Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
Memory is how your brain stores and uses information from the past. It helps you remember experiences and influences your actions and performance today.
What are the three stages of memory?
Sensory memory, short-term/working memory, and long-term memory.
What is sensory memory?
Sensory memory is a quick, temporary trace of what you sense (e.g., what you see or hear). It is very short-lived.
What are the two types of sensory memory?
Iconic Memory: For visual information (like a snapshot).
Echoic Memory: For auditory information (like an echo).
What is short-term/working memory?
Short-term memory temporarily holds information and is used for processing. It lasts about 20 seconds and can hold about 7 items at a time.
What happens to short-term memory without rehearsal?
Information in short-term memory disappears if it is not rehearsed or gets replaced by new information.
What is the primacy and recency effect?
People remember the first (primacy) and last (recency) things in a series better than the middle.
What is long-term memory?
Long-term memory stores information for a long time and is where rehearsed or deeply processed information ends up.
What are the types of long-term memory?
Episodic: Specific events.
Semantic: General knowledge.
Procedural: Skills, like riding a bike.
What helps organize information in memory?
Clustering: Grouping similar items together to make them easier to remember. For example, remembering fruits (apple, banana, orange) together instead of scattered.
Schemas: Organized frameworks of knowledge that help us understand and remember things. For instance, your “schema” for a birthday party includes cake, gifts, and balloons.
Semantic Networks: Connections between related ideas in your mind. For example, thinking of “fire” might make you think of “heat,” “danger,” or “camping.”
Why do we forget
Ineffective encoding: Information was never stored properly. For example, not paying attention during a lecture means you won’t remember it later.
Decay over time: Memories fade if they’re not used. For instance, forgetting a language you haven’t practiced in years.
Interference from other information: New or old information gets in the way. For example, mixing up a new password with an older one.
Retrieval failures: Struggling to recall something, like forgetting a name even though you know it.
What is retrieval in memory?
Retrieval means pulling information from your memory, often with the help of hints, reminders, or the situation you’re in.
What are repressed memories?
Repressed memories are difficult-to-access memories of traumatic or emotional events.
What is retrograde amnesia?
Retrograde amnesia is when a person cannot remember events that happened before an injury.
What is anterograde amnesia?
Anterograde amnesia is when a person cannot form new memories after an injury, though older memories are intact.
