psych terms 2.5-2.7

research methods sauter

Sensory Memory 

Briefly states sensory input, large capacity but fades quickly.

Short term memory

Holds small amount of information

working memory

Active part of STM, used for manipulating and processing information

Long term memory

Permanent storage of knowledge and skills

Maintenance Rehearsal 

Repeating info over and over to keep it in STM

Elaborate Rehearsal

connecting new info to existing knowledge or meanings to help transfer long term memory

autobiographical memory 

A type of long term memory involves recollection of personal life experiences ( facts and events memories about oneself)

Amnesia

Brain damage that disrupts memory formation or retrival

Retrograde

Loss of memories from before injury

Anterograde

Inability to form new memories after injury

memory retrival

Process of recalling stored information from long term memory into conscious awareness

Recall

retrieving information without cues,answering essay question 

recognition

identifying previosly learned using cues (multiple choice)

state dependent memory

we remember better when our internal state matches the state we were learning in

Mood congruent memory 

we tend to recall memories that recall our current mood, happy state equal to happy memories

context dependent

external cues like environment or setting improve recall when they match the learning context

testing effect

retrieving info from memory strengthens and improves long term retention more effectively

why we forget

decay, inference, or failure to encode

Forgetting Curve

shows that memory declines rapidly after learning but levels off overtime

encoding faliure

information never enters long term memory b/c it wasn’t processed deeply enough

interference

when other memories disrupt the retrieval of the target memory

Proactive

Old info interferes with new learning

retroactive

new info interferes with recalling old information

retrieval failure

When info is stored in memory but can’t be accessed temporarily

Tip of the tongue phenonmenon

You know the info but can’t quite retrieve it

Motivated forgetting aka repression

Idea that people unconsciously block out painful memories to protect themselves emotionally

storage decay

over time memories fade if it isn’t rehearsed or accessed

misinformation effect

shows that exposure to misleading information often on event can alter how people remember it. Eyewitness memory can not always be reliable and can be distorted by how questions are asked

consturctive memory 

the psychological process of actively reconstructing memories rather than simply retrieving them as pre-recorded information

reconsolidation

when memories are retrieved but then altered before stored again

imagination inflation

repeadly imagining an event increases confidence that it happened even if it didn’t

source amnesia

forgetting where or how we learned something