Psych Test- Memory and Cognition IAGWO___!!!

How many digits of information can the short-term memory hold?

7 digits + or - 2

recall

retrieving info that is not currently in you conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time- pulling out a fact or event from your mind with little to no help

recognition

identifying items previously learned- because you have a clue or prompt

relearning

learning something more quickly from when you learned it a second time

encoding

getting information into our brains- attention to important or novel information

Storing

retaining information

Retrieving

later getting the information back out of our brains

parallel processing

brains process simultaneously- processing multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously

Memory- forming process

#1- Sensory memory

#2- Short-term memory

#3- Long-term memory

Sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information- to-be-remembered information for later

Short-term memory

briefly activated memory of a few items that is later stored or forgotten

Long-term memory

relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system- knowledge, skills, and experiences- used for layer retrieval

Effortful processing

the encoding or storing of information that requires conscious attention, focus, and deliberate mental work

working memory

a stage where short-term and long-term memory combine- like a active “scratch pad”

central executive

main control center of working memory- directs attention, complex tasks, and manages information flow between memory systems

phonological loop

holds auditory information in short-term memory

visuospatial sketchpad

briefly holds information about objects appearances and location in space- where you parked your car or the route you take for school

neurogenesis

the formation of new neurons

Long-term potentiation- L.T.P

the increased efficiency of potential neural firing- an increase in nerve cells firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory

Ebbinghaus retention curve

you need repetition and repeated learning for better retention

explicit memory

retention of facts and experiences we can consciously know and “declare”

implicit memories

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection- also called non-declarative memory

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information such as space, time, and frequently, and of familiar or well-learned information, such as sounds, smells, and word meanings

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli

echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically- enables people to recall it more easily

mnemonics

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

Ex: ROYGBIV, PEMDAS

spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention

massed practice (cramming)

can produce speedy short-term learning and a inflated feeling of confidance

distributed practice

produces better long-term recall

testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information

shallow processing

encodes on an elementary level, such as word’s letters (structural encoding), or at a higher level, a words sound (phonemic encoding)- structure or appearance of the words

deep processing

encodes semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention- the deeper, the more meaningful the processing is, the better the retention will be

self- reference effect

we more easily remember material when we learn and rephrase it into personally meaningful terms

semantic encoding

making it personal to you (meaningfulness)

hierarchies

concepts divided and subdivided (like an outline)

Fat badgers are careful hunters is a mnemonic for the and stands for

limbic system- frontal lobe, basal ganglia, amygdala, cerebellum, and hippocampus

Semantic memories

facts and general knowledge - helps us connect concepts together

episodic memories

experienced events

The two conscious memory systems

semantic and episodic

schemas

frameworks we’ve learned to use in understanding our world

Hippocampus

processes and stores new explicit (conscious) memories for facts and events- like a loading dock for temporary info

frontal lobe

acts as the body's control center for movement, problem-solving, and personality

memory consolidation

temporary info shifts to be archived and memories move to the cortex for storage- sleep helps memory consolidation

cerebellum

helps form and store implicit memories created by classic conditioning- implicit memories formation need the cerebellum

basal ganglia

deep brain structures involved in motor movement and formation of our procedural memories for skills - riding a bike- basal ganglia and cerebellum communicating

infantile amnesia

conscious memory of the first 4 years is largely blank- we index explicit memories with language that babies don’t have yet and the hippocampus is one of the last brain structures to develop

flashbulb memory

create a mental snapshot of exicting or shocking events- 911and Mr. Rogers popping the balloon

amygdala

stress provoking, fight or flight- 2 limbic system emotion-processing clusters

memory processing

retrospective memory

our past

prospective memory

our intended future action

retrieval cues

like passwords that open memories

priming

seeing or hearing the world rabbit → active concept (picture it) → primes spelling the spoken word as maybe hair/hare

context- dependent memory

putting yourself back in the same context where you remembered something- can prime your memory retrieval- the divers experiment

encoding specificity principle

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall

state- dependent memory

whatever mental/physical sate you were in when learned/experienced something, can help when trying to remember or relearn- what you learn/experience when your drunk, you can recall again when you are in the same state again

mood-congruent memory

tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with someones current good or bad mood

serial position-effect

our tendency to recall the last items in a list initially (recency effect), and the first items in a list after (primacy effect)

mood modified memories

rose colored glasses after something good and the opposite for something bad

depression

your sad so you start to only see the sad, bad, and scary and become unable to see the good and happy (dark cycle)

classical conditioning

type of learning where you learn to connect with a signal and have an automatic reflex- Jim mint thing to Dwight, lemon or apple thing people do to each other and then throw something

Retrograde amnesia

forgetting events before an injury

anterograde

inability to create tong-term memories

What type of amnesia does Clive wearing have?

anterograde

failure to encode means

failure to remember

proactive interfearence

forward acting- old information messing up new information

retroactive interfearence

backward acting- new information messing up old information

self serving personal histories

we remember what serves us best

motivated forgetting (repression)

defense mechanism- after traumatic event, people unconsciously forget the info that happened to them

Memory is

constructive

reconsolidating

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

memory construction

we rethink things worse than they are

misinformation effect

occurs when memory has been corrupted by misleading information

source amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imaged- at the heart of faulty memories and misinformation effect

déja vu

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

Elizabeth Loftus

lost in the mall- misinformation effect

cognition

all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

metacognition

cognition about our cognition

concept

a mental grouping of similar objects- events, ideas, or people

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category

schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

accomidation

adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information

creativity

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas

convergent thinking

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

divergent thinking

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions

executive functions

cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior

algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem- slow and error prone

heuristic

a simple thinking strategy- a mental shortcut

insight

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

conformation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions

fixation

in cognition, 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- especially if its successful in the past

intution

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought- good if based on experience

representativeness heuristic

judging 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

avaliblity heuristic

judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory- we presume such events are common (plane crash example)

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident that correct-

belief perserverance

the persistence of ones initial conceptions even after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

framing

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