Online Demo: Capacity of Short Term Memory

As the text points out, the capacity of working (or "short term") memory is quite limited. In order to test out your own working memory, you can choose to participate in the following (brief) demo:

Working Memory Test

Picking Cotton - Eyewitness Memory

During Tuesday's class, you will be investigating a criminal case involving eye-witness testimony. There will be two video clips that you will need to view, and you will use this worksheet to guide your investigation. The video clips are embedded below.

Clip #1:


Clip #2:

Using Cognitive Science to Improve Your Study Strategies

Greetings, AP Psychology students!

I'm sorry I couldn't be with you today. I'm attending meetings in Washington, D.C. as part of my affiliation with Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) and the APA. But that doesn't mean your learning will be put on hold!

The unit of study we are beginning today concerns Cognition (i.e., thinking) and Memory. Happily, researchers have learned A LOT about what helps people understand and remember what they have learned, and this information should be immediately useful to students hoping to improve and refine their study strategies (and, by extension, their course grades).

Regardless of how you think yesterday's test went--whether you think it was a face-plant or you feel you knocked it out of the park--today's assignment will give you some helpful ideas about how to study more efficiently and more effectively, AND it will introduce you to some basic memory terminology that we will encounter this unit.

You'll have time in class to view this video series by Dr. Stephen Chew of Samford University, and you should complete this worksheet as you go. The worksheet is due Monday (Sept. 21), so anything that you don't finish in class should be completed over the weekend. Note: since there is sound with this video, please use a pair of headphones when viewing so that you don't disturb others.

Enjoy! Happy Learning!

Mrs. Welle

Short Term Memory Test

Want to try a quick test of the capacity of your short term memory (STM)?

Eyewitness Testimony: How Reliable is it?

Hello, AP Psychology Students!

Since I'm out of the building (once again) for some meetings this (Tuesday) morning, I've got your activities posted here. If you need to see me about anything today, don't worry: I'll be back by 12:30 PM and will be with my afternoon classes.

For today's activities, you'll be completing this worksheet and viewing the two video clips below. Your teacher (either myself or the sub) will lead you in a discussion about what you learned.

Clip #1


Clip #2

How to Get the Most Out of Studying

Greetings, AP Psychology students!

I'm sorry I couldn't be with you today. I'm attending meetings in Washington, D.C. as part of my affiliation with Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) and the APA. But that doesn't mean your learning will be put on hold!

The unit of study we are beginning today concerns Cognition (i.e., thinking) and Memory. Happily, researchers have learned A LOT about what helps people understand and remember what they have learned, and this information should be immediately useful to students hoping to improve and refine their study strategies (and, by extension, their course grades).

Regardless of how you think yesterday's test went--whether you think it was a face-plant or you feel you knocked it out of the park--today's assignment will give you some helpful ideas about how to study more efficiently and more effectively, AND it will introduce you to some basic memory terminology that we will encounter this unit.

You'll have time in class to view this video series by Dr. Stephen Chew of Samford University, and you should complete this worksheet as you go. The worksheet is due Monday (Sept. 22), so anything that you don't finish in class should be completed over the weekend. Note: since there is sound with this video, please use a pair of headphones when viewing so that you don't disturb others.

Enjoy! Happy Learning!

Mrs. Welle

The Biology of Memory: H.M. Revisited

Most AP Psych textbooks introduce students to the case study of Henry Molaison (known anonymously in the research literature as H.M)., a long-studied patient with anterograde amnesia resulting from a surgery meant to control his epilepsy. Several years ago, when H.M. passed away and donated his brain to science, we watched as researchers sliced his brain into microslices so that his condition could continue to be studied, even after his death.

Now, his entire digitized brain is available for viewing online.

Want more info? This video clip from Nova Science Now details how H.M.'s brain is being studied, and summarizes other research on memory, including the chemistry of long-term potentiation.

Study Tools for Your Memory Test

Throughout this unit, you have learned that there are good and bad strategies for remembering material you are trying to learn. It's time to put some of the good strategies into practice as you prepare for Friday's test! First up, remember to harness the spacing effect and spread out your studying over multiple sessions (ideally over multiple days, too).

One thing some students have found helpful in mastering the vocabulary for AP Psych is the Quizlet flashcard sets on this blog (see the "Study Resources" tab at the top of the page). While I'm sure you remember from Dr. Chew's videos that memorizing flashcards alone will likely not result in a perfect test score--you have to understand the concepts and how they relate to each other, not just memorize isolated facts--if the 54 terms you need to know for Friday seem like an intimidating list, you can use these flashcards to help you review.

Remember, the best types of studying require you to put your memory to the test, recalling items in the ways you will be asked to do so on the test. So, don't just read the flashcards and convince yourself, "I knew that!" Instead, see if you can identify the word or the definition BEFORE looking at the answer. You can also use other testing modes (including games) to increase your fluency. Even better? Encourage deep processing by  giving yourself an orienting task. Randomly pull 3 to 5 cards and ask yourself: How are these terms similar to each other? How are they different? Which will be most helpful to me as I prepare for this test?

Using Cognitive Science to Improve Your Study Strategies

If not today, soon you will be getting an assignment from your instructor that requires you to access this video series by Dr. Chew of Samford University. Due on Monday, this assignment requires you to view five short videos and to think about what research says about human memory and learning. Of course, you'll also be prompted to apply it to your own study habits.

I won't try to steal the show from Dr. Chew by describing everything in the videos here. However, I will tell you that, as an AP Psych teacher, I see students making the EXACT SAME mistakes that Dr. Chew describes in the video and suffering for them as well (in terms of grades, that is). The strategies that he proposes as alternatives are the same ones I would recommend to students, as they are research-supported. I hope by viewing the videos now you can put these into place before your first test, rather than waiting until afterwards to try to figure out what went wrong. Of course, as Dr. Chew points out, even if the first test doesn't turn out the best, there are good strategies you can harness to recover and improve from that point onward (but there are also ways to set yourself up for continued hardship...avoid those)!

Happy studying! - Mrs. Welle

Using Memory Research to Enhance your Study

In my view, one of the most helpful things students can glean from an introductory psychology course is techniques for improving their own study habits. Not only does the wealth of research on human memory inform us as to why certain things are remembered better than others, but it suggests ways that we can use that knowledge to better encode, store, and retrieve information that we are trying to learn. Meaning, you can use this to improve your test performances!

I was just alerted to a GREAT website created by Dr. Stephan Linn Chew, professor of psychology of at Samford University. He presents a video series on How to Get the Most Out of Studying that incorporates many aspects of the memory research we've been studying in class. For example, in the video embedded below, students should recognize the Levels of Processing Model (deep vs. shallow processing) that we learned about in class today. Other videos include:

• Beliefs that make you fail...or Succeed
• Cognitive Principles for Optimizing Learning
• Putting Principles that Optimize Learning Into Practice
• And..."I blew the exam, now what?" for when things don't go as planned.

Great things to keep in mind as we prepare for our last unit test (on Memory) and the final exam!

Learning & Memory Quizlets

Each of the two topics for this unit - Learning and Memory - have their own Quizlet flashcard sets. I've embedded them below, but you are also welcome to visit each set page and print off your own flashcards. Good luck with your studies!

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study psychology flash cards

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study psychology flash cards

Memory Exploration

Here's the link to the Memory Test created by the University of Edinburgh. Click where it says "Click here to start" to begin the exercise. It will take you about 20 minutes, and you will do the best if you are not disturbed or distracted during completion.

You will not be diagnosed with a "good" or "bad" memory on the basis of your results, though you will be provided with an explanation of some known phenomena about memory.

If nothing else, it's a fun challenge and a great illustration of some of the ways that memory is assessed.

Inspiration for Your Studies: The Bias Song

I am humbled by this AP Psych teacher's mad skills. The song includes a review of several of the terms we've covered during this unit on thinking & language. Other forms of "bias" in the song we will address later in the year...but you should find it entertaining nonetheless.

New Quizlet Links Added!

Just in time for this unit's vocabulary review, links to two new Quizlets (online flashcard sets) have been added to this site. From here on out, they will be accessible through the "Commonly Used Course Links" section on the left-hand side of the blog page.

Here they are:

Quizlet -Learning

Quizlet- Memory


With 99 terms between the two of them, there's plenty to review!

Hope to see you at the review session this evening. Otherwise, best of luck on tomorrow's test!

Study Sessions and Possible Snow Fort Building

As we discussed last week in class, there will be two after-school opportunities for you to review for your upcoming Learning & Memory Unit Test:

Monday, December 13 - Right After School

and

Tuesday, December 14 - 5:30 PM

However, due to our amazing good fortune of having a massive snow drift right outside the classroom window, from 4:00 to 5:30 on Tuesday we will be meeting to build a masterpiece snow fort outside my classroom window.

This is assuming that the snow does not fall victim to the numerous snow plows and blowers roaming school properties today. Or to envious elementary school students. If our supply is taken, maybe we can find another drift...?

Dress warmly - it's supposed to be super cold tomorrow - and bring your best ideas and supplies for snow fort construction.

Oh...the possibilities!

The Bunny Effect - Elizabeth Loftus

Here's another great demonstration of the misinformation effect from Elizabeth Loftus. On this CBS 60 Minutes clip, she is interviewed about "the Bunny effect". She and colleagues were able to get subjects to "remember" seeing Bugs Bunny at Disneyland...even though that's not possible.

Project H.M. - Watch the Dissection!

Psychology enthusiasts (and my students, who will read about him in their psychology textbooks this unit) remember fondly the case-study patient known as "H.M." One of the most intensely studied subjects in the history of psychology, "H.M" had undergone brain surgery in 1953 but awoke with no ability to form new memories. "H.M." (and the researchers who studied him) taught us a great deal about the types of memories human beings possess. Sadly, H.M. passed away about a year ago, but he did donate his brain to science, continuing his incredibly legacy in the history of neuroscience and memory research.

TODAY, Researchers at the University of California, San Diego begin the delicate task of slicing his brain into tiny, tiny pieces 70 microns thick and scanning them for digital preservation. When they are done, researchers from around the world will be able to peek into the brain of this incredible man.

You can watch the dissection live over the web, starting today.

We watched some of this in my afternoon classes and students were fascinated! They've now actually started cutting the slides (for the first few hours, they were just trimming the gelatin block in which the brain is encased). Amazing!

To learn more about the delicate procedure being used to preserve H.M.'s brain, check out this article from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Here's what the Brain Observatory says (as of 3:40 PM CST):

We are going to cut through the entire brain over the next 50 hours. The very thin slices are going to be preserved in serial order and each will be ultimately stained and preserved in glass slides. The collection will represent a complete microscopic map of the brain of patient HM. This process will be extremely costly. Each glass slide alone costs $4! Any contribution, however small, will be crucial to the completion of this historic collection. To become a sponsor of patient H.M.’s giant histological glass slides, send your check to: The Brain Observatory, 3510 Dunhill Street, San Diego, CA 92121 Or make your generous donation by following this link: Donate

Reading Ahead: Save Yourself Some Frustration

Let's say you're one of those organized, prepared-types and you're looking ahead to what we'll be doing once we get back from Thanksgiving Break. First, great job! Chance favors the prepared mind!

Our next unit is on Learning and Memory and will cover content from Chapter 8 and 9 in your textbook. Note: this means we are temporarily skipping Chapter 7. Don't worry, we'll come back to that at the end of December (who would want to skip States of Consciousness altogether?!).

However, be aware that if you just dive into the next chapter in our book (Chapter 7), you may be frustrated when you come to class and realize you still have 2 chapters to read before you are prepared for our next quiz. If you're starting your reading early, Read Chapter 8 (Learning) next!

What Would Life Be Like without a Limbic System? Ask Roger...

Recently, the blog Neuroskeptic reported on a recently released case study of a patient (called "Roger") who suffered complete destruction of his limbic system.

As we just discussed the limbic system in class, this should be perfect fodder for your musings.

Revisiting Columbine

April 20, 2009 marked the 10-year anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. I'll admit, though it clearly reveals my age, that I was a senior in high school when this frightening event dominated the US media. I remember being very shaken by it, and like many people I still find descriptions of the shooting highly disturbing.

The recent release of the book Columbine, by Dave Cullen, is forcing many people to rethink what happened on that day. This book is currently on my to-read list, as it refutes many commonly accepted myths about the killers and their deeds (admittedly, things I had believed to be true as well). For example, the boys were not social outcasts targeted by bullies; rather, Cullen argues that they were the bullies.

Below, Dave Cullen on Columbine.