unit 1 day 4

storage capacity of the brain

there is unlimited capacity of long-term memory in the brain, multiple parts of the brain interact as memories are formed and retrieved

hippocampus

a temporal-lobe neural center located in the limbic system (save button for the brain)

frontal lobe

the front-most part of the brain that is responsible for things like ways you think, how things are remembered, how you move, social skills, etc. (explicit memory formation)

cerebellum

plays a key role in forming and storing implicit memories

basal ganglia

deep brain structures involved in motor movement (facilitates formation of procedural memories for skills like riding a bicycle)

long term potentiation

an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation (believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory)

retrieval cue

a stimulus that initiates remembering (an image, text, scent, internal thought/sensation related to the memory), encountered during the process of trying to remember something

priming

when associations are activated without awareness or consciousness

context dependent memory

what is learned in a specific context may be more easily recalled when the context is presented again

state dependent memory

what is learned in one state-of-mind may be more easily recalled when again in that state.

mood congruent memory

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

serial position effect

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

recency effect

a cognitive bias in which the items, ideas, or arguments that are seen or heard last are remembered more clearly

primacy effect

the tendency to remember the first piece of information encountered than the information encountered later on

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units (happens automatically, enables easier recalling)

mnemonics

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

categories

sorting objects into groups that help organize knowledge

hierarchies

processing information into a few broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts

spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved from massed study or practice (cramming); distributed study produces better long-term recall

testing effect (retrieval practice)

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information

shallow processing

encodes at a very basic level, such as a word's letters or a word's sounds

deep processing

encoding semantically based on the meaning of words, tends to yield the best retention

levels of processing

based on the idea that the way in which information is encoded affects how well it is remembered (counters the idea that pure repetition enhances memory)

structural memory

how the physical structure of ex. a word is remembered (how the word is spelled and what the letters look like)

phonemic memory

remembering ex. a word by the way it sounds (tall rhymes with fall, etc.)

method of loci (memory palace)

grounding memory in different points in a familiar setting that can be easily accessed and navigated

interleaving

learning through mixing what is being learned with other subjects (studying biology and psychology at the same time, etc.)

self reference effect

the tendency to remember information when it is encoded in reference to the self (put into personal context)

maintenance rehearsal

straight repeating of information in order to memorize something

elaborative rehearsal

using different encoding strategies to memories something (organizing information, mnemonics, etc.)

overlearning

instead of practicing until decency, practicing a little more to solidify the information being learned

von restoriff isolation effect

a cognitive bias that causes people to remember things that stand out to them more (4 black and white pictures, 1 in color)