memory keywords

Question 1

active processing

Answer 1

Is where the person transforms or manipulates the material that is to be remembered

Question 2

articulatory process

Answer 2

part of the phonological loop that repeats sounds or words to keep them in working memory until they are needed

Question 3

anxiety

Answer 3

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

Question 4

capacity

Answer 4

the amount of information that can be held in a memory store

Question 5

central executive

Answer 5

• the component of the WMM that coordinates the activities of the subsystem
• allocates processing resources for those activities to each subsystem

Question 6

coding

Answer 6

• the way information is changed so it can be stored in memory
• information enters via the senses and is then stored as visual, acoustic or semantic codes

Question 7

chunking

Answer 7

method of increasing short-term memory by grouping information into larger units

Question 8

cognitive interview

Answer 8

interview technique devised to improve the accuracy of witness recall

Question 9

context-dependent failure

Answer 9

forgetting which occurs because the external cues at recall are different to those at the time of learning

Question 10

cue-dependent forgetting

Answer 10

failure to recall information due to an absence of cuesor ‘tiggers’

Question 11

duration

Answer 11

the length of time information can be held in memory until it is no longer available

Question 12

episodic buffer

Answer 12

• a component of the WMM that integrates information from all subsystems to produce a single memory
• provides a bridge between working memory and long term memory

Question 13

episodic memory

Answer 13

• long term memories consisting of personal experiences of events
• characterised by time, context including emotion and a conscious effort required to recall

Question 14

eyewitness testimony

Answer 14

an account given by people of an event they have witnessed

Question 15

forgetting

Answer 15

failure to retrieve memories

Question 16

inner scribe

Answer 16

stores information about the physical relationship of items (part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad)

Question 17

interference

Answer 17

• explains that forgetting occurs when two pieces of information disrupt each other resulting in forgetting or distortion of one or both memories
• this is most likely to happen when memories are similar to each other

Question 18

interference theory

Answer 18

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

Question 19

leading question

Answer 19

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

Question 20

long term memory

Answer 20

• memory for past events
• has an unlimited capacity and duration
• coding is mainly semantic

Question 21

multi store model

Answer 21

• a representation of how memory works
• consists of three stores (sensory register, STM and LTM)
• explains how information is transferred between each of them

Question 22

misleading information

Answer 22

incorrect information given the an eyewitness after an event

Question 23

mnemonics

Answer 23

techniques used to improve memory

Question 24

phonological loop

Answer 24

• the component of the WMM that processes auditory information
• consists of the phonological store and articulatory control process which allow for maintenance rehearsal

Question 25

procedural memory

Answer 25

• long term memory’s that consist of knowledge on how to do things e.g learned skills
• conscious effort is not required for recall as they become automatic after practise

Question 26

post-event discussion

Answer 26

a potential source of misleading information where witnesses discuss what they saw afterwards

Question 27

primary acoustic store

Answer 27

part of the phonological loop which stores words heard

Question 28

repression

Answer 28

unpleasant material is pushed into the unconscious mind

Question 29

retrieval

Answer 29

the recall of stored memories

Question 30

schema

Answer 30

a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information

Question 31

semantic memory

Answer 31

• long term memories consisting of shared knowledge e.g language, general facts and appropriate behaviour
• requires conscious effort to recall

Question 32

sensory register

Answer 32

• the energy store for each of our senses
• coding is visual in the iconic store and is acoustic in the echoic store
• capacity of sensory memory is huge (millions of receptors)
• duration is limited to half a second

Question 33

short term memory

Answer 33

• memory for immediate events
• has a limited capacity (5-9 items)
• limited duration (18 seconds)
• coding is mainly acoustic

Question 34

state-dependent failure

Answer 34

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

Question 35

visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 35

• the component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial informational
• consists of the visual cache and inner scribe

Question 36

visual cache

Answer 36

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

Question 37

proactive interference

Answer 37

past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something

Question 38

retroactive interference

Answer 38

current attempts to learn something interfere with past learning

Question 39

working memory model

Answer 39

• an explanation of the memory used when working on a task
• each store is quantitatively different

Question 40

cues

Answer 40

• are things that serve as reminders
• they may meaningfully link to the material to be remembered or may not be meaningfully linked, such as environmental cues (a room) or cues related to your mental state (being or sad or drunk)

Question 41

retrieval failure

Answer 41

• occurs due to the absence of cues
• an explanation for forgetting based on the idea that the issue relates to being able to retrieve a memory that is there (available) but not accessible
• retrieval depends on using cues