Chapter 7: Memory

Encoding

Forming a memory code.

Storage

Maintaining encoded information in memory over time.

Retrieval

Recovering information from memory stores.

Attention

Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events.

Elaboration

Linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding.

Self-referent encoding

Deciding how or whether information is personally relevant.

Sensory memory

The preservation of information in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a fraction of a second.

Short-term memory (STM)

A limited-capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for about 20 to 30 seconds.

Rehearsal

The process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about information to be stored in memory.

Chunk

A group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit.

working memory capacity (WMC)

One's ability to hold and manipulate information in conscious attention.

Long-term memory (LTM)

An unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time.

Flashbulb memories

Unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events.

Conceptual hierarchy

A multilevel classification system based on common properties among items.

Schema

An organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or sequence of events.

Semantic network

Concepts joined together by links that show how the concepts are related.

Connectionist models

Models of memory that assume cognitive processes depend on patterns of activation in highly interconnected computational networks that resemble neural networks. See parallel distributed processing (PDP) models.

Parallel distributed processing (PDP) models

Models of memory that assume cognitive processes depend on patterns of activation in highly interconnected computational networks that resemble neural networks. Also called connectionist models.

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

A temporary inability to remember something accompanied by a feeling that it's just out of reach.

Misinformation effect

Phenomenon that occurs when participants' recall of an event they witnessed is altered by introducing misleading postevent information.

Reality monitoring

The process of deciding whether memories are based on external sources (our perceptions of actual events) or internal sources (our thoughts and imaginations).

Source monitoring

The process of making attributions about the origins of memories.

Source-monitoring error

An error that occurs when a memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source.

Destination memory

Recalling to whom one has told what.

Nonsense syllables

Consonant-vowel-consonant arrangements that do not correspond to words.

Forgetting curve

A graph showing retention and forgetting over time.

Retention

The proportion of material retained (remembered).

Recall

A memory test that requires subjects to reproduce information on their own without any cues.

Recognition

A memory test that requires subjects to select previously learned information from an array of options.

Relearning

A memory test that requires a subject to memorize information a second time to determine how much time or effort is saved by having learned it before.

Retroactive interference

A memory problem that occurs when new information impairs the retention of previously learned information.

Proactive interference

A memory problem that occurs when previously learned information interferes with the retention of new information.

Encoding specificity principle

The idea that the value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code.

Transfer-appropriate processing

The situation that occurs when the initial processing of information is similar to the type of processing required by the subsequent measures of attention.

Repression

Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.

Motivated forgetting

Purposeful suppression of memories.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

A long-lasting increase in neural excitability in synapses along a specific neural pathway.

Retrograde amnesia

Loss of memories for events that occurred prior to a head injury.

Anterograde amnesia

Loss of memories for events that occur after a head injury.

Consolidation

A hypothetical process involving the gradual conversion of information into durable memory codes stored in long-term memory.

Declarative memory system

Memory for factual information.

Nondeclarative memory system

Memory for actions, skills, and operations.

Episodic memory system

Chronological, or temporally dated, recollections of personal experiences.

Semantic memory system

General knowledge that is not tied to the time when the information was learned.

Prospective memory

The ability to remember to perform actions in the future.

Retrospective memory

The ability to remember events from the past or previously learned information.

Mnemonic devices

Strategies for enhancing memory.

Overlearning

Continued rehearsal of material after one first appears to have mastered it.

Serial-position effect

In memory tests, the fact that subjects show better recall for items at the beginning and end of a list than for items in the middle.

Link method

Forming a mental image of items to be remembered in a way that links them together.

Method of loci

A mnemonic device that involves taking an imaginary walk along a familiar path where images of items to be remembered are associated with certain locations.

Hindsight bias

The tendency to mold one's interpretation of the past to fit how events actually turned out.

structural encoding

relatively shallow processing that emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus

phonemic encoding

Encoding information according to the sound of the word used to identify it.

semantic encoding

the process of relating new information in a meaningful way to knowledge that is already stored in memory

level of processing theory

proposes that deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes

interference theory of forgetting

the theory that forgetting is caused by other memories impairing the retention or retrieval of the target memory.

phonological loop

the part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information

visuospatial sketchpad

A component of working memory where we create mental images to remember visual information

central executive system

controls the deployment of attention, switching the focus of attention and dividing attention as needed

episodic buffer

A component of working memory where information in working memory interacts with information in long term memory (eg. relating information you are processing to a previous memory)

Clustering

organizing items into related groups during recall from long-term memory

spreading activation

Occurs when one item brought into working memory triggers an activation of related memory

retrieval cues

Stimuli that are used to bring a memory to consciousness or into behavior

Context Cues (Retrieval)

trying to recall an event by putting yourself back in the context in which it occurred

decay theory

proposes that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time

dual coding theory

memory is enhanced by using both semantic and visual codes since either can lead to recall

semantic memory

a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world

retrospective memory

involves remembering events from the past or previously learned information

prospective memory

remembering to do something in the future

Acrostics

Sentences whose first letters serve as cues for recalling specific information; a mnemonic device.

acronym

A word formed from the first letter of each word in a series

pseudoforgetting

a type of encoding interference in which information is never actually stored because of some kind of attention interference

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

reconsolidation

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

Interference of Memory

Retrieval error cased by existence of other (usually similar) information.

alteration in synaptic transmission

reflex learning produces changes in the strength of specific synaptic connections by enhancing the availability and release of neurotransmitters at these synapses

neurogenesis

the formation of new neurons

imagination inflation

a memory phenomenon in which vividly imagining an event markedly increases confidence that the event actually occurred

Metacognition

awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.

testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information

state-dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular state of mind (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind.

mood-congruent memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

context dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place.

infantile amnesia

the inability to retrieve memories from much before age 3

autobiographical memory

the memory for events and facts related to one's personal life story

recency effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

primacy effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

distributed practice

spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study periods

massed practice

a practice schedule in which studying continues for long periods, without interruption

spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

central executive

the part of working memory that directs attention and processing