week 5

Question 1

Encoding

Answer 1

the process of putting information into a form that the memory system can accept and use

Question 2

Auditory memory (acoustic memory)

Answer 2

mental representations of stimuli as sounds

Question 3

Visual memory

Answer 3

mental representations of stimuli as pictures

Question 4

Semantic memory

Answer 4

memory for generalized knowledge about the world

Question 5

Storage

Answer 5

the process of maintaining information in the memory system over time­­

Question 6

Retrieval

Answer 6

the process of finding information stored in the memory

Question 7

Recall

Answer 7

retrieving information stored in memory without much help from retrieval clues

Question 8

Recognition

Answer 8

retrieving information stored in memory with the help of retrieval clues

Question 9

Episodic memory

Answer 9

memory for events in one’s own past

Question 10

Procedural knowledge (procedural memory)

Answer 10

a type of memory containing information about how to do things

Question 11

Explicit memory

Answer 11

information retrieved through a conscious effort to remember something

Question 12

Implicit memory

Answer 12

the unintentional recollection and influence of prior experiences

Question 13

Levels of processing model of memory

Answer 13

a model that suggests that memory depends on the degree or depth to which we mentally process information

Question 14

Maintenance rehearsal

Answer 14

a memorization method that involves repeating information over and over to keep it in memory

Question 15

Elaborative rehearsal

Answer 15

a memorization method that relates new information to information already stored in memory

Question 16

Transfer appropriate processing model of memory

Answer 16

a model that suggests that memory depends on how the encoding process matches up with what is later retrieved

Question 17

Parallel distributed processing (PDP) models of memory

Answer 17

memory models in which new experiences are seen as changing one’s overall knowledge base

Question 18

Information processing model of memory

Answer 18

a model that suggests that information must pass through sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory in order to become firmly embedded in memory

Question 19

Sensory memory

Answer 19

a type of memory that is very brief but lasts long enough to connect one impression to the next

Question 20

Sensory registers

Answer 20

memory systems that briefly hold incoming information

Question 21

Iconic memory

Answer 21

the sensory register for visual memory

Question 22

Selective attention

Answer 22

the process of focusing mental resources on only part of the stimulus field

Question 23

Short-term memory (STM

Answer 23

a stage of memory in which information normally lasts less than twenty seconds; a component of working memory

Question 24

Working memory

Answer 24

memory that allows us to work with, or manipulate, information being held in short-term memory

Question 25

Immediate memory span

Answer 25

the maximum number of items a person can recall perfectly after one presentation of the items

Question 26

Chunking

Answer 26

organizing individual stimuli so that they will be perceived as larger units of useful information

Question 27

Brown-Peterson distractor technique

Answer 27

a method for determining how long unrehearsed information remains in short-term memory

Question 28

Long-term memory (LTM)

Answer 28

the stage of memory that researchers believe has an unlimited capacity to store new information

Question 29

Primacy effect

Answer 29

a characteristic of memory in which recall is particularly good for the first two or three items in a list

Question 30

Recency effect

Answer 30

a characteristic of memory in which recall is particularly good for the last few items in a list

Question 31

Retrieval cues

Answer 31

stimuli that allow or help people to recall information

Question 32

Encoding specificity principle

Answer 32

a principle stating that the ability of a cue to aid retrieval depends on how well it taps into information originally encoded

Question 33

Context-specific memory (context-specific learning)

Answer 33

memories that are helped or hindered by similarities or differences between the contexts in which they are learned and recalled

Question 34

State-dependent memory (state-dependent learning)

Answer 34

memory that is helped or hindered by similarities or differences in a person’s internal state during learning versus recall

Question 35

Spreading activation

Answer 35

in semantic network theories of memory, a principle that explains how information is retrieved

Question 36

Schemas

Answer 36

mental representations of categories of objects, places, events, and people

Question 37

Relearning method

Answer 37

a method for measuring forgetting

Question 38

Decay theory

Answer 38

a description of forgetting as the gradual disappearance of information from memory

Question 39

Interference

Answer 39

the process through which storage or retrieval of information is impaired by the presence of other information

Question 40

Retroactive inhibition

Answer 40

a cause of forgetting whereby new information placed in memory interferes with the ability to recall information already in memory

Question 41

Proactive inhibition

Answer 41

a cause of forgetting whereby previously learned information interferes with the ability to remember new information­­

Question 42

Repressed memory

Answer 42

a painful memory that is said to be kept out of consciousness by psychological processes

Question 43

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 43

a loss of memory for events that occur after a brain injury

Question 44

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 44

a loss of memory for events that occurred prior to a brain injury

Question 45

Mnemonic strategies

Answer 45

methods for organizing information in order to remember it

Question 46

Distributed practice

Answer 46

learning new information in many study sessions that are spaced across time

Question 47

Massed practice

Answer 47

trying to learn complex new information in a single long study period