Chapter Nine Flashcards
Flashbulb Memory
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event
Memory
The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information
Encoding
The processing of information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning
Storage
The retention of encoded information over time
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage
Richard Atkinson & Richard Shiffrin’s 3 Stage Processing consists of…
Sensory memory, short term memory, and long term memory
Sensory Memory
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system
Short Term Memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly before the information is stored or forgotten
Long Term Memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Working Memory
A newer understanding of short term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and if information retrieved from long term memory.
Automatic Processing
Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.
Effortful Processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Rehearsal
The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage
________ is to memory as Ivan Pavlov is to the study of conditioning
Hermann Ebbinghaus
The amount remembered depends on…
the time spent learning.
Spacing Effect
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long term retention than is achieved through mass study or practice
Serial Position Effect
Our tendency to recall best the first and last items in a list
Visual Encoding
The encoding of picture images
Acoustic Encoding
The encoding of sound, especially the sound of words
Semantic Encoding
The encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words
Self-Reference Effect
Information we can relate to ourselves is processed more deeply and remains more accessible
Imagery
Mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding
Rosy Retrospection
People tend to recall events more positively that they evaluated them
at the time
Mnemonics
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Chunking
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.
Hierarchies
Broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts.
Method of Loci
Developed by Greek scholars and orators as aids to remembering lengthy passages and speeches. They imagined themselves moving through a familiar series of locations, associating each place with a visual representation.
Iconic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic of picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.
Famously demonstrated by George Sperling.
Echoic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.
George Miller
Known for “the Magical Number Seven” which refs to our capacity to only recall 7 (give or take 2) bits of information in our short term memory
The average adult has about ________ bits of information in memory and a storage capacity that will accommodate probably _______ times that amount.
a billion; a thousand to a million
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
An increase in a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for leaning and memory. The term is coined by George Lynch.
Amnesia
The loss of memory
Implicit (Procedural) Memory
Retention independent of conscious recollection
Explicit (Declarative) Memory
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”
Hippocampus
A neural center that is located in the limbic system and helps process explicit memories for storage.
Damage to the left portion of the hippocampus results in difficulty remembering _______ while damage to the right portion leads to difficult recalling ________.
verbal information; visual designs and locations
The ______ plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit memories created by classical conditioning
Cerebellum
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test
Recognition
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple choice test
Relearning
A memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material a second time
(If you’ve learned something before, you will learn it again much quicker than you did before)
Retrieval Cues
Anchor points you can use to access the target information when you want to retrieve it later
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
State Dependent Memory
What we learn in one state is sometimes more easily recalled when we are again in that state
(When you hide something when you’re drunk, you have to be drunk to remember where you hid it)
Déjà Vu (French for “already seen”)
The eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience
Mood-Congruent Memory
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood
The 3 Sins of Forgetting
Absent-mindedness, Transience, Blocking
Absent-Mindedness
Inattention to details produces encoding failure
Transience
Storage decay over time
Blocking
Inaccessibility of stored information
The 3 Sins of Distortion
Misattribution, Suggestibility, Bias
Misattribution
Confusing the source of information
Suggestibility
The lingering effects of misinformation
Bias
Belief-colored recollections
Persistence
The sin of intrusion.
Unwanted memories.
Forgetting Curve
Ebbinghaus’ “discovery” that the course of forgetting is initially rapid and then levels off with time.
Proactive (Forward-Acting) Interference
The disruptive effect of prior learning in the recall of new information
Retroactive (Backward-Acting) Interference
The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
Positive Transfer
The process of learning one skill helps the learning and performance of a separate but similar skill, such as learning Latin will help you learn French
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Proposed by Freud.
Misinformation Effect
Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event
Source Amnesia (AKA Misattribution)
Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard/read about, or imagined. Causes false memories.
Infantile Amnesia
People do not reliably recall events that happened before they were 3
Elizabeth Loftus
Psychologist known for her work in memory. Has conducted over 200 experiments consisting of 20,000 people.
