Chapter 8: Memory Flashcards
The persistence of learning over time through encoding, storage, and retrieval information.
Memory
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
Recognition
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning materials again.
Relearning
The process of getting information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.
Encoding
The process of retaining encoded information over time.
Storage
The process of getting information out of memory storage.
Retrieval
Processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously.
Parallel Processing
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
Sensory Memory
Briefly activated memory of a few items that is later stored or forgotten.
Short-term Memory
The relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system, includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Long-term Memory
A newer understanding of short-term memory; conscious, active processing of both incoming sensory information, and information retrieved from long-term memory.
Working Memory
Retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously know and “declare”.
Explicit Memory
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.
Effortful Processing
Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of familiar or well-learned information, such as sounds, smells, and word meanings.
Unconscious Processing
Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection.
Implicit Memory
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.
Iconic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.
Echoic Memory
Organising items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.
Chunking
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Mnemonics
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through mass study or practice.
Spacing Effect
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information.
Testing Effect
Encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words.
Shallow Processing
Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention.
Deep Processing
Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems.
Semantic Memory
Explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems.
Episodic Memory
A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories—of facts and events—for storage.
Hippocampus
The neural storage of long-term memory.
Memory Consolidation
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or events.
Flashbulb Memory
An increase in a nerve cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory.
Long-term Potentiation
The activation, often unconscious, of particular associations of memory.
Priming
The idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it.
Encoding Specificity Principle
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.
Mood-congruent Memory
Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.
Serial Position Effect
An inability to form new memories.
Anterograde Amnesia
An inability to remember information from one’s past.
Retrograde Amnesia
The forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information.
Proactive Interference
The backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information.
Retroactive Interference
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Repression
A process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again.
Reconsolidation
Occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading information.
Misinformation Effect
Faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined. Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.
Source Amnesia
That eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before”. Cues from a current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.
Deja Vu
