UNIT 2: Cognition Quiz Vocabulary (Topic 2.3 to Topic 2.7): All About Memory

Memory

The mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, and impressions.

Flashbulb memory

A highly detailed, vivid snapshot of a moment in time, typically associated with emotional events.

Encoding

The process of converting information into a form that can be stored in memory.

Storage

The retention of encoded information over time.

Retrieval

The process of accessing and bringing stored information into consciousness.

Sensory memory

The brief retention of sensory information (such as sights and sounds) shortly after the stimulus is perceived.

Short-term memory

A limited capacity memory system that retains information for a short duration, usually seconds.

Working memory

A system that temporarily holds and manipulates information for cognitive tasks such as learning and reasoning.

Long-term memory

A system for permanently storing, managing, and retrieving information with a vast capacity.

Automatic processing

Unconscious encoding of information, such as space, time, and frequency, without effort.

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires conscious effort and attention.

Rehearsal

The conscious repetition of information to be remembered.

Maintenance rehearsal

A technique used to maintain information in short-term memory by repeating it over and over.

Elaborative rehearsal

A method of transferring information into long-term memory by connecting it to prior knowledge and making it meaningful.

Spacing effect

The phenomenon where information is better remembered when studied over spaced intervals rather than in a single massed session.

Serial position effect

The tendency to remember the first (primacy effect) and last (recency effect) items in a list better than the middle items.

Structural memory

A type of shallow processing that involves focusing on the structure or appearance of the information.

Phonemic memory

A type of medium processing that focuses on the sound of the information.

Semantic memory

A type of deep processing that involves understanding the meaning of the information.

Visual encoding

The process of encoding pictures and images into memory.

Acoustic encoding

The processing of sounds and auditory stimuli into memory.

Autobiographical memories

Memories connected to personal experiences and events in one's life.

Mnemonics

Memory aids or techniques that use associations to facilitate retrieval of information.

Method of Loci

A mnemonic technique that involves visualizing items to be remembered in specific physical locations.

Memory Palace

A mnemonic device that involves associating information with specific landmarks or locations within a familiar environment.

Peg System

A mnemonic technique that involves linking words with numbers using a visual association to aid memory retrieval.

Chunking

A process of breaking down large amounts of information into smaller, manageable units for easier recall.

Iconic memory

A brief sensory memory for visual stimuli lasting only a few tenths of a second.

Echoic memory

A brief sensory memory for auditory stimuli, lasting a few seconds after the sound has ended.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

A biological process that underlies learning and memory, involving the strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity.

Amnesia

A loss of memory that can occur due to various causes.

Anterograde amnesia

The inability to form new memories after a specific event or injury.

Retrograde amnesia

The inability to recall memories that were formed before a specific event or injury.

Alzheimer’s Disease

A progressive neurological disorder that leads to memory loss, cognitive decline, and eventually, the loss of ability to carry out simple tasks.

Infantile Amnesia

The inability to remember events from early childhood, typically before the age of two to three.

Episodic memory

A type of explicit memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations, and experiences.

Semantic memory

A type of explicit memory that involves general knowledge and facts about the world.

Prospective memory

The ability to remember to perform actions in the future.

Implicit memory

Unconscious retrieval of information such as skills or conditioned responses.

Explicit memory

The conscious, intentional recollection of information and events.

Retrieval cues

Stimuli or hints that aid in the recall of information from memory.

Recall

A measure of memory where a person retrieves information without cues.

Recognition

A measure of memory where a person identifies previously learned information among options.

Context-Dependent memory

Improved recall of specific information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same.

Mood-Congruent memory

The tendency to recall memories that are consistent with one’s current mood.

State-Dependent memory

The phenomenon where retrieval is more effective when an individual is in the same state of consciousness as when the memory was formed.

Testing Effect

The improved memory performance that occurs after retrieving information through testing.

Forgetting Curve

A graph that shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it, famously studied by Hermann Ebbinghaus.

Encoding failure

The inability to recall information due to insufficient processing or encoding at the time of learning.

Proactive Interference

When older information inhibits the ability to remember new information.

Retroactive Interference

When new learning interferes with the recall of previously learned information.

Repression

A defense mechanism by which distressing memories are unconsciously blocked from awareness.

Misinformation Effect

When a person’s recall of episodic memories becomes less accurate due to the influence of misleading information.

Constructive Memory

The process wherein memories are actively constructed or reconstructed from various sources rather than retrieved verbatim.