AP Psych 2.7

Anterograde Amnesia

an inability to form new memories.

Retrograde Amnesia

an inability to remember information from one’s past.

Proactive Interference

the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information.

Retroactive Interference

the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information.

Repression

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

Reconsolidation

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

Misinformation Effect

occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading information.

Source Amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined (as when misattributing information to a wrong source).

Deja vu

that eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

Constructive Memory

the idea that recalling a memory isn't like playing a video; instead, the brain actively rebuilds or reconstructs past events by piecing together fragments, existing knowledge, beliefs, and new information, which can lead to both accurate recall and memory distortions or false memories

Encoding Failure

when information never gets properly stored in long-term memory because it wasn't adequately processed or attended to in the first place, leading to the inability to recall it later