Memory Flashcards
Procedural Memory
Type of long-term memory.
Memories of skills and how to perform them.
These memories are sequential but might be very complicated to describe in words.
Your ability to ride a bicycle is an example of a procedural memory.
Explicit Memories (also called Declarative Memories)
Conscious memories of facts or events we actively tried to remember.
Any memory you can recall is an explicit memory.
Episodic and semantic memories are two different categories of explicit memories.
Implicit Memories (also called Nondeclarative Memories)
U Skill memories (e.g., learning to walk).
We do not have conscious memories of learning the skill, but we are able to perform it.
Thought to be located in the cerebellum.
Retrieval
Getting information out of memory so we can use it.
There are two different kinds of retrieval: Recognition (matching something current with one already in memory) and Recall (retrieving a memory with an external cue).
Recognition
A kind of retrieval.
The process of matching a current event or fact with one already in memory (e.g., “Have I smelled this smell before?”).
Recall
A kind of retrieval.
Retrieving a memory with an external cue (e.g., “What does my Aunt Beki’s perfume smell like?”).
Primacy Effect
We are more likely to recall items presented at the beginning of a list.
Recency Effect
We are more likely to recall the items at the end of a list.
Serial Position Effect (also Serial Position Curve)
Recall of a list is affected by the order of items in a list.
Related to the primacy and recency effects.
For example, if you are trying to remember the list “milk, honey, tofu, onions, apples, lettuce, pasta, rice,” you are most likely to remember the first item (milk, “primacy effect”) and the last item (rice, “recency effect”).
Flashbulb Memories
Detailed memory of an important event usually retained over a long time.
Some studies show that flashbulb memories can be inaccurate.
Perhaps we construct parts of the memory to fill in gaps in our
stories.
Related to constructive memory.
A person’s memory of a natural disaster, such as a tornado, would be a flashbulb memory.
State-Dependent Memory
Phenomenon of recalling events encoded while in particular states f consciousness.
You suddenly remember an appointment while you are drowsy and bout to go to sleep, you need to write it down. Very possibly, you will remember it again until you are drowsy and in the same state of consciousness.
Mood Congruent Memory
The greater likelihood of recalling an item when our mood matches the mood we were in when the event happened.
We are likely to recall happy events when we are happy and recall negative events when we are feeling pessimistic.
Relearning Effect
It will take less time to relearn material we previously encoded, even if we have “forgotten” what we learned previously.
Constructed (or Reconstructed) Memory
False details of a real event or recollection of an event that never occurred.
Studies show that leading questions can easily influence us to recall false details, and questioners can create an entirely new memory by repeatedly asking insistent questions.
The impact of these leading questions is called the Misinformation Effect.
Constructed memories feel like accurate memories to the person recalling them.
Retroactive Interference (R. N.)
Learning new information interferes with the recall of older information.
R. N. (Retro–New interfering with old)
For example, if you study psychology at 3:00 and sociology at 6:00, you might have trouble recalling the psychology information on a test the next day.
