topic 2 - memory vocab Flashcards
memorise and look at the terms
Sensory register
Our immediate memory of sensory information
Short-term memory
Our initial memory store that is temporary and limited.
Long-term memory
A memory store that holds potentially limitless amounts of information for up to a lifetime.
Duration
The length of time information can be stored in short-term and long-term memory.
Capacity
The amount of information that can be stored in short-term and long-term memory.
Encoding
Turning sensory information into a form that can be used and stored by the brain.
Rehearse
When we repeat information over and over again to make it stick.
Displacement
When the short-term memory becomes ‘full’ and new information pushes out older information.
Interference
When new information overwrites older information, for example when a new phone number takes the place of an old phone number in your memory.
Processing
The operations we perform on sensory information in the brain.
Input
For human memory, this refers to the sensory information we receive from our environment.
Storage
The retention of information in our memory system.
Encoding
Turning sensory information into a form that can be used and stored by the brain.
Acoustic encoding
The process of storing sound in our memory system.
Visual encoding
The process of storing something that is seen in our memory system.
Semantic encoding
The process of storing the meaning of information in our memory system, rather than the sound of a word, we store the definition / meaning of that word.
Output
For memory, this refers to the information we recall; in a broader sense, output can refer to behavioural response.
Retrieval
The recall of stored memories.
Amnesia
Memory loss, often through accident, disease or injury.
Anterograde amnesia
A memory condition that means new long-term memories cannot be made; this is typically caused by injury to the brain.
Retrograde amnesia
A memory condition that affects recall of memories prior to an injury to the brain.
Peterson & Peterson
Investigated the duration of the STM using trigrams and found it was about 18 seconds
7
The capacity of /number of units of information typically held in the STM
