Memory Storage/ Retrieval/ Reconstruction

Explicity Memory

requires conscious awareness; knowledge/experiences that can be consciously remembered

Semantic memory

knowledge facts & concepts

Episodic memory

firsthand experiences that we have had

Implicit memory

does not require conscious awareness; influence of experience on behavior

Sensory memory

brief storage of sensory info (processing of sensations)

short term memory

small amounts of info can be kept for few seconds or less than a minute

long term memory

memory storage that can hold info for days, months, etc… (organzied via semantic networks)

Encoding

we place the things we experienced into memory; deep —> adds semantic meaning to stimuli: shallow —> not encoding memory

storage

holding memory information

retrieval

pulling info from long term into short term memory

Recall test

bringing memory info that has been previously remembered

recognition test

determining whether info has been seen or learned before

maintenance rehearsal

repeating info mentally or out loud

chunking

organizing items into groups

semantic networks

concepts connected together in a web; non hierachical, local representation

elaborative encoding

process of putting experiences into memory by relating it to ourselves

mnemonics

ways to improve memory, method of loci, etc…

testing effect

ask questions while learning, while studying

interleaving

interspere old material with new material

generative learning

teach the topic to someone else

relearning

forget material & learn again

Context dependent memory

we remember better in the same environment as we learned it in

state dependent memory

we remember better in the same emotional state that we learned it in

Retroactive interference

new learning impairs retrievel of old information

proactive interference

old info prevents the retrieval of new information

Tip of the tongue

retrieval failure

pollyanna effect

pleasant items are processed more efficiently

Rosy view

events remembered more positive over time

caveat

schema violating info sticks out and is often better remembered because of the surprise

Misinformation effect

errors in memory that when new info influences existing memories

Flashbulb memories

memories for exceedingly emotional culturally shared events

repressed memories

traumatic events childhood, abuse, etc…

Transcience

memories degrade w/time

absent mindedness

memory is dependent upon attention

blocking

irrelevant knowledge can interfere with retrieval

misattribution

failure to remember where info was obtained

suggestability

info from others distorts our own memory

bias

ones current state influences ones past

persistenance

unwanted memories continuously retrieved

Why are levels of processing and elaborative encoding better models of LTM encoding than the Atkinson-Shiffrin model?

Rehearsal alone is not a good predictor of recall

If you have trouble remembering old course terms because new course terms keep getting in the way, you are experiencing...

Retroactive interference

Suppose you are always in a very good mood when you come to class. However, the day of the test, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and are extra irritable. If you fail the test, this might have been due to what memory phenomenon?

State-dependent memory

This mnemonic works because the hippocampus is involved in both spatial navigation and LTM encoding.

Method of loci

Police and prosecutor questioning can alter the memory of eyewitnesses in subtle but highly meaningful ways. This is due to the....

Misinformation effect

The big problem with trusting in recovered repressed memories is that:

They can be generated due to imagination inflation

Implicit skills do not require...

attention

The War of the Ghosts study used this method to show that schemata can change the way memory is encoded/retrieved:

serial reproductions

Which of the following phenomena imply that memory is reconstructive?

Intrusion errors

The inability to form new explicit memories is known as:

Anterograde amnesia

The Mandela Effect best illustrates which of the following?

Reconstructive memory can lead to false memories if they are consistent with the gist