Pyschology: Memory

Terms in this set (25)

Encoding
The name of the process of encoding information.

External stimuli, sensory registers, selective attention/reticular formation, short-term memory.
STORAGE
The name of the process of moving memories from STM to LTM.

STM, LTM, categorization of memories.
Short Term Memory
What you're thinking about.
Long Term Memory
The (mostly) permanent thoughts you'll be able to think of at later times.
Semantic Memory
Memories of general/random facts.
Known as an explicit memory.

Example: Knowing George Washington was the first president.
Episodic Memory
Memories of personal events.
Known as an explicit memory

Example: Remembering the first time you met your best friend.
Emotional Memory
Memory of how to feel in a given situation
Known as an implicit memory

Example: Remembering to be sad when someone tells you one of their loved ones just died.
Procedural Memory
Memory of habits and motor skills
Known as an implicit memory

Example: Remembering how to ride a bike and how to use a fork.
Serial Position Effect
People tend to remember the first (primacy effect) and last (recency effect) items on a list.
Chunking
...
Rote Rehearsal
Repetition.

Example: Remembering lines as an actor.
Spacing Effect
It's easier to learn something over a long period of time than all at once

Example: It's harder to cram before a test than review a few problems a night.
Link Method
Connect one thing to various funny images.
Method of Loci
Create your own visual "house" of information, where you put some concept in a different area of the house.
Elaborative Rehearsal
Connect new information to information you already know.

Example: Psych immersions. Connect an event to a term you know.
Decay Theory
Memories decay/are forgotten over time.

Connection: That's why most people forget things from their childhood.
R.I.P. Bingbong from Inside Out.
Retroactive Interference
Old memories are being tested because of new memories
Proactive Interference
New memories being tested because of old memories

Connection: The phrase "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"
Long Term Potentiation
As you do something more often the structure/function of the synapse changes to make the action more efficient.

Example: Muscle Memory. As you do an action more, you get better at it.
Hippocampus
STM to LTM
Memories
________ are stored where they are processed.

Example: Motor cortex processes motor information, and is where procedural memories are stored.

Example 2: The amygdala processes fear and is responsible for the fight/flight response and is where emotional memories are stored.
Eidetic Memory
The ability to recall vivid mental images of things seen for brief moments.

Also known as photographic memory.

Example: That guy who can paint the entire skyline of New York after flying over it in a helicopter.
Childhood Amnesia
People have generally poor memories for any event before age 2 to 3, since brain (hippocampus specifically) isn't fully developed yet.
Flashbulb Memories
Strong memories of tragic events, likely due to how emotional they are.

Example: Almost everyone remembers exactly where they were when 9/11 or the Boston Bombing happened.
Eye Witness Testimony
Most eyewitnesses are unreliable, as when someone gains new information about an event their memory is changed.

This is because:
"Memories are not stored like snapshots, but are instead like sketches that are altered and added to every time they are called up"
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