Psych Unit 2: Cognition

Memory

Learning that lasts

Memory Process

Encode —> Store —> Retrieve

Recall

Retrieving previously learned information without context (i.e. answering a short-answer question on a test)

Recognition

Identifying previously learned information (i.e. answering a multiple-choice question)

Relearning

Learning something quicker after already learning it once (i.e. a review day in class before a test)

Rehearsal

Repeating on purpose to remember (i.e. going over a script you have for a presentation)

Serial Position Effect

Best at remembering first and last items from information (i.e. remembering someone’s introduction and conclusion better after a speech)

Primacy (in Serial Position Effect)

First few bits of information (i.e. remembering the first items of a grocery list)

Recency (in Serial Position Effect)

Last few bits of information (i.e. remembering the last scene of movies)

Encode

To put information into the brain (i.e. taking notes in class)

Visual Encoding

Getting information via mental or visually (i.e. forming a mental map of a new place)

Acoustic Encoding

Getting information via sounds or words (i.e. learning a song’s lyrics by listening and singing along)

Semantic Encoding

Getting information based on its meaning (i.e. summarizing a story in your own words)

Store/Storage

Keeping information into the brain (i.e. holding on to passwords)

Retrieve

Later using/getting information back from out of the brain (storage) — (i.e. recalling your friend’s birthday)

Parallel Processing

Processing multiple aspects of a stimulus at the same time (i.e. while driving a car, you notice the road, the road signs, the cars around you, etc)

Effortful Processing

Learning that takes focus and hard work (i.e. studying for an exam)

Automatic Processing

Doing or learning something subconsciously (i.e. breathing and blinking)

Sensory Memory

Briefly retaining information from your biological senses (touch, smell, sight, sound, etc) — (i.e. remembering the taste of a food)

Short-Term Memory

Retaining a few pieces of information briefly, before forgetting (i.e. following directions someone gave you)

Long-Term Memory

Relatively permanent, limitless storage of information (i.e. remembering your own phone number)

Working Memory (Short-Term)

Actively processing new information, while retrieving long-term memory (i.e. remembering a phone number while dialing it)

Central Executive Functions

Manages the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad (i.e. focusing on a lecture despite side conversations from peers)

Phonological Loop

Briefly holds word and sound (auditory) information (i.e. practicing a speech by repeating words)

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Briefly holds visual and geographical information (i.e. imagining how furniture will fit in a new room)

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

Neurons improve at sending signals after repeated use, helping memory and learning (i.e. speaking a language more fluently with practice)

Explicit Memories

A type of long-term memory for facts, events, and experiences you can consciously recall and explain (i.e. describing a historical event you studied)

Semantic Memory

A part of explicit memory that is of facts and general knowledge (i.e. remembering that 2+2=4)

Episodic Memory

A part of explicit memory that is of a personally experienced event (i.e. remembering your first pet)

Implicit Memories

A type of long-term memory for skills and habits you use automatically without thinking (i.e. typing on a keyboard)

Procedural Memory

A type of long-term memory for how to do tasks and skills automatically without thinking (i.e. brushing your teeth without thinking through each step)

What four pieces of information are apart of the automatic process

Well-learned skills, space, time, and frequency

Iconic Memory

A brief memory (sensory) of visual stimuli (i.e. noticing a car’s color as it zooms past)

Echoic Memory

A brief memory (sensory) of auditory stimuli (i.e. listening to music and being able to connect the notes/tunes)

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units (i.e. remembering a credit card number in parts/chunks)

Mnemonics

Memory Aids (acronyms, patterns, rhymes) — (i.e. using PEMDAS or SOH CAH TOA in math)

Method of Loci

Adding new vivid details to memories of a familiar place (i.e. remembering a grocery list by visualizing items placed around your house)

Distributed Practice

Retaining information by encoding over time (i.e. training for a marathon with regular runs spread out over months)

Space effect

Tendency for distributed study/practice to yield better long term retention

Massed Practice

Studying or practicing in one sitting; cramming (i.e. reading an entire textbook chapter before class)

Shallow Processing

Encoding based on look or structure of words (i.e. reading a word and not noticing it for its meaning)

Structural Processing

Encoding based on visual features of something (i.e. noticing a word is fully capitalized rather than its meaning)

Phonemic Processing

Encoding based on how something sounds (i.e. saying a word out aloud to better remember, saying “wed-nes-day” when trying to spell wednesday)

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repeating info to keep it in short-term memory (i.e. repeating a grocery list mentally when shopping)

Deep Processing

Encoding based on the meaning of the words (Semantic) — (i.e. teaching a friend a subject in your own words, using new vocab in your own sentence)

Semantic Processing

Encoding based on the meaning of the information (i.e. remembering the word “dog” by imagining your own)

Elaborate Rehearsal

Connecting new information to existing knowledge (semantically, personal examples, associations) — (i.e. remembering a new vocab word by making a story with it)

What is the role of the hippocampus in memory?

Processes and sends explicit memories to other brain areas for storage

What is the role of the cerebellum in memory?

Helps form and store implicit memories, particularly in classical conditioning

What is the role of the basal ganglia in memory?

Deep brain structure that help motor movement, and help form procedural memories for skills

Infantile Amnesia

When adults don’t remember infant years because their hippocampus and brain regions are not developed

Flashbulb Memory

An emotionally charged clear memory of an traumatic/upsetting event (i.e. remembering what you were wearing or feeling when you found out a loved one passed away)

Priming

Unconscious activation of specific memories/associations (i.e. smelling cookies as walk past a bakery then craving sweets, seeing the word “yellow” make you think of the sun or bananas)

Context-Dependent

Retrieval is strengthened when you are in the same place/situation where you learned it (i.e. studying for a test in your class and recalling info better during test in same room)

State-Dependent

Retrieval is strengthened when in the same mental/physical state that when you learned it (i.e. remembering something you studied while caffeinated better when you drink coffee again)

Mood Congruent

Recalling good or bad memories that match your current mood (i.e. feeling angry and recalling past arguments and unfair situations)

Metacognition

When you think about how well you understand or learned information (i.e. realizing you don’t understand a paragraph while reading then deciding to reread it)

Testing Effect

When memory strengthen from repeatedly self-testing on information

Interleaving

A strategy where you mix different topics while studying (i.e. practicing different types of math problems)

Autobiographical Memory

A type of memory when you can recall past experiences/events from your entire life (i.e. photo album)

Retrograde Amnesia

Forgetting events that happened before or led up to a brain injury (i.e. a car accident victim can’t remember the events leading up to the crash)

Anterograde Amnesia

Can’t form new long-term memories after hippocampus is damage (i.e. a person with brain damage remembers childhood event but can’t remember meeting someone new today)

Alzheimer’s Disease

A progressive brain disorder causing trouble with new short term memories and daily tasks

How does encoding failure lead to a loss of memories?

Due to the brain not being able to process everything (sensations, thoughts, emotions), most information is not stored in memory

Forgetting Curve

We forget information quickly at first, then the rate slows over time; practice helps you remember (i.e. learning a new friend’s name → forget it the next day if you don’t repeat it)

Blocking or Tip-Of-The-Tongue

Feeling that a memory is available but you can’t retrieve it (i.e. remembering the tune of a song but not the lyrics)

Proactive Interference

Old memories block you from remembering new information (i.e. remembering your old phone number when someone asks for your current one)

Retroactive Interference

New information blocks you from recalling old memories (i.e. learning your new phone number and then forgetting your old one)

Why do people repress memories (Sigmund Freud)?

To hide painful or unwanted memories to protect yourself and lower anxiety

Constructive Memory

Memories are not accurate, they are rebuilt and influenced by new information, expectations, and imagination (i.e. misremembering a conversation by adding in things you thought the other person said or witnessing a car accident and later “remembering” broken glass even if none was there)

Reconsolidation

When we recall a memory, it can change before being stored again; the few times it is used, the more pristine it is (i.e. recalling a fight with a friend and unintentionally exaggerating certain details when you think about it later or telling childhood story multiple times, and over the years the details shift slightly each time you retell it)

Misinformation Effect

Memories get changed or corrupted by misleading information (i.e. a family member telling you that you cried at your 5th birthday party, and over time you “remember” it happening even if it didn’t)

Imagination Inflation

Imagining an event makes you more likely to believe it happened (i.e. thinking about taking a vacation — imagining the hotel, the beach, the food — and later confusing parts of that imagined trip with a real one)

Rosy Retrospection

Recalling events to be better than they really were (i.e. recalling high school as “the best years of your life” even though you were often stressed or unhappy then)

Source Amnesia

Mixing up how, when, or where you learned information (i.e. presenting an idea as your own without realizing that is was subconsciously influenced by something you heard or saw, or recalling a story as true but forgetting it came from gossip)

Deja Vu

The feeling that a current moment feels familiar because cues unconsciously trigger a memory of a similar past experience (i.e. having a conversation and feeling like the exact dialogue already happened)

Why is forgetting important?

Separates from what is important and what isn’t

Memory Consolidation

A new short-term memory is transformed into a stable, durable long-term memory for permanent storage (i.e. practicing a new skill, like riding a bike, repeatedly to strengthen the memory over time)