Unit 3 Term List Flashcards
Short-Term Memory
The memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used.
Storage
Holding on to information for some period of time.
Retrograde Amnesia
The loss of memory for events that occurred prior to the injury or illness.
Anterograde Amnesia
The loss of memory for events that occurred after the injury or illness.
Consolidation
The theoretical process of information “getting into” long-term memory. This does not occur immediately; it seems to take time to occur.
Levels of Processing Theory
Suggests that we use different levels of processing; shallow, intermediate, and deep. And, the theory asserts that shallow processing results in ineffective encoding; deep processing results in effective encoding.
Dual Coding Theory
Suggests that two codes (visual and semantic codes) increase the probability of recall.
Peterson & Peterson Study
Documents the duration limit of short-term memory. Information fades from STM in twelve seconds or less (without rehearsal).
Serial-Position Effect
Tendency of information at the beginning and end of a body of information to be remembered more accurately than information in the middle of the body of information.
Context Clues
Cues in the environment that stimulates memory retrieval.
Reconstructive Memory
Elizabeth Loftus suggests that memories are reconstructed.
Source Monitoring Error
Occurs when a memory derived from one source in misattributed to another source.
Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve
The course of forgetting for Ebbinghaus was initially rapid, and then leveled off with time. Can be used as evidence in favor of the decay theory of forgetting for long-term memory.
Retention
Refers to the proportion of material retained (remembered).
Recall
A measure of retention that requires a subject to reproduce information on their own without any cues.
Recognition
A measure of retention that requires a subject to select previously learned information from an array of options.
Relearning
A measure of retention that requires a subject to memorize information a second time to determine how much time or effort is saved by having learned it before.
Encoding Failure
Information is not encoded, therefore you cannot “forget” info that was never encoded (also termed “pseudoforgetting”).
Decay Theory
Asserts that forgetting is the function of time. This theory can be applied to all three memory stores: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
Interference Theory
Suggests that forgetting is due to retrieval failure.
Motivated Forgetting
Not recalling information that may be scary or embarrassing.
Repression
Freud’s term for keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.
Mnemonic Devices
Strategies for enhancing memory.
Overlearning
Continued rehearsal after the apparent point of mastery.
Massed Practice
A long session of studying or learning.
Distributed Practice
Short sessions of studying mixed with intervals of rest. This is superior to massed practice.
Long-Term Memory
A stage of memory with essentially unlimited capacity and the ability to store information indefinitely.
Encoding
The process through which information enters our memory system.
Retrieval
The process of accessing information encoded and stored in memory.
Sensory Memory
A stage of memory that captures near-exact copies of vast amounts of sensory stimuli for a very brief period of time.
Flashbulb Memory
A detailed account of circumstances surrounding an emotionally significant or shocking, sometimes historic, event.
Primacy Effect
The tendency to remember items at the beginning of a list.
Recency Effect
The tendency to remember items at the end of a list.
Proactive Interference
The tendency for information learned in the past to interfere with the retrieval of new material.
Retroactive Interference
The tendency for recently learned information to interfere with the retrieval of things learned in the past.
