Memory Flashcards
Three-box/information-processing model, or the multi-store model
Proposes the three stages that information passes through before it is stored (diagram)
Levels of processing model
Memories are neither
short-term nor long-term. Instead, they are either shallowly encoded or
deeply (elaboratively) encoded.
Sensory memory
All the information your senses are processing right now is held here for a very short period of time
Iconic memory
Less than a second of visual information
Echoic memory
3 to 4 seconds for auditory information
Short-term memory
Memories are neither short-term nor long-term. Instead, they are either shallowly encoded or deeply (elaboratively) encoded here. Events are encoded as visual codes, or acoustic codes, or semantic codes
Selective attention
We encode what we are attending to or what is important to us
Inattentional blindness
When we fail to perceive something that was in our visual field (and that are eyes probably sensed) because we weren’t paying attention to it and were intensely focused on something else
Change blindness
When we do not observe an obvious changes in our visual world because we are selectively attending to something else and do not perceive that an object or person changed
Working memory
Everything you are thinking at the current moment is held in your short-term memory, and if you are trying to do something with that information, it’s in this. It is your ability to manipulate items in your short-term memory
Central executive (Working memory system)
Monitors incoming information and determines what other systems should be involved in processing the information
Visuospatial sketchpad (Working memory system)
Deals with visual information; this is our “mind’s eye” that we use to visualize the world
Auditory loop
Deals with words and numbers
Effortful processing
Occurs when we focus on putting mental effort into encoding the meaning of a term, an event, process, and so on. Includes maintenance rehearsals and elaborative rehearsals.
Long-term memory
Our permanent storage
Episodic memory (type of long-term memory)
Memories of specific events, stored in a sequential series of events
Semantic memory (type of long-term memory)
General knowledge of the world, stored as facts, meanings, or categories rather than sequentially
Procedural memory (type of long-term memory)
Memories of skills and how to perform them. Theses memories are sequential but might be too complicated to describe in words
Explicit memories
Or declarative memories, conscious memories of facts or events we actively tried to remember
Implicit memories
Or nondecarative memories, unintentional memories that we might not even realize we have
Prospective memory
Your memory for things you plan to do in the future
Shallowly encoded
Something you will forget quickly
Deeply encoded
Something you will likely be able to recall later
Long-term potentiation
Studies show that neurons can strengthen connections between each other. Through repeated firings, the connection is strengthened, and the receiving neuron becomes more sensitive to the messages from the sending neuron. This strengthened
connection might be related to the connections we make in our long-term memory
Encoding
The process by which we put information into our memories
Primacy effect
Predicts that we are most likely to recall items presented a the beginning of a list
Recency effect
Our ability to recall items at the end of a list
Serial position effect, or serial position curve
Effect when people try to order items in a list; includes both primacy and recency effects
Method of loci
Method involves using imagery to associate the things you want to remember with various places
Spacing effect
Method of spacing studying out or using what is called distributed practice, as opposed to massed practice
Chunking
Grouping items to remember them
Mnemonic devices
Memory aids
Anterograde amnesia
Cannot encode new memories caused by damage to the hippocampus
Retrograde amnesia
Inability to remember information learned before a trauma to the brain
Retrieval
Getting information out of memory so we can use it
Recognition
Process of matching a current event or fact with one already in memory
Recall
Retrieving memory with an external cue
Retrieval cues
Stimuli that help people retrieve memories
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
Temporary inability to remember information sometimes
Context-dependent memory
Or flashbulb memories, powerful memories because the importance of the event cause encoding the context surrounding the event
Mood-congruent memory
The greater likelihood of recalling an item when our current mood matches the mood we were in when the even happened
State-dependent memory
Phenomenon of recalling events encoded while in particular states of consciousness
Constructed memory
Or reconstructed memory, includes false details of a real even or might even be a recollection of an event that never occurred
Misinformation effect
Questions or statements that purposefully include information or events that never happened
Retroactive interference
Learning new information interferes with the recall of older information
Proactive interference
Older information learned previously interferes with the recall of information learned more recently
