Chapter 7: Memory Key Terms

Question 1

Memory:

Answer 1

The ability to take in, solidify, store, and use information; also the store of what has been learned and remembered.

Question 2

Encoding:

Answer 2

The process by which the brain attends to, takes in, and integrates new information; the first stage of long-term memory formation.

Question 3

Automatic processing:

Answer 3

Encoding of information that occurs with little effort or conscious attention to the task.

Question 4

Effortful processing:

Answer 4

Encoding of information that occurs with careful attention and conscious effort.

Question 5

Mnemonic device:

Answer 5

A method devised to help us remember information, such as a rhyme or an acronym.

Question 6

Consolidation:

Answer 6

The process of establishing, stabilizing, or solidifying a memory; the second stage of long-term memory formation.

Question 7

Storage:

Answer 7

The retention of memory over time; the third stage of long-term memory formation.

Question 8

Hierarchies:

Answer 8

Ways of organizing related pieces of information from the most specific feature they have in common to the most general.

Question 9

Associative network:

Answer 9

A chain of associations between related concepts.

Question 10

Retrieval:

Answer 10

The recovery of information stored in memory; the fourth stage of long-term memory.

Question 11

Level of processing:

Answer 11

The concept that the more deeply people encode information, the better they will recall it.

Structural, phonemic, and semantic

Question 12

Flashbulb memory:

Answer 12

A detailed snapshot memory for what we were doing when we first heard of a major, public, and emotionally charged event.

Question 13

Three-stage model of memory:

Answer 13

The classification of memories based on duration as sensory, short-term, and long-term.

Question 14

Sensory memory:

Answer 14

The part of memory that holds information in its original sensory form for a very brief period of time, usually about half a second or less.

Question 15

Short-term memory:

Answer 15

The part of memory that temporarily (for 2 to 30 seconds) stores a limited amount of information before it is either transferred to long-term storage or forgotten.

Question 16

Long-term memory:

Answer 16

The part of memory that has the capacity to store a vast amount of information for as little as 30 seconds and as long as a lifetime.

Question 17

Working memory:

Answer 17

The part of memory required to attend to and solve a problem at hand; relies on short-term memory, but they are not the same thing.

Carried out by a master attentional control system:

Central executive - decides where to focus attention and selectively hones in on specific aspects of a stimulus, then information is temporarily stored in EITHER the:

Visuospatial sketchpad - briefly provides storage for visual and spatial sensations
Episodic buffer - briefly provides storage for specific events or experiences
Phonological loop - briefly stores sound or linguistic information AND ASSISTS CENTRAL EXECUTIVE by providing extra storage for up to 30 seconds at a time.

Question 18

Chunking:

Answer 18

Breaking down a list of items to be remembered into a smaller set of meaningful units.

Question 19

Rehearsal:

Answer 19

The process of repeatedly practicing material, so that it enters long-term memory.

Question 20

Serial position effect:

Answer 20

The tendency to have better recall for items in a list according to their position in the list.

Primacy effect - preferentially recall items at the beginning of a list
Recency effect - preferentially recall items at the end of a list

Question 21

Implicit memory:

Answer 21

A kind of memory made up of knowledge based on previous experience, such as skills that we perform automatically once we have mastered them; resides outside conscious awareness.

Although we can perform many skills automatically, we don’t have ready access to the memory of the many steps they require (we can’t describe these processes very well)

Question 22

Procedural memory:

Answer 22

A kind of IMPLICIT MEMORY made up of implicit knowledge for almost any behavior or physical skill we have learned.

Question 23

Priming:

Answer 23

A kind of IMPLICIT MEMORY that arises when recall is improved by earlier exposure to the same or similar stimuli.

Question 24

Explicit memory:

Answer 24

Knowledge that consists of the conscious recall of facts and events; also known as declarative memory.

Two kinds: semantic and episodic

Question 25

Semantic memory:

Answer 25

A form of memory that recalls facts and general knowledge, such as what we learn in school.

Question 26

Episodic memory:

Answer 26

The form of memory that recalls the experiences we have had.

Question 27

Highly superior autobiographical memory (HASM):

Answer 27

Occurs when people can recall in considerable detail personal events from almost any day of their adolescent and adult life.

Question 28

Long-term potentiation:

Answer 28

The strengthening of a synaptic connection that results when a synapse of one neuron repeatedly fires and excites another neuron.

When synapses fire more readily, learning becomes easier and more efficient

Neurons that fire together, wire together.

Question 29

Prefrontal cortex:

Answer 29

The frontmost region of the frontal lobes; plays an important role in attention, appropriate social behavior, impulse control, and working memory.

Question 30

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS):

Answer 30

A method of treatment that can stimulate both cortical and deeper brain structures; unlike rTMS it can be used during movement.

Question 31

Reconsolidation:

Answer 31

Occurs when reactivation of a memory weakens the original memory and a new consolidation happens, resulting in a slightly different memory.

Question 32

False memories:

Answer 32

Memories for events that never happened but were suggested by someone or something.

Question 33

Recovered memory:

Answer 33

A memory from a real event that was encoded, stored, but not retrieved for a long period of time until some later event brings it suddenly to consciousness.

Question 34

Suggestibility:

Answer 34

A problem with memory that occurs when memories are implanted in our minds based on leading questions, comments, or suggestions by someone else or some other source.

Question 35

Misinformation effect:

Answer 35

Occurs when information learned after an original event (e.g., crime) is wrong or misleading but gets incorporated into the memory as true.

Question 36

Forgetting:

Answer 36

The weakening or loss of memories over time.

Question 37

Interference:

Answer 37

Disruption of memory because other information competes with the information we are trying to recall.

Two ways: retroactive interference and proactive interference

Question 38

Retroactive interference:

Answer 38

One type of interference; Disruption of memory because NEW experiences or information INTERFERES with PREVIOUSLY learned experiences or information.

Question 39

Proactive interference:

Answer 39

One type of interference; Disruption of memory because PREVIOUSLY learned information INTERFERES with the learning of NEW information.

Question 40

Forgetting curve:

Answer 40

A graphic depiction of how recall steadily declines over time.

Question 41

Absent-mindedness:

Answer 41

A form of forgetfulness that results from inattention.

Question 42

Blocking:

Answer 42

The inability to retrieve some information that once was stored.

Question 43

Repression:

Answer 43

The unconscious act of keeping threatening thoughts, feelings, or impulses out of consciousness.

Question 44

Amnesia:

Answer 44

Memory loss due to brain injury or disease.

Question 45

Anterograde amnesia:

Answer 45

The inability to remember events and experiences that occur after an injury or the onset of a disease.

Question 46

Retrograde amnesia:

Answer 46

An inability to recall events or experiences that happened before the onset of a disease or injury.