Memory

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

The ability to retain information over time through the process of
encoding, storing, and retrieving.

Question 2

Encoding

Answer 2

placing new info into memory

Question 3

Storage

Answer 3

Works in various ways. the process by which the brain can store facts or events so that they can be helpful in the future

Question 4

Retrieving

Answer 4

Works in various ways. remembering the information or events that were previously encoded and stored in the brain.

Question 5

Sensory Memory

Answer 5

A process that holds sensory info for an instant to several secs.

Question 6

Iconic Memory

Answer 6

holds visual images for about a quarter of a sec.

Question 7

Echoic Memory

Answer 7

holds auditory info for about 1 or 2 secs.

Question 8

Why do we need sensory memory

Answer 8

1. Prevents you from being overwhelmed by all the info.
2. Makes the world seem smooth and continuous
3. Gives you a moment to pay attention to it.

Question 9

Short Term Memory (STM)

Answer 9

2 features:
Limited duration: About 20 secs, or until we use the info
Limited capacity: the “magic number” 7+2

Question 10

Limited duration

Answer 10

About 20 secs, or until we use the info

Question 11

Limited capacity

Answer 11

the “magic number” 7+2

Question 12

Long Term Memory (LTM)

Answer 12

Unlimited duration
a. flashbulb memories
Unlimited capacity
Episodic memory- Knowledge about one’s personal experiences
Childhood amnesia
Semantic memory- General knowledge: Info from books, facts, and definitions of
words, etc
Procedural memory- Info about how to do something that that mostly involve motor
skills. (Signature)

Question 13

Flashbulb memories

Answer 13

highly vivid and detailed ‘snapshot’ of a moment in which a consequential, surprising and emotionally arousing piece of news was learned.

Question 14

Episodic memory

Answer 14

Knowledge about one’s personal experiences
-Childhood amnesia

Question 15

Semantic memory

Answer 15

General knowledge: Info from books, facts, and definitions of words, etc

Question 16

Procedural memory

Answer 16

Info about how to do something that that mostly involve motor skills. (Signature)

Question 17

Schema theory

Answer 17

Cognitive structures that organize our knowledge, beliefs, and past experiences
Organized around Categories, Process Stimulii fast and with little effort.
Whenever we are faced with a new situation, we automatically compare it to our
schemas; helps us understand our experiences.
3 effects:
1. Select “relevant” information
2. Interpret and make sense of new S
3. Schemas are hard to change- those events that don’t fit into our schemas are not
attended to or remembered, those that do are.

Question 18

The assimilation bias

Answer 18

don’t believe what we see, we see what we believe.

Question 19

Assimilation

Answer 19

We modify the new info to fit our schema.
We incorporate new info into our preexisting beliefs, even if it means changing,
distorting or ignoring the info most important elements.
 When faced with new info, we almost always assimilate it. So, new info
“confirms” our expectations, and we tend to overlook, misunderstand and
even reject info that doesn’t fit into our preexisting schemas.

Question 20

Accommodation

Answer 20

We modify our schema to fit the new data.
We change our preexisting beliefs so that they make room for (accommodate) the
new info.

Question 21

The hindsight bias

Answer 21

The tendency to believe that we would have foreseen how something turned out,
after learning the outcome
We overestimate what we can anticipate
The problem with commonsense explanations is not so much that they are wrong,
but that we use them only after we know the outcome:
Out of sight out of mind