PSY 101 Chapter 7: Human Memory

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering encoding, storage, retrieval, forgetting, memory physiology, and memory systems from Chapter 7: Human Memory.

Encoding

The memory process that involves forming a memory code to get information into memory.

Storage

The memory process that involves maintaining encoded information in memory over time.

Retrieval

The memory process that involves recovering information from memory stores.

Attention

Focusing awareness on a small range of stimuli or events, functioning as a selection of input.

Multitasking

A cognitive situation where the brain switches between tasks rather than processing them simultaneously.

Levels of Processing Theory

A theory proposed by Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart (1972) asserting that deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes.

Structural Encoding

A shallow level of processing that emphasizes the physical structure of a stimulus.

Phonemic Encoding

An intermediate level of processing that emphasizes what a word sounds like.

Semantic Encoding

A deep level of processing that emphasizes the meaning of verbal input.

Elaboration

Connecting a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding to improve learning and recall.

Visual Imagery

The practice of using visual images to represent the stimulus being encoded to enhance retention.

Dual-Coding Theory

Allan Paivio's (1968) theory stating that memory is improved by forming both semantic and visual codes because both facilitate recall.

Value Directed Remembering

The tendency to recall more important information at the expense of less important information.

Sensory Memory

A memory store where information is briefly preserved in its original sensory form, allowing stimulation to linger momentarily.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

A limited-capacity memory store that can maintain unrehearsed information for up to $20\,\text{seconds}$.

Rehearsal

The process of repetitively thinking about or verbalizing information to recycle and keep it momentarily in short-term memory.

Chunk

A group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit to increase the capacity of short-term memory.

Working Memory

A modular system responsible for the temporary storage and active manipulation of information.

Working Memory Capacity (WMC)

A person's ability to attentively store and manipulate information, which is causally related to intelligence and can be reduced by anxiety and rumination.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

An unlimited-capacity memory store capable of maintaining information over long periods.

Flashbulb Memories

Unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous public events.

Conceptual Hierarchy

A classification system with multiple levels organized based on similarities among items.

Schema

An organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or event that is shaped by past experiences.

Semantic Network

A web of interconnected concepts in which nodes representing ideas are linked together to show their relationships.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

The temporary inability to retrieve a known memory accompanied by a subjective feeling that it is just out of reach.

Retrieval Cues

Stimuli that help facilitate the access and recovery of stored memories.

Misinformation Effect

A memory distortion that occurs when recall is altered by misleading post-event information.

Source Monitoring

The process of making inferences and attributions about the origins of recalled memories.

Source-Monitoring Error

An error that occurs when the origin of a memory is incorrectly attributed to another source.

Forgetting Curve

A graphical representation illustrating the rapid rate of forgetting information shortly after learning, which then levels off over time.

Retention

The proportion of previously learned information that is remembered.

Retention Interval

The duration of time between learning information and being tested on how much is remembered.

Recall

A measure of retention that requires subjects to reproduce information entirely without any cues.

Recognition

A measure of retention that requires subjects to identify previously learned information from a list of options.

Relearning

A measure of retention that assesses the amount of effort or time saved when memorizing information a second time.

Decay Theory

The proposal that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade and erode over time.

Interference Theory

The proposal that forgetting occurs because information competes for space in long-term memory.

Retroactive Interference

An interference effect in which new information impairs the retention or retrieval of previously learned information.

Proactive Interference

An interference effect in which previously learned information hinders the learning or recall of new information.

Repression

A concept described by Sigmund Freud (1901) where unpleasant thoughts, memories, or feelings are buried in the unconscious mind.

Retrograde Amnesia

The loss of memories for events that occurred prior to the onset of an injury or head trauma.

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to form new long-term memories for events occurring after an injury or trauma.

Consolidation

The physiological process by which the hippocampus converts new memories into long-lasting codes stored in long-term memory.

Neuron Ensembles

Synchronized patterns of neural activity that occur during the encoding and storage of memories.

Declarative Memory System

A memory subsystem that manages factual information and requires conscious effort for recall.

Nondeclarative Memory System

A memory subsystem that handles procedural memories, conditioned reflexes, perceptual-motor skills, and emotional memories with little conscious effort.

Episodic Memory System

A division of declarative memory containing chronological recollections of personal experiences.

Semantic Memory System

A division of declarative memory containing general knowledge and facts stored without reference to when the information was learned.

Retrospective Memory

Memory involving the recall of events from the past and previously learned information.

Prospective Memory

Memory involving remembering to perform actions or duties in the future.

Mnemonic Devices

Systematic strategies and techniques employed to improve memory performance.

Serial-Position Effect

The tendency to show superior recall for items at the beginning and end of a list compared to items in the middle.

Method of Loci

A mnemonic strategy in which items to be remembered are mentally associated with specific physical locations along a familiar pathway.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to mold one's interpretation of past events to fit the actual known outcome.

Overconfidence Effect

A cognitive bias in which people display excessive confidence in the accuracy of their inferences, memories, and judgments.