Memory Flashcards
Sensory Representations
Information that is represented in one of the sense modalities
Confabulation
Inventing detailed and plausible false memories due to gaps in memory caused by amnesia
Verbal Representations
Information represented in words
Iconic Storage
A visual sensory registration process by which people retain an afterimage of a visual stimulus
Echoic Storage
An auditory sensory registration process by which people retain an echo or brief auditory representation of a sound to which they have been exposed
Short-term Memory (STM)
Memory for information that is available to consciousness for roughly 20-30 seconds; also called working memory
Rehearsal
Repeating or studying information to retain it in memory
Maintenance Rehearsal
The process of repeating information over and over to maintain it momentarily in STM
Elaborative Rehearsal
An aide to LTM storage that involves thinking about the meaning of information in order to process it with more depth
Sensory Registers
Memory systems that hold information for a very brief period of time
Long-term Memory (LTM)
Memory for facts, images, thoughts, feelings, skills and experiences that may last as long as a lifetime
Retrieval
Bringing information from LTM into STM, or working memory
Serial Position Effect
The phenomenon that people are more likely to remember information that appears first and last in a list than information in the middle of the list
Modules
Discrete but interdependent processing units responsible for different kinds of remembering
Working Memory
Conscious ‘work-space’ used for retrieving and manipulating information, maintained through maintenance rehearsal; also called STM
Chunking
The process of organising information into small, meaningful bits to aid memory
Declarative Memory
Knowledge that can be consciously retrieved and ‘declared’
Procedural Memory
Knowledge of procedures or skills that emerges when people engage in activities that require them
Semantic Memory
General word knowledge or facts; also called semantic memory
Generic Memory
General world knowledge or facts; also called semantic memory
Episodic Memory
Memories of particular episodes or events from personal experience
Explicit Memory
The conscious recollection of facts and events
Implicit Memory
Memory that can not be brought to mind consciously but can be expressed in behaviour
Recall
The explicit (conscious) recollection of material from LTM
Tip-of-the-tongue Phenomenon
The experience in which people attempting but failing to recall information from memory know the information is ‘in there’ but are not quite able to retrieve it
Recognition
Explicit (conscious) knowledge of whether something currently perceived has been previously encountered
Priming Effects
The processing of specific information is facilitated by prior exposure to the same or similar information
Everyday Memory
Memory as it occurs in daily life
Retrospective Memory
Memory for events that have already occurred
Prospective Memory
Memory for things that need to be done in the future
Encoded
Refers to information that is cast into a representational form or ‘code’, so that it can be readily accessed from memory
Level of Processing
The degree to which information is elaborated, reflected upon or processed in a meaningful way during encoding of memory
Encoding Specificity Principle
The notion that the match between the way information is encoded and the way it is retrieved is important to remembering
Retrieval Cues
Stimuli or thoughts that can be used to facilitate retrieval
Spacing Effect
The superior long-term retention of information rehearsed in sessions spread out over longer intervals of time
Mnemonic Devices
Systematic strategies for remembering information
Method of Loci
A memory aid or mnemonic device in which images are remembered by fitting them into an orderly arrangement of locations
SQ4R Method
A mnemonic device designed to help students remember material from textbooks, which includes five steps; survey, question, read, recite, review and write
Networks of Association
Clusters of interconnected information stored in long term memory
Node
A cluster or piece of information along a network of association
Spreading Activation Theory
The theory that the presentation of a stimulus triggers activation of closely related nodes
Cultural Models
Shared cultural concepts, which organise knowledge and shape the way people think and remember
