chapter 5 vocab Flashcards
autobiographical memory
memory for the events of one’s life
consolidation
the process occurring after encoding that is believed to stabilize memory traces
cue overload principle
the principle stating that the more memories that are associated to a particular retrieval cue, the less effective the cue will be in prompting retrieval of any one memory
distinctiveness
the principle that unusual events (in a context of similar events) will be recalled and recognized better than uniform (nondistinctive) events
encoding
the initial experience of perceiving and learning events
encoding specificity principle
the hypothesis that a retrieval cue will be effective to the extent that information encoded from the cue overlaps or matches information in the engram or memory trace
engrams
a term indicating the change in the nervous system representing an event; also, memory trace
episodic memory
memory for events in a particular time and place
flashbulb memory
vivid personal memories of receiving the news of some momentous (and usually emotional) event
misinformation effect
when erroneous information occurring after an event is remembered as having been part of the original event
mnemonic devices
a strategy for remembering large amounts of information, usually involving imaging events occurring on a journey or with some other set of memorized cues
recoding
the ubiquitous process during learning of taking information in one form and converting it into another form, usually one more easily remembered
retrieval
the process of accessing stored information
retroactive interference
the phenomenon whereby events that occur after some particular event of interest will usually cause forgetting of the original event
semantic memory
the more or less permanent store of knowledge that people have
