Flashcards: Psychology Myers 7th Edition - Ch9: Memory
All 49 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 memory | the persistence of learning over time; storage and retrieval of information |
| flashbulb memory | a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event (ex. 9/11) |
| encoding | 1st step of information processing/memory storage; how we get information into our brain; input is translated into something meaningful to be remembered; encoded meaning |
| storage | 2nd step of information processing/memory storage; retaining and storing info for long periods of time |
| retrieval | 3rd step of information processing/memory storage; getting the memory back out; retrieving the memory |
| three-stage processing | Atkinson and Shiffrin's 3-stage memory model; 1. info is recorded as sensory memory, 2. processed into short-term memory, 3. encoded for long-term memory |
| sensory memory | the immediate, initial recording of sensory info; includes most immediate thoughts |
| short-term memory | memory that holds a few items briefly before they are stored or forgotten; includes some important thoughts; can remember up to 7 things (ex. phone numbers) |
| long-term memory | the permanent and limitless storehouse of memory; includes a few very important, enduring thoughts |
| working memory | how we rehearse and manipulate info in temporary storage; integrates long and short term memory |
| automatic processing | unconscious, automatic encoding of space, time, and frequency; (ex. remembering where you ate yesterday) |
| effortful processing | encoding that requires attention and conscious effort; (ex. studying - what you're doing right now) |
| rehearsal | the conscious repetition of information; used to encode for storage; as it increases, re-learning time decreases |
| spacing effect | the tendency for study that is SPACED over longer periods of time to yield better results than studying the night before |
| serial position effect | tendency to remember the first and last items better than the rest; remember things because of their POSITION |
| visual encoding | remembering images and visuals |
| acoustic encoding | remembering sounds, especially word sounds (ex. it's easier to remember rhymes) |
| semantic encoding | remembering meaning (ex. word meaning) |
| imagery | mental pictures; powerful aid to effortful processing |
| mnemonic devices | memory aids; includes method of loci, peg-word system, acronyms |
| method of loci | Greek mnemonic device; scholars would imagine themselves in different LOCations and associated each place with an image of the to-be-remembered topic |
| peg-word system | associating an idea with a peg word; (ex. one is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree...I want to remember to buy carrots at the store, so I image a carrot-flavored bun.) |
| chunking | organizing items into meaningful, familiar categories; occurs automatically; (it's easier to remember 1492 and 1812 instead of 1,4,9,2,1,8,1,2,) |
| acronym | creating words or setences from the first letters of words to be remembered (ex. ROY G. BIV) |
| iconic memory | a photographIC memory lasting for a few tenths of a second; everyone has it; discovered by Sperling |
| echoic memory | a momentary audio memory of a sound; sounds, words, and ECHOES can be remembered within 3 to 4 seconds, even if attention is elsewhere |
| long-term potentiation | LTP; proLONGed strengthening of POTENTIAL neuron firing; by stimulating certain neural connections repeated, they become more efficient at releasing neurotransmitters; neural basis for learning and memory |
| amnesia | the loss of memory |
| implicit memory | learning still occurs, but the person doesn't remember what they have learned; implied memories; also called procedural memory (ex. amnesia patient plays golf a lot and gets good at it, but can't remember ever playing golf) |
| explicit memory | memory of facts that one can consciously known and declare; also known as declarative memory; one can EXPLICITLY declare that they remember the experience or fact |
| hippocampus | the neural center in the limbic system that processes explicit memories for storage; (ex. We don't remember our first 3 years because the hippocampus is the last brain structure to develop, yet we still remember how to crawl and eat and breathe) |
| cerebellum | processing site for implicit memories; memories for skills and conditioned associations are kept here |
| amygdala | stores implicit emotional memories; damage to this brain area prevents one from learning to fear |
| sensory memory | how information enters the memory system; SENSORS identify info as iconic or echoic |
| recall | ability to retrieve information not in conscious awareness (ex. fill-in-the-blank test) |
| recognition | ability to identify items previously learned (ex. multiple-choice test) |
| relearning | a memory measure that assess the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time |
| priming | identifying the strands that lead to a specific memory held in storage; prime the mind to get the specific details out |
| deja vu | "I've seen this before"; cues from your current situation my subconsciously trigger retrieval of past memories |
| mood-congruent memory | tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood |
| transience | storage decay over time; unused info fades |
| blocking | inaccessibility of stored info; may be on the tip of the tongue |
| misattribution | confusing the source of info (ex. remembering a movie scene as a real life event) |
| suggestibility | lingering effects of misinformation (ex. a leading question) |
| proactive interference | when stuff you learned in the past interferes with what you're learning now (ex. Grandma can never be a computer PRO because she thinks the computer is an old typewriter.) |
| retroactive interference | when new information makes it harder to remember old information; (ex. There are so many new styles out nowadays that I can't remember the old RETRO clothing styles!) |
| repression | in Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the idea that our memory systems self-censor painful memories; most people believe it, but it's not true; instead, motivated forgetting is what really occurs |
| misinformation effect | incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event (ex. How fast were the cars going when they SMASHED into eachother?) |
| source amnesia | also called misattribution; attributing the wrong source to an event we have experienced (ex. remembering a movie scene as something the really happened) |
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