Memory Flashcards
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Articulatory supression
the process of inhibiting memory performance by speaking while being presented with an item to remember
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Autobiographical memory
a memory system consisting of episodes recollected from an individual’s life, based on a combination of episodic (personal experiences and specific objects, people and events experienced at particular time and place) and semantic (general knowledge and facts about the world) memory
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Central executive
directs attention and gives priority to particular activities
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Change detection
the process of identifying differences in the state of an object or phenomenon by observing it at different times
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Chunk
a term referring to individual pieces of information
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Chunking
a term referring to the process of taking individual pieces of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units
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Classical conditioning
a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone
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Consolidation
time-dependent process by which recent learned experiences are transformed into long-term memory, presumably by structural and chemical changes in the nervous system (e.g., the strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons)
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Control processes
a process that is under the flexible, intentional control of the individual, that he or she is consciously aware of, and that are effortful and constrained by the amount of attentional resources available at the moment
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Cued Recall
the retrieval of memory with the help of cues
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Decay
the fading of a memory
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Deep processing
one of the extreme ends of the level of processing spectrum of mental recall through analysis of language used. It requires the use of semantic processing (how words work together to create meaning) which creates a much stronger memory trace
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Delayed-response task
task for nonhuman animals in which the animal is required to recall the location of a reward after a delay period has elapsed
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Digit span
the number of random digits from a series that a person can recall following a single auditory presentation
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Echoic memory
the sensory memory that register specific to auditory information (sounds)
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Elaborative rehearsal
a memory technique that involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered, as opposed to simply repeating the word to yourself over and over.
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Encoding
allows the perceived item of use or interest to be converted into a construct that can be stored within the brain and recalled later from long-term memory
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Encoding specificity
the principle that retrieval of memory is optimal when the retrieval conditions (such as context or cues) duplicate the conditions that were present when the memory was formed
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Episodic buffer
one of the components of working memory model. It is a temporary store that integrates information from the other components and maintains a sense of time, so that events occur in a continuing sequence
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Event-related potential (ERP)
the measured brain response that is the direct result of a specific sensory, cognitive, or motor event
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Explicit memory
one of the two main types of long-term human memory. It is the conscious, intentional recollection of factual information, previous experiences, and concepts
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Free recall
a basic paradigm in the psychological study of memory. In this paradigm, participants study a list of items on each trial, and then are prompted to recall the items in any order
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Generation effect
a phenomenon where information is better remembered if it is generated from one’s own mind rather than simply read
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Hippocampus
the elongated ridges on the floor of each lateral ventricle of the brain, thought to be the centre of emotion, memory, and the autonomic nervous system.
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Iconic memory
the visual sensory memory register pertaining to the visual domain and a fast-decaying store of visual information
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Implicit Memory
one of the two main types of long-term human memory. Uses past experiences to remember things without thinking about them
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Levels of processing theory
focuses on the depth of processing involved in memory, and predicts the deeper information is processed, the longer a memory trace will last.
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Long-term Memory (LTM)
the stage of the Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model where informative knowledge is held indefinitely
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Long-term potentiation (LTP)
a persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity. These are patterns of synaptic activity that produce a long-lasting increase in signal transmission between two neurons
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Maintenance rehearsal
the process of repeatedly verbalizing or thinking about a piece of information
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Memory
the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, etc., or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences
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Mental rotation
the ability to rotate mental representations of two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects as it is related to the visual representation of such rotation within the human mind
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Mental time travel
the capacity to mentally reconstruct personal events from the past (episodic memory) as well as to imagine possible scenarios in the future (episodic foresight / episodic future thinking)
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Modal model of memory
a structural model that was developed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. It describes three storage systems that are linearly connected and is described as a model for information processing
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Multiple trace model of consolidation
a memory consolidation model advanced as an alternative model to strength theory. It posits that each time some information is presented to a person, it is neurally encoded in a unique memory trace composed of a combination of its attributes
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Paired-associate learning
a classic memory paradigm that is used to understand how people encode and retrieve newly formed associations among stimuli.
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Partial report method
a method of testing memory in which only some of the total information presented is to be recalled
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Perseveration
repeat or prolong an action, thought, or utterance after the stimulus that prompted it has ceased
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Persistence of vision
refers to the optical illusion that occurs when visual perception of an object does not cease for some time after the rays of light proceeding from it have ceased to enter the eye
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Personal semantic memory
a portion of long-term memory that processes ideas and concepts that are not drawn from personal experience
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Phonological loop
a component of working memory model that deals with auditory information. It is subdivided into the phonological store (which holds words we hear) and the articulatory process (which allows us to repeat words in a loop)
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Phonological similarity effect
finding that immediate serial recall is impaired when lists of items are phonologically similar rather than distinct
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Phonological store
Linked to speech perception. Holds information in a speech-based form (i.e., spoken words) for 1-2 seconds
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Primacy effect
the tendency for facts, impressions, or items that are presented first to be better learned or remembered than material presented later in the sequence
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Priming
the implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus
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Proactive interference
the tendency of previously learned material to hinder subsequent learning
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Procedural memory
a part of the long-term memory that is responsible for knowing how to do things, also known as motor skills
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Propaganda effect
when a subject is more likely to rate statements they have read or heard before as being true, simply because they have been exposed to them before
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Reactivation
an important process resulting from reexposure to salient training-related information whereby a memory is brought from an inactive to an active state
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Recall
bring (a fact, event, or situation) back into one’s mind; remember
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Recency effect
occurs when more recent information is better remembered and receives greater weight in forming a judgment than does earlier-presented information
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Recognition memory
a subcategory of declarative memory, is the ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people
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Reconsolidation
the process of previously consolidated memories being recalled and actively consolidated
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Rehearsal
a term for the role of repetition in the retention of memories
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Release from proactive interference
restoration of the capacity to readily remember items of one type after switching categories of materials to be recalled
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Remember/know procedure
a procedure in which various memory tasks (e.g., recall, free recall) are used to measure and assess two different ways of accessing events from one’s past—episodic memory and semantic memory
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Repetition priming
ing a response to a stimulus through prior exposure to the same or a related stimulus
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Retrieval
the process in which information in your memory can be recalled
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Retrieval cue
a prompt that help us remember
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Retroactive interference
the tendency of later learning to hinder the memory of previously learned material.
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Retrograde amnesia
a loss of memory-access to events that occurred, or information that was learned in the past
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Self-reference effect
a tendency for people to encode information differently depending on the level on which they are implicated in the information
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Sensory memory
the shortest-term element of memory. It is the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli have ended
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Serial position curve
a “U”-shaped learning curve that is normally obtained while recalling a list of words due to the greater accuracy of recall of words from the beginning and end of the list than words from the middle of the list
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Shallow processing
cognitive processing of a stimulus that focuses on its superficial, perceptual characteristics rather than its meaning
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Short-term memory (STM)
the capacity for holding, but not manipulating, a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time
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Spacing effect
a cognitive phenomenon in which distributing to-be-learned information across time in short, interrupted study sessions leads to better long-term retention than continuous, massed sessions
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Standard model of consolidation
summarized by Squire and Alvarez (1995); it states that when novel information is originally encoded and registered, memory of these new stimuli becomes retained in both the hippocampus and cortical regions.
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State-dependent learning
the phenomenon through which memory retrieval is most efficient when an individual is in the same state of consciousness as they were when the memory was formed.
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Synaptic consolidation
synonymous with late-phase long-term potentiation[2] and occurs within the first few hours after learning
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Systems consolidation
where hippocampus-dependent memories become independent of the hippocampus over a period of weeks to years
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Testing effect
the finding that long-term memory is often increased when some of the learning period is devoted to retrieving the to-be-remembered information
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Transfer-appropriate processing
a type of state-dependent memory specifically showing that memory performance is not only determined by the depth of processing (where associating meaning with information strengthens the memory; see levels-of-processing effect), but by the relationship between how information is initially encoded and how it is later retrieved.
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Visual icon
a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface
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Visual imagery
mental imagery that involves the sense of having “pictures” in the mind
