Chapter 5- Remembering Flashcards
Memory Traces
theory supposes that memories are discreet packets containing specific details about events we encounter-we can conceptualize memory as a series of snapshots
Decay vs interference
do memories decay like fruits? or are they replaced by new memories?
Short term forgetting
information presented just before a distraction tends to be forgotten easily
Brown-Peterson Paradigm
looks at short term forgetting-regardless of if its a word, or series of letters.
Aging research
performance on tasks like brown peterson paradigm-each name has inherently less context-30 bobs, vs a young person knowing only 5 bobs
Support for trace decay
Brown peterson paradigm; despite not overloading participants’ short term memory capacity, knowledge is systematically lost over time
mystic writing pad model
a model of memory based on a toy writing tablet that retains fragments of old messages even after they have been erased. In time, these fragments accumulate and begin to overlap, so that they become increasingly hard to read
Reappearance Hypothesis
same memory can reappear, unchanged, again and again
Flashbulb memories
vivid detailed memories of signficant events
Now Print! theory
Especially significant experiences are immediately photocopied and preserved in long term memory
Consolidation theory
classic theory that memory traces of an event are not fully formed immediately after that event, but take some time to consolidate
Retroactive interference
A decline in the recall of one event as a result of a later event
Reconsolidation
hypothetical process whereby a memory trace is revised and reconsolidated
Method of repeated reproduction
one participant is given multiple opportunities to recall a story over time
Method of serial reproduction
one participant writes down what he or she can recall of a previously read story. A’s version is given to a second participant (B) who reads it and then tries to reproduce it, B’s version is given to C, so on
Rationalization
the attempt to make memory as coherent and sensible as possible
Schema (bartlett)
an active mass of organized past reactions that provides a setting that guides our behavior
Body schema
also known as body image; schematic representation of his or her body, what allows us to move around successfully in the world
Penfield Homunculus
A map of the sensory cortex that shows where the various parts of the body are represented; the size of each part is proportional to the area of the cortex that represents it
Selection
the hypothesis that we select informatoin both as we recieve it and as we recall it
Abstraction
The hypothesis that we tend to remember only rhe gist, not the specifics, of what we experience
Interpretation
hypothesis that we interpret information by making infrerences, and then remember the inferences as part of the orginal
Integration
the hypothesis that we abstract the meaning of an ebent and then put that meaning togethernwith the rest of our knowledge to form a coherent, consistent whole
misinformation effect
hypothesis that misleading post-event information can become integrated with memory for the original event
source monitoring framework
a theory of the reason people sometimes fail to distinguish between a real and an imagined event
Script
a series of expectations concerning actions and events that are appropriate in a particular situation
Life script
A cultural narrative that guides autobiographical memories and prescribes the age norms for important events in an individual’s life
levels of processing
a continuum that ranges from registering an event purely in terms of its physical characteristics to analyzing it in terms of its relationship to other things that you know
Elaboration
Adding to or enriching information by relating it to other information
Distinctiveness
The precision with which an item is encoded
Specific and general levels of representation
As people age they tend to forget specific details but to remember deeper more general meanings
Lab based approach to memory research
An approach that emphasizes controlled laboratory as opposed to real world research in the search for general principles
Nonsense syllables
Nonsense words consisting of a consonant followed by a vowel followed by a consonant
Forgeting curve
Ebbinghaus’s findings that the rate at which information is forgeotten is greatest immediately after the information has been acquired, and declines more gradually over time
Jost’s law of forgetting
of two memory traces of equal strength, the younger trace will decay faster than the older one
Ribot’s law of retrograde amnesia
older memories are less likely to be lost a s a results of brain damage than are newer memories
Law of progressions and pathologies
a “last in, first out” principle referring to the possibility that the last system to emerge is the first to show the effects of degeneration
Ecological approach to the study of memory
An approach that emphasizes real world complexities in its investigations to discover general principles
Permastore
Bahrick’s term fir the state of relative permanence in which he found that some kinds of memory can be retained over very long periods of time
