Memory

Memory

An active system that receives information from the senses, organizes and alters it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage.

Encoding

The set of mental operations performed on sensory information to convert it into a usable form for storage in the brain.

Storage

Holding onto information for some period of time.

Retrieval

Getting information that is in storage into a usable form.

Information-Processing Model

A model of memory that processes information for storage similar to how a computer processes memory in three stages.

Sensory Memory

The first stage of memory where information enters the nervous system through the sensory systems, held for a very brief amount of time.

Short-term Memory

The memory system in which information is held for brief periods while being used, storing limited amounts for about 18 seconds.

Chunking

The process of grouping items into smaller chunks of information to improve short-term memory.

Long-term Memory (LTM)

The system of memory into which all information can be potentially stored more or less permanently.

Procedural Memory

Memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses.

Declarative Memory

The type of memory that includes facts and information that make up knowledge.

Semantic Memory

General knowledge that includes the understanding of language and information learned in formal education.

Episodic Memory

Memories of specific events or personal information such as daily activities.

Encoding Specificity

The tendency for memory to be improved if related information available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is retrieved.

State-dependent Memory

The ease of recalling memories formed during a particular physiological or psychological state when in a similar state.

Recall

The type of memory retrieval where the information must be 'pulled' from memory with few external cues.

Recognition

The ability to match a piece of information or stimulus to a stored image or fact.

Forgetting

The loss of memory that can occur due to various factors, such as encoding failure or memory decay.

Interference Theory

The theory that one piece of information can impair the encoding or retrieval of another piece of information.

Retrograde Amnesia

Loss of memory from a specific point in time backwards, often gradually recovering the oldest memories first.

Anterograde Amnesia

Loss of memory from the point of injury or illness forward, where new episodic memories cannot be formed.