Chapter 7- Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
Memory is the storage of information in the brain for later access that allows learning to persist and guide our future behavior
What is encoding?
Encoding occurs as we first perceive information in our environment and, in concert with our thoughts and feelings, convert it into a form ready for storage
What is storage?
Storage is the maintenance of the encoded information in our brains for later access; can be very brief to potentially a lifetime
What is retrieval?
Retrieval occurs when we access information stored in the brain from past experience
What influences false memories?
Memories may be influenced by information presented after an event, potentially causing a false memory
What is the misinformation effect?
The misinformation effect occurs when misleading information causes us to integrate the misinformation into our original memory
What is imagination inflation?
Imagination inflation occurs when there is a boost in confidence associated with the misleading information
What is source memory?
Source memory is the ability to recall the context in which we acquired a memory
What is source amnesia?
Source amnesia occurs when we cannot remember where our memories come from, even though we remember the event
What is an error in source monitoring?
When we forget whether the source of our facts was an article or a news feed
What is an error in reality monitoring?
When we forget whether we experienced or imagined an event
How are false memories created?
false memories depend on recollected gist memory, the general global aspects of the supposed event, rather than the verbatim memory, the specific details
What are levels of processing?
Levels of processing refers to the concept that encoding is an active process, which can occur at multiple levels on a continuum from shallow to deep
What is shallow encoding?
Shallow encoding uses appearances, such as how something looks or sounds
What is deep encoding?
Deep encoding relies on processing information in a manner that goes beyond appearance to involve its significance and meaning
What is semantic encoding?
Semantic encoding is a form of deep encoding that operates on the meaning of events and yields better memory than shallow encoding
What is self-referential encoding?
Self-referential encoding capitalizes on our self-fascination, resulting in a very strong memory for events that are encoded relative to our self-concept
What is the multistore model of memory?
The multistore model of memory proposes that information flows from our senses through three levels of memory storage
What is sensory memory?
Sensory memory is characterized by substantial storage capacity but also extreme fragility and very limited duration
What is an afterimage?
An afterimage is an image continuing to appear in your vision after the exposure to the original image has ceased
What is short-term memory?
In short-term memory, information from all senses can be held from seconds to less than a minute before being either stored more permanently or forgotten
What is long-term memory?
Information can be held in long-term memory for hours to many years, and potentially for a lifetime
What is iconic memory?
Iconic memory is sensory memory pertaining towards vision
What is echoic memory?
Echoic memory is sensory memory pertaining towards hearing
What is the function of neural persistence?
Sensory memory is supported by a brief neural persistence, which is a continued activity in neurons after a stimulus ceases, which rapidly fades
What is chunking?
Chunking is a process of grouping separate stimuli into meaningful wholes or categories
What is working memory?
Working memory enhances the duration of short-term memories and facilitates their transfer into long-term storage
What is rehearsal?
Rehearsal is the process of actively maintaining information in working memory
What are the three parts of working memory?
The phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and the central executive
What is the serial position curve?
The serial position curve describes how the position of an item in a sequence affects recall accuracy
What are the important regions on the serial position curve?
The primacy effect, which occurs for the items at the beginning of the list, and the recency effect which contain the last words in the sequence
What disorders may hinder the recency effect/primacy effect?
People who have Alzheimer’s or schizophrenia do not show a recency effect, and people who can’t form long-term memories do not show a primacy effect
What is amnesia?
Amnesia is the loss of memory due to brain damage or trauma
What is anterograde amnesia?
Anterograde amnesia is the incapacity to form new long-term memories
What is retrograde amnesia?
Retrograde amnesia impairs memories prior to the date of brain damage but still permits the individual to place new experiences into long-term memory
What is consolidation?
Consolidation is the neurobiological process whereby memory storage is stabilized and strengthened
What is consolidation?
Consolidation is the neurobiological process whereby memory storage is stabilized and strengthened
What is Hebbian learning?
Hebbian learning is where when two neurons fire together, their connection grows stronger, increasing the chances that when one neuron fires it will cause the firing of the next
What is long-term potentiation (LTP)
Long-term potentiation is regarded as the most likely cellular mechanism supporting long-term memory
What is short-term memory in terms of LTP?
Short-term memory is associated only with short-term presynaptic changes, which results in more release of the neurotransmitter
What is long-term memory in terms of LTP?
Long-term memory is also associated with increased presynaptic changes, specifically to create more neurotransmitter receptors
What is reconsolidation?
Reconsolidation is the retrieval of an original memory that undergoes consolidation again, rendering it vulnerable to change
What techniques help dislodge memories through reconsolidation?
An ECT can dislodge memories, forgetting therapy, propanol, etc.
What are the two branches of long-term memory?
Explicit memory and implicit memory
What is explicit/implicit memory?
Explicit memory is a form of memory that involves intentional and conscious remembering; implicit memory occurs without intentional recollection or awareness and is measured indirectly through the influence of prior learning on behavior
What is procedural memory?
Procedural memory is the gradual increase of a motor skill that comes from experience
What is priming?
Priming is a process in which previous exposure to a stimulus enhances a person’s processing and response to that stimulus when it is presented again
What is affective conditioning (classical conditioning)?
Affective conditioning is the learning between associations of stimuli to responses
What is episodic memory?
Episodic memory involves the explicit recollection of personal experience that requires piecing together the elements of the specific time and place
What is semantic memory?
Semantic memory is the explicit memory supporting your knowledge about the world, including concepts and facts
Damage to what brain regions may cause the loss the episodic/semantic memory?
The hippocampus is critical for episodic memory, but the loss of semantic memory is associated with the degeneration of the surrounding later and anterior temporal lobe
What is semantic dementia? What is semantic satiation?
Semantic dementia is the loss of memory for meaning in both verbal and nonverbal domains; Semantic satiation is where the repetition of a word can make that word sound meaningless
What is retrospective memory? What is prospective memory?
Retrospective memory involves remembering things we have done in the past; prospective memory involves remembering thigs we need to do in the future
What are flashbulb memories?
Flashbulb memories are extremely vivid memories of emotionally significant events as if the moment were caught in time like a photograph
What is free recall?
In free recall, information is accessed without any cues to aid retrieval
What are retrieval cues?
When given some hints, information related to the stored memories helps bring those memories back to mind, although they appeared to have faded from memory
What is cued recall?
Cued recall is where recall from memory is accompanied by retrieval cues or hints, yielding much more effective results than free recall
What is recognition?
Recognition memory is a form of retrieval that relies on identifying information that you have previously seen or experienced; such as recognizing someone’s face
What is encoding specificity?
Encoding specificity refers to how retrieval is best when it specifically recreates the way information was initially encoded
What is the doorway effect?
Simply walking through a doorway influences memory retrieval because the context changes as you pass through a door into another room
What is state-dependent retrieval?
State-dependent retrieval is the increased likelihood of remembering when a person is in the same mental state during both encoding and retrieval
What is mood-dependent retrieval?
Mood-dependent retrieval is an instance of the encoding specificity principle extended to your emotional states
What is the most effective learning strategy?
Self-testing/retrieval practice
What is the spacing effect?
The spacing effect demonstrates that information is better remembered when encoding is spaced over time
What is the forgetting curve?
The forgetting curve hypothesized the decline of memory retention in time
What is the forgetting curve?
The forgetting curve hypothesized the decline of memory retention in time
What is trace decay theory?
Trace decay theory states that if a person does not access and use a memory, the memory trace will weaken or decay over time and will be less available for later retrieval
What is the interference theory?
The interference theory of forgetting argues that forgetting in long-term memory is related not to the passage of time but to interference created by integrating new and old information in the brain as time passes
What is retroactive interference?
Retroactive interference is the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
What is proactive interference?
Proactive interference is the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information
What is hyperthymesia?
Hyperthymesia is a condition in which people possess extremely detailed autobiographical memory
What is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon?
The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is a failure to retrieve information, often the name of a person, though we are confident it is stored in memory
What is motivated forgetting?
Motivated forgetting occurs when individuals intentionally try to forget information so that they are less likely to retrieve it later
What is encoding failure?
Encoding failure occurs when information never makes it into long-term memory
What is infantile amnesia?
Infantile amnesia is the inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories from the first few years of life
What is the reminiscence bump?
The reminiscence bump is the increased proportion of autobiographic memories from youth and early adulthood observed in adults
