Chapter 6 Flashcards
Memory
An active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, and organizes it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage
Encoding
The set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems
Storage
Holding on to information for some period of time
Retrieval
Getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used
Information-processing Model
- process similar to the way a computer processes memory
Encoding, storage, retrieval
Parallel distributed processing model (PDP)
memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network of neural connections
Levels-of-Processing Model
- information that is more “deeply processed”, or processed according to its meaning rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the words, will be remembered more efficiently and for longer
Sensory memory
The very first system in memory, in which raw information from the senses is held for a very brief period of time
Iconic memory
Visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second
Eidetic imagery
The ability to access a visual memory for 30 seconds or more
Echoic memory
Auditory sensory memory, lasting only 2-4 seconds
Short-term memory (STM)
The memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used
Selective attention
The ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input
Working memory
An active system that processes the information in short-term memory
Maintenance rehearsal
Practice of saying some information to be remembered over and over in one’s head in order to maintain it in short-term memory
Long-term memory
The system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept
Elaborative rehearsal
A way of increasing the number of retrieval cues for information by connecting with something that is already well known
Nondeclarative (implicit) memory
- type of long-term memory including memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses
- not conscious, but implied to exist because they affect conscious behavior
Anterograde amnesia
Loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma forward, or the inability to form new long-term memories
Declarative (explicit) memory
Type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious and known
Semantic memory
general knowledge (language and information learned in formal education)
Episodic memory
- containing personal information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events
Semantic network model
- information is stored in the brain in a connected fashion, with concepts that are related stored physically closer to each other
Encoding specifity
The tendency for memory of information to be improved if related information (such as surroundings of physiological state) that is available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved
Recall
information to be retrieved must be “pulled” from memory with very few external cues
Recognition
The ability to match a piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact
Serial position effect
Tendency of information at the beginning and end of a body of information to be remembered more accurately than information in the middle of the body of information
Primary effect
Tendency to remember information at the beginning of a body of information better than the information that follows
Recency effect
Tendency to remember information at the end of a body of information better
Automatic encoding
Tendency of certain kinds of information to enter long-term memory with little or no effortful encoding
Flashbulb memories
Type of automatic encoding that occurs because an unexpected event has strong emotional associations for the person remembering it
Constructive processing
Referring to the retrieval of memories in which those memories are altered, revised, or influenced by newer information
Hindsight bias
The tendency to falsely believe, through revision of older memories to include newer information, that one could have correctly predicted the outcome of an event
Misinformation effect
The tendency of misleading information presented after an event to alter the memories of the event itself
Curve of forgetting
A graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very far within first hour after learning a list and then tapers off gradually
Distributed practice
Spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study periods
Encoding failure
Failure to process information into memory
Memory trace
Physical change in brain that occurs when a memory is formed
Decay
Loss of memory due to passage of time, during which memory trace is not used
Disuse
Another name for decay, assuming that memories that are not used will eventually decay and disappear
Proactive interference
Memory problem that occurs when older information prevents or interferes with the learning or retrieval of newer information
Retroactive interference
Memory problem that occurs when newer information prevents or interferes with the retrieval of older information
Consolidation
The changes that take place in the structure and functioning of neurons when a memory is formed
Retrograde amnesia
Loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backward, or loss of memory for the past
Anterograde amnesia
Difficulty remembering anything new
