Psychology Vocabulary Unit 2

anterograde amnesia

a memory disorder where a person cannot form or store a long-term memories after a specific event, brain injury, or illness, while memories from before that event remain intact

retrograde amnesia

where a person cannot recall memories or information acquired before the onset of a brain injury, trauma, or illness

alzheimers disease

a irreversible and progressive brain disorder that gradually destroys memories, thinking skills, and the ability to carry out basic daily task.

recognition

a cue based memory process where a person identifies previously experienced information, objects, or people upon encountering them again

recall

the mental process of retrieving stored information and events from long-term memory without the help of a specific external prompt

state-dependent memory

where a persons recall of past information or events is better when their internal psychological or physical state at the time of the retrieval matches the state they were in when the memory first encoded

mood-congruent memory

your current emotional state makes it easier to recall past memories that share the same emotional tone

context-dependent memory

people recall information better when the context during retrieval matches the context present when the information was originally learned

testing effect

actively recalling information from memory leads to much better long-term retention than simply rereading or restudying the same material the same amount of time

explicit memory

a conscious, intentional recollection of factual information or past personal experience.

episodic memory

a long term memory that allows a person to consciously recall a specific personal experience or event, with the context of when and where they occurred.

semantic memory

a long term memory that stores general world knowledge, facts, and concepts without any connection to a specific personal experience or event.

implicit memory

an unconscious type of long-term memory that helps perform tasks and habits without needing to think about them.

procedural memory

allows you to perform learned physical or cognitive tasks automatically without needing conscious recall.

prospective memory

the cognitive ability to remember to execute a planned action or intention at an appropriate time or in response to a specific cue in the future.

long term potentiation

a lasting increase in signals transmission between two neurons due to repeated stimulation

working memory model

proposed by Baddeley and Hitch explains how our short-term memory actively processes multiple types of information at the same time

multistore model of memory

proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin that describes human memory as a linear sequence of three distinct storage systems

sensory memory

an ultra short-term storage system that holds raw data from our senses for a fraction of a second to a few seconds

automatic processing

the unconscious, effortless, and fast way the brain handles familiar tasks without requiring active attention

effortful processing

requires conscious attention, focus, and deliberate mental work to encode ne information into your memory

levels of processing model

information processed more deeply is remembered much better than information processed by appearance or sound

phonemic encoding

the psychological process of encoding and remembering information based on the auditory sounds of words rather than their visual look or deep meaning

semantic encoding

remembering new information by focusing on its meaning rather than how it looks or sound

mnemonic

a trick for the brain (used in a sentence) by creating mental bridges that help a student recall complex terms

chunking

grouping separate pieces of information into a larger, meaningful unit to improve short term memory

spacing effect

the idea that spreading out a study session over time improves long-term memory retention much better than cramming it all at once

massed practice

a learning strategy where a person crams or studies information continuously over a single, long period with little to no breaks

serial positioning effect

the idea that people best remember the first and last items in a series, while forgetting the items in the middle

primary effect

a cognitive bias where people remember the first piece of information in a sequence much better that the items that come later.

recency effect

the tendency to best remember the last items or more recent details in a list or sequence

elaborative rehearsal

a technique that connects new information to things you already know to help move it into long-term memory

maintenance rehearsal

describes the act of repeating information continuously to keep it active in short-term memory

autobiographical memory

a cognitive system comprising episodes and personal facts that form an individual’s life history and sense of self