Memory and Encoding Concepts

These flashcards cover key concepts and definitions related to memory and encoding from the provided lecture notes.

acoustic encoding

The encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.

Automatic processing

The unconscious encoding of incidental information such as space, time, frequency, and well-learned information.

Chunking

The memory technique of organizing material into familiar, meaningful units.

Deja vu

The false sense that you have already experienced a current situation.

Echoic memory

The momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli, lasting about 3 or 4 seconds.

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires attention and some degree of conscious effort.

Eidetic memory

The ability to recreate vivid, accurate scenes from memory, mostly found in children.

Encoding

The first step in memory; information is translated into a form that enables it to enter our memory system.

Explicit memories

Memories of facts, including names, images, and events; also known as declarative memories.

Flashbulb memory

An unusually vivid memory of an emotionally important moment in one's life.

hippocampus

A neural region within the limbic system important for the processing of explicit memories for storage.

Iconic memory

The visual sensory memory consisting of a perfect photographic memory, lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

Imagery

Mental pictures that can aid in effortful processing.

Implicit memories

Memories of skills, preferences, and dispositions, processed by the cerebellum; also known as procedural or nondeclarative memories.

Interference

When new information enters short-term memory and blocks the retrieval of old information.

Long-term memory

The relatively permanent and unlimited capacity memory system for information from short-term memory.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; believed to be the neural basis for learning and memory.

Maintenance rehearsal

Intentionally repeating/rehearsing information to keep it in memory.

Memory

The persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information.

Misinformation effect

The tendency of eyewitnesses to incorporate misleading information into their memories.

Mnemonics

Memory aids that often use visual imagery, such as the method of loci, acronyms, and peg-words.

Mood-congruent memory

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current mood.

Priming

The activation of a web of associations in memory to retrieve a specific memory.

Proactive interference

The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

Procedural memory

Memories for motor and cognitive skills; how to do things.

Recall

A measure of retention requiring the person to remember information learned earlier with few retrieval cues.

Recognition

A measure of retention requiring only the identification of previously learned information.

Rehearsal

The conscious, effortful repetition of information for maintenance or storage.

Relearning

A measure of retention; the less time it takes to relearn information, the more has been retained.

Repression

An example of motivated forgetting where painful and unacceptable memories are prevented from entering consciousness.

Retrieval

The process of bringing information from memory storage to consciousness.

Retroactive interference

The disruptive effect of recently learned information on the recall of old knowledge.

Semantic encoding

The processing of information into memory according to its meaning.

Sensory memory

The immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system.

Serial position effect

The tendency for items at the beginning and end of a list to be more easily retained than those in the middle.

Short-term memory

Conscious memory that can hold about seven items for a short time; also called working memory.

Spacing effect

The tendency for distributed practice to yield better long-term retention than massed practice.

Storage

The passive process by which encoded information is maintained over time.

Visual encoding

The use of imagery to process information into memory.

Working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory involving conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information.