Memory and Information Processing

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts about memory and information processing.

Memory

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

Flashbulb memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Encoding

The process of getting 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, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

Short-term memory

Briefly activated memory of a few items that is later stored or forgotten.

Long-term memory

The relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system.

Working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming information.

Automatic processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency.

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Rehearsal

The conscious repetition of information to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage.

Spacing effect

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than massed study.

Serial position effect

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

Visual encoding

The encoding of picture images; considered shallow processing.

Acoustic encoding

The encoding of sound, especially the sound of words; considered deeper processing.

Semantic encoding

The encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words; considered the deepest level of processing.

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units to improve memory retention.

Iconic memory

A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; lasts no more than a few tenths of a second.

Echoic memory

A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; sounds and words can be recalled within three or four seconds.

Hippocampus

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

Explicit memory

Memory with conscious recall, processed in the hippocampus.

Implicit memory

Memory without conscious recall, processed in part by the cerebellum.

Relearning

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

Recognition

A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned.

Recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier.

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.

State-dependent memory

What we learn in one state is sometimes more easily recalled when we are again in that state.

Mood-congruent memory

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.

Absent-mindedness

A sin of forgetting characterized by lapses in attention.

Misinformation effect

Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event.

Repression

In psychoanalytic theory, a defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts from consciousness.