Chapter 7 Flashcards
Decay
Fading of information from memory over time
Interference
Loss of information from memory because of competition from additional incoming information
When trying to recall an event, which of the following processes best describes how that takes place?
We actively reconstruct our memories using cues and information available to us.
In which memory system is information retained for the shortest amount of time?
Sensory Memory
What type of graph would be used to illustrate the primacy and recency effects?
Serial Position Curve
Priming
Our ability to identify a stimulus more easily or more quickly after we’ve encountered similar stimuli
Procedural memory
Memory for how to do things, including motor skills and habits
Semantic Memory
Our knowledge of facts about the world
Episodic Memory
Recollection of events in our lives
Implicit memory
Memories we don’t deliberately remember or reflect on consciously
Explicit Memory
Memories we recall intentionally and of which we have conscious awareness
Procedural memory
Memory for how to do things, including motor skills and habits
Types of Long-Term Memory
Semantic
Episodic
Explicit
Implicit
Serial Position Curve
Graph depicting both primacy and regency effects on people’s ability to recall items on a list
Recency Effect
Tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well
Permastore
Type of long-term memory that appears to be permanent
Primacy effect
Tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well
Long-Term memory
Relatively enduring (from minutes to years) retention of information stored regarding our facts, experiences, and skills.
Short term Memory
Memory system that retains information for limited duration
Sensory Memory
Brief storage of perceptual informatin before it is passed to short-term memory
Iconic memory
Visual sensory information (In the case of TV, Youtube, etc)
Memory illusion
False but subjectively compelling memory
Echoic Memory
Auditory Sensory Memory
The Role of Attention
To encode something, we must first attend it // allows people to focus on information in order to create memories.
Encoding
Process of getting information into our memory banks
Essentially to remember something we first need to make sure the information is in a format our memories can use. No encoding = No memory. Encoding is getting information into our memory banks
Mnemonic
A learning aid, strategy, or device that enhances recall
Next-In-Line effect
The cognitive bias that causes a person to have lower recall for events that happened right before or after a performance
Mnemonic methods
Pegword Method
Method of Loci
Keyword Method
Pegword Method
Rhyming is a key component of the pegword method
(Associate each number in a list with a word that rhymes with the number. EX: one is a bun 1 two is a show 2 three is a tree 3)
Method of Loci
Relies of imagery of places
(If you need to recall 10 words, imagine 10 locations along your route)
Storage
Process of Keeping information in memory
Schema
Is an organized knowledge structure or mental model that we’ve store in memory
Retrieval Cues
Hint that makes it easier for us to recall information
Retrieval
Reactivation or reconstruction of experiences from our memory stores
Schema and Memory Mistakes
Our schema can lead us to biases and overgeneralizations, painting all members/chain of events of a category with the same broad brush.
Three ways psychologists assess people’s memory in major ways (The Three Rs)
Recall
Recognition
Relearning
Recall
Generating previously remembered information (Think an exam in form of an essay)
Recognition
Selecting previously remembered information from an array of options (Think of an exam in form of multiple choice questions)
Relearning
Reacquiring knowledge that we’d previously learned but largely forgotten over time
(Think when you’ve previously studied something and restudy it again, it comes back easily)
Law of distributed versus massed practice
Studying information in small increments over time (distributed) versus in long-term retention, so its better to spread out your studying in small increments over a brief amount of time
Encoding Specificity
Phenomenon of remembering something better when the conditions under which we retrieve information are similar to the conditions under which we encoded it
Tip-Of-The-Tongue (TOT) Phenomenon
(TOT) Experience in knowing that we know something but being unable to access it
Context-dependent learning
Superior retrieval of memories when the external context of the original memories matches the retrieval context
Psychologists measure people’s memory abilities by assessing three capacities: __________.
recall, recognition, and relearning
A memory that is actually false but “feels real” and can be triggered by, for example, looking at a list of associated words, is called a(n) __________.
Memory Illusion
The Elusive Engram
The physical trace of each memory in the brain
Retrograde amnesia
Loss of memories from out past
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
(LTP) Gradual strengthening of the connections amon neurons from repetitive stimulation
Amygalda
Emotional component of memories
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to encode new memories from our experiences
The role of the Amygdala
The amygdala is where the emotional components of these and other memories, especially those governing fear are stored.
Hippocampus
Factual component of memories
The primary cognitive impairments in patients with Alzheimer’s disease are related to __________.
Language and memory
What is the general progression of memory loss for patients with Alzheimer’s disease?
Memory for recent events fades first, with distant memories usually being the last to go
The connections among neurons gradually strengthen over time and do so by means of repetitive stimulation. This process is known as __________.
Long-term potentiation
Over time, children develop greater knowledge of their own memory abilities and limitations. The term used to describe this is _________.
Meta-Memory
There are various techniques available to help people improve their ability to recall material. For example, when you remember something new by connecting it mentally to something you already know, you are using __________.
Elaborative rehearsal
George Sperling’s partial report method studies from the 1960s demonstrated that when a display of 12 letters was viewed, participants retained all of the letters in _____________ but not all of them could be transferred to short-term memory.
Sensory memory
Unintentional plagiarism has been attributed to __________, which occurs when someone says they forgot having been exposed to the plagiarized material earlier and thought they had created it themselves.
Cryptomnesia
Zhenya remembers that Edmonton is the capital of Alberta. Aline remembers that they lived in Edmonton when tehy were 12 years old. Zhenya is demonstrating _________ memory, whereas Alina is demonstrating __________ Memory.
Semantic; episodic
Without even noticing that you are doing it, what memory technique do you use to remember larger quantities of information, even though your short-term memory capacity only holds about nine bits of information?
Chunking
When we have encountered a stimulus before, we are able to identify it more quickly and easily. The term for this sub-type of implicit memory is __________.
Priming
Our memory for how to do things is called ________.
Procedural Memory
When we are not sure where a memory really came from (“Did it actually happen? Or was it all a dream?”) we can use cues such as how vivid and detailed the memory is to determine the answer. This process is called __________.
Source Monitoring
__________ allows you to remember auditory stimuli for up to 5 or 10 seconds.
Echoic Memory
Meta-Memory
Knowledge about our own memory abilities and limitations
Infantile Amnesia
INability of adults to remember person experiencees that took place before an early age
Even before we are born, we can show signs of ___________ memory through habituation.
Implicit
Source monitoring confusion
Lack of clarity about the origin of a memory
Hypnotic age regression
In which therapists use hypnosis to “Return” clients to the psychological state of childhood
Imagination Inflation
Imagining an event inflates confidence in the likelihood that it occurred
Guided Imagery
In which therapist ask clients to imagine past events
Source Monitoring
Refers to our efforts to identify the origins (sources) of a memory
Suggestive Memory Technique
Procedure that encourages patients to recall memories that may or may not have taken place
Misinformation effect
creations of fictitious memories by providing misleading information about an event after it takes place
Flashbulb Memories
Emotional memory that is extraordinarily vivid and detailed
Event Plausibility
There are limits to how far we can go in implanting false memories
Scientists devise ____________ in order to ensure that the memories elicited in their false-memory-implantation experiments are actually false
Existence Proofe