ap psych unit 9 test

What is memory?

Memory is the capacity for storing and retrieving information

What 3 processes are involved in memory?

encoding, storage, retrieval

Encoding

Processing information into memory

Structural encoding

Focuses on what words look like

Phonemic encoding

Focuses on how words sound

Semantic encoding

Focuses on the meaning of words

Memory storage

After information enters the brain, it has to be stored or maintained. (sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory)

Sensory Memory

Stores incoming sensory information in detail but only for an instant

Short-term memory

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

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.

Long term memory

Has an almost infinite capacity, and information in long-term memory usually stays there for the duration of a person's life.

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory.

Associations

recalling a particular word becomes easier if another, related word is recalled first.

Mood congruent memory

If people are in the same mood they were in during an event, they may have an easier time recalling the event.

Three main distinctions of different types of memory

Implicit vs. explicit memory

Declarative vs. procedural memory

Semantic vs. episodic memory

Implicit memory

Unconscious retention of information

Explicit memory

Conscious, intentional remembering of information

Declarative memory

Recall of factual information such as dates, words, faces, events, and concepts

Procedural memory

Recall of how to do things such as swimming or driving a car. People don't have to consciously remember how to perform actions or skills

Semantic memory

Recall of general facts

Episodic memory

Recall for one's personal facts

Retention

The proportion of learned information that is retained or remembered—the flip side of forgetting

Forgetting Curve

A graph that shows how quickly learned information is forgotten over time

Recall

Remembering without any external cues

Recognition

Identifying learned information using external cues

Relearning

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

The six main reasons for forgetting:

Ineffective encoding, decay, interference, retrieval failure, motivated forgetting, and physical injury / trauma

Ineffective encoding / encoding failure

Memories never stored due to lack of attention

Decay

Fading away of memory over time

Interference

People forget information because of interference from other learned information

Retroactive interference

Newly learned information makes people forget old information

Proactive interference

Old information makes people forget newly learned information

Retrieval failure

The inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues

Anterograde amnesia

The inability to remember events that occur AFTER an injury or traumatic event

Retrograde amnesia

The inability to remember events that occurred BEFORE an injury or traumatic event

Rehearsal

The more people rehearse information, the more likely they are to remember that information.

Overlearning

Continuing to practice material even after it is learned increases retention.

Distributed practice (AKA the Spacing Effect)

Learning material in short sessions over a long period

Massed practice

Cramming the memorization of information or the learning of skills into one session

Mnemonics

Strategies for improving memory. (ex: acronyms, acrostics, the narrative method, and rhymes.)

Acrostics

Sentences or phrases in which each word begins with a letter that acts as a memory cue

Method of Loci

Use of familiar locations as cues to recall items that have been associated with them

Link method

Forming a mental image of items remembered in a way that links them together. Ex. making a story out of items.

Peg word method

Memorizing something by using something already familiar with (one\=bun, two\=shoe)

Consolidation

The transfer of information into long-term memory

Long-term potentiation

A lasting change at synapses that occurs when long-term memories form (muscle memory)

Schema

A mental model of an object or event that includes knowledge as well as beliefs and expectations

Source amnesia

People often don't accurately remember the origin of information

Misinformation effect

Occurs when people's recollections of events are distorted by information given to them after the event occurred. (Elizabeth Loftus)

Hindsight bias

The tendency to interpret the past in a way that fits the present

Overconfidence effect

The tendency people have to overestimate their ability to recall events correctly

Iconic Memory

visual sensory memory

Echoic Memory

auditory sensory memory

Confabulation

When people claim to remember something that didn't happen, or think that something happened to them, when it actually happened to someone else

Hermann Ebbinghaus

the first person to do scientific studies on forgetting (forgetting curve)

Elizabeth Loftus

studies memory (misinformation effect)