Six people are not too bad, compared to the word “turn”, which only 3 people recalling it. The word “night” was repeated three times, and obviously everyone got it. The process of rehearsal enhances human's memory recall. The word "sleep" was a trick word, although it was a great example of the memory reconstruction process. Three people claimed that they heard the word "sleep". This shows how they had reconstructed their own memory, caused by associating with the actual words. The words "fatigue" and "artichoke" both had strange sounding, which made some people remember them. The process of chunking in the phrase "toss and turn" didn't work with us very well, since we don't usually use that phrase in our daily lives. Six people recalled "toss", but only three recalled "turn".
This experiment really helps to indicate the different techniques of memory and how it had effects on the person.
~Daniel
Short-term Numbers
Today we did a small experiment on short-term memory. We were given sets of numbers verbally, after that we had to record what we heard on the paper. The digits increase as we progress. Out of a perfect 12 score, we found out that the class average is 7 ± 2 digits. During the experiment, it was very easy to do the first three numbers, but the fourth number start to bring some hesitation to some people. From number five onward, many people no longer look at ease. Most people end at around the fifth number , some went further.
We had reached a conclusion about the human memory
- It is easier to remember through the method of “chunking”, which is to group similar number sequences together.
- Human remember things more easily if the information appear to have some sort of meaning they can associate.
~Daniel
Memory Enhances Recall
Memory Enhances Recall
In today’s experiment #3, we did an activity to compare two methods of memorizing. We were exposed to a series of 20 words with the letter A or B marked under for 3 seconds each. A indicated that we have to count the syllables, and B is to categorize it as pleasant or unpleasant. The words were both held up and spoken. Then after every word had been shown, we wrote down as many words as we can remember for about 3 minutes.
The class average of the A words is at 5 words, with the maximum at 10 and minimum at 1. The B words average is about 7, 9 being the highest and 2 the lowest. The total correct numbers of word is about 12, with 19 being the highest and 6 the lowest. My results were 3 A’s and 9 B’s, adding to a total of 12.
We conclude that many factors can affect how much, or what, we can remember. For most people, remembering a word by relating it to a basic emotion can effectively enhance the amount of things we remember.
In general, the step of remembering begins with external events being recorded by our sensory perceptions. Then those things are placed in the sensory memory. Later, some part of it is lost, and the more important parts are being encoded into the short-term memory. Finally, a small portion of the things are further encoded into the long-term memory. Usually the things that can come this far have very strong connections to that individual.
~Daniel
First Memo
As far I think I remembered, my first memory is the scene when I was strolling in the park with my mom. I was probably about 2-3 years old. I felt like I was in my old neighborhood, the one that I lived in when I was very young. My mom was holding my hands and guided me forward. Now that I thought clearly about it, this memory might be more of a “I wish I had that memory” type. I might have seen it in a movie or book when I was very young, thus wish that it was true. As a result, the idea actually entered my memory storage and pretended to be part of it.
Mr. Anthony later said that memory usually doesn’t occur until age 5 or 6, therefore the park scene was probably a reconstructed memory. All memories are caused by events that involved a lot of emotional elements. Usually they are happy or sad events. The class average age group is around 3-4 years old, and all memories have some connections to happiness and sadness, ranging from falling down a bookshelf to vomiting. Memories are malleable, meaning that they can be easily influenced and shaped.
~Daniel
