Memory and Forgetting Flashcards
11/10 - 11/15
Processing information into our memory
Encoding
Retaining encoded information
Storage
Get info back out of memory storage
Retrieval
Simultaneously processing info from several sources of stimuli
Parallel processing
Brief recording of sensory information
Sensory memory
Small storage that holds info for short period of time
Short term memory
Limitless storage, relatively permanent home for info
Long term memory
Memory you don’t have to actively recall
Implicit memory
Memory of facts and experiences that you can consciously know
Explicit memory
Factual and conceptual knowledge about the world
Semantic memory
Our life and experiences: when, where, how relates to us
Episodic memory
When encoding is distributed over time, retention increases
Spacing effect
Practicing retrieval increases retention
Testing effect
Encodes memory based on the meaning of words – deeper processing –> better retention
Deep processing
Encoding on a basic level – words’ sounds or letters
Shallow processing
When emotions are attached to a memory, it’s easier to remember (shock, surprise, intense emotions)
Flashbulb memory
Retrieving info from outside of your conscious awareness but that you have learned before
Recall
Identify things you’ve previously learned
Recognition
Organizing items into units to allow easier recall – like how we remember phone numbers
Chunking
Turning a passage of abstract words into a more visualizable word (DR MRS VANDERTRAMP; RMIVUXG) – can also be things like singing a song (low dhi hi dlow) or rhyming (i before e except after c)
Mnemonics
When thoughts and memories are prominent only in certain locations or while you’re engaging in certain tasks
Context-dependent memory
After learning something in one state, you might easily forget it in a different state and easily remember it in the same state
State-dependent memory
Better at remembering the first and last items in a list
Serial position effect
When you remember the past but cannot form new memories
Anterograde amnesia
When you cannot remember the past / retrieve old long term memory
Amnesia
When you recall prior learning instead of new information (not on purpose)
Proactive interference
When you recall new learning instead of old information (not on purpose)
Retroactive interference
Exposure to misleading info can alter your memories
Misinformation effect
Can better recall info at the beginning of a list than later on
Primacy effect
Memory for automatic skills (riding a bike, putting on clothes, ……)
Procedural memory
After conducting a study, meet with participants to explain the purpose of the study and if any deception occured
Debriefing
Misleading participants to believe the research experiment or procedure is different than it actually is
Deception
Maintaining a standard of care and not acting in a way that could harm others
Duty of care
Rehearsal beyond mastery improves retention
Overlearning
Cramming
Massed practice
Studying over time
Distributed practice
More likely to remember things at the end of a list
Recency effect
The psychologist who worked with memorizing nonsense symbols and created the memory curve
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Unconscious encoding of incidental info
Automatic processing
Requiring attention and conscious effort to commit to memory
Effortful processing
Visual memory, part of sensory memory
Iconic memory
Auditory memory, part of sensory memory
Echoic / Acoustic memory
Repeatedly engaging with info in short term memory
Maintenance rehearsal
The first part of Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
Sensory input leads to sensory memory
The second part of Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
Attention leads to short term memory
The third part of Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
Encoding leads to long term memory
Hippocampus
Switching station between short term and long term memory ; stores explicit long term memory ; sleep is essential
Thalamus
Encodes sensory memory into short-term memory
Stores Implicit memory and has long term memory distributed throughout
Cerebellum
Strengthen connection between neurons when used a lot – more used, more efficient the communication is
Long-term potentiation
If info is never transferred from sensory memory to short-term memory or never transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory
Encoding failure
Retention drops off quickly
Storage decay
Memory War debate
The argument between Freud’s idea that memories can be repressed as a defense mechanism and Loftus’ idea that memories can be manipulated because they’re malleable
Mood-congruent memory
Mood creates connections when forming memory, therefore those memories easier to remember when in that mood again
