CHAPTER 6 Vocab A-N Flashcards
A visual image that persists after a stimulus is removed
Afterimage
A significant memory loss that is too extensive to be due to normal forgettin
Amnesia
Loss of memory for events that occur after a head injury
Anterograde amnesia
Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events
Attention
A group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit
Chunk
the tendency to remember similar or related items in groups
Clustering
The mental processes involved in acquiring knowlege
Cognition
A multilevel classification system based on common properties among items
Conceptual hierarchy
Parallel distributed processing models
Connectionist models
A hypothetical process involving the gradual conversion of information into durable memory codes stored in long-term memories
Consolidation
The idea that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time
Decay theory
Memory for factual information
Declarative memory system
Paivio’s theory that memory is enhanced by forming semantic and visual codes, since either can lead to recall
Dual-coding theory
Linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding
Elaboration
Sending a weak electric current into a brain structure to stimulate it
ESB
Forming a memory code
Encoding
The idea that the value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code
Encoding specificity principle
Chronological or temporally dated recollections of personal experiences
Episodic memory system
Intentional recollection of previous experiences
Explicit memory
Unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events
Flashbulb memories
A graph showing retention and forgetting over time
Forgetting curve
The part of the brain that includes the cerebellum and two structures found in the lower part of the brainstem; the medulla and the pons
Hindbrain
The tendency to mold one’s interpretation of the past to fit how events actually turned out
Hindsight bias
Type of memory apparent when retention is exhibited on a task that does not require intentional remembering
Implicit memory
The idea that people forget information because of competition from other material
Interference theory
Careful, systematic observation of one’s own conscious experience
Introspection
A mnemonic technique in which one associates a concrete word with an abstract word and generates an image to represent the concrete word
Keyword method
The theory holding that deeper levels of mental processing result in longer-lasting memory of codes
Levels of processing theory
Forming a mental image of items to be remembered in a way that links them together
Link method
An unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of times
Long term memory (LTM)
A long-lasting increase in neural excitability in synapses along a specific neural pathway
Long term potentiation (LTP)
A mnemonic device that involves taking an imaginary walk along a familiar path where images of items to be remembered are associated with certain locations
Method of loci
Strategies for enhancing memory
Mnemonic devices
Purposeful suppression of memories
Motivated forgetting
Memory for actions, skills, and operations
Nondeclarative memory system
