Chapter 7: Memory Flashcards
ability to take in, solidify, store, and use information
memory
Four steps to forming memories
- Encoding
- Consolidation
- Storage
- Retrieval
brain attends to, takes in, and integrates new information
encoding
little effort or conscious attention - encoding that occurs without you meaning for it to happen
automatic processing
ex: remembering what I ate for breakfast without intending to remember
automatic processing
careful attention and conscious effort
effortful processing
method used to help us remember information
mnemonic device
establishing, stabilizing, or solidifying memory
consolidation
retention of memory over time
storage
organize information from most common to most specific
hierarchies
mental frameworks; from experience with people, objects, or events
schemas
ex: set of expectations on the objects, what is supposed to happen, and what to do in a restaurant
restaurant schema
chain of association between related concepts
associative network
ex: strong neural connection between fire engines and the color red
associative network
recovery of information stored in memory
retrieval
aids to memory formation and retrieval
attention, sleep, emotion, depth of processing, retrieval cues, spreading activation, encoding specificity
protects memories from being forgotten; makes memories more accessible to recall
sleep
generally better at remembering emotional memories than factual ones
emotion
detailed snapshot for what we were doing when we first heard about a major, public, and emotionally charged even
flashbulb memory
shallow - just looking at the structure of the word
structural/visual encoding
intermediate - make a judgement on the acoustic formation of the word (rhyming word, etc)
phonemic
deep - when you think about the meaning of words
semantic
prompt that helps access information in memory (question, or can use physical space)
retrieval cues
activation goes to all nodes that are attached to a node that is turned on
spreading activation
ex: when witnessing a robbery, victim isn’t able to describe details of the actual robber
weapons focus
tendency to remember events to be more positive than they actually were
rosy retrospection
classification of memories based on duration as sensory, short term, and long term
three-stage model
memory for your sense information
sensory memory
capacity and duration for sensory memory
capacity: unlimited
duration: fractions of a second
temporary storage system
short term memory
capacity and duration of short term memory
capacity: 7+/- 2 units/pieces of info
duration: about 30 seconds
permanent storage
long term memory
capacity and duration of long term memory
capacity: unlimited
duration: unlimited
once information enters short term memory (4 possibilities)
- can go to long term storage
- engage in rehearsal to keep repeating it in short term memory
- use info in some way
- loss of storage
assuming info gets passed into long term memory (2 possibilities)
- info gets lost over time
- retrieve the information and pass it back to short term memory
holds information in original sensory form for a brief period of time: fraction of a second
sensory memory
sensory memory for visual information
iconic memory
sensory memory for auditory information
echoic memory
U shaped function describes that memory is best at the beginning and end of the list - memory for the stuff in the middle is poor
serial position curve
within the broader curve, remembering stuff from the beginning
primacy effect
good memory for items at the end of a list
recency effect
you have worker systems that are responsible for processing information
working memory model
takes care of memory for visual or spatial memory
visuospatial sketchpad
short term memories for experiences that you have
episodic buffer
processes auditory and/or linguistic information
phonological loop
allocates mental resources to other subsystems
central executive
memories for things you can consciously declare
explicit memory
memories for personal/specific events
episodic memory
memory for facts and information
semantic memory
changes in behavior as a result of experience
implicit memory
knowing how to carry out certain tasks
procedural memory
previous experience influences future behavior
priming
recalibration of perceptual skills from experience
perceptual learning
learning about associations among stimuli
classical conditioning
memories for events that never happened but were suggested by someone or something
false memory
imagining what an experience would have been like if you experienced an event
imagination inflation
memory from a real event that was encoded, stored, but not retrieved for a long period of time until some later events bring it to consciousness
recovered memories
information learned after an original event is wrong or misleading but gets incorporated into the memory as true
misinformation effect
weakening or loss of memories over timeq
forgetting
disruption of memory because other information competes what we are trying to recall
interference
old information makes it difficult to learn new information
proactive interference
new information makes it difficult to recall old information
retroactive interference
gradual fading of physical memory trace
decay
if ___ is the reason why you forget something, you’re never getting that memory back
decay
results from inattention to a critical piece of information (never stored in memory to begin with)
encoding failure
ex: never learned the information in the first place, so you are not able to retrieve
encoding failure
inability to retrieve information that was once stored
blocking
ex: tip of the tongue
blocking
basic defense mechanism that banished anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness
repression
lose memory for things that happened prior to an injury
retrograde
unable to form new memories
anterograde
degenerative disease - gradually gets worse over time
dementia
memory loss has a sudden onset - can be caused by viral infections
amnesia
