Glossary Flashcards
The inability to retrieve information from our memory stores, theories of forgetting can tell us that we forget things due to availability (displacement) or accessibility (cue-dependency) problems. This is called what?
Forgetting
What is information processing?
- Similar to a computer we input information, process and provide an output.
- Information is taken in by the senses before being processed in the brain.
What is the ability to retain and reproduce mental or sensory impressions. Which includes encoding, storing and retrieving information?
Memory
Describe retrieval?
The process of locating and recalling a stored memory.
A memory is retrieved from your LTM store e.g. Recalling the number of pps involved in a study.
What is the operation of holding or retaining information in memory after it has been registered?
Storage.
Psychologists are interested in how much we store, how long we store memories for and how we store them.
What is it called when there is a limit to the amount of informations that can be stored in our memories at any particular time?
Capacity
Describe what Duration is?
The length of time that information that can be kept in our memory.
What is encoding?
How information is registered as a memory. It involves changing sensory input into a form of code to be processed by the memory system.
* Encoding can be structurally (visual), acoustic (audio) or semantic (meaning).
What is the name of a limited capacity system used for storing information for short periods?
STM - Short Term Memory.
The STM stores information in auditory form which can stay in the store for up to 20 seconds.
* It can hold between 5-9 items of information.
What’s Long Term Memory (LTM)?
- An unlimited capacity system used for storing information for long periods.
- Information is held here largely in semantic form.
- Information can potentially stay in the store forever, and can hold an infinite amount of information.
