Memory Flashcards
Sensory register
Our immediate memory of sensory information
Short-term memory
Our initial memory store that is temporary and limited.
Long-term memory
A memory store that holds potentially limitless amounts of information for up to a lifetime.
Duration
The length of time information can be stored in short-term and long-term memory.
Capacity
The amount of information that can be stored in short-term and long-term memory.
Encoding
Turning sensory information into a form that can be used and stored by the brain.
Rehearse
When we repeat information over and over again to make it stick.
Displacement
When the short-term memory becomes ‘full’ and new information pushes out older information.
Interference
When new information overwrites older information, for example when a new phone number takes the place of an old phone number in your memory.
Processing
The operations we perform on sensory information in the brain.
Input
For human memory, this refers to the sensory information we receive from our environment.
Storage
The retention of information in our memory system.
Encoding
Turning sensory information into a form that can be used and stored by the brain.
Acoustic encoding
The process of storing sound in our memory system.
Visual encoding
The process of storing something that is seen in our memory system.
Semantic encoding
The process of storing the meaning of information in our memory system, rather than the sound of a word, we store the definition / meaning of that word.
Output
For memory, this refers to the information we recall; in a broader sense, output can refer to behavioural response.
Retrieval
The recall of stored memories.
Amnesia
Memory loss, often through accident, disease, or injury.
Anterograde amnesia
A memory condition that means new long-term memories cannot be made; this is typically caused by injury to the brain.
Retrograde amnesia
A memory condition that affects recall of memories prior to an injury to the brain.
Peterson & Peterson
Investigated the duration of the STM using trigrams and found it was about 18 seconds
7
The capacity of /number of units of information typically held in the STM
War of the Ghosts
The story used by Bartlett to test reconstructive nature of memory
Schema
A mental representation
Omission
leaving something out
Transformation
a reconstructive error of memory, involving changing the original information.
modal specific
a store of the MSMM which is linked specifally to a type of sense, e.g. iconic
foaming at the mouth
a rationalisation from war of the ghosts story
boat
a familiarisation of canoe in the war of the ghosts story
retrieval failure
when a memory is not lost but can’t be recalled e.g. tip of the tongue moment
decay
when memory is forgotten over time
digit span test
a test of STM capacity involving the recall of numbers
rationalisation
a reconstructive error of memory, involving changing to something logical
familiarisation
a reconstructive error of memory, involving changing the original information to something which we know well.
reconstructive theory of memory
This contradicts the idea that memory is retrieved perfectly. It suggests our memories are full of blanks and we use schema to help remake the memory.
iconic memory
a sensory register for visual information
echoic memory
sensory register for auditory information
modality free
a store in the MSMM which is not linked to a specific type of sensory information
