2.6 and 2.7 AP Psych Reading

What happens as we process information?

we filter, alter, or lose most of it

Anterograde Amensia

An inability to form new memories

Retrograde Amensia

An inability to remember information from one’s past

What can people with amnesia do?

nonverbal tasks, classically conditioned

Are people with amnesia aware of what they learn?

they are not aware because their automatic processing ability remained intact which is a separate from the area of the brain that deals with memory

Much of what we sense, we never ___

notice

What we fail to encode, we will never ___

remember

Displacement

Process where information that is not encoded for the longterm storage is lost as new information enters the short term memory

Age can affect what?

coding efficiency

Why does age affect coding efficiency?

Brain areas when encoding new information are less responsive in older adults

Who coins the forgetting curve?

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885)

What is the gist of the Forgetting Curve

Course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time

Proactive interference

The forward acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information

Retroactive interference

The backward acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information

Why is it best to learn new information an hour before sleeping rather than a few seconds before?

because sleeping means less activities than being awake which results in better recall of information

Positive transfer

When previously learned information facilitates our learning of new information

Repression in psychoanalytic theory

The basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Why does repression rarely happen?

Because trauma releases stress hormones causing, trauma survivors to attend to and remember the threat

Constructive Memory

Inferring past from stored information and filling in the blanks with what we later imagined, expected, saw, and heard

Reconsildation

A process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

Reconsildation Example

Remembering your friend’s face but mistaking someone else who has a very similar face as your friend

Misinformation Effect

Occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading information

Imagination Inflation

Becoming more confident in the memory of an event that never actually happened/A memory distortion that happens when imagining an event that never occurred, increasing the confidence in the memory of the event

Source Amnesia

Faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined

What is an example of source amnesia?

Source Misattribution, where you classify information to a wrong source

Deja Vu

Eerie sense of “i’ve experienced this before”/Cues from current situation that unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

False memories feel like ___

real memories

false memores are ___ and ___

persistent and socially contagious

How can you get false memories?

through talking with others about past events

Current positive feelings about something do what?

overestimate initial impression

Current negative feelings about something do what?

underestimate initial impression

Children are easily if not more susceptible to what when asked leading/suggestive questions?

the misinformation effect and imagination inflation

What are 7 ways to improve memory?

Rehearse repeatedly, make the material meaningful, Activate retrieval cues, Use mnemonic devices, Minimize proactive and retroactive interference, Sleep more, Test your knowledge

What is the spacing effect?

when you space out your studying over multiple study sessions

How do you make the material meaningful to you?

Form associations with material

How do you activate retrieval cues?

Recreate environment/mood of when you learned the material

How do you make a mnemonic device?

through making up a silly story/rhyme/acronym with the material

How do you Minimize proactive and retroactive interference?

through not studying material that are likely to get mixed up with each other

How can more sleep improve your memory?

Brain reorganizes and consolidates information while you sleep

Retrieval Cues

Things that you associate important info with to help you better remember it

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Example of Priming

Seeing a missing child poster and interpreting a child and adult interaction as a kidnapping

Context Dependent Memory

Remembering when in a certain context such as a familiar environment

Encoding specificity principle

The idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

State Dependent Memory

Recalling memories when in certain moods

State Dependent Memory Example

Hiding money when drunk but forgetting when sober only to remember where the money is when drunk again

Mood Congruent Memory

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood

How does mood affect our perception?

• If in a bad mood will both remember bad memories and perceive events as negative

• If in a good mood will both remember good memories and perceive events as positive

What is an example of how mood affects our perception?

Someone looks at you:

• If in bad mood will interpret look as a glare

• If in a good mood will interpret look as interest

Serial Position Effect

Our tendency to recall the last items in a list initially and the first items in a list after a delay

Metacognition

Monitoring and evaluating your learning through figuring out what you don’t know

Testing Effect

Repeated self testing

Interleaving

A retrieval practice strategy that involves mixing the study of different topics