MEMORY Flashcards
Acronym
A word made out of the first letters of several words.
Acrostic
A sentence or phrase in which each word begins with a letter that acts as a memory cue.
Echoic memory
Auditory sensory memory.
Elaboration
A type of deep processing in which information being learned is associated with other meaningful material.
Encoding
The process of putting information into memory.
Episodic memory
The remembering of personal facts.
Explicit memory
Conscious, intentional remembering of information.
Flashbulb memories
Vivid, detailed memories of important events.
Hermann Ebbinghaus
A German psychologist (January 24, 1850 — February 26, 1909) who pioneered the experimental study of memory, and is known for his discovery of the forgetting curve (a graph that shows how quickly learned information is forgotten over time) and the spacing effect (the phenomenon whereby humans and animals more easily remember or learn items in a list when they are studied a few times over a long period of time, rather than repeatedly in a short period). He was also the first person to describe the learning curve (a graphical representation of the changing rate of learning for a given activity or tool).
Hierarchical classification
The ability to classify according to more than one level.
Iconic memory
Visual sensory memory.
Implicit memory
Unconscious retention of information that affects thoughts and behavior.
Link method
process of associating items with one another in order to remember them.
Long-term memory
A memory system that stores an unlimited amount of information permanently.
Massed practice
The process of learning material over a short period; also called cramming.
Memory
The capacity for storing and retrieving information.
Method of loci
The process of imagining oneself physically in a familiar place in order to remember something.
Misinformation effect
The tendency for recollections of events to be distorted by information given after the event occurred.
Mnemonics
Strategies for improving memory.
Motivated forgetting
The idea that people forget things they don’t want to remember; also called psychogenic amnesia.
Overlearning
Continuing to practice material even after it is learned in order to increase retention.
Peg word method
Process of remembering a rhyme that associates numbers with words and words with the items to be remembered.
Phonemic encoding
A way of encoding verbal information that emphasizes how words sound.
Priming
The retrieval of a particular memory by activating information associated with that memory.
Proactive interference
The forgetting of new information because of previously learned information.
Procedural memory
Memory of how to do things. Procedural memory is usually considered implicit.
Recall
The process of remembering without any external cues
Recognition
The process of identifying learned information by using external cues.
Rehearsal
The process of practicing material in order to remember it.
Relearning
A method for measuring forgetting and retention, which involves assessing the amount of time it takes to memorize information a second time.
Repression
A defense mechanism that involves keeping unpleasant thoughts, memories, and feelings shut up in the unconscious.
Retention
The proportion of learned information that is retained or remembered
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory.
Retrieval cues
Stimuli that help to get information out of memory.
Retroactive interference
Forgetting of old information because of newly learned information.
Semantic encoding
A way of encoding verbal information that emphasizes the meaning of words.
Semantic memory
Remembering of general facts.
Sensory memory
A memory system that stores incoming sensory information for an instant.
Short-term memory
memory system that stores a limited amount of information for a brief period.
Storage
The process of maintaining information in memory.
Structural encoding
A way of encoding verbal information that emphasizes how words look.
Working memory
An active memory system that holds information while it’s processed or examined.
