Ebbinghaus’ work on memory performance contributed astonishing knowledge to the field of scientific psychology and enthralled several succeeding researchers and psychologists (Fuchs, 1997; Slamecka, 1985; Young, 1985). Ebbinghaus was precisely known for conducting memory experiments by using nonsense syllables, and from the results of those experiments, he postulated a unitary view of learning and memory. However, Endel Tulving, provided evidence from Ebbinghaus’ original research that there existed discernible kinds of learning and memory. Prior to his experiment, Tulving received some scathing criticism on his stance regarding Ebbinghaus’ research, but he averred that there was no intention to derogate its concept (Slamecka, 1985; Tulving, 1985). Rather, Tulving’s experiment emanated from Ebbinghaus’ original research to address implications that would supplement knowledge about the psychological science of memory.
Tulving’s proposition was that there was a dissociation of memory that could be extrapolated from Ebbinghaus’ research. In order to test his hypothesized dissociation of memory, Tulving conducted an experiment in which he posed “the Ebbinghaus experiment.” In the experiment, participants had to recite the alphabets backwards. Participants were subsequently apprised to learn and go through the alphabets on a card, from Z to A, in 10.4 seconds. All participants were tested individually through 12 trials.
The task was indeed difficult and became a failure as it fomented distress among a few of the participants whose performance gradually deteriorated. Of the 6 participants, only 1 came close to reaching the criteria of the experiment (i.e., reciting the alphabets backwards in a maximum time of 10.4 seconds), with a ti...
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...all, the lack of general knowledge of the non-words made the experiment a cumbersome process, especially during the experiment’s incipient stage. However, the process was worthwhile as I experienced firsthand the dissociation of learning and memory.
Works Cited
Fuchs, A.F. (1997). Ebbinghaus’s contributions to psychology after 1885. The American Journal of Psychology, 110, 621-633.
Slamecka, N. J. (1985). Ebbinghaus: Some associations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 11, 414-435. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.11.3.414
Tulving, E. (1985). Ebbinghaus’s memory: What did he learn and remember? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 11, 485-490.
Young, R. K. (1985). Ebbinghaus: Some consequences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 11, 491-495. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.11.3.491
Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Wegner, D. M. (2010). Psychology. (2nd ed., p. 600). New York: Worth Pub.
A former Yale psychologist, Stanley Milgram, administered an experiment to test the obedience of "ordinary" people as explained in his article, "The Perils of Obedience". An unexpected outcome came from this experiment by watching the teacher administer shocks to the learner for not remembering sets of words. By executing greater shocks for every wrong answer created tremendous stress and a low comfort levels within the "teacher", the one being observed unknowingly, uncomfortable and feel the need to stop. However, with Milgram having the experimenter insisting that they must continue for the experiments purpose, many continued to shock the learner with much higher voltages.The participants were unaware of many objects of the experiment until
This would eventually result in his well known work translated as On Memory in 1885. Ebbinghaus invented what is known as the relearning task in which information is learned, set aside for a period of time, then relearned with the same criterion for accuracy. He measured the retention of memory and compared it to the original learning session. He coined the term "savings score" which is the amount of information that is retained (in terms of trials) or learned in comparison to the original learning task. In more simple terms, the savings score would be represented as the amount of information saved in memory so that it did not need to be relearned.
Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An introduction to the history of psychology (6th ed., p. 224,
In conclusion, the question posed was to "discuss the need for an explanation of human memory, which proposes that memory is a set of stages, rather than a single process". When trying to discuss this need it became apparent that the fact that memory is not a concrete article made it all the more important that it was explained as a set of stages. This may be because as a set of stages, the complex structure of memory is all the more understandable and the theories of memory put together a "story" of how the memory process may work. However, most if not all theories or models describe rather than explain the memory process (providing a guideline) therefore the empirical evidence is really the only key in explaining why memory is a set of stages rather than a single process and it is from these that the " need " is derived.
Altogether this study has helped us learn more about the brain and memory. Learning is measured thorough when a student can reiterate the right answer to a question. In this study, students in one conditions learned forging language vocabulary words in standard example of recurrent study exam trials. In three other conditions, once a student had correctly formed the language item, it was constantly studied but dropped from further testing. Repeatedly tested but dropped from the further study or just dropped from both the study and also the test. The results reveal the critical part of retrieval practice in combining education and shows that even college students seem naive of the fact.
Over the years, memory have been researched and debated, however there are two theories that have explained extensively and are highly recognised by psychologist in the cognitive field of psychology and scientist alike, on how we process experiences and turn them into memories. These theories include the Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) Multi-store Model of Memory and Baddeley and Hitch (1974) Phonological Loop Model of Memory. This essay aims to compare, contrast and evaluate these models of memory, with supporting evidence and empirical research.
Similar studies were done to a different set of college students and they tended to have the same results. After giving as much detail about each memory, the students were interviewed about what they may have written done about what they had remembered. During the last part of the experiment, each of the students were debriefed and asked to guess which memory they believed was false.
The pioneering studies of Ebbinghaus suggested that memories are strengthened by retrieval and repetition (Ebbinghaus, 1885). In 2004, Sharot and Phelps published their paper on the study on how arousal modulates memory (Sharot & Phelps, 2004). In their study, they concluded that emotions
The study, “Remembering and Knowing” by Ednel Tulving has created after observations he had found about the way we know and remember things. His thesis is “Remembering one’s past is a different and perhaps more advanced achievement of the brain than simply knowing about it” (cite). His study presents some information worth considering however, there is a need for further studies and explanations for results that did not correspond in the study. If Tulving decides to take another step with this study, he should consider why some of findings were different than the ones he presented.
Atkinson, R.C. & Shiffrin, R.M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control process.
According to Sternberg (1999), memory is the extraction of past experiences for information to be used in the present. The retrieval of memory is essential in every aspect of daily life, whether it is for academics, work or social purposes. However, many often take memory for granted and assume that it can be relied on because of how realistic it appears in the mind. This form of memory is also known as flashbulb memory. (Brown and Kulik, 1977). The question of whether our memory is reliably accurate has been shown to have implications in providing precise details of past events. (The British Psychological Association, 2011). In this essay, I would put forth arguments that human memory, in fact, is not completely reliable in providing accurate depictions of our past experiences. Evidence can be seen in the following two studies that support these arguments by examining episodic memory in humans. The first study is by Loftus and Pickrell (1995) who found that memory can be modified by suggestions. The second study is by Naveh-Benjamin and Craik (1995) who found that there is a predisposition for memory to decline with increasing age.
...pporting details. At the conclusion of the article, the authors share their thoughts on how it might be virtually impossible to determine when a memory is true or false. I also like their willingness to continue the investigations despite how difficult it might be to obtain concrete answers.
Gluck, M. A., Mercado, E., & Myers, C. E. (2014). Learning and memory: From brain to behavior (2nd ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.
Weiner, I. Healy, A. Freedheim, D. Proctor,R.W., Schinka,J.A. (2003) Handbook of Psychology: Experimental psychology,18, pp 500