Memory Flashcards
Flashbulb Memory
A clear memory of an emotionally significant event of moment
Memory
The persistence of learning overtime through the storage and retrieval of information
Encoding
Getting information into our brain
Storage
Retaining that information
Retrieval
Getting it back out of memory storage
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
An increase in a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. It is believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.
Sensory Memory
The immediate, initial recording of sensory info in the memory system.
Short-Term Memory
An activated memory that holds a few items briefly
Long-Term Memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system
Working memory
Focuses more on how we attend to, rehearse and manipulate info in temporary storage
Automatic Processing
Unconscious encoding of incidental info.
- occurs effortlessly
- difficult to shut off
Effortful processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Rehearsal
Conscious repetition of information
-boosts our memory
Spacing effect
Tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long term retention
The next-in-line effect
When saying names in a circle, the person’s words right before you are least remembered because you are focusing on your own performance
Serial position effect
Remembering the first and last items more clearly from a list then those in the middle
Mnemonic devices
Memory aids, techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Chunking
Organizing items into meaningful units -helps us recall better
-often occurs automatically
Self-reference effect
Ability to recall things that describe/relate to ourselves
Iconic memory
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second
Echoic memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
Amnesia
The loss of memory
Implicit memory
Retention independent of conscious recollection
(Procedural memory)
Skills and actions
Explicit memory
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier.
Ex. “Fill in the blank” test questions
Recognition
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned
Ex. “Multiple choice” test questions
Relearning
A memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of a particular association in memory
Visual encoding
Acoustic encoding
Semantic encoding
Picture images
Sound, or sounds of words
Meaning, meaning of words
Déjà vu
“I’ve experienced this before” phenomenon
Cues from current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience
Retrieval cues
They prime our memory of earlier experiences
State-dependent memory
What we learned in one state (mood) is more easily recalled when we are in that state again
Mood-congruent memory
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s good/bad mood
Ebbinghaus
Invented the “forgetting curve”
Much of what we learn, we may indeed quickly forget.
The course of forgetting is initially rapid but levels off with time
Proactive interference
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information
Retroactive inference
The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
Repression
In order to protect our self-concept and to minimize anxiety, we supposedly repress painful memories
Misinformation effect
After exposure to subtle misinformation, many people misremember
Source amnesia
Attributing to the wrong source an event that we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined
