PSY101 - Chapter 8: Memory Flashcards
Information Processing Model
- Encoding - the processing of information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning.
- Storage - the retention of encoded information over time.
- Retrieval - the process of getting information out of memory storage.
Atikinson and Shiffrin’s Classic Model
External events -(sensory input)-> Sensory memory -(attention to important or novel information/encoding)-> Working/short-term memory -(Encoding)-><-(retrieving)-
Long-term memory storage.
Sensory Memory
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
–Sperling’s nine-letter immediate recall experiment.
Short-term Memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.
Long-term Memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Working Memory
A newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.
Explicit Memory
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare (declarative memory).
–Frontal lobe and hippocampus
Implicit Memory
Retention independent of conscious recollection (non declarative memory).
–Cerebellum and basal ganglia
Effortful Processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.
Automatic Processing
Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.
- -space - place on a page where you saw something.
- -time - knowing where you’ve left something over the course of the day based on what you were doing when you last had it.
- -frequency - how many times you see a friend during a period of time.
Iconic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.
Echoic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3/4 seconds.
Chunking
Organizing information into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.
Mnemonics
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Spacing Effect
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.
Testing Effect
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply reading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning.
Shallow Processing
Encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words.
Deep Processing
Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention.
Flashbulb Memory
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
Long-term Potentiation (LTP)
An increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.
–Gary Lynch
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.
Mood-congruent Memory
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.
Serial-position Effect
Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.
Anterograde Amnesia
An inability to form new memories.
Retrograde Amnesia
An Inability to retrive information from one’s past.
Proactive Interference
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
Retroactive Interference
The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories (not typically believed anymore).
Misinformation Effect
Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event.
Source Amnesia
Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.
Déjà vu
That eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.”Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.
