ap psych unit 6

Memory

Learning that has persisted over time, information that has been stored and can be retrieved

Recall

Being able to access information without being cued (fill in the blank test without word bank)

Recognition

Identifying information after experiencing it again (multiple choice test)

Relearning

The process by which we learn something for the second time, often faster than the first time (ex. studying for cumulative final)

Information Processing Model

Model of memory with three stages - Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval

Atkinson-Shiffrin Three-stage Model of Memory

Three memory systems - Sensory Memory, Short-term Memory, Long-term Memory

Levels of Processing Model

How long and how well we remember information depends on how deeply we process the information when it is encoded

• Depth refers to the attention, focus, elaboration, and emphasis on a particular memory

Chunking

Grouping individual pieces of information into larger units (1 7 7 6 or 1776)

Short-Term Memory

Holds a small amount of information for a brief period of time (20-30 seconds) very sensitive and easy to forget

Baddeley’s Working Memory

Allows temporary retention and manipulation of stored information (what you are actively thinking about and trying to solve)

Memory Span

Number of items a person can remember and repeat back using attention and short term memory

Long-Term Memory

Storage of information over an extended period (can last from a few days to decades)

Implicit (Unconscious) Memory

Remembering unconsciously and effortlessly

Explicit (Conscious) Memory

Information that you have to consciously work to remember

• Memory of facts, concepts, and events that require conscious recall of the information and can verbalize

• We encode explicit memories through conscious, effortful processing

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort (you must purposefully try to remember through doing something).

Semantic Memory

Memories of facts, concepts, names, and general knowledge (you use these when you take a test)

Episodic Memory

Long-term memory of specific events and experiences (ex. autobiographical memory)

Prospective Memory

Remembering to complete a task in the future (ex. knowing that a car needs to be filled with gas every few days)

Eidetic Memory

Retaining visual images for seconds with realistic vividness

Memory Consolidation

Process of converting short-term memories into long-term ones

Long-Term Potentiation

Strengthening of a synaptic connection that happens when the synapse of one neuron repeatedly fires ad excites another neuron

• Currently believed to be a biological basis for learning and memory in mammals

• LTP occurs in the hippocampus, transfer of information from short-term to long-term

Storage Decay

Loss of information over time

Amnesia

Full or partial loss of memory due to injury or trauma

Retrieval Failure

Failure to recall a memory due to missing cues that were present when you made the memory (ex. when you were studying you highlighted important stuff in yellow but now you cant remember anything you highlighted in yellow)

Encoding Failure

Memory not formed due to lack of attention (in one ear out the other)

Interference Theory

Memories interfering with the retrieval of other memories

Flashbulb Memory

Vivid memories created during personal tragedy or significant events

Memory Reconstruction

Approach to understanding memory as a cognitive process and the errors that occur within it

• We often construct our memories as we encode them, and we may also alter our memories as we withdraw them from our memory bank

• People update their memories with logical processes, reasoning, new information, perception, imagination, beliefs, and cultural biases

Proactive Interference

Older memories interfere with the retrieval of newer memories

• It is often easier to recall previously learned information rather than more recent learning

Retroactive Interference

newer memories interfere with the retrieval of older memories

• Learning new things can make it more difficult to recall things that we already know

procedural memory

“rules and tasks”, how to perform a specific task, you don't have to consciously recall how to perform these tasks

Anterograde Amnesia

Condition in which a person is unable to create new memories after an amnesia-inducing event

Retrograde Amnesia

Cannot remember things that happened before the event that caused their amnesia

Forgetting Curve

the exponential loss of information shortly after learning it

deep processing

shallow processing

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance (usually short term retention)

structural and phonemic with shallow processing

structural: encode physical qualities

phonemic: encode sound

IPM encoding

The process of putting information into the memory system (get information into our brain)

• Once we receive sensory information from the environment, our brains label or code it

IPM storage

The creation of a permanent record of the encoded information (retain the information)

IPM retrieval

he calling back of stored information on demand when it is needed (get the information back out)

Sensory Memory

External events from our senses are held just long enough to be perceived. Our selective attention, focusing of awareness on a specific stimulus in sensory memory, determines which very small fraction is encoded into short-term memory

• Iconinc: Sensory input to the visual system goes into iconic memory, duration of less than a second

• Echoic: The branch of sensory memory used by the auditory system

• Haptic: The branch of sensory memory used by the sense of touch, seems to decay after about 2 seconds

Short-term Memory

The information we are currently aware of or thinking about

Long-term memory

All the memories we hold for periods of time longer than a few seconds