Unit 5 - Cognitive Psychology Flashcards
Memory
The persistence of learning over time through the encoding. storage, and retrieval of information.
Encoding
The processing of information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning.
Storage
The process of retaining encoded information over time.
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage.
Parallel Processing
The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions.
Sensory Memory
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
Short-Term Memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly before the information is 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 (Declarative Memory)
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare.”
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.
Implicit Memory (Nondeclarative Memory)
Retention independent of conscious recollection.
Procedural Memory
Specific implicit memories consisting of motor skills and habits.
Emotional Memory
Memory for events that evoke a learned emotional response to a stimuli.
Episodic Memory
Memories for personal events in a specific time and space.
Semantic Memory
Memory for facts not linked to a date in your life.
Context Dependent Memory
Tendency to recall experiences/information better when in the same location or consistent with one’s mood as it was learned.
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 or 4 seconds.
Chunking
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.
Rote Rehearsal
The process of repeatedly saying or thinking about a piece of information.
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.
Elaborative Rehearsal
Relating new information to information that is already stored in long term memory.
Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve
“Forgetting” material begins in the first days after initial encoding but rate decreases over time.
Retrieval Cue
A clue or stimuli that assists in memory retrieval.
Testing Effect (Retrieval Practice Effect / Test-Enhanced Learning)
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information.
Shallow Processing
Encoding on a basic level based on structure or appearance of words.
Deep Processing
Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention.
Hippocampus
A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage.
Flashbulb Memory
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
Prospective Memory
Memory related to future actions.
Schema
Concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
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.
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
Recognition
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
Relearning
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.
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 (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list.
Anterograde Amnesia
An inability to form new memories.
Retrograde Amnesia
An inability to retrieve 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.
Eidetic Memory
Ability to recall images from memory with high precision.
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.
