Memory and Its Processes

These flashcards cover key concepts related to memory, including types of memory, the processes involved, and theories related to memory retrieval and reconstruction.

Episodic Memory

Memory for life events.

Semantic Memory

Memory for facts, not necessarily related to specific life events.

Procedural Memory

Memory for skills or actions.

Encoding

The process of taking new information into memory.

Storage

The process of maintaining information in temporary or permanent memory.

Retrieval

The process of accessing stored information and bringing it back to mind.

Multi-Store Model of Memory

A model that describes three memory stores: sensory, short-term, and long-term memory.

Primacy Effect

The phenomenon where items at the start of a list are better remembered.

Recency Effect

The phenomenon where items at the end of a list are better remembered.

Rehearsal

A process of repeating information to maintain it in short-term memory and transfer it to long-term memory.

Schema

A concept derived from life experience that helps organize and interpret information.

Reconstructive Memory

The theory that memory is an active process of building and reconstructing rather than simply recalling.

False Memory

A distorted recollection of an event that did not occur.

Interference

A factor that affects memory by mixing up similar events or information.

Context

The situation or setting in which information is learned, which can help trigger memory retrieval.

Effort After Meaning

A term used to describe the way people try to make sense of new information by using past knowledge.

Cued Recall

A method of retrieval where a prompt or cue is provided to help retrieve the information.

Free Recall

Retrieving information without any cues or prompts.

Displacement

A process in which new information pushes out existing information in short-term memory.