chp 7 Flashcards
Retrograde Amnesia
Loss of memory prior to the incident that caused amnesia
Memory
The ability to store and later retrieve information about past events.
Information Processing Approach
An approach to cognition that emphasizes the fundamental mental processes involved in attention, perception, memory, and decision making.
Sensory register
The first memory store in information processing in which stimuli are noticed and are briefly available for further processing. (the 5 senses)
Short term memory
The memory store in which limited amounts of information are temporarily held; called working memory when its active quality is being emphasized.
Long term memory
Memory store in which information that has been examined and interpreted is stored relatively permanently.
Encode
The first step in learning and remembering something, it is the process of getting information into the information processing system, or learning it.
Consolidation (in information processing)
The processing and organizing of information into a form suitable for long-term storage.
Storage (In information processing)
The holding of information in the long-term memory store.
Retrieval
The process of retrieving information from long-term memory when it is needed.
Recognition memory
Identifying an object or event as one that has been experienced before, such as when a person must select the correct answer from several options.
Recall memory
Recollecting or actively retrieving objects, events, and experiences when examples or cues are not provided.
Cued recall memory
Recollecting objects, events, or experiences in response to a hint or cue.
Working memory
A memory store, often referred to as a mental “scratch pad,” that temporarily holds information when it is being actively operated upon or in one’s consciousness.
Central executive
Mechanism that directs attention and controls the flow of information in the working memory system.
Implicit memory
Memory that occurs unintentionally and without consciousness or awareness
Explicit memory
Memory that involves consciously recollecting the past.
Semantic memory
A type of explicit memory consisting of general facts.
Episodic memory
A type of explicit memory consisting of specific episodes that one has experienced.
Anterograde amnesia
An inability to form new memories of recent experiences.
Statistical learning
Detecting patterns or regularities in the world around us in order to learn about the world and make predictions about what to expect.
Deferred imitation
The ability to imitate a novel act after a delay.
Autobiographical memory
Memory of everyday events that the individual has experienced.
Childhood amnesia
A lack of memory for the early years of a person’s life.
Fuzzy Trace Theory
The view that verbatim and general or gistlike accounts of an event are stored separately in memory.
Peseveration error
Mistake made when an information processor continues to use the same strategy that was successful in the past over and over despite the strategy’s lack of success in the current situation.
Rehearsal
A strategy for remembering that involves repeating the items the person is trying to retain.
Elaboration
A strategy for remembering that involves adding something to or creating meaningful links between the bits of information the person is trying to retain.
Metamemory
A person’s knowledge about memory and about monitoring and regulating memory processes.
Metacognition
Knowledge of the human mind and of the range of cognitive processes, including thinking about personal thought processes.
Knowledge base
A person’s existing information about a content area, significant for its influence on how well that individual can learn and remember.
Script
A mental representation of a typical sequence of actions related to an event that is created in memory and that then guides future behaviors in similar settings.
General event representation
Representations that people create over time of the typical sequence of actions related to an event; also called scripts.
Eyewitness memory
Remembering and reporting events the person has witnessed or experienced.
Adaptive strategy choice model
In Siegler’s theory, the ability to select one or more available strategies based on the nature of the task and one’s own motivation and comfort level with the task and the strategies.
Mild cognitive impairment
A level of memory loss between normal loss with age and pathological loss from disease.
Reminiscence bump
Tendency for older adults to recall more information from their teens and 20s than from any other time except the near present.
Life script
The story an individual constructs about his or her life story and tells over and over again.
Constraint seeking questions
In the Twenty Questions task and similar hypothesis-testing tasks, questions that rule out more than one answer to narrow the field of possible choices rather than asking about only one hypothesis at a time.
Selective optimization with compensation
The concept that older people cope with aging through a strategy that involves focusing on the skills most needed, practicing those skills, and developing ways to avoid the need for declining skills.
