Modules 32-33

Memory Consolidation

Memory Consolidation

the neural storage of a long-term memory

Semantic Memory

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems.

Episodic Memory

explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

Flashbulb Memory

a clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Encoding Specificity Principle

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

Mood-Congruent Memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

Serial Position Effect

our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list.

Misinformation Effect

occurs when misleading information has distorted one's memory of an event.

Source Amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined.

Deja Vu

that eerie sense that "I've experienced this before." Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

Proactive Interference

the forward-acting disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

Retroactive Interference

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

Repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Reconsolidation

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