6 Memory

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

The ability to remember the things that we have experienced, imagined, and learned

Question 2

Information-processing model

Answer 2

A computerlike model used to describe the way humans encode, store, and retrieve information

Question 3

Sensory registers

Answer 3

Entry points for raw information from the senses

Question 4

Attention

Answer 4

The selection of some incoming information for further processing

Question 5

Short-term memory (STM)

Answer 5

Working memory; briefly stores and processes selected information from the sensory registers

Question 6

Chunking

Answer 6

The grouping of information into meaningful units for easier handling by short-term memory

Question 7

Rote rehearsal

Answer 7

Retaining information in memory simply by repeating it over and over

Question 8

Long-term memory (LTM)

Answer 8

The portion of memory that is more or less permanent, corresponding to everything we “know”

Question 9

Serial position effect

Answer 9

The finding that when asked to recall a list of unrelated items, performance is better for the items at the beginning and end of the list

Question 10

Elaborative rehearsal

Answer 10

The linking of new information in short-term memory to familiar material stored in long-term memory

Question 11

Schema (plural: Schemata)

Answer 11

A set of beliefs or expectations about something that is based on past experience

Question 12

Episodic memory

Answer 12

The portion of long-term memory that stores personally experienced events

Question 13

Semantic memory

Answer 13

The portion of long-term memory that stores general facts and information

Question 14

Procedural memory

Answer 14

The portion of long-term memory that stores information relating to skills, habits, and other perceptual-motor tasks

Question 15

Emotional memory

Answer 15

Learned emotional responses to various stimuli

Question 16

Explicit memory

Answer 16

Memory for information that we can readily express in words and are aware of having; theses memories can be intentionally retrieved from memory

Question 17

Implicit memory

Answer 17

Memory for information that we cannot readily express in words and may not be aware of having; theses memories cannot be intentionally retrieved from memory

Question 18

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Answer 18

Knowing a word, but not being able to immediately recall it

Question 19

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

Answer 19

A long-lasting change in the structure or function of a synapse that increases the efficiency of neural transmission and is thought to be related to how information is stored by neurons

Question 20

Decay theory

Answer 20

A theory that argues that the passage of time causes forgetting

Question 21

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 21

The inability to recall events preceding an accident or injury, but without loss of earlier memory

Question 22

Retroactive interference

Answer 22

The process by which new information interferes with information already in memory

Question 23

Proactive interference

Answer 23

The process by which new information interferes with information already in memory

Question 24

Proactive interference

Answer 24

The process by which information already in memory interferes with new information

Question 25

Mnemonics

Answer 25

Techniques that make material easier to remember

Question 26

Childhood amnesia

Answer 26

The difficulty adults have remembering experiences from their first two years of life

Question 27

Eidetic imagery

Answer 27

The ability to reproduce unusually sharp and detailed images of something one has seen

Question 28

Mnemonist

Answer 28

Someone with highly developed memory skills

Question 29

Flashbulb memory

Answer 29

A vivid memory of a certain event and the incidents surrounding it even after a long time has passed

Question 30

Motor Cortex (memory)

Answer 30

involved in storing procedural memories

Question 31

Frontal lobe (memory)

Answer 31

store semantic and episodic memories

Question 32

Prefrontal cortex (memory)

Answer 32

involved in storage of short-term memories

Question 33

Temporal lobe (memory)

Answer 33

involved in formation and storage of long-term semantic and episodic memories and contributes to the processing of new material in short-term memory

Question 34

Amygdala (memory)

Answer 34

vital to formation of new emotional memories

Question 35

Hippocampus (memory)

Answer 35

formation of new long-term semantic and episodic memories

Question 36

Cerebellum (memory)

Answer 36

storage of procedural memories

Question 37

Sensory Register (information-processing)

Answer 37

Encoded by: visual and auditory registers
Organization: n/a
Duration: up to a few seconds
Retrieval: reconsideration of registered info
Forgetting: decay or masking

Question 38

Short-term Memory (information-processing)

Answer 38

Encoded by: visual and phonological representation
Organization: n/a
Duration: usually 15-20 seconds
Retrieval: rote/maintenance rehearsal
Forgetting: interference or decay

Question 39

Long-term Memory (information-processing)

Answer 39

Encoded by: comprehension, elaborative rehearsal
Organization: logical frameworks (hierarchies/categories)
Duration: perhaps for entire lifetime
Retrieval: cues linked to organized information
Forgetting: retrieval failure or interference