Cognitive Psychology: Memory Systems, Processes, and Phenomenon

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering memory models, encoding strategies, storage, retrieval cues, forgetting mechanisms, and memory distortions.

Explicit Memory (Declarative Memory)

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare."

Episodic Memory

A category of explicit memory that involves recollections of specific personal events, experiences, and episodes in one's life.

Semantic Memory

A category of explicit memory containing general knowledge about the world, including facts, concepts, and language.

Implicit Memory (Non-declarative Memory)

Retention of independent, conscious recollection (procedural skills and classic conditioning responses).

Procedural Memory

A type of implicit memory responsible for knowing how to perform motor skills and physical actions (e.g., riding a bike).

Prospective Memory

Remembering to perform a planned action or recall an intention at some point in the future (e.g., remembering to take medication at 8 PM).

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.

Working 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.

Central Executive

The component of working memory that directs attention and coordinates the activities of the sub-systems (phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad).

Phonological Loop

The component of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information.

Visuospatial Sketchpad

The component of working memory that holds and manipulates visual and spatial information.

Multi-Store Model

A model proposing that memory consists of three distinct structural stores through which information flows: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Sensory Memory

The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system (lasts under 4 seconds).

Iconic Memory

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

Echoic Memory

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

Short-Term Memory (STM)

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly (typically $7 \pm 2$ items for about 15–30 seconds) before the information is stored or forgotten.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system, which includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

Automatic Processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information (such as space, time, and frequency) and of well-learned information.

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires conscious attention and active effort.

Encoding

The initial process of converting sensory information into a form that can be processed and retained by the memory system.

Storage

The process of retaining encoded information over time.

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness.

Levels of Processing Theory

The idea that the depth at which we process information during encoding affects how well we remember it (from shallow to deepest).

Structural Processing

Shallow encoding that focuses on the physical or visual structure of the stimulus (e.g., font style or capital letters).

Phonemic Processing

Intermediate encoding that focuses on the sound of the stimulus (e.g., rhyming words).

Semantic Processing

Deepest encoding that focuses on the actual meaning of the stimulus and its connections to existing knowledge.

Mnemonic Devices

Memory aids or technique tricks used to improve retention, often utilizing imagery or organizational structures.

Method of Loci

A mnemonic technique that involves associating items to be remembered with specific physical locations along a familiar route.

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable, or meaningful units to increase short-term memory capacity.

Spacing Effect

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

Massed Practice

Cramming or practicing all at once without breaks; results in faster initial learning but poor long-term retention.

Distributed Practice

Spacing study sessions over time; leads to far superior long-term retention.

Serial Position Effect

Our tendency to recall best the last (recency) and first (primacy) items in a list.

Primacy Effect

The tendency to recall the first items on a list better because they receive more rehearsal and transfer to long-term memory.

Recency Effect

The tendency to recall the last items on a list better because they are still present in short-term memory.

Maintenance Rehearsal

The process of repeatedly verbalizing or thinking about information to keep it active in short-term memory without processing its meaning.

Elaborative Rehearsal

A technique for transferring information into long-term memory by thinking about its meaning and connecting it to existing knowledge.

Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM)

A rare condition enabling individuals to recall detailed personal experiences from almost every day of their lives.

Retrograde Amnesia

The inability to recall past memories formed prior to the onset of brain trauma or injury.

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to form new long-term explicit memories after the onset of brain trauma or injury.

Alzheimer’s Disease

A progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory loss, cognitive decline, and structural changes in the brain (e.g., amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles).

Infantile Amnesia

The inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories from early childhood, typically before the age of 3 or 4.

Retrieval Cues

External stimuli, thoughts, or feelings that help trigger the retrieval of a stored memory.

Context-Dependent Memory

Improved recall of specific information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same (e.g., taking a test in the same room you studied in).

State-Dependent Memory

Improved recall when an individual is in the same internal physiological state during retrieval as they were during encoding.

Mood-Congruent Memory

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

Physical State-Dependent Memory

A subset of state-dependent memory emphasizing physical condition (e.g., caffeine levels, fatigue) matching between encoding and retrieval.

Testing Effect

Enhanced memory performance after retrieving information through self-testing rather than simply re-reading it.

Metacognition

Awareness and understanding of one's own cognitive and thought processes ("thinking about thinking").

Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve

A graph showing that forgetting occurs rapidly at first after learning, and then levels off over time.

Interference

A phenomenon where memories interfere with the retrieval of other memories.

Proactive Interference

When older memories disrupt the retrieval of newer information (e.g., calling your new teacher by your old teacher's name).

Retroactive Interference

When newer information disrupts the retrieval of older memories (e.g., forgetting your old phone number after learning your new one).

Inadequate Retrieval

The inability to access stored memories due to a lack of effective retrieval cues.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

The temporary inability to retrieve a specific word or memory, accompanied by the strong feeling that the memory is present and accessible.

Repression

In psychoanalytic theory, a basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from conscious awareness.

Misinformation Effect

Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event, altering the actual recall of what occurred.

Source Amnesia (Source Misattribution)

Faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined, while retaining the factual content.

Constructive Memory

The process of assembling information from stored knowledge and current expectations to rebuild a memory, making it vulnerable to alterations.

Memory Consolidation

The neural process by which short-term memories are converted into stable, permanent long-term storage.

Imagination Inflation

A phenomenon where vividly imagining an event increases a person's confidence that the event actually occurred in their past.