Memory key terms

Question 1

Input

Answer 1

This refers to the sensory information we receive from our environment

Question 2

Processing

Answer 2

The operations we perform on sensory information in our brain

Question 3

Output

Answer 3

This refers to the information we recall, in other words, output can refer to behavioural response

Question 4

Encoding

Answer 4

Turning sensory information into a form that can be used and stored by the brain

Question 5

Storage

Answer 5

The retention of information in our memory system

Question 6

Retrieval

Answer 6

The recall of stored memory

Question 7

Short-term memory

Answer 7

Our initial memory store that is temporary and limited

Question 8

Long-term memory

Answer 8

A memory store that holds potentially limitless amounts of information for up to a lifetime.

Question 9

Duration

Answer 9

The length of time infomation can be stored in the short and long-term memory

Question 10

Capacity

Answer 10

The amount of information that can be stored in a short and long-term memory

Question 11

Sensory register

Answer 11

Our immediate memory of sensory information.

Question 12

Attention

Answer 12

Focus on certain sensory information

Question 13

Rehearsal

Answer 13

When we repeat information over and over again to make it stick

Question 14

Amnesia

Answer 14

A special type of forgetting. It is a memory condition where individuals experience memory loss often through injury or disease.

Question 15

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 15

A memory condition that affects recall of memories prior to an injury to the brain

Question 16

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 16

A memory condition that means new long term memories cannot be made; this is typically caused by an injury to the brain

Question 17

Reconstructive memory

Answer 17

Tells us that memory is not an exact copy of what we experienced, but an interpretation or reconstruction of events that are influenced by our schema (expectation) when we remember them again.

Question 18

Schema (memory)

Answer 18

A packet of knowledge about an event, person or place that influences how we perceive and remember.

Question 19

Trigram

Answer 19

A set of 3 letters such as GVX that makes a meaningless string of letters rather than a word.

Question 20

Decay

Answer 20

Decay is the kind of forgetting that happens because of the passage of time. This theory suggests that memory is like traces. As time goes on these traces start to fade or decay and we can no longer access them.

Question 21

Reductionism

Answer 21

The theory of explaining something according to its basic constituent parts

Question 22

Holism

Answer 22

The theory of explaining something as a whole