Human Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

Acronym

A

A made up word where each letter represents a word to be remembered
ie. Roy G. Biv for the colours of the rainbow

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2
Q

Acrostic

A

A poem where every line begins with a letter to represent a word to be remembered
ie. Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge for music notes

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3
Q

Amygdala

A

Critical component to the creation of memories of learned fears

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4
Q

Anterograde Amnesia

A

Inability to create new long term memories

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5
Q

Attention

A

Focusing in on specific events or stimuli

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6
Q

Chunk

A

Familiar stimuli being stored as a familiar unit

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7
Q

Clustering

A

Tendency to remember related items in groups

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8
Q

Conceptual Hierarchy

A

Classifications of things

ie. Dogs > Breeds

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9
Q

Connectionist Models

A
  • Resemble semantic networks
  • Specific bits of information is represented by a specific pattern of activation in the network
  • Information lies in the strength of connections
  • Same as PDP
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10
Q

Consolidation

A
  • The act of encoding information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory
  • Happens in the hippocampus
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11
Q

Context Cues

A

Retrieval cues based on the context that an event was encoding during
ie. Remembering what you did when you got out of bed by imagining your morning

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12
Q

Decay Theory

A

A theory that states memories are lost due to the passing of time

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13
Q

Declarative Memory System

A

Contains factual information

ie. grammar, faces, dog breeds

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14
Q

Destination Memory

A

Remembering who you told information to

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15
Q

Distributed Practice

A

Spreading study time across multiple sessions

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16
Q

Dual-Coding Theory

A
  • Created by Allan Pavio
  • States that encoding a visual image as well as verbal information assists in retrieval because two codes are better than one
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17
Q

Elaboration

A

Relating information to other information while encoding

ie. “you have a dog? I have a dog!”

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18
Q

Encoding Specificity Principle

A

States that successful retrieval depends on how much the retrieval cues match up with the memory code

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19
Q

Episodic Memory System

A

Contains events or information that is personal to you and is normally dated
ie. Christmas of 2007 was when Tessie came around

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20
Q

Explicit Memory

A

Retention that occurs intentionally

ie. making sure to remember your dogs favourite snacks

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21
Q

Flashbulb Memories

A

Unusually vivid memories of a big event

ie. Knowing where you were and what you were doing when you heard about 9/11

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22
Q

Forgetting Curve

A
  • Created by Hermann Ebbinghaus

- A graph showing the rate at which people tend to forget information

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23
Q

Hindsight Bias

A

The tendency to reconstruct our view on an event after knowing how it ends
ie. saying “I knew it all along” when you find out your dog ate your cookies

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24
Q

Hippocampus

A

Critical in consolidation and long-term memory

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25
Q

Implicit Memory

A

Unintentional retention

ie. remembering what your dog looks like

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26
Q

Interference Theory

A

States that competition from other stimuli could affect the encoding of information

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27
Q

Keyword Method

A

Assigning a concrete word to a concept

ie. Garden for Gordon, the newbie at work who wears green everyday

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28
Q

Level-of-Processing Theory

A
  • States the deeper the processing, the stronger the memory code
  • Shallow processing (structure), intermediate processing (phonemic) and deep processing (semantic)
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29
Q

Link Method

A

Putting objects to be remembered together in a mental image

ie. you need to remember dog food and a brush, so you remember your dog eating while you brush him

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30
Q

Long-Term Memory

A

Unlimited storage system where memories are held over time

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31
Q

Long-Term Potentiation

A

Long-term increase in strength of nerve impulses along specific pathways

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32
Q

Massed Practice

A

Putting all your study time into one practice session

33
Q

Method of Loci

A
  • Creating an imaginary pathway down a familiar route and choosing checkpoints to place objects
    ie. when you imagine yourself passing the corner store, you will see a bag of dog treats
34
Q

Misinformation Effect

A

Memories are influenced by outside information

35
Q

Mnemonic Devices

A

Tactics used to increase recall

36
Q

Motivated Forgetting

A

Tendency to forget events or information one doesn’t want to think about

37
Q

Nondeclarative Memory System

A

Contains skills and abilities that one doesn’t have to think about
ie. riding a bike or walking

38
Q

Overlearning

A

Continuing to learn information that you’ve already seemed to master

39
Q

Parallel Distributed Processing

A
  • Certain memories correspond to certain patterns of activation in connectionist networks
  • Connectionist approach
40
Q

Prefrontal Cortex

A

Contributes to working memory

41
Q

Proactive Interference

A

Old information interferes with the retention of new information

42
Q

Procedural Memory System

A
  • Nondeclaritive memory system

- Memory for actions, skills and conditioned responses

43
Q

Prospective Memory

A

Remembering what one needs to do in the future

ie. Remembering to put the leash on your dog before you take him on a walk

44
Q

Pseudoforgetting

A

Forgetting things one never actually knew in the first place

ie. not being able to pick a real dime out of a line of very convincing fakes

45
Q

Reality Monitoring

A

Deciding whether or not memories were formed from external events or just ones own thoughts or imagination
ie. Did I actually feed the dog or only think about feeding the dog?

46
Q

Recall

A

A measurement of retention where subjects must remember information without any cues
ie. an essay or short answer test

47
Q

Recognition

A

A measurement of retention where subjects must pick the right answer out of a list of potential answers
ie. a multiple choice test

48
Q

Rehearsal

A

Repeating information to oneself in order to move it from short term to long term memory

49
Q

Relational Schemas

A

Schemas relating to people, events and regularities in your experiences

50
Q

Relearning

A

A measurement of retention where the time to learn a concept is compared to the time it takes to relearn a concept one has already learned before

51
Q

Repression

A
  • Freud’s concept that unfavourable memories are pushed down into the unconscious
  • Contributes to motivated forgetting
52
Q

Retention

A

How well one holds information in their memory

53
Q

Retention Interval

A

The amount of time between learning information and having retention measured

54
Q

Retrieval

A

Reaching back to recover information in your memory

ie. unearthing information needed for your final

55
Q

Retrieval Cues

A

Certain clues used to assist in retrieval

ie. remembering where you left your umbrella by reliving the morning in your mind

56
Q

Retroactive Interference

A

New information interferes with the retention of old material

57
Q

Retrograde Amnesia

A

The inability to remember any past events

58
Q

Retrospective Memory

A

Remembering past events

59
Q

Schema

A

An idea about what is expected from people, places or events based on past experiences

60
Q

Self-Referent Encoding

A

Deciding whether or not information is relevant

61
Q

Semantic Memory System

A
  • A network where information is connected to related material
  • The further away a connection is, the further the relation
    ie. Red > Apple > Pear
62
Q

Sensory Memory

A

Keeps sensory information in its original form for a short time
ie. writing in the air with a sparkler

63
Q

Serial-Position Effect

A

Recall is better for information at the beginning or the end of a list or learning session

64
Q

Short-Term Memory

A

Storage system that can hold a limited amount of unrehearsed information for about 20 seconds

65
Q

Source Monitoring

A

Remembering who you’ve told information to

66
Q

Storage

A

Keeping encoded information over a course of time

67
Q

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon (TOTTP)

A

Occurs when information isn’t able to be retrieved, and appears to be just out of reach

68
Q

Transfer-Appropriate Processing

A

Processing of information is similar to the type of processing needed in a measurement of retention
ie. remembering how a word looks for a spelling test

69
Q

Visual Imagery

A
  • Using images to remember information

- Includes link method, method of loci and the keyword method

70
Q

Working Memory

A

Storage system that can hold and maintain a limited amount of information by providing a link between perception, memory and action

71
Q

Working Memory Capacity

A

Ones ability to hold and manipulate information consciously

72
Q

Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin

A
  • Memory model that showed information must pass through two temporary storage units before being placed in a long term storage unit
  • Sensory, short term and long term
73
Q

Sir Frederic Bartlett

A
  • Made subjects read “The War of the Ghosts” and recall it later
  • Found subjects condensed the story and sometimes added details
  • This supported his idea that memory is a reconstruction of events, not an exact recreation
74
Q

Elizabeth Loftus

A
  • Studied the misinformation effect
  • Found that there are 3 stages:
  1. View an event
  2. Subjects are exposed to information about the event, some of which may be misleading
  3. Recall of the event is tested

-Studied this with showing subjects a car crash then asking half of them if they saw any glass when the cars “hit” each other, and the other half, when the cars “smashed” into each other

75
Q

Hermann Ebbinghaus

A
  • Studied forgetting by testing his own recall ability of nonsense syllables
  • His forgetting curve was especially steep but it provided a base for different tests in the future
76
Q

Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart

A
  • Levels of Processing theory
  • Stated that different rates of forgetting occur because certain encoding methods are more durable than others
  • Structural Processing: focusing on what information looks like
  • Phonemic Processing: focusing on what information sounds like
  • Semantic Processing: focusing on the meaning of the information
77
Q

George Miller

A
  • Realized people could only hold a limited amount of information in their short term memory
  • Seven, plus or minus two
78
Q

Endel Tulving

A

-Divided declaritive memory into semantic and episodic memory