Memory Processes and Types: Encoding, Storage, Retrieval, and Amnesia

Memory

The ability to store and retrieve information over time.

Encoding

The process by which we transform perceptions into memories. It is the process of moving information from short-term storage to long-term storage.

Storage

The process of maintaining memories over time.

Retrieval

The process of bringing information to mind from long-term memory.

Semantic encoding

Relating new information to knowledge that is already stored in memory based on meaning.

Visual imagery encoding

Storing new information by converting it into mental pictures. It's very effective due to 'dual encoding' (both visual and semantic encoding).

Organizational encoding

The process of categorizing information according to relationships among items, often by segmenting ongoing events into meaningful units (like schemas or hierarchies).

Survival-related encoding

Encoding information related to survival (e.g., finding food, dangerous animals). Memory is better for this type of information.

Sensory memory

A storage system that holds sensory information for a few seconds or less.

Iconic memory

Sensory memory that stores visual impressions for $rac{1}{2}$ of a second or less.

Echoic memory

Sensory memory for sounds that lasts up to 2 to 4 seconds.

Short-term memory (STM)

A storage system that holds a limited amount of information for a short duration. Unrehearsed information is lost from STM.

Attention

The process that moves information from sensory memory into short-term memory. Information not attended to is lost.

Maintenance rehearsal

Repeating information to oneself to maintain it in short-term memory (STM).

Chunking

Combining unrelated bits of information into meaningful units to increase the capacity of short-term memory.

Working memory

An expanded view of short-term memory that is experienced as our conscious mind; it actively processes and manipulates information from current experience with information retrieved from long-term memory.

Long-term memory (LTM)

Memory storage that has no known capacity limits and where memories can last from seconds to a lifetime.

Serial position effect

The tendency to recall items at the beginning and end of a series better than items in the middle.

Primacy effect

The enhanced recall for the first items in a list, which are likely remembered well because they were semantically and visually encoded into Long-Term Memory (LTM).

Recency effect

The enhanced recall for the last items in a list, which are remembered well because they are still present in Short-Term Memory (STM) at the time of recall.

Anterograde amnesia

The inability to transfer new information from the short-term store into the long-term store (inability to encode new explicit long-term memories).

Retrograde amnesia

The inability to retrieve information that was acquired before a particular date, usually the date of an injury or operation.

Consolidation

The process by which memories become stable in the brain.

Reconsolidation

The process where memories become vulnerable to disruption when they are recalled, requiring them to be consolidated again.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

The process whereby communication across the synapse between neurons strengthens the connection, making further communication easier.

Retrieval cue

Words, sights, sounds, or smells associated with stored information that help you remember that information.

Encoding specificity principle

A retrieval cue (like the location you learned something) can serve as an effective cue that helps you remember information.

State-dependent retrieval

The tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same state (mood or physiological state) during encoding and retrieval.

Transfer-appropriate processing

Memory is likely to transfer from one situation to another when the encoding and retrieval contexts (or processes) of the situations match.

Retrieval-induced forgetting

The process by which retrieving an item from long-term memory impairs the subsequent recall of related items.

Explicit memory

Long-term memory for facts and experiences we can describe and of which we are entirely aware. It includes semantic and episodic memory.

Implicit memory

Long-term memory where we know or remember things from past experiences, which later affect our behavior, although we have no conscious awareness of acquiring or retrieving the memories. It includes procedural memory, priming, classical conditioning, and non-associative learning.

Procedural memory

A type of implicit memory that is the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or 'knowing how' to do things (e.g., driving).

Priming

A type of implicit memory that is the enhanced ability to think of a stimulus as a result of a recent exposure to the stimulus.

Semantic memory

A type of explicit memory that is a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world.

Episodic memory

A type of explicit memory that is a collection of personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place.

Collaborative memory

How people remember in groups.

Collaborative inhibition

The phenomenon where a collaborative group typically recalls fewer items than a nominal group (individuals recalling on their own and pooling results).

Transience

Long-term memories fading or decaying over time, especially if they were not completely consolidated or well-learned.

Retroactive interference

The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of previous information (e.g., forgetting Spanish because you are learning French).

Proactive interference

The disruptive effect of previous learning on the recall of new information (e.g., having difficulty learning French because of your memory for Spanish).

Absentmindedness

When we can't remember something because we didn't pay attention to it during encoding.

Blocking

The failure to retrieve information that is available in memory even though you are trying (e.g., tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon).

Prospective memory

Remembering to do things in the future. Failures are often accounted for by absentmindedness.

Memory misattribution

When you believe a person, event, or information you remember from one situation is being part of a different situation (a source confusion).

Suggestibility

The tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections.

Bias

The distorting influences of present knowledge, beliefs, and feelings on the recollection of previous experiences.

Source memory

The memory of when, where, and how information was acquired.

False recognition

A feeling of familiarity (a memory) about something that was not actually encountered.

Persistence

The intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget.

Flashbulb memories

Detailed recollections of when and where we heard about shocking events.