Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
The capacity to store and retrieve information in order to facilitate learning.
What does encoding mean?
The process of taking information from the world, including our internal thoughts and feelings, and converting it to memories.
What does storage mean?
The maintenance of information in the brain for later access.
What is retrieval?
The process of bringing to mind previously encoded and stored information.
What is the misinformation effect?
The decreased accuracy of episodic memories because of information provided after the event.
What is source memory?
The ability to recall the context in which we acquired a memory.
What is source amnesia?
When we cannot remember where our memories come from, even though we remember the event.
What is source monitoring?
When we forget whether the source of our facts was an article or a news feed.
What is reality monitoring?
When we forget whether we experienced or imagined an event.
What are levels of processing?
The multiple levels at which encoding can occur, ranging from shallow to deep.
What is shadow encoding?
Encoding based on sensory characteristics, such as how something looks or sounds.
What is deep encoding?
Encoding based on an event’s meaning as well as connections between the new event and past experiences.
What is elaboration?
A process in which you make associations between new information and the old information already represented in your brain.
What is semantic encoding?
A form of deep encoding, operates on the meaning of events and yields better memory than merely processing what a stimulus sounds or looks like.
What is self-referential encoding?
Encoding based on an event’s relation to our self-concept, which leads to enhanced memory for the event.
What is the multistore model of memory?
A model proposing that information flows from our senses through three storage levels in memory: sensory, short-term, and long-term.
What is sensory memory?
A storage level of memory that holds sensory information on the order of milliseconds to seconds.
What is short term memory?
A storage level of memory where information can be held briefly, from seconds to less than a minute.
What is long term memory?
A storage level of memory where information can be held for hours to many years and potentially lifetime.
What is iconic memory?
A rapidly decaying store of visual sensory information.
What is echoic memory?
A rapidly decaying store of auditory sensory information.
What is chunking?
The process of grouping stimuli together in chunks in working memory to increase the amount of information stored in short-term memory.
What is rehearsal?
The holding of information in the brain through mental repetition.
What is amnesia?
The loss of memory due to brain damage or trauma.
What is anterograde amnesia?
The inability to transfer information from short-term to long term memory, preventing new long-term memories from forming.
What is retrograde amnesia?
A form of amnesia in which access to memories prior to brain damage is impaired, but the individual can store new experiences in long-term memory.
What is consolidation?
The process whereby memory storage is integrated and becomes stable in the brain.
What enhances consolidation of memory for skills?
Sleeping.
What is long-term potentiation?
A mechanism that creates enduring synaptic connections, which result in increased transmission between neurons.
What is reconsolidation?
Reactivation of consolidation by retrieving a memory, making the memory susceptible to change.
What is explicit memory (aka declarative memory)?
A form of memory that involves intentional and conscious remembering.
What is implicit memory (aka non-declarative memory)?
A form of memory that occurs without intentional recollection or awareness and can be measured indirectly through the influence of prior learning behavior.
What is procedural memory?
A type of implicit memory related to the acquisition of skills.
What is priming?
The increased ability to process a stimulus because of previous exposure.
What is affective conditioning?
A form of conditioning in which a previously neutral stimulus acquires positive or negative value.
What is episodic memory?
The explicit recollection of personal experience that requires piecing together the elements of that time and place.
What is semantic memory?
Explicit memory supporting knowledge about the world, including concepts and facts.
What is retrospective memory?
Memory for things we have done in the past.
What is prospective memory?
Memory for things we need to do in the future.
What are flashbulb memories?
A vivid memory for an emotionally significant event, thought to be permanent and detailed, as if frozen in time like a photograph.
What is free recall?
Accessing information from memory without any cues to aid your retrieval.
What are retrieval queues?
Information related to stored memories that helps bring the memories back to mind.
What is cued recall?
A form of retrieval that is facilitated by providing information related to the stored memory.
What is recognition?
A form of retrieval that relies on identifying previously seen or experienced information.
What is the encoding specificity principle?
The idea that retrieval is best when the present context recreates the context in which information was initially encoded.
What is state dependent retrieval?
The increased likelihood of remembering when a person is in the same state during both encoding and retrieval.
What is mood dependent retrieval?
The increased likelihood of remembering when a person is in the same mood during encoding and retrieval.
What is the spacing effect?
The enhanced ability to remember information when encoding is distributed over time.
What is the forgetting curve?
The retention of information over various delay times.
What is retroactive interference?
The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.
What is proactive inference?
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
What is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon?
A failure to retrieve information despite confidence that it is stored in memory.
What is motivated forgetting?
Willfully forgetting of information so that it is less likely to be retrieved later.
What is infantile amnesia?
The inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories from the first few years of life.
