Untitled Flashcards Set

Memory

An active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, organizes it as it stores it away, and retrieves it.

Encoding

The process of raw data into something meaningful that can be stored in the cortex.

Storage

Holding onto information for some period of time.

Retrieval

Getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used.

Information Processing Model

A model of memory that assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to how a computer processes memory in a series of three stages.

Sensory Memory

First stage of memory where information is processed through our senses.

Iconic Memory

Sensory register holding visual stimuli.

Echoic Memory

Sensory register holding sound stimuli, also called acoustic memory.

Short-term Memory

The second stage of memory where information is held for brief periods of time while being used.

Selective Attention

The ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input.

Cocktail-Party Effect

The ability of people to focus on a single talker or conversation in a noisy environment.

Long-Term Memory

The system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently.

Parallel-Distributed Processing Model (PDP)

A model of memory in which memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time across a network of neural connections.

Levels of Processing Model

A model that assumes information processed more deeply according to its meaning will be remembered more efficiently.

Memory Capacity

Psychologist George Miller found that short-term memory can hold 7 items plus or minus 2.

Chunking

Organizing information into manageable units for easier retention in short-term memory.

Maintenance Rehearsal

The practice of repeating information over and over in one's head to maintain it in short-term memory.

Working Memory

An active system that processes information in short-term memory.

Elaborate Rehearsal

A method of transferring information from STM to LTM by making the information meaningful.

Declarative Memory

Explicit memory which includes episodic and semantic memory.

Episodic Memory

Memories of events experienced by a person.

Semantic Memory

Memories of facts and general knowledge.

Nondeclarative Memory

Memory for motor skills, habits, and classically conditioned reflexes.

Retrieval Cue

A stimulus for remembering; the more cues stored with information, the easier the retrieval.

State-Dependent Learning

The principle that memories formed in a particular state are easier to remember in the same state.

Context-Dependent Learning

Learning that is influenced by the physical surroundings during initial learning.

Mnemonics

Strategies and memory tricks to help remember information more effectively.

Recall

Type of memory retrieval where information must be pulled from memory with few external cues.

Recognition

The ability to match a piece of information to a stored image or fact.

Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon

The feeling that one knows something but cannot retrieve it from memory.

Serial Position Effect

The phenomenon where items presented at the beginning and end of a list are recalled better than those in the middle.

Elizabeth Loftus

A memory expert who found that post-event information can affect memory accuracy.

Constructive Processing

Retrieval in which memories are altered, revised, or influenced by newer information.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe that one could have predicted an event after it has already occurred.

Forgetting Curve

A graph showing that forgetting is rapid after learning, then levels off.

Encoding Failure

Failure to process information into memory.

Memory Trace Decay Theory

The theory that memories fade due to the passage of time.

Proactive Interference

Memory problem where old information interferes with the retrieval of new information.

Retroactive Interference

Memory retrieval problems when new information interferes with the retrieval of old information.

Retrograde Amnesia

Loss of memory from the point of an injury or trauma backward.

Anterograde Amnesia

Loss of memory from the point of an injury or trauma forward, preventing the formation of new long-term memories.

Infantile Amnesia

Inability to recall episodic memories before ages 2-3.