Psychology: Memory Processes and Theories of Emotion

A set of 28 vocabulary flashcards reviewing key terms and core concepts covering memory encoding, memory storage systems, retrieval principles, and psychological theories of emotion.

Memory

The ability to store and retrieve information, which is continually influenced and biased by prior experience.

Encoding

The memory process by which the perception of a stimulus or event is transformed into a memory, with attention serving as a key factor.

Visual Imagery (in encoding)

An encoding factor involving the creation of a mental representation of a stimulus or event; words that possess both verbal and visual representations (e.g., dog versus keep) are more likely to be remembered.

Elaborative Rehearsal

A semantic encoding strategy involving elaboration by linking new information in meaningful ways to existing knowledge, resulting in deeper processing and increased encoding.

Schemas

Cognitive structures or mental representations based on pre-existing categories that help individuals perceive, organize, and understand incoming information.

Sensory Memory

A brief storage system for incoming sensory information (visual, auditory, gustatory, etc.) that persists for only a fraction of a second.

Short-Term / Working Memory

An active, limited-capacity memory system that temporarily stores information for current use based on the current focus of attention, typically lasting $15$ to $30\text{ seconds}$ before decay occurs without continued focus.

Memory Span

The capacity limit defining how many items an individual can hold in working memory at any given time, historically considered to be $7 \pm 2$ ($5$ to $9$ items), but more recently thought to be closer to $4$.

Chunking

A strategy for increasing working memory efficiency by grouping smaller, isolated pieces of information into larger, meaningful units or chunks.

Consolidation

The gradual neurobiological process of establishing long-term memory storage in the brain—governed by the principle that 'neurons that fire together wire together'—facilitated by rehearsal and sleep.

Procedural Memory

A form of implicit memory expressed without conscious effort or intention that underlies acquired motor skills and behavioral habits (e.g., driving or playing an instrument).

Episodic Memory

A subtype of explicit (declarative) memory that can be consciously retrieved, consisting of personal autobiographical memories for past events and life experiences (e.g., a family vacation or an $18\text{th}$ birthday).

Semantic Memory

A subtype of explicit (declarative) memory that can be consciously retrieved, consisting of general facts and conceptual knowledge independent of personal experience (e.g., knowing the capital of Peru).

Hippocampus

A brain structure located within the temporal lobes responsible for consolidating memories, which has been shown to exhibit neuroplastic changes in size according to contextual demands (e.g., in London Black Cab Drivers).

Retrograde Amnesia

A form of memory impairment characterized by the inability to retrieve memories or past events that occurred prior to the onset of brain injury or neurological damage.

Anterograde Amnesia

A form of memory impairment characterized by the inability to form new long-term memories following the onset of brain injury or damage.

Encoding Specificity Principle

The retrieval principle stating that any stimulus encoded simultaneously with an event can subsequently serve as an effective retrieval cue to trigger recall of that memory.

Misinformation Effect

A memory distortion occurring when an individual's recollection of an event is altered after exposure to misleading post-event information or suggestive cues.

Emotion (Affect)

A positive or negative response to an external event or internal thought comprising a physiological response, a behavioral response, and a subjective appraisal.

Circumplex Model of Emotions

A classification model wherein emotional states are mapped along two orthogonal continuums: valence (how positive or negative the emotion is) and arousal (the intensity of physiological activation elicited).

Primary Emotions

Innate, universally adaptive, and cross-culturally recognized basic emotions, consisting of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise.

James-Lange Theory

A theory of emotion stating that emotional feelings arise directly from the cognitive interpretation of distinct, stimulus-induced physiological and behavioral responses.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

The phenomenon demonstrating that contracting specific facial muscles can induce corresponding emotional feelings, meaning emotional experience is directly informed by facial expressions (e.g., the pencil study).

Cannon-Bard Theory

A theory of emotion proposing that an emotional stimulus triggers bodily physiological arousal and the subjective emotional feeling simultaneously and independently.

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

A theory asserting that an emotional stimulus produces general physiological arousal, which initiates a cognitive search for its cause (attribution), subsequently leading to an emotion label.

Misattribution of Arousal

The phenomenon in which an individual incorrectly identifies the source of their physiological activation, such as confusing environmental danger-induced arousal on a high suspension bridge with romantic attraction.

Insula

A cortical structure that receives and integrates somatosensory signals from the body, playing a central functional role in the subjective experience and recognition of disgust.

Amygdala

A subcortical limbic structure responsible for evaluating the emotional significance of stimuli and generating emotional and behavioral responses, notably prominent in fear.