AP Psychology - 2.4 Terms & Vocab

dark psychology

explicit memory

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"

implicit memory

memories we don't deliberately remember or reflect on consciously

episodic memory

the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place

semantic memory

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

procedural memory

a type of memory that involves motor skills and behavioral habits (biking)

encoding

the processing of information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning

mnemonic devices

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

method of loci

a mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

categories

clusters of interrelated concepts that allow for developing expertise

hierarchies

complex information broken down into broad concepts and further subdivided into categories and subcategories. organization of categories that aids info processing

spacing effect

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

massed practice

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

distributed practice

technique in which items to be learned are repeated at intervals over a period of time, yielding higher retention results than achieved through cramming

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

primacy effect

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

recency effect

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

dependent variable - distributed practice

outcome measured in experiment testing the effectiveness of distributed practice

distributed practice research study

research study examining distributed practice

encoding techniques

methods to enhance information processing/'encoding' for improved memory retention and recall.

encoding strategies - measured of central tendency

central score representing average encoding performance in research examining encoding strategies

mean

average. the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores

mnemonic devices study - regression to the mean

phenomenon where extreme/outlier scores in initial tests eventually move closer to the mean upon retesting in research regarding mnemonic devices

mnemonics study - independent variable

variable manipulated in memory study analzing the effectiveness of mnemonics

statistical significance

determination that results are unlikely to be influenced by chance

study strategies research - dependent variable

measured outcome in a study evaluating study strategies