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Acronyms: words that are made up of the first letters of other words
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Acrostics: A verse or saying in which the first or last letter of each word stands for something else
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Algorithms: very specific, step-by-step procedures for solving certain types of problems
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Amnesia: Loss of Memory
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Analogies: In problem solving, the attempt to apply knowledge gained from solving similar problems to the problem at hand
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Anterograde Amnesia: a loss of memory for any event that occurs after a brain injury
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Availability heuristic: The tendency to judge events as more likely to occur when they are more readily called to mind
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Basic Level Concepts: mid level of concepts in a 3 level heirarchy of concepts, corresponding to the categories we most often use in grouping objects and events
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Cell Assemblies: Hebb's Concept of a grouping of cells in the brain that reverberate electrically together in the process of forming new memories
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Central Executive: In Baddeley and Hitch's three-component model, the component of working memory responsible for coordinating the other subsytems, processing stored information, and filtering out distracting thoughts
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Childhood Amnesia: normal occurrence of amnesia for events occurring during infancy and early childhood
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Chunking: A process of enhancing retention of larger amounts of information by breaking them down into smaller, more easily recalled chunks
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Cognitive Psychology: branch of psychology that focuses on such mental processes as thinking, problem solving, decision making, and use of language
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Concepts: a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
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Confirmation Bias: The tendency to maintain allegiance to an original hypothesis despite strong evidence to the contrary
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Consolidation: The process of converting short-term memories into long term-term memories
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Constructionist Theory: The theory that holds that memory involves a process of representing or reconstructing past events and experiences
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Context-Dependent Memory Effects: The tendency for information to be better recalled in the same context in which it was originally learned
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Convergant Thinking: Ability to bring together different sources of information to find the one correct answer to a problem
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Creativity: Originality of thought associated with the development of new workable products or solutions to problems
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Decay Theory: Theory that each item in memory decays spontaneously as time passes.
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Decision Making: the cognitive process of reaching a decision or determining a course of action
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Declarative Memory: Memory of facts, figures, and personal information that requires a conscious effort to bring to mind, the type of memory involved in knowing "what" and "that".
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Dissociative Amnesia: sudden loss of memory usually following a particularly stressful or traumatic event
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Divergent Thinking: Ability to conceive of novel ways of viewing situations and of alternate uses for familiar objects
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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.
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Eidetic Imagery: A lingering mental representation of a visual image. Commonly called photographic memory
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Elaborative Rehearsal: A process of transfering information from short-term to long-term memory by means of conscious elaboration of the meaning of the information
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Encoding Specificity Principle: belief that retrieval will be more successful when cues available during recall are similar to those present when the material was first committed to memory
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Engram: Lashley's term for physical trace or etching of memory in the brain
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Episodic Memory: Memory of personal experiences for the stories of our lives
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Explicit Memory: the process in which people intentionally try to remember something
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Flashbulb Memories: Enduring memories of emotionally charged events that seem seare into memory
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Free Recall: A type of recall task in which individuals are asked to reproduce as many stored items as possibe in any order
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Functional Fixedness: A tendency to perceive the uses of objects as limited to the customary finctions they serve
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Grammar: The set of rules that govern how symbols in a given language are used to form meaningful expresions
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Heuristics: Time-saving mental shortcuts used in reasoning
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Hippocampus: a neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage
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Iconic Memory: The sensory store for holding a mental representaion of a visual image for a fraction of a second
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Implicit Memory: the unintentional influence of prior experiences
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Interference Theory: Belief that forgetting occurs because other items get in the way of the information a person wants to remember.
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Language: a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols
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Language Acquisation Device: According to Chomsky, the hypothetical prewired innate mechanism in the brain that allows children to naturally acquire language
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Levels-of-processing Theory: The belief that differences between short-term and long-term memory reflect different levels of processing rather than distinct stages of memory.
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Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis: The proposition that the particular language we use determines how we think and percieve the world.
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Logical Concepts: concepts with clearly defined rules for membership
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Long Term memory: the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.
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Long Term Potentiation: The long-term strengthening of neural connections by means of repeated stimulation
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Maintenance Rehearsal: A process for extending retention of information held in short-term memory by means of repetitive rehearsal of the information
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Massed vs. spaced practice theory: The tendency for retention of learned material to be greater following spaced practice rather than massed practice
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Memory: the power of retaining and recalling past experience
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Memory Encoding: process of converting info into a form that can be stored mentally
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Memory Retrieval: process of accessing and bringing into consciousness info stored in memory
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Memory Schemas: An organized knowledge structure, such as a set of belifs, that reflect one's past experiences, expectancies, and knowledge about the world.
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Memory Storage: process of retaining info in memory
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Mental Image: mental picture of representation of object or event
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Mental Set: A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially a way that has been successful in the past but may or may not be helpful in solving a new problem
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Method of Loci: A mnemonic based on linking items to be remembered with objects in familiar locations. Also called the method of places
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Mnemonics: Strategies for placing information in an organized context in order to remember it
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Morphemes: The smallest units in a language that convey meaning
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Natural Concepts: concepts with poorly defined or fuzzy rules for membership
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Negative Instances: object that doesn't fit a particular concept
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Neural Networks: Memory circuits in the brain that consist of complicated networks of nerve cells
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Paired Associates Recall: A type of recall task in which individuals first learn a list of paired words or items and then are asked to reproduce the correct pair member when given the other item in the pair
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Phonemes: The basic unit of sounds in a language
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Phonological Loop: In Baddeley and Hitch's three-component model, the speech-based part of working memory that allows for the verbal rehearsal of sounds or words
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Positive Instances: an object that fits a particular concepts
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Primary Effect: Tendency to recall items better when they are learned first
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Priming Tasks: an experimental task in which subjects are present with a stimulus that primes them to repsond in a certain way to subsequent stimuli
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Proactive Interference: A form of interference in which newly acquired information interferes with retention of earlier learned material
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Problem Solving: the thought processes involved in solving a problem
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Procedural Memory: memory for skills, including perceptual, motor, and cognitive skills required to complete tasks
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Prospective Memory: Memory of things that one plans to do at particular time in the future
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Recall Tasks: memory task in which one must retrieve information from long-term memory with only minimal retrieval cues
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Recency Effect: With respect to memory, the tendency to recall items better when they are learned last
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Recognition Tasks: A method of measuring memory retention, such as multiple choice tests, which assess the ability to recognize the correct answer among a range of alternatives
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Representativeness Heuristic: judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead one to ignore other relevant information.
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Repression: in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness
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Retrieval Cues: stimuli that aid the recall or recognition of information stored in memory
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Retrieval Theory: The process of recalling information stored in memory
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Retroactive Interference: A form of interference in which newly acquired information interferes with retention of earlier learned material
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Retrograde Amnesia: a loss of memory for events prior to a brain injury
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Retrospective Memory: Memory of past events or previously acquired information
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Savings Theory: A methos of testing memory retention by means of comparing the numbers of trials needed to learn material with the number of trials needed to relearn the material at a later time.
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Semantic Memory: Memory of general facts and information
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Semantic Network Model: A representation of the organizational structure of long-term memory in terms of a network of associated concepts
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Semantics: The meanings of words or other symbolic expressions in a language
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Sensory Memory: the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system
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Sensory Register: A temporary storage buffer or holding device for storing sensory memories
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Serial Position Effect: The tendency to recall material placed at the start or end of a list better than material placed in the middle of the list
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Serial Recall: A type of recall task inwhich individuals are asked to recite a list of items or number in a particular order
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Short-term Memory: The memory subsystem that allows for retention of newly acquired information for upwards of 30 seconds. Also called working memory
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Specific Concepts: The narrowest or most specific level of concepts in a three-level hierarchical ordering of concepts
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Spreading Activation: a principle that explains how information is retrieved in semantic network theories of memory
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State-Dependent Memory Effects: The tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same psychological or physiological state as when the information was first encoded or learned
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Superordinate Concepts: the broadest concepts in a three-level hierarchy of concepts
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Syntax: the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
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Thinking: process of mentally representing and manipulating information
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Three-stage Model: A model of memory that posits three distinct processes or subsystems of memory(sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory)
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Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon: An experience in which people sense that they know something but can't seem to bring it to mind.
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Visuospatial Sketchpad: In Baddeley and Hitch's three-component model, the storage buffer for visual-spatial material held in short-term memory.
