Psychology: Memory, Motivation, and Emotion

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering memory encoding, storage, and retrieval mechanisms, alongside motivation theories, goal pursuit, and emotional processing.

Memory

The retention of information or experiences over time.

Encoding

The process of receiving information from the senses and putting it into usable form; the process by which information gets into memory storage.

Storage

The process of holding on to encoded information for some period of time.

Retrieval (Reconstruction)

The process of getting stored information out of storage so that it can be used.

Selective Attention

Focusing on a specific aspect of an experience while ignoring others.

Divided Attention

Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time, which decreases encoding effectiveness.

Multitasking

Dividing attention across three or more activities, which impairs performance on each task despite overconfidence.

Levels of Processing

A continuum of memory processing from shallow (physical/perceptual features) to intermediate (giving a label) to deep (thinking about meaning and forming associations); information processed more deeply is remembered better and longer.

Elaboration

The formation of connections and associations with other memories during encoding; more elaboration results in better memory.

Self-Reference Effect

The tendency to better remember information by relating the material to oneself and one's own personal experiences.

Imagery (Encoding)

The process of forming a mental image, which increases recall success by creating both verbal and image codes (two ways to retrieve information).

Sensory Memory

The first stage of memory storage, representing the point at which information enters the nervous system through sensory systems.

Iconic Memory

Visual sensory memory that lasts for only a fraction of a second.

Echoic Memory

Auditory sensory memory that lasts for $2\text{--}4\text{ seconds}$.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

A limited-capacity memory system that retains information for about $30\text{ seconds}$, tends to be stored in auditory form, and holds $7 \pm 2$ units.

Chunking

The practice of improving short-term memory capacity by grouping information into single, meaningful units.

Maintenance Rehearsal

The repetition of information to keep it in short-term memory until rehearsal stops or is interrupted.

Working Memory

A combination of short-term memory and attention that allows individuals to hold and manipulate information as they perform cognitive tasks.

Phonological Loop

A component of working memory specialized to briefly store speech-based language.

Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad

A component of working memory that stores visual and spatial information.

Central Executive

The component of working memory that monitors attention and controls, coordinates, and integrates information from the phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, and long-term memory.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

The largest and relatively permanent memory storage system, featuring virtually unlimited capacity, where information enters via rehearsal or elaboration.

Explicit (Declarative) Memory

Conscious long-term memories that can be verbally communicated ('information you know you know').

Episodic Memory

A subdivision of explicit memory that retains specific episodes or events of one's life (who, what, when, where, and how).

Semantic Memory

A subdivision of explicit memory that stores general knowledge and meanings.

Implicit (Non-Declarative) Memory

Non-conscious, not easily communicated long-term memories, including learned skills/procedures, conditioned responses, and priming.

Semantic Networks

The organization of long-term memory throughout the brain in a connected web-like structure, where related concepts share stronger neural connections.

Schemas

Preexisting mental frameworks or categories that help individuals interpret information quickly and lead to remembering information consistent with the framework.

Stereotypes

Schemas held about specific groups of people (e.g., plumbers, professors).

Scripts

Schemas for a specific type of event (e.g., a classroom event).

Recall

A memory retrieval task in which stored information must be retrieved with few or no retrieval cues (e.g., essay exams, remembering a name).

Recognition

A memory retrieval task in which an individual identifies previously learned information based on cues (e.g., multiple-choice exams, recognizing faces).

Encoding Specificity

The principle stating that information present at the time of encoding tends to serve as an effective retrieval cue.

Context-Dependent Memory

The phenomenon where memory retrieval is improved when tested in the same physical or psychological context as when the memory was initially encoded.

Serial Position Effect

The tendency to recall items at the beginning and end of a list more accurately than items in the middle.

Primacy Effect

Better recall for items at the beginning of a list, facilitated by greater opportunity for rehearsal and elaboration.

Recency Effect

Better recall for items at the end of a list because the information is still present in short-term memory.

Reminiscence Bump

The tendency for older adults to have particularly strong autobiographical recall for events that occurred during their teens and 20s.

Flashbulb Memories

Exceptionally vivid and relatively accurate episodic memories of significant events, typically involving strong emotional associations and higher-than-usual rehearsal.

Reconstructive Processing

The process whereby memories are altered, revised, or rebuilt upon retrieval under the influence of newer information rather than being retrieved as exact saved files.

Other-Race-Effect

The phenomenon in which individuals recognize and remember faces of their own race better than faces of other races.

Encoding Failure

A failure of memory where information never actually entered long-term memory, functioning more as 'never knowing' rather than truly forgetting.

Proactive Interference

A retrieval failure where older information stored in long-term memory interferes with the retrieval of newly learned information.

Retroactive Interference

A retrieval failure where new information interferes with the retrieval of older learned information.

Decay (Memory)

The loss of a memory trace due to the passage of time when the memory is not utilized ('use it or lose it').

Memory Trace

A physical change that takes place in the brain when a memory is formed.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

The experience of feeling confident that one knows a piece of information stored in long-term memory while being unable to retrieve it, often getting hooked on partial cues.

Retrospective Memory

Memory involving remembering people, events, or details from the past.

Prospective Memory

Memory involving remembering intentions or planning to do something in the future, which is vulnerable to distraction or cognitive load.

Motivation

The process of generating and expending energy toward achieving or avoiding some outcome.

Intrinsic Motives

Motivations where actions originate from internal desires (e.g., writing poetry for the sheer enjoyment of the process).

Extrinsic Motives

Motivations where actions originate from external forces (e.g., writing poetry to complete a course assignment).

Security Motives

A motivational orientation involving avoidance and protection, where social compliance can sustain feelings of acceptance and self-worth.

Growth Motives

A motivational orientation involving approach and expansion, supported by expressing personal views, uniqueness, and freedoms.

Goals

Cognitions that represent outcomes people strive for in order to meet their needs and desires.

Need

A requirement for something essential to the survival of the organism (e.g., food, water, sleep).

Drive

The experience of psychological tension and physical arousal that motivates an organism to fulfill a need to reduce tension and restore homeostasis.

Auto-Motive Theory

The theory stating that subtle exposure to goal-related stimuli (objects, messages, or people) can automatically activate a goal and guide behavior.

Self-Awareness Theory

The theory proposing that goals are most likely to influence behavior when attention is focused on the self, bridging the gap between current action and ideal standards.

Optimum Arousal

The principle that task performance is optimal under conditions of moderate arousal, and poorest under conditions of low or high arousal.

Social Facilitation

The tendency for arousal to strengthen a dominant response, enhancing performance on well-practiced tasks but impairing performance on non-dominant or unfamiliar tasks.

Self-Regulation

A set of processes (willpower, self-control) for guiding one's thoughts, feelings, and behavior to reach desired goals.

Affective Forecasting

Predicting one's future emotional reactions to events; often inaccurate due to overestimating intensity and underestimating coping ability.

Construal Level Theory

A model stating that people think more concretely and with greater detail when focusing on the near future, but more abstractly when focusing on the distant future.

Action Identification Theory

A theory describing how actions can be conceptualized either by moving 'up' toward increasingly abstract goals (why?) or 'down' toward concrete means and muscle activity (how?).

Emotion

An adaptive subjective response involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience.

Valence

The affective dimension of an emotion determining whether it involves pleasant feelings (positive affect) or unpleasant feelings (negative affect).

Primary Appraisal

The immediate, autonomic physiological arousal response to a stimulus, often occurring before conscious awareness.

Secondary Appraisal

The cognitive interpretation of a stimulus and physiological arousal, using cultural knowledge, memories, and expectations to assign a cognitive label.

Primary Emotions

Cross-culturally recognized basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust) that involve the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex.

Secondary Emotions

Variations, combinations, and socially oriented expressions of primary emotions (e.g., guilt, jealousy, pride, anxiety, astonishment).

Self-Discrepancy Theory

The theory stating that falling short of one's ought self elicits anxiety, whereas falling short of one's ideal self elicits sadness.