AP PSYCHOLOGY VOCAB — MEMORY

Retrograde Amnesia

When an individual is unable to recall memories prior to onset of amnesia; can lose some or all explicit memories but still retain implicit memories; caused by physical trauma/disease

Anterograde

Individual is unable to form new memories after onset of amnesia; caused by physical trauma/disease

Dissociative Amnesia

Inability to remember facts or details around traumatic event that can’t be explained physically; usually can retain memories in a few hours

Dissociative Fugue

Person impulsively wanders away from home or daily routine and experiences confusion about their identity; they create a new one as they can’t recall events in past; caused by psychological trauma and can take awhile to snap out of state

Context Dependency Memory

Tendency to retrieve memories that correspond to physical setting we’re in

Mood Congruence

Tendency to retrieve memories corresponding with the mood we are in

State Dependent

Tendency to retrieve memories corresponding with same physiological state of consciousness when memory was originally formed

Prospective Memory

When you remember to perform a task at original time you intended to accomplish it

Recall

Requires retrieval of memories without external cues

Recognition

Individual identifies piece of info from memory with external cues

Memory

The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

Flashbulb Memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Encoding

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

Storage

The retention of encoded information over time

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage

Sensory Memory

The immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system

Short-Term Memory

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten; working memory is a similar concept that focuses more on the processing of briefly stored information

Long-Term Memory

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

Automatic Processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Rehearsal

The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage

Spacing Effect

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

Serial Position Effect

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

Visual Encoding

The encoding of picture images

Acoustic Encoding

The encoding of sound, especially the sound of words

Semantic Encoding

The encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words

Imagery

Mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding

Mnemonics

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

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

Iconic Memory

A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

Echoic Memory

A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

Long-Term Potentiation

An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

Implicit (Long-Term) Memory

Retention independent of conscious recollection; also called procedural memory

Dispositions and procedural long-term memory falls under this

Explicit (Long-Term) Memory

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare.”; declarative memory

Semantic and episodic long-term memory falls under this

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage

Recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank

Recognition

A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

Relearning

A memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

OR

When recent previous experiences influence your current behavior/interpretation of an event

Proactive Interference

The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

Retroactive Interference

The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

Repression

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Misinformation Effect

Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

Source Amnesia

Attributing to the wrong source an event that we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined (also called source misattribution); source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories

Working Memory

Manipulate info; processes new info from sensory memory in conjunction with info retrieved from long-term memory

Neural Plasticity

Rewiring of neuron routes; when forming new memories, forgetting old memories, healing a damaged brain, etc.; younger brains are more “plastic”

Maintenance Rehearsal

Shallow processing; repetition to keep thoughts in working memory but is less likely to recall that way

Elaborative Rehearsal

Deep processing; taking the time to apply meaning to something to increase chances of recalling

Shallow Processing

Focuses on spelling, appearance, and sound

Deep Processing

Focuses on subjective meaning

Autobiographical Memory

Either semantic/episodic long-term-memory or both

Semantic (Long-Term) Memory

Facts and general knowledge

Episodic (Long-Term) Memory

Personally experienced events

Procedural (Long-Term) Memory

Motor skills and cognitive related

Dispositions

Classical and operant conditioning effects

Imagination Inflation

Occurs when imagining an event increases confidence that it actually happened, even if it didn’t; repeatedly imagining a situation can lead to a false memory

Constructive Memory

Memory is re-pieced together from a few highlights of an event and is not a replay, thus the brain fills in those gaps

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

Attempting to retrieve a memory of a specific name or word but failing to do so

Method of Loci

When one visualized objects along a familiar path to memorize items on a list

Schema

The different categories that we organize information into our brains

Assimilation

Incorporation new information into existing schemas

Miller’s Magic Number

7±2

Accommodation

Changing existing schema to adopt to new information