Memory Processes and Disorders: Rehearsal, Retrieval, and Amnesia

Maintenance Rehearsal

A memory process in which information is repeated over and over to keep it in short-term memory for a short period of time, without adding any meaning or deeper understanding.

Elaborative Rehearsal

A memory strategy where you connect new information to what you already know by adding meaning, creating associations, or forming examples.

Autobiographical Memory

The ability to recall personal life events and experiences, combining both episodic memories (specific moments) and semantic memories (personal facts) to create a coherent story of one's own past.

Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM)

A rare ability in which a person can recall extraordinarily detailed information about events from their own life.

Retrograde Amnesia

A memory disorder in which a person cannot recall past memories that were formed before a brain injury, illness, or traumatic event.

Anterograde Amnesia

A memory disorder in which a person cannot form new long-term memories after a brain injury, illness, or traumatic event.

Infantile Amnesia

The inability of adults to recall memories from early childhood, typically from before ages 2-4, even though those experiences did happen.

Alzheimer's Disease

A progressive neurological disorder that slowly destroys memory, cognitive function, and the ability to carry out daily tasks due to the deterioration of brain cells.

Recall

A type of memory retrieval where you bring information out of long-term memory without any cues or hints.

Recognition

A type of memory retrieval where you identify information when you see it again, using cues or options to help you remember.

Retrieval Cue

A stimulus or clue that helps you access information stored in long-term memory.

Context Dependent Memory

The tendency to remember information better when you are in the same environment or context where you originally learned it.

Mood-Congruent Memory

The tendency to recall memories that match your current emotional state.

State-Dependent Memory

The tendency to recall information more easily when you are in the same physical or internal state as when the memory was encoded.