Chapter 9 (1-21) Flashcards
anterograde amnesia
loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma forward, or the inability to form new long-term memories
constructive processing
referring to the retrieval of memories in which those memories are altered, revised, or influenced by newer information
curve of forgetting
a graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very fast within the first hour after learning a list and then tapers off gradually
decay
loss of memory due to the passage of time, during which the memory trace is not used
declarative (explicit) memory
type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious and known
distributed practice
spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study periods
echoic memory
the brief memory of something a person has just heard
elaborative rehearsal
a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way
encoding
the set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems
encoding failure
failure to process information into memory
encoding specificity
the tendency for memory of information to be improved if related information (such as surroundings or physiological state) available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved
episodic memory
type of declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events
flashbulb memory
type of automatic encoding that occurs because an unexpected event has strong emotional associations for the person remembering it
hindsight bias
the tendency to falsely believe, through revision of older memories to include newer information, that one could have correctly predicted the outcome of an event
iconic memory
visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second
information-processing model
model of memory that assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer processes memory in a series of three stages
levels-of-processing model
model of memory that assumes information that is more “deeply processed,” or processed according to its meaning rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the word or words, will be remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time
long-term memory (LTM)
the system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently
maintenance rehearsal
practice of saying some information to be remembered over and over in one’s head in order to maintain it in short-term memory
memory
an active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, and organizes it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage
memory trace
physical change in the brain that occurs when a memory is formed
