Ch 5: The Psychobiological Process of Memory

acronym

a pronounceable word formed from the first letters of a group of words

acrostic

a mnemonic device used to assist memory by forming a phrase where the first letter of each word acts as a cue to recall information in a set order

Alzheimer's disease

a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by gradual widespread degeneration of brain neurons, progressively causing memory decline, deterioration of cognitive and social skills, and personality changes

amygdala

a part of the brain in the limbic system responsible for regulating emotional responses and stimulating the hippocampus to influence the strength with which implicit emotional memories are stored.

Atkinson-Shiffrin multi-store model

a representation and explanation of memory as consisting of three separate stores called sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory, differing in function, capacity and duration

autobiographical event

experiences that have occurred at some time in our own lives

basal ganglia

a group of structures deep within the brain, involved in the generation of voluntary movements and long-term implicit memories involving motor skills

brain lesion

any disruption of or damage to the brain's normal structure.

cerebellum

a structure at the base of the brain responsible for the coordination of voluntary movement and the encoding and storage of implicit procedural memories

classically conditioned memory

implicit memory of a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus acquired through classical conditioning, e.g. simple conditioned reflex responses

consolidation

the neurobiological process of making a newly formed memory stable and enduring following a learning experience

echoic memory

auditory sensory memory for incoming auditory information that stores sounds in their original sensory form for about 3 or 4 seconds

encoding

in relation to memory, conversion of information into a usable form so that it can be neurologically represented and stored in memory

episodic memory

the long-term explicit memory of personally experienced events associated with a particular time and place

explicit memory

long-term memory that can be consciously retrieved and stated ('memory with awareness')

habituation

the process of growing accustomed to a stimulus and decreasing responsiveness to it

hippocampus

a structure in the medial temporal lobe, responsible for the consolidation of long term explicit memories

iconic memory

visual sensory memory for incoming visual information that stores visual images in their original sensory form for about a third of a second

implicit memory

long term memory that does not require intentional or conscious recollection

long-term memory (LTM)

a memory store that holds a potentially unlimited amount of information for a very long time, possibly permanently

memory reconstruction

combining stored information with other available information to rebuild a memory when it is retrieved into conscious awareness

method of loci

mnemonic device for which the items to be remembered are converted into mental images and associated with specific locations

mnemonic

any technique used to assist memory; see acronym, acrostic, method of loci, songlines

neocortex

the outermost layer of the cerebrum, responsible for the distributed storage and retention of long term explicit memories

procedural memory

the long-term implicit memory of skills that have been learned previously

retrieval

in relation to memory, recovery of stored information and bringing it into conscious awareness for use

semantic memory

long-term explicit memory of facts and knowledge about the world

sensory memory

the entry point of memory where new incoming sensory information is stored in its original, raw state for a very brief time

short-term memory (STM)

A memory system with a limited capacity and duration, in which information is consciously aware, manipulated, and held temporarily

songline

a navigational route comprising a sequence of locations used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples which may also serve as mnemonic; also called dreaming track

sung narrative

knowledge and information such as stories told using song

working memory

the part of short-term memory which is concerned with immediate conscious perceptual and linguistic processing