Memory 3.2 [HY] Flashcards
Encoding
the process of putting new information into memory
Automatic processing
Information gained without any effort. Type of cognitive processing is unintentional, and information is
passively absorbed from the environment
Controlled (effortful)
processing
active memorization
Visual encoding
visualize information
Acoustic encoding
store the way it sounds
Elaborative encoding
link it to knowledge that is already in memory
Semantic encoding
put it into a meaningful context
Self-reference effect
We tend to recall information best when we can put it into the context of our own lives
Maintenance rehearsal
the repetition of a piece of information to either keep it
within working memory (to prevent forgetting) or to store it in short-term and eventually long-term memory
Method of loci
associating each item in a list with a location along a route
through a building that has already been memorized
Peg-word system
associates numbers with items that rhyme with or resemble the numbers.
Chunking (Clustering)
memory trick that involves taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them
together into groups of elements with related meaning
Sensory memory
- preserves information in its original sensory form (auditory, visual)
- Consists of Iconic and Echoic memory
- Fades very quickly
Iconic memory
fast decaying memory of visual stimuli
Echoic Memory
fast-decaying memory of auditory stimuli
Sensory memory experimentation
Research participant is presented with a three-by-three array of letters
Whole report: participant is able to correctly identify three or four letters
Partial Report: list the
letters of a particular row, the participant can do so with 100 percent accuracy
Short-term memory
- We do pay attention to some of the information that we are
exposed to - short-term memory fades quickly, over the course of
approximately 30 seconds without rehearsal
Memory capacity
the number of items we can hold in our short-term memory at any given time
Working memory
- closely related to short-term memory and is similarly
supported by the hippocampus. - keep a few pieces of
information in our consciousness simultaneously and to manipulate that
information.
Elaborative rehearsal
- The association of the information to knowledge already stored in long-term
memory. - closely tied to the self-reference effect
What part does cerebral cortex play in memory?
long-term memory is primarily controlled by the hippocampus, and memories are moved, over time, back to the cerebral cortex
Explicit Memory (declarative memory)
- consists of those memories that require conscious recall
- can be further divided into episodic memory and semantic memory
- Subdivision of long-term memory
Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory)
- consists of our skills, habits, and conditioned
responses, none of which need to be consciously recalled - Subdivision of long-term memory
Procedural memory
- Our unconscious memory of the skills required to complete procedural tasks
Priming
- Involves the presentation of one stimulus affecting perception of a second
Positive priming
- when exposure to the first stimulus improves processing of the second stimulus, as demonstrated by measures such as decreased response time or decreased error rate
Negative priming
- the first stimulus interferes with the processing of the second stimulus, resulting in slower response times and more errors.
Episodic memory
recollection of life experiences
Semantic memory
ideas, concepts, or facts that we know, but are not tied to specific life experiences
Autobiographical memory
the name given to our
explicit memories about our lives and ourselves, and includes all of our episodic memories of our own life experiences, but also includes semantic memories that relate to our personal traits and characteristics
Retrieval
the process of demonstrating that something that has been learned/retained
Recall
the retrieval and
statement of previously learned information, but learning can be additionally demonstrated by recognizing or quickly relearning information
Relearning
way of demonstrating that information has been stored in long-term memory
Spacing Effect
the longer the amount of time between sessions of relearning, the greater the retention of the information later on.
Semantic Network
memory not as simply a stockpile of unrelated facts, but rather as a network of interconnected ideas.
Spreading Activation
When one node of our semantic network is activated,
such as seeing the word red on a sign, the other linked concepts around it are also unconsciously activated
Recall Cue
being presented with a word or phrase that is close to the desired semantic memory
Context Effect
memory is aided by being in the physical location where encoding took place
Source monitoring
part of the retrieval process that involves determining the origin of memories, and whether they are factual (real and accurate) or fictional (from a dream, novel, or movie).
State-dependent memory (state-dependent effect)
retrieval cue based on performing better when in the same mental state as when the
information was learned
Serial-position effect
When researchers give participants a list of items to
memorize, the participants have much higher recall for both the first few and last few items on the list.
Primacy (recency effect)
- Tendency to remember early and late items on the list
Source amnesia
Inability to remember where, when, or how one has obtained knowledge
Alzheimer’s disease
- degenerative brain disorder
thought to be linked to a loss of acetylcholine in neurons that link to the hippocampus - tends to proceed in a
retrograde fashion, with loss of recent memories before distant memories - neurofibrillary tangles and β-
amyloid plaques
Dementia
(a loss of cognitive function) and memory loss, with atrophy of the brain
Korsakoff’s syndrome
- Form of memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain
- marked by both retrograde amnesia (the loss of previously formed memories) and
- anterograde amnesia (the
inability to form new memories)
Agnosia
the loss of the ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds, though usually only one of the three
Decay
memories are simply lost naturally over time as the
neurochemical trace of a short-term memory fades
Retention function
- “curve of forgetting”
- For a day or two after learning the list, recall fell sharply but then leveled off.
Interference ( interference effect)
a retrieval error caused by the existence of other, usually similar, information
Proactive interference
Old information is interfering
with new learning
Retroactive interference
when new information causes forgetting of old information
Range of memory ability
- there is a larger range of memory ability for 70-year-olds than there is for 20-year-olds.
- People tend not to demonstrate much degeneration in recognition or skill-based memory as they age.
- older individuals having a larger semantic network than
their younger counterparts.
Prospective memory
- remembering to perform
a task at some point in the future) remains mostly intact when it is event based—
that is, primed by a trigger event - time-based prospective memory tend to decline with age
Reconstructive memory
a theory of memory recall in which cognitive processes such as imagination, semantic memory, and perception
affect the act of remembering
False Memory
- Most memories are encoded with little detail, only
focusing on the details deemed important in the moment - if a person repeatedly rehearses the memory in their
mind, then that person may fill in missing details with unreliable information.
Recovered Memories
- Retrieving repressed memories
- not possible to
distinguish between false memories and recovered memories without evidence and some research
Misinformation effect
a person’s recall of an event becomes less accurate due to the injection of outside information into the memory
Intrusion errors
- false memories that have included a false detail
into a particular memory - the intruding memory is injected into original memory due to both memories
being related or sharing a theme. - similar to the misinformation effect but distinct in that the intrusion error is not from an outside source.
Source-monitoring error
confusion between semantic and episodic memory: a person remembers the details of an event, but confuses the context under which those details were gained.
