unit 2

Explicit Memory

Conscious recall of facts and experiences.

Episodic Memory

Recall of personal experiences and specific events, remembering the 'what,' 'where,' and 'when' of past experiences.

Semantic Memory

Recall of general facts and knowledge about the world, independent of personal experience and context.

Implicit Memory

Memory that does not require conscious thought and is crucial for performing everyday tasks automatically.

Procedural Memory

Recall of how to perform tasks or skills automatically.

Prospective Memory

Remembering to perform a planned action or recall a planned intention at some future point.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

Long-lasting increase in signal transmission between neurons that results from their simultaneous activation; underlies learning and memory.

Working Memory Model

Form of short-term memory used for temporarily holding and manipulating information; combines short-term and long-term memories.

Central Executive

Control center of working memory; manages attention, coordinates memory components, and integrates information.

Phonological Loop

Component of working memory responsible for processing and storing verbal and auditory information.

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Component of working memory that handles visual and spatial information.

Multi-Store Model

Memory system including Sensory Memory, Short-Term Memory, and Long-Term Memory.

Sensory Memory

Initial stage of memory where sensory information is stored for a very brief period.

Iconic Memory

Type of sensory memory that briefly holds visual images.

Echoic Memory

Type of sensory memory that retains auditory information for a short period.

Short-Term Memory

Temporarily holds a small amount of information for a limited time.

Long-Term Memory

Stage of memory where information is stored indefinitely with a virtually unlimited capacity.

Automatic Processing

Unconscious encoding of information about space, time, frequency, and well-learned tasks.

Effortful Processing

Memory encoding that requires active work and attention to embed information into long-term memory.

Encoding

The first stage of memory, where perceived information is transformed into a format that can be processed and stored in the brain.

Storage

The process of retaining information in the brain over time.

Retrieval

The process of accessing and bringing stored information back into conscious awareness.

Levels of Processing Model

Proposes that the depth at which information is thought about affects how well it is remembered.

Shallow Encoding

Basic level of processing that focuses on surface characteristics of information without engaging with its meaning.

Deep Encoding

Thoroughly processing information by focusing on its meaning and connecting it to existing knowledge.

Structural Encoding

Shallow processing that focuses on the physical structure of information.

Phonemic Encoding

Shallow processing that focuses on the auditory aspects of information.

Semantic Encoding

Encoding that involves thoroughly processing information by focusing on its meaning and connecting it to existing knowledge.

Mnemonic Devices

Techniques used to improve memory by associating information with cues like patterns, images, or rhymes.

Method of Loci

Mnemonic technique that involves associating items to be remembered with specific physical locations.

Chunking

Memory strategy that involves grouping individual pieces of information into larger, meaningful units.

Hierarchies

Organizing information into a system of ranked categories or levels.

Spacing Effect

Learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out over time, rather than crammed.

Memory Consolidation

The process of stabilizing a memory trace after its initial acquisition.

Massed Practice

Learning strategy where content is studied intensively over a short period without breaks.

Distributed Practice

Spacing study sessions allows for better consolidation of memories (short-term to long-term storage).

Serial Position Effect

Tendency to remember items at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list better than those in the middle.

Primacy Effect

Individuals tend to remember items presented at the beginning of a list better.

Recency Effect

Most recently presented items in a list are recalled more clearly and accurately.

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repeatedly reviewing information to keep it in short-term memory.

Elaborative Rehearsal

Deep processing of information by adding meaning or connecting it to existing knowledge.

Memory Retention

The ability to remember information.

Autobiographical Memory

Type of memory that encompasses events and experiences from an individual's own life.

Retrograde Amnesia

Memory disorder that involves the loss of memories formed before the onset of amnesia.

Anterograde Amnesia

Inability to form new memories following the onset of amnesia.

Alzheimer's Disease

Progressive neurological disorder that leads to memory loss, cognitive decline, and behavioral changes.

Infantile Amnesia

Inability to recall personal memories from the early years of life, typically before age 3-4.

Recall

Accessing information without the aid of cues.

Recognition

Identifying information when it is presented.

Retrieval Cues

Stimuli that help bring previously learned information to mind.

Context-Dependent Memory

Remembering information better in the same environment where you first learned it.

Mood-Congruent Memory

Tendency to recall information that is consistent with one's current mood.

State-Dependent Memory

Memory retrieval is most effective when an individual is in the same state of consciousness as when the memory was formed.

Testing Effect

Long-term memory is enhanced when some of the learning period is devoted to retrieving the information through testing.

Metacognition

Awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes, especially in relation to learning and memory.

Forgetting Curve

Graphical representation of the rate at which memory fades over time.

Encoding Failure

Information does not enter long-term memory due to inadequate processing at the time of encoding.

Proactive Interference

Older memories inhibit the ability to learn and remember new information.

Retroactive Interference

New learning impairs the recall of previously encoded information.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

Individual feels confident that they know a word or name, but cannot immediately recall it.

Repression

Distressing thoughts and memories are unconsciously blocked from entering conscious awareness.

Misinformation Effect

New, incorrect information influences how we remember past events.

Source Amnesia

Inability to remember where, when, or how previously learned information has been acquired, while retaining the factual knowledge.

Constructive Memory

Memories are not merely retrieved but actively constructed and integrated with existing memories.

Imagination Inflation

Imagining an event that never occurred can increase confidence that it did occur.

Perception

The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, transforming it into meaningful objects and events.

Bottom-up processing

A way our brain makes sense of information by starting with the small details and then building up to a complete perception, without prior knowledge or expectations influencing the process.

Top-down processing

Interpreting sensory information based on the larger context, prior knowledge, and expectations, shaping perception from the general to the specific.

Attention

The process of focusing on a specific aspect of information while ignoring others, prioritizing sensory information relevant to current goals or tasks.

Selective Attention

The process of focusing on a specific aspect of information while ignoring others. It allows us to prioritize sensory information that is most relevant to our current goals or tasks.

Cocktail party effect

Our ability to focus on a single conversation in a noisy environment, like a crowded party, while tuning out other stimuli; a specific example of selective attention in an auditory context.

Inattentional blindness

When an individual fails to notice an unexpected stimulus in their visual field when their attention is focused on something else, highlighting the limits of perceptual and cognitive processing.

Change Blindness

The failure to notice large changes in one's environment when the change occurs simultaneously with a visual disruption, illustrating the limits of visual perception and attention.

Schema

Mental frameworks that help us organize and interpret information in the world around us, influencing perception by shaping our expectations and guiding our attention.

Perceptual Set

A tendency to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others, influenced by our expectations, experiences, and context.

Gestalt psychology

The idea that we perceive whole objects or figures (gestalts) rather than just a collection of parts, suggesting our brains are wired to see structure, pattern, and organization in the world.

Figure and Ground

The ability to distinguish an object (figure) from its surroundings (ground), involving the brain's organization of sensory information, highlighting important stimuli while filtering out irrelevant background details.

Binocular depth cues

Visual information that requires both eyes to perceive depth and distance, helping us perceive the world in three dimensions.

Retinal disparity

When each eye sees a slightly different picture because of their separate positions on our face; our brain uses these differences to figure out how far away things are.

Convergence

When our eyes move inward toward each other to focus on a close object, helping us understand how near something is and aiding in our perception of depth.

Monocular depth cues

Visual indicators of distance and space that can be perceived using just one eye, helping us understand how far away things are (depth).

Relative clarity

A depth cue where objects that are clearer and more detailed are perceived as closer, while objects that are hazier or less clear seem farther away.

Relative size

A visual cue where objects closer to us appear larger, while objects further away appear smaller; our brain uses this difference in size to help determine the distance between objects.

Texture gradient

The way we perceive texture to become denser and finer as it recedes into the distance, helping us understand depth as closer objects have clearer textures, and further objects appear smoother.

Linear perspective

A depth cue where parallel lines appear to converge as they recede into the distance, helping our brain perceive depth and judge how far away objects are.

Interposition

Occurs when one object overlaps another, leading us to perceive the overlapping object as closer, helping us understand the arrangement of objects in space.

Perceptual Constancies

Our brain's ability to see objects as unchanging, even when the image on our retina (like size, shape, or color) changes, helping us recognize objects under different conditions.

Shape Constancy

Our ability to perceive an object as having the same shape, even when our angle of view or the distance from which we see the object changes.

Size Constancy

Our perception that an object remains the same size, even when its distance from us changes, allowing us to accurately judge the size of objects regardless of changes in their apparent size.

Color Constancy

Ability to perceive colors of objects as stable under varying lighting conditions. This means that even when the lighting changes, we still see the object as having the same color.

Apparent movement

The perception of motion when there isn't any actual movement, such as seeing still images in animations or movies as moving due to our brain filling in the gaps.

Cognition

The mental processes involved in thinking, knowing, remembering, judging and problem-solving.

Schemas

Cognitive frameworks or blueprints that help organize and interpret information based on past experiences and knowledge; provide a structure for organizing information in the mind.

Assimilation

The cognitive process of fitting new information into existing schemas. Simplifies new information by integrating it with what is already known.

Accommodation

The cognitive process of modifying existing schemas or creating new ones in response to new information. Allows for more accurate understanding of the world by adjusting schemas when they no longer fit with new information.

Algorithms

Step-by-step procedures or formulas for solving problems that guarantee a correct solution. Powerful for organizing an approach to complex problems and achieving consistent results.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts or 'rules of thumb' that simplify decision-making by reducing the cognitive burden. Speed up problem-solving and decision-making processes, especially under conditions of uncertainty but can sometimes lead to biases or errors in judgment.

Representativeness Heuristic

A cognitive shortcut wherein individuals make judgments about the probability of an event under uncertainty based on how much it resembles existing stereotypes or typical cases; can also lead to ignoring other relevant factors.

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision.

Mental Set

A tendency to approach situations in a certain way because that method worked in the past, which can sometimes prevent seeing alternative solutions; can lead to rigid thinking.