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.
Proactive Interference (P.O.)
Older information learned previously interferes with the recall of information learned more recently.
P.O. (Pro–Old interfering with new)
For example, if a researcher reads a list of items in a certain order and then rereads them in a different order and asks you to list them in the new order, the old list proactively interferes with recall of the new list.
Semantic Memory
Type of long-term memory.
General knowledge of the world, is stored as facts, meanings, or categories rather than sequentially.
Your knowledge of the way the elements are organized in the periodic table is a semantic memory.
Selective Attention
Determines which sensory messages get encoded.
We encode from sensory memory into short-term memory what we are attending to or what is important to us.
Short-Term Memory
Short-term memories are temporary and are limited to about 7 items (“Magic Number 7 + or - 2”).
If we do nothing with them, they usually fade in 10-30 seconds.
Closely related to, and sometimes used interchangeably with, the term “working memory.”
Chunking
Grouping items into meaningful units.
Our capacity in short-term memory is limited on average to around seven items.
The limit can be expanded through chunking.
Most mnemonic devices are examples of chunking, such as memorizing the names of the planets by remembering the sentence, “My very excellent mother just served us nothing.”
Rehearsal
Repeating information in order to encode it.
Simple rehearsal can hold information in short-term memory, but other strategies are more effective in ensuring short-term memories are encoded into long-term memory.
Long-Term Memory
Permanent memory storage.
As far as we know, the capacity of long-term memory is unlimited.
People do not report that their memory is full and that they cannot encode new information.
Studies show that once information reaches long-term memory, we will likely remember it for the rest of our lives.
However, memories can decay or fade from long-term memory, so it is not truly permanent.
Episodic Memory
Type of long-term memory.
Memories of specific events, are stored in a sequential series of events.
Your memory of the presents you received at your 6th birthday party is an episodic memory.
Working Memory
Working memory refers to our capacity to manipulate (not merely store) information.
A short-term memory task would be to remember someone’s phone number, whereas a working memory task would be to add up the value of the digits in that phone number.
Closely related to, and sometimes used interchangeably with, the term “short-term memory.”
