AP Psych Unit 5 Mods 31-36

Memory

The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

Recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test

Recognition

A measure of memory where the person identifies items previously learned, as on an MCQ test

Relearning

A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again

Encoding

The process of getting information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning

Storage

The process of retaining encoded information over time

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage

Parallel processing

Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many processes

Connectionism

Views memories as products of interconnected neural networks

Sensory memory

The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

Short-term memory

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly (such as digits of a phone number while calling) before the information is stored or forgotten

Long-term memory

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system; involves knowledge, skills, and experiences

Working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

Explicit memories

Retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare” (aka declarative memory)

Implicit memories

Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection (aka nondeclarative memory)

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort (explicit memories)

Automatic processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings (implicit memories)

Iconic memory

A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a 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

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

Mnemonics

Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

Hierarchies

We remember information better when it is represented in hierarchies vs randomly

Spacing effect

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

Testing effect

Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information (aka retrieval practice or best-enhanced learning)

Shallow processing

Encoding on a basic level, based on the structure/appearance of words

Deep processing

Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of words; tends to yield the best retention

Self-reference effect

Most people excel at remembering personally relevant information; especially prevalent in Western cultures

Semantic

Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge

Episodic

Explicit memory of personally experienced events

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process for storage explicit (conscious) memories of facts and information

Left hippocampus damage

Trouble remembering verbal information

Right hippocampus damage

Trouble remembering visual designs/locations

Memory consolidation

The neural storage of a long-term memory

Cerebellum

Functions include processing sensory input, coordinating balance and movement, and enabling nonverbal learning and memory

Basal Ganglia

Deep brain structures involved in motor movement and facilitates formation of procedural memories for skills

Infantile amnesia

Our inability to remember conscious memories from our first 4 years

Amygdala

2 bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system linked to emotion

Flashbulb memory

A clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

An increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response

Context-dependent memory

Putting yourself back in the context where you learned something can prime your memory retrieval

Encoding specificity principle

The idea that cues or contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

State-dependent memory

What we learn in one physiological state may be more easily recalled again when in that state

Mood-congruent memory

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s good or bad mood

Serial position effect

Our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list

Anterograde amnesia

An inability to form new memories

Retrograde amnesia

An inability to retrieve information from one’s past

Proactive interference

The forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information

Retroactive interference

The backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information

Positive transfer

Previously learned information can facilitate our learning of new information (ex. languages)

Repression

The basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Reconsolidation

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

Misinformation effect

Occurs when misleading information has distorted one’s memory of an event (demonstrated by Elizabeth Loftus)

Source amnesia

Faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined (aka source misattribution); at the heart of many false memories

Deja vu

The eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before”. Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Concepts

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Prototypes

A mental image or best example of a category; matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)

Creativity

The ability to produce new and valuable ideas

Convergent thinking

Narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution (ex. aptitude tests, SAT, math)

Divergent thinking

Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions (ex. creativity tests)

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem; usually slower but less error-prone

Heuristics

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but more error-prone

Insight

A sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions

Confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our perceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Fixation

The inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem-solving

Mental set

A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

Intuition

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

Representativeness heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

Availability heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct — to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements

Planning fallacy

Overestimating our future leisure time and income

Belief perseverance

Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

Motivated reasoning

Individuals allowing emotion-loaded motivational biases to affect how new information is perceived

Framing

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is posed can significantly affect decisions and judgements

Language

Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Phonemes

In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morphemes

In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

Grammar

In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

Semantics

The language’s set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds

Syntax

The language’s set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Universal grammar

A built-in predisposition to learn grammar rules

Receptive language

Babies’ ability to understand what is said to and about them

Babbling stage

Beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

One-word stage

The stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Two-word stage

Beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements

Telegraphic speech

Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram - “go car” - using mostly nouns and verbs

Aphasia

Impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding)

Broca’s area

Helps control language expression — an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

Wernicke’s area

A brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

Linguistic determination

The strong form of Whorf’s hypothesis — the idea that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us

Linguistic influence

The weaker form of “linguistic relativity” - the idea that language affects thought (thus our thinking and world view is “relative to” our cultural language)