Memory Flashcards
Memory
The ability to retain information over time through the process of
encoding, storing, and retrieving.
Encoding
placing new info into memory
Storage
Works in various ways. the process by which the brain can store facts or events so that they can be helpful in the future
Retrieving
Works in various ways. remembering the information or events that were previously encoded and stored in the brain.
Sensory Memory
A process that holds sensory info for an instant to several secs.
Iconic Memory
holds visual images for about a quarter of a sec.
Echoic Memory
holds auditory info for about 1 or 2 secs.
Why do we need sensory memory
- Prevents you from being overwhelmed by all the info.
- Makes the world seem smooth and continuous
- Gives you a moment to pay attention to it.
Short Term Memory (STM)
2 features:
Limited duration: About 20 secs, or until we use the info
Limited capacity: the “magic number” 7+2
Limited duration
About 20 secs, or until we use the info
Limited capacity
the “magic number” 7+2
Long Term Memory (LTM)
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)
Flashbulb memories
highly vivid and detailed ‘snapshot’ of a moment in which a consequential, surprising and emotionally arousing piece of news was learned.
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)
Schema theory
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.
The assimilation bias
don’t believe what we see, we see what we believe.
Assimilation
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.
Accommodation
We modify our schema to fit the new data.
We change our preexisting beliefs so that they make room for (accommodate) the
new info.
The hindsight bias
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
