Psychology in Everyday Life Chapter 7 (copy)

Memory

The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

Flashbulb memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory system

Storage

the retention of encoded information over time

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage

Sensory memory

the immediate, brief recording of sensory info in the memory system

Short term memory

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, before the information is stored or forgotten

Long term memory

relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

Working memory

a newer understanding of short term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

Automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information such as word meanings

Effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Rehearsal

The conscious repetition of info, either to maintain it in consciousness or encode it for storage

Spacing effect

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

Serial position effect

Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

imagery

mental pictures

Mnemonics

memory aids

Chunking

Organizing terms into familiar, manageable units, often occurs automatically

Long term potentiation

an increase in a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

Implicit memory

Retaining learned skills or conditioning, often without conscious awareness of this learning

Explicit Memory

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and ‘declare’

Hippocampus

A neural center that is located in the limbic system and helps process explicit memories for storage

Recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill in the blank test

Recognition

A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple choice test

Relearning

A memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Mood-congruent theory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with your current mood good or bad

Proactive interference

The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

Retroactive interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

Repression

the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness

Misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event

source amnesia

attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined

Retrieval cue

any stimulus linked to a specific memory

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one’s past

Parallel Processing

processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem at once

Spacing effect

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

Testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information

Semantic memory

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge, one of our two unconscious memory systems

Episodic memory

explicit memory of personally experienced events, one of our two unconscious memory systems

Memory consolidation

the neural storage of a long term memory

Encoding specificity principle

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be the most effective in helping us recall it

Memory trace

the last physical change in the brain as a memory forms

reconsolidation

a process in which previously stored new memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again