AP PSYCH VOCAB

“Memory less” memory - an implicit, invisible memory, without your conscious awareness

Priming

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier- as in a fill in the blank test

Recall

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Flashbulb memory

A measure of memory in which the person only needs to identify items previously learned-multiple choice test

Recognition

A measure of memory that assess the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time

Relearning

Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge

SEMANTIC MEMORY

explicit memory of personally experienced events

EPISODIC MEMORY

A neural center located in the limb of system that’s helps process explicit (conscious) memories- of facts and events- for storage

Hippocampus

The neural storage of a long-term memory

Memory Consolidation

An increase in a cells firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation

LTP long term potentiation

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

Mood Congruent memory

theory that information learned in a specific environment/situation is better recalled when in that same environment/situation

context-dependant memory

suggests that the various conditions of states we are in during the formation of a new memory are also the best states to retrieve or recall them in later

state-dependant memory

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined. The heart of many false memories

Source Amnesia

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

Reconsolidation

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

Repression

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

(When new learning disrupts recall of old info)

Retroactive Interference

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

(When prior learning disrupts your recall of new info)

Proactive Interference

An inability to retrieve information from one’s past

Retrograde Amnesia

The process of getting info out of memory storage

Retrieval

An inability to form new memories

Anterograde Amnesia

Your teachers asks how many uses you can think of for a pencil. She is testing you

Divergent Thinking

Quality of being driven more by interest, satisfaction, and challenge than by external pressures.

Intrinsic Motivation

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Concept

Narrowing the available problem solution to determine the single best solution

Convergent thinking

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

Intuition

the processing of information into the memory system- for example, by extracting meaning 

Encoding

the retention of encoded information over time

storage

the process of getting information out of memory storage

Retrieval

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

Sensory memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, that information is stored or forgotten

short-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences

long term memory

a newer, understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

Working memory

also known as declarative memory is a type of long-term memory in which we store memories of fact, divided further into semantic and episodic memories

Explicit memory

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Effortful processing

Encoding that occurs without conscious effort.

automatic processing

nondeclarative memory, involves recollection of skills, things you know how to do, preferences, etc., that you don't need to recall

Implicit memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli, a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

Iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

Echoic memory

organizing items into familiar manageable units, often occurs automatically

Chunking

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

Spacing Effect

Testing an individual's memory makes the memory stronger and easier to retrieve

testing effect

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

mnemonics

considering many aspects of a problem

simultaneously; the brain’s natural

mode of information processing

for many functions

parallel processing

encoding

on a basic level, based on

the structure or

appearance of words

Shallow processing

encoding

semantically, based on the

meaning of the words;

tends to yield the best

retention

Deep processing

refers to all the mental activities

associated with thinking, knowing, remembering,

and communicating.

cognition

a sudden realization of a

problem’s solution; contrasts with

strategy-based solutions

insight