psychology: memory

memory

the mechanism we use to create, maintain and retrieve info about the past. learning cannot occur without memory.

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event (ex. 9/11)

encoding

put into memory

storage

maintain in memory

retrieval

get info back out of memory

3 Stage model of memory

sensory memory.

short-term memory.

long-term memory.

sensory memory

preserves info in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a fraction of a second. allows for the sensation of a visual pattern, sound, or touch to linger for a brief moment after the stimulation is over. transferred into short term memory.

short-term memory

not permanent. retains and processes info up to 30 seconds, holds info long enough for it to be actively worked on or processed by the brain.

long-term memory

memory in which associations among items are stored for a long time. retains info for periods of time beyond the capacity for STM. capacity=unlimited. duration=unlimited. research suggest that you never truly forget anything.

working memory

a limited capacity system for temp storage and manipulation for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning; accounts for dynamic process involved in cognition. any time you need to remember something for a very limited amount of time.

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 networks

organization of LTM. memory is organizzed based on semantic (meaning) rather than superficial features (what look/sound like).

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,)

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

amnesia

the loss of memory

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

blocking

inaccessibility of stored info; may be on the tip of the tongue

proactive interference

Old memories interfere with recall of new

information

retroactive interference

New memories interfere with recall of old information.

misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event (ex. How fast were the cars going when they SMASHED into eachother?)

George Miller's Magic #7

a person can typically remember somewhere between 5 and 9 digits on average

elaborative rehearsal

method of transferring material from STM to LTM by making tat info more meaningful in some way, associate new material with familiar meaningful info. why dewald always uses personal stories in lecture.

LTM

declarative memory and procedural memory

declarative memory

things you are aware you are accessing and you can report the contents of that info. episodic and semantic memory

episodic memory

events, self knowing, self remembering, experiences you had that personally involved you

semantic memory

knowledge, facts, not personal, not from a personal experience. info without the experience of when or how we are involved in it.

procedural memory

not knowing through behavior, skill memory, action memoru, hard to link to langauge. ride a bike, tie shoes, type, write

can we trust our memories

NO

constructionist theory

memory is reconstructive process, memories may be distorted, we best remember events and experiences that are consistent with our schemas () and pre-existing expectations

Decay/trace theory

memories gradually fade over time

retrieval theory

forgetting is a result of a failure to to access stored memory

retrograde amnesia

forgetting old stuff

anterograde amnesia

forgetting new stuff

recognition task

recognizing previously encountered events, objects, or people; environmental content is matched to stored memory representations.

primacy effect

In free recall, the tendency to recall the first items on the list more readily than those in the middle.

recency effect

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