Psych 111 - Exam 3

Cognitive

Encoding

The process of taking external stimuli and turning it into information to create memory.

Storage

The process of taking information and putting it away for later use.

Engram

An imaginary concept suggesting a singular place in the brain where each memory is stored; considered a myth.

Retrieval

The process of pulling information from storage in order to use it.

Cues

Triggers used for retrieval of stored information.

Levels of Processing

The theory suggesting that deeper levels of processing lead to better memory retention.

Structural Processing

Focusing on visual aspects of information, primarily occurring in the occipital lobe.

Phoemic Processing

Focusing on the sound of information, mainly occurring in the temporal lobe.

Semantic Processing

Focusing on the meaning of information, associated with the frontal lobe.

Organizational Processing

Connecting information with other pieces or feelings to enhance memory, also uses the frontal lobe.

Craik & Tulving 1972

Demonstrated that semantic processing leads to better memory retention compared to structural and phonemic.

Effortful Processing

Conscious, active techniques being utilized to process information.

Automatic Processing

Unconscious processing that does not require deliberate effort.

Mnemonics

Strategies used to improve memory retention.

Encoding Specificity Principle

States that the cues present during encoding will aid in retrieval.

Elaboration

Enhancing memory by adding more information, leading to better retrieval cues.

Dual-Coding Theory

Suggests that using two different modalities enhances encoding and retrieval (ex. verbal and smell).

Self-Referent Encoding

Connecting information to oneself to improve retention.

Cocktail Party Phenomenon

The ability to hear one's name in a noisy environment, showing selective attention.

Method of Loci

A mnemonic device involving memorizing items along a familiar path.

Chunking

Breaking information into smaller, manageable units to aid memory.

Spacing Effect

Improved memory retention when learning is spaced out over time.

Testing Effect

Enhanced memory retention when information is actively recalled through testing.

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory

Memory model describing three stages: sensory, short-term, and long-term memory.

Short-term Memory (STM)

Memory that lasts for about 30 seconds and can hold 5-9 items (Miller's Law).

Long-term Memory (LTM)

Memory that can last for decades with seemingly unlimited capacity.

Procedural Memory

Memory for skills and actions that are performed without conscious thought.

Declarative Memory

Memory involving conscious recall of facts and events.

Episodic Memory

Personal memory for events experienced.

HSAM (Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory)

Individuals capable of recalling extensive details about their personal lives. These people have a highly autobiographical memory.

Prospective Memory

Remembering to perform future tasks or actions.

Retrospective Memory

Memory for past information, events, and experiences.

Working Memory

The active processing of information in short-term memory.

Alan Baddeley's Working Memory Model

Was the first suggested working memory. Describes the components of working memory, including the central executive and buffers.

Consolidation

The process by which memories are stabilized and stored in long-term memory.

Implicit Memory

long-term memory that does not require conscious effort to retrieve and is often procedural. Involves the cerebellum and the basil ganglia.

Explicit Memory

Long-term memory that requires conscious thought to access and retrieve. Involves the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.

Context-Dependent Retrieval

The phenomenon where memory retrieval is enhanced by being in the same context as encoding (if you are currently mad, it is easier to remember previous instances that made you mad.)

Schema

A structure of knowledge used to understand concepts and events.

Recall

Retrieving information without specific cues, such as in essay tests.

Recognition

Identifying previously learned information, such as in multiple-choice tests.

Relearning

Measuring how quickly a person can relearn previously learned information. The quicker it is for someone to relearn a task, the more memory they have.

Amnesia

Memory loss, classified as either retrograde (loss of past memories) or anterograde (inability to form new memories).

Serial Positioning Effect

The tendency to recall items based on their position in a list, with primacy and recency effects.

Own Race Bias

The tendency to better distinguish between faces of one's own race compared to others.

Source Monitoring

The process of determining the origins of memories or information.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon

A state in which one is unable to retrieve a memory but feels it is just out of reach.

Synaptic Pruning

The process of reducing the number of neuronal connections to improve brain efficiency.

Classical Conditioning

Learning through pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a response. More of an automatic and reflexive kind of action, this type of conditioning can look different in different types of cultures.

Acquisition (in CC)

The phase where the conditioned stimulus is paired with the unconditioned stimulus, resulting in learning.

Motivation to remember

Works to serve as a retrieval cue. The motivation helps you to retrieve that memory. 

Pegwords

creating a strong visual image by combining 2 visual images. Unusual images help us to remember information better.

Hierarchies

More formal version of organizational encoding. You look at where things fit in the big structure of information that you have.

Sensory memory

memory for sense information. Very short lasting memory. Sperling found that the duration for sensory processing is very short, but the capacity is big.

Positive transfer

the mastery of one procedure helps you master another procedure (ex. If you already know how to play the violin, it will be easier to learn to play the viola).

Negative transfer

the mastery of one procedure interferes with your ability to master another procedure (ex. Switching between video games)

Autobiographical

Includes your episodic memory. Most personal memory

Associative network

chain of connections that make things easier to recall.

Cryptoamnesia

accidental plagiarism. You don’t remember where you got the info from so you assume that you created it.

Processing errors

you are incorrectly using your cognitive resources to retrieve or process information. Long term memory mistakes is semantics

Redintegration

using one retrieved memory as retrieval cues for other memories

ineffective encoding

if you are not paying attention to that information, you cannot encode that information.

Decay/Transience

As you become more distant from that memory, the memory becomes less detailed and harder to remember (forgetting)

Absentmindedness

Any time your failure of attention leads to a failure of memory

Blocking

inability to retrieve information that is in memory

Misattribution

forgetting where you are familiar with something. Assigning a recollection to the wrong source.

Interference

information is interfering with other information in your memory

proactive

form of interference — old information is interfering with new information that can hinder learning or recall.

retroactive

form of interference — new information interferes with our ability to recall old information.

Suggestibility

changing our memory based on outside information (gaslighting)

Bias

we are more likely to remember information that we agree with and forget information that we dont agree with

persistence

memory that is more persistent becomes more focused in the details. Ex. if you experience something traumatic, you remember more dramatic things from the experience

Associative learning

learning by pairing stimuli

operational conditioning

involves strengthening or weakening behaviors based on their consequences, whether through reinforcement or punishment. More conscious kind of action, little culture variability is seen here.

Neutral stimuli

organism does not have any natural reflective response to (bell starts as the neutral stimulus)

Unconditioned Stimuli (US/UCS)

what naturally and reflexively causes a response (food)

conditioned stimuli (CS)

repeatedly pair neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus to create the new CS (bell+food)

Unconditioned Response (UR)

the natural and reflexing response caused by the unconditioned stimulus (salivation)

Conditioned Response (CR)

response that the conditioned stimulus causes (salvation)

Extinction

unlearning information. Bell no longer needs food —> no longer salivate at the bell

spontaneous recovery

starts randomly responding to the CS

Generalization

Responding to a neutral stimulus as if it is a conditioned stimulus.

Discrimination

The ability to differentiate if it is a new stimulus; for example, a dog will not respond if the bulb is changed from red to green.

Little Albert Experiment

A psychological study by Watson and Rayner showcasing that emotional responses like fear can be conditioned through association. Albert developed a fear of a white rat after it was paired with a loud noise.

Taste Aversion

Strong conditioning that occurs when one becomes nauseous after eating specific food, leading to an aversion to that food. It often requires only one pairing to develop.

Biologic Preparedness

The concept that organisms are biologically predisposed to associate certain stimuli with certain outcomes due to past experiences.

Higher Order Conditioning

Creating a new conditioned stimulus by pairing it with a previously established conditioned stimulus without pairing it with the initial unconditioned stimulus.

Latent Inhibition

The interference with learning that has already occurred with a neutral stimulus, which makes it take longer to establish a connection.

Renewal Effect

When learned behaviors return in a new environment after extinction occurs in a specific setting.

Thorndike’s Law of Effect

Behaviors that lead to positive outcomes are more likely to be repeated.

Reinforcement

Anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior occurring again.

Punishment

Anything that decreases the likelihood of a behavior occurring again.

Positive Reinforcement

Giving something pleasant to increase a behavior.

Positive Punishment

Giving something unpleasant to decrease a behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

Removing something unpleasant to increase a behavior.

Negative Punishment

Removing something pleasant to decrease a behavior.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Refers to the different ways to administer reinforcement based on responses or time.

Ratio

Reinforcement based on the number of responses made (e.g., reward after every 3rd response).

Interval

Reinforcement based on the time elapsed since the last reward.

Fixed Ratio

Receiving reinforcement after a fixed number of responses.