Memory: Models, Ebbinghaus, and Core Concepts

Vocabulary flashcards covering memory structures, memory types, key experiments (Ebbinghaus, Burtt), memory measurement (savings), and learning/forgetting curves.

Modal Model of Memory

A classic early theory proposing separate storage systems for information: Environment → Sensory memory → Short-term memory → Long-term memory (a multi-store model).

Environment

External stimuli that enter the perceptual system and can be stored in sensory memory.

Sensory memory

Brief, initial storage of sensory information from the environment with very short duration.

Short-term memory (STM)

Temporary storage with limited capacity that holds information for seconds to minutes.

Long-term memory (LTM)

Relatively permanent, large-capacity store of information.

Explicit (Declarative) memory

Conscious memory of facts and events (includes episodic and semantic memory).

Implicit (Nondeclarative) memory

Unconscious memory for skills, conditioning, priming, and other nondeclarative knowledge.

Episodic memory

Memory for personal experiences and events with context (a type of explicit memory).

Semantic memory

Memory for general world knowledge and facts (a type of explicit memory).

Procedural memory

Implicit memory for how to perform tasks and skills (e.g., riding a bike).

Priming

Implicit memory effect where exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus.

Simple classical conditioning

Learning associations between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response.

Nonassociative learning

Learning about a single stimulus without forming associations, via habituation or sensitization.

Medial temporal lobe

Brain region important for declarative memory (includes hippocampus and related structures).

Diencephalon

Brain region including thalamus and hypothalamus; involved in memory processing.

Striatum

Basal ganglia region involved in procedural memory and habit formation.

Neocortex

Cortical areas involved in storing distributed long-term memory traces.

Amygdala

Emotion-processing brain structure that modulates memory encoding, especially emotional memories.

Cerebellum

Brain region important for coordination; involved in procedural learning and certain conditioning.

Squire (1992) model of long-term memory

Proposed explicit/declarative (episodic + semantic) and implicit/nondeclarative (procedural, conditioning, priming) divisions within LTM.

Savings

A measure of memory expressed as the amount of time saved when relearning after a prior learning session.

Study-test method

Ebbinghaus’ experimental approach: control what is presented, when it is tested, and measure recall with meaningless stimuli (e.g., CVC trigrams).

CVC trigrams

Consonant-Vowel-Consonant strings used as simple, meaningless stimuli in Ebbinghaus experiments.

Learning curve

Retention improves with repetition; rapid gains early, then slower as practice continues.

Forgetting curve

Retention declines over time after learning, typically faster initially and slower later.

Negatively accelerating forgetting

Forgetting is rapid at first and then slows down over time.

Burtt (1941) infant memory study

Study showing memory retention of Greek passages learned in infancy; tested years later.

Ebbinghaus

Pioneer of experimental memory research; developed the study-test method and demonstrated reliable memory findings using nonsense stimuli.

Wundt

Founder of experimental psychology who argued memory could not be studied experimentally, a view challenged by Ebbinghaus.

Memory monograph (1885)

Ebbinghaus’s major work: Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology, outlining his methods and findings.

Steep learning curve (informal use)

In everyday language, describes something difficult to learn; the curve rises sharply at the start, indicating high initial effort.

Epilogue on Savings

Savings as a memory measure declined with the rise of behaviorism, but the results remained robust across memory tests.