Ch. 7: Memory Flashcards
Memory
Capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information (Hermann Ebbinghaus 1850-1909)
Encoding
The process by which the perception of a stimulus or event gets transformed into a memory.
Storage
Retention of encoded information over time
Retrieval
Recovery of the stored information
The multi-store model of memory
Sensory Store –attention–> Short Term Store/Memory (rehearsal and loss of information (the bottle neck)) <–transfer and retrieval–> Long Term Store/Memory
Chunking
the process by which the mind divides large pieces of information into smaller units (chunks) that are easier to retain in short-term memory
Working memory (WM)
A limited-capacity cognitive system that temporarily stores and manipulates information for current use.
Working memory allows for the manipulation of stored information, whereas short-term memory only refers to the short-term storage of information; active vs. passive
Long-term Memory (LTM)
Storehouse of all experiences, events, information, emotions, skills, words, categories, etc.
Preservation of information for retrieval at any later time; has unlimited capacity
Explicit memory
declarative knowledge (with conscious recall)
Memory that is consciously retrieved.
Semantic memory
Memory for facts independent of personal experience.
Facts and general knowlegde
Episodic memory
Memory for one’s past experiences that are identified by a time and place.
Personally experienced events
Implicit memory
Memory that is expressed through responses, actions, or reactions.
Procedural memory
A type of implicit memory that involves skills and habits.
Motor and cognitive skills
- Tying shoes
- Riding a bike
Priming
Enhanced identification of objects and words.
A facilitation in the response to a stimulus due to recent experience with that stimulus or a related stimulus.
Serial Position Effect
The psychological tendency to remember the first (Primacy) and last (Recency) items in a list better than those in the middle (Intermediate).
Schema Theory
A branch of cognitive science concerned with how the brain structures knowledge. A schema is an organized unit of knowledge for a subject or event. It is based on past experience and is accessed to guide current understanding or action.
Schemas (or schemata) are units of understanding that can be hierarchically categorized as well as webbed into complex relationships with one another. For example, think of a house. You probably get an immediate mental image of something out of a kid’s storybook: four windows, front door, suburban setting, chimney.
Mnemonic Devices
techniques a person can use to help them improve their ability to remember something.
amnesia
A deficit in long-term memory—resulting from disease, brain injury, or psychological trauma—in which the individual loses the ability to retrieve vast quantities of information.
retrograde amnesia
A condition in which people lose past memories, such as memories for events, facts, people, or even personal information.
anterograde amnesia
A condition in which people lose the ability to form new memories.
dual-coding hypothesis
information that can be coded verbally and visually will
be remembered more easily than information that can be coded only verbally.
maintenance rehearsal
simply rehearsal by repetition of the item over and over
elaborative rehearsal
type or rehearsal which encodes the information in more meaningful ways, such as thinking about the item conceptually or deciding whether it refers to oneself. In other words, in this type of rehearsal, we elaborate on basic information by linking it in meaningful ways to existing knowledge.
method of loci/memory palace
a mnemonic strategy of associating items you want to remember with physical locations familiar to you
