Memory: Key Vocabulary

Question 1

What is active processing?

Answer 1

Where a person transforms or manipulates the material that is to be remembered.

Question 2

What is anxiety?

Answer 2

State of emotional arousal where there is a feeling of or experience of apprehension and uncertainty.

Question 3

What process is this referring to?
Part of the phonological loop that repeats sounds or words to keep them in working memory until they are needed.

Answer 3

Articulatory process

Question 4

Define capacity

Answer 4

The amount of information that can be held in memory.

Question 5

What is the central executive?

Answer 5

Part of working memory that coordinates other components.

Question 6

What is this referring to?
Method of increasing short-term memory by grouping information into larger units.

Answer 6

Chunking

Question 7

Define coding

Answer 7

Changing the format of information for use in memory.

Question 8

What is the cognitive interview technique?

Answer 8

Interview technique devised to improve the accuracy of witness recall.

Question 9

What is this referring to?
Forgetting which occurs because the external cues at recall are different to those at the time of learning.

Answer 9

Context-dependent failure

Question 10

What is cue-dependent forgetting?

Answer 10

Failure to recall information due to an absence of cues or triggers.

Question 11

What does duration refer to?

Answer 11

The length of time information remains in memory.

Question 12

What is the episodic buffer?

Answer 12

Part of working memory which is a temporary store integrating information from the other components.

Question 13

What is episodic memory?

Answer 13

Type of long-term memory for information about specific experiences and events in our lives.

Question 14

What is this referring to?
An account given by people of an event they have witnessed.

Answer 14

Eyewitness testimony

Question 15

What is forgetting?

Answer 15

Failure to retrieve memories.

Question 16

What component is this referring to?
Stores information about the physical relationship of items (part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad).

Answer 16

Inner scribe

Question 17

What is interreference theory?

Answer 17

Memory can be disrupted not only by previous learning but also by what is learned in the future.

Question 18

What is a leading question?

Answer 18

Question phrased in such a way that it prompts a particular kind of answer.

Question 19

What is LTM?

Answer 19

Long term memory
Permanent store holding unlimited amounts of information for long periods.

Question 20

What are Mnemonics?

Answer 20

Techniques used to improve memory.

Question 21

What is the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 21

Explanation of memory that sees information flowing through a series of storage systems.

Question 22

What is the phonological loop?

Answer 22

Part of working memory that deals with auditory information.

Question 23

What is the primary acoustic store?

Answer 23

Part of the phonological loop which stores words heard.

Question 24

What type of interference is this referring to?
A cause of forgetting by which previously stored information prevents learning and remembering new information.

Answer 24

Proactive interference

Question 25

What is repression?

Answer 25

Unpleasant material is pushed into the unconscious mind.

Question 26

What is retrieval failure?

Answer 26

Difficulties in recall that are due to the absence of the correct retrieval cues.

Question 27

What type of interference is this referring to?
Occurs when newly learned information interferes with and impedes the recall of previously learned information.

Answer 27

Retroactive interference

Question 28

What is a schema?

Answer 28

A cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information.

Question 29

What is semantic memory?

Answer 29

Type of long-term memory for information about the world that is not linked to particular contexts or events.

Question 30

What is the sensory register?

Answer 30

Store of sensory information that lasts no more than a few seconds.

Question 31

What is STM?

Answer 31

Short term memory
Temporary memory store that holds limited amount of information for a short period of time.

Question 32

What is state-dependent failure?

Answer 32

Forgetting which occurs because the emotional or physical state at recall is different to that at the time of learning.

Question 33

What is the visual cache?

Answer 33

Part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad that stores information about form and colour.

Question 34

What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 34

Part of working memory that deals with visual information.

Question 35

What is the working memory model?

Answer 35

Model that suggests short-term memory is composed of three, limited capacity stores.