5.1 three stage model of memory

Question 1

sensory memory (SM)

Answer 1

The set of sensory registers, one for each of our senses, that serve as holding places for incoming sensory information until it can be attended to, interpreted, and encoded into short- term memory.

Question 2

iconic memory

Answer 2

The visual sensory register that holds an exact copy of the incoming visual input but only for a brief period of time, less than 1 second.

Question 3

temporal integration procedure

Answer 3

An experimental procedure in which two meaningless visual patterns that produce a meaningful pattern if integrated are presented sequentially with the time delay between their presentations varied.

Question 4

Sperling’s full-report procedure

Answer 4

An experimental procedure in which, following the brief presentation of a display of unrelated consonants, the participant has to attempt to recall all of the letters in the display.

Question 5

Sperling’s partial-report procedure

Answer 5

An experimental procedure in which, following the brief presentation of a display of unrelated consonants, the participant is given an auditory cue about which row of the display to recall.

Question 6

short-term memory (STM)

Answer 6

The memory stage with a small capacity (7 ± 2 chunks) and brief duration (< 30 seconds) that we are consciously aware of and in which we do our problem solving, reasoning, and decision making.

Question 7

memory span task

Answer 7

A memory task in which the participant is given a series of items one at a time and then has to recall the items in the order in which they were presented.

Question 8

memory span

Answer 8

The average number of items an individual can remember across a series of memory span trials.

Question 9

chunk

Answer 9

A meaningful unit in a person’s memory.

Question 10

distractor task

Answer 10

A memory task in which a small amount of information is briefly presented and then the participant is distracted from rehearsing the information for a variable period of time, after which the participant has to recall the information.

Question 11

maintenance rehearsal

Answer 11

A type of rehearsal in short-term memory in which the information is repeated over and over again in order to maintain it.

Question 12

working memory

Answer 12

A more detailed version of short-term memory that includes the mechanisms that allow short-term memory to accomplish its tasks.

Question 13

long- term memory (LTM)

Answer 13

The memory stage in which information is stored for a long period of time (perhaps permanently) and whose capacity is essentially unlimited.

Question 14

explicit (declarative) memory

Answer 14

long-term memory for factual knowledge and personal experiences. This type of memory requires a conscious effort to remember and entails making declarations about the information remembered.

Question 15

semantic memory

Answer 15

Explicit memory for factual knowledge.

Question 16

episodic memory

Answer 16

explicit memory for personal experiences.

Question 17

implicit (nondeclarative) memory

Answer 17

Long-term memory for procedural tasks, classical conditioning, and priming effects. This type of memory does not require conscious awareness or the need to make declarations about the information remembered.

Question 18

procedural memory

Answer 18

Implicit memory for cognitive and motor tasks that have a physical procedural aspect to them.

Question 19

priming

Answer 19

The implicit influence of an earlier presented stimulus on the response to a later stimulus. This influence is independent of conscious memory for the earlier stimulus.

Question 20

amnesic

Answer 20

A person with severe memory deficits following brain surgery or injury.

Question 21

anterograde amnesia

Answer 21

The inability to form new explicit long-term memories for events following surgery or trauma to the brain. Explicit memories formed before the surgery or trauma are left intact.

Question 22

retrograde amnesia

Answer 22

the disruption of memory for the past, especially episodic information for events before, especially just before, surgery or trauma to the brain.

Question 23

infantile/child amnesia

Answer 23

Our inability as adults to remember events that occurred in our lives before about three years of age.

Question 24

free recall task

Answer 24

A memory task in which a list of items is presented one at a time and then the participant is free to recall them in any order.

Question 25

primacy effect

Answer 25

The superior recall of the early portion of a list relative to the middle of the list in a one-trial free recall task.

Question 26

recency effect

Answer 26

The superior recall of the latter portion of a list relative to the middle of the list in a one-trial free recall task.