AP Psychology: Cognitive Psychology

Memory

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

Alzheimer's Disease

A disease that slowly strips away memory.

Recall

Retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time.

Recognition

Identifying previously learned items.

Relearning

Learning something more quickly when you learn it a second time or later.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Pioneered the experimental study of memory.

Encoding

The process of putting in new information into memory.

Storage

The organization of information in memory.

Retrieval

The process of pulling out information from memory.

Parallel Processing

Considering many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions.

Sensory Memory

The immediate, brief storage of sensory information.

Short-Term Memory

Holds a few items briefly for active processing.

Long-Term Memory

Permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

Working Memory

An active processing system that integrates new auditory and visual information with information retrieved from long-term memory.

Explicit Memory

Retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare.

Implicit Memory

Retention of learned skills or associations independent of conscious recollection.

Iconic Memory

Brief, temporary visual sensory memory that eventually fades away.

Echoic Memory

Auditory information that fades away.

Effortful Processing

Retention that requires attention and conscious effort.

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar units to aid memory.

Spacing Effect

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention.

Testing Effect

Improved memory after retrieving information through self-testing.

Shallow Processing

Encoding information on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words.

Deep Processing

Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of words.

Frontal Lobes

Areas of the brain involved in forming explicit memories.

Hippocampus

A structure in the limbic system responsible for processing explicit memories.

Cerebellum

Part of the brain that forms and stores implicit memories created by classical conditioning.

Amygdala

Linked to processing emotion and focusing memory during emotional events.

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in long-term implicit memory.

Amnesia

Significant memory loss.

Roger Sternberg

Proposed the triarchic theory of multiple intelligences.

Language

Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

Phoneme

The smallest sound unit in language.

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning in a language.

Grammar

The system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.

Aphasia

Impairment of language caused by damage to the brain.

Crystallized Intelligence

Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills that tend to increase with age.

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to reason abstractly and speedily, which tends to decrease with age.

Flynn Effect

The observed rise in intelligence test scores over time.