Unit 7: Memory Flashcards
Encoding
A memory code; how we gather information to form a memory.
Storage
Maintaining Memory.
Retrieval
Recovery of Memory.
Selective Attention
The ability to choose among the various available inputs.
Feature Extraction
Locating the outstanding characteristics of incoming information.
Change Blindness
Failing to notice a change in the environment because you’re focused on something else.
Inattentive Blindness
Failing to realize the existence of something in the environment because you’re focused on something else.
Shallow Processing (Structural Encoding)
Visual/Structural: Memorization via looks.
Intermediate Processing (Phonemic Encoding)
Phonemic: Memorization via sound.
Deep Processing (Semantic Encoding)
Semantic: Memorization via meaning.
Self-Referent Encoding
Processing information deemed important or relevant more deeply (Easier to recall).
Elaboration
Linking a stimulus to other information at time of encoding.
Visualization (Method of Loci)
Visualizing memories to help recall (ex: Memory Palace, Method of Loci [Attaching household objects to memories])
Dual Coding
The linkage of both visual & semantic to help recall a memory.
Motivation to Remember (MTR)
Enhances recall (ex. speech).
Sperling’s Study
Flashed letters in subjects’ peripherals & results showed that it created a visual afterimage for memory.
Iconic Memory
A very brief, pre-categorical, high capacity memory store.
Echoic Memory
Retaining auditory information.
Eidetic Imagery
Photographic Memory.
Phonological Loop
Reciting something to hold the information.
Executive Control
Deployment of attention (completing a process) to hold information.
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Hold & manipulate images in your memory.
Episodic Buffer
Temporary limited capacity store to put info together.
Chunking
Breaking down a large memory into smaller pieces that are bound together.
The Petersons’ Study
A study that demonstrated that Short Term Memory lasts for about 18 seconds without buffering.
George Miller’s “Magic Number”
Within Short Term Memory you can remember roughly 7 things on average, with a standard deviation of 2 (so the entire range is 5-9).
Serial Position Effect
The tendency to most effectively recall the first & last several items in a list.
Primacy Effect
Remembering the info at the beginning of a list.
Recency Effect
Remembering the info at the end of a list.
The capacity of Long Term Memory
Unlimited.
The duration of Long Term Memory
Theoretically forever, but there are occasional problems with decay.
Flashbulb Memory
The first 15 months of regaining a memory are highly accurate
The next 32 months will create about 40% major distortions
Clustering
The tendency to remember similar or related items in groups.
Priming
Exposure to one stimulus may influence a response to a subsequent stimulus without conscious guidance or intention.
Recognition
Human memory is organized to make recognition easy.
Recall
The active reconstruction of information.
Conceptual Hierarchy
Multilevel classification system based on common properties among items.
Schema
An organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or event brought forth from previous experience with the object or event.
Semantic Network
Network consisting of nodes representing concepts, joined together by pathways that link related concepts.
Connectionist Network/Parallel Distributed Processes (PDP)
Specific memories correspond to particular patterns of activation across a network. Bind together all the elements of a memory.
Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon
Poor encoding-retrieval cue not congruent to memory code.
Confabulation
Remembering information not stored in memory (like making things up unintentionally about memories).
Misinformation Effect
Certain wording that can affect the reconstruction of an older memory.
Source Monitoring Error
The process of making attributions about the origins of memories.
Reality Monitoring
The process of deciding whether memories are based on external sources (actual events) or internal sources (ones thoughts or imagination) (ex: did I turn the stove off before leaving?).
Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve
A curve that represents retention of memory using repetitive recall over time, levelling off at about 25%.
Decay
The fading of memories (Ex: the game of Telephone)
Retroactive Interference
New memories disturb old memories.
Proactive Interference
Old memories disturb new memories.
P.O.R.N.
A acronym for Proactive, Old, Retroactive, New.
Retrograde Amnesia
Loss of information before the traumatic event (Ex: Forgetting who you are).
Anterograde Amnesia
No new information can be retained (Ex: Clive Wearing).
Implicit Memory
Incidental and unintentional remembering (Ex: walking or talking).
Procedural Memory
Perceptual motor skills/conditioned responses (Ex: catching a ball, riding a bike, etc.)
Explicit Memory
Intentional retention/memorization.
Semantic Memory
General Knowledge, stored and not dated (Ex: Skills, Language, Rules, Words, etc).
Episodic Memory
Dated recollections of personal experiences (Ex: What happened on March 13, 2020?).
Prospective Memory
Remembering things in the future (Ex: A To-Do List).
Retrospective Memory
Events or facts from the past (Ex: Super Bowl XXX Winning Team).
Spacing Effect
Memorizing information over time is more effective than all at once (Ex: Studying over time is better than cramming).
Mnemonics
Memory aids; using associations to memorize info (Ex: the P.O.R.N. acronym).
Peg Word System
“Peg” words are easy words to remember & are used as a memory aid to “hang” new words and concepts (Ex: One is done, Two is who, Three is free).
Overlearning
A memorization technique where you learn/memorize so many times that it almost becomes natural (Ex: Drills for sports).
Context Dependent Learning
Physical setting in which a person learns a information is encoded along with the information (Ex: Remembering math when in the physical math class).
Mood Dependent Learning
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood (Ex: Being happy allows you to remember happy memories).
State Dependent Learning
The tendency to recall information better when in the same internal state when information was encoded (Ex: Only remembering certain memories when drunk/intoxicated).
Encoding Specificity Principle
Retrieval depends upon the match between the way information is encoded and the way it is retrieved.
Richard Atkinson & Richard Shriffin
Two Psychologists who created the model for memories moving through sensory, short-term, and into long-term memory.
Herman Ebbinghaus
Creator of the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve.
Elizabeth Loftus
Psychologist who used words like contacted, bumped, and collided to prove The Misinformation Effect.
George Miller
Creator of the Magic Number of Short Term Memory.
George Sperling
Psychologist who used flashing letters in peripherals to prove Sensory Storage.
