exam 3 psy purdueu 200

long-term memory systems

"The set of brain systems that store information long-term (Layman's: Your mind's hard drive for permanent files)"

amnesia

"Significant memory loss caused by brain damage injury or disease (Layman's: Forgetting lots of your past or not making new memories)"

Korsakoff's syndrome

"A chronic memory disorder from thiamine deficiency often linked to alcohol misuse (Layman's: Memory loss from heavy drinking that makes people invent stories)"

HM (Henry Molaison)

"A famous patient whose hippocampus removal stopped him from forming new long-term memories (Layman's: The man who lived in the present and taught us about memory)"

anterograde amnesia

"The inability to form new long-term memories after a brain injury (Layman's: Can't remember what happened 10 minutes ago)"

declarative memory

"Memory for facts and events that can be consciously recalled (Layman's: 'What' you know like facts and stories)"

non-declarative memory

"Memory for skills and habits recalled unconsciously (Layman's: 'How' you know like riding a bike)"

hippocampus

"A brain structure vital for forming new long-term declarative memories (Layman's: The brain's 'save button' for new memories)"

priming

"When exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus (Layman's: Hearing 'doctor' makes you think of 'nurse' faster)"

procedural memory

"A type of long-term memory for motor skills and habits (Layman's: Memory for how to do things like tying your shoe)"

episodic memory

"Memory for specific personal events and experiences (Layman's: Your mental diary of 'episodes' from your life)"

semantic memory

"Memory for general world knowledge and facts (Layman's: Your mental encyclopedia of 'facts' like 'Paris is in France')"

retrograde amnesia

"The inability to retrieve memories from before a brain injury (Layman's: Forgetting your past before the accident)"

semantic dementia

"A progressive neurodegenerative disorder causing loss of semantic memory (Layman's: Forgetting what words mean or what objects are for)"

interdependence of episodic and semantic memory

"The idea that personal memories and factual knowledge rely on each other (Layman's: You need facts to understand your life and life experiences to learn facts)"

semanticization of episodic memory

"The process where episodic memories lose their personal context and become fact-like (Layman's: Forgetting the details of 'when' you learned a fact and just 'knowing' it)"

recognition memory: familiarity and recollection

"Two components of recognition: familiarity is a fast 'know' feeling recollection is a slow 'remember' detail retrieval (Layman's: Knowing you've seen a face vs remembering their name and where you met)"

familiarity and recollection: brain mechanisms

"The different neural pathways supporting familiarity (perirhinal cortex) and recollection (hippocampus) (Layman's: Different brain parts handle 'knowing' a face vs 'remembering' the details)"

recall memory

"Retrieving information from memory without specific cues (Layman's: Answering an essay question from scratch)"

remember vs. know judgments

"A task where people say if they 'remember' an item with specific details or just 'know' it's old (Layman's: Saying 'I remember seeing this' vs 'I just know this was on the list')"

episodic memory and whether it is constructive or not

"The debate on whether episodic memory perfectly replays events or reconstructs them (Layman's: Is memory a video recorder or a story we rebuild each time?)"

concepts

"Mental representations of a class or individual (Layman's: The idea of 'dog' that includes all dogs)"

hierarchies of concepts

"The organization of concepts in levels from general to specific (Layman's: 'Animal' -> 'Dog' -> 'Golden Retriever')"

conceptual processing

"Processing that relies on meaning and knowledge (Layman's: Thinking about what a word means)"

perceptual processing

"Processing that relies on the physical features of a stimulus (Layman's: Noticing the shape or sound of a word)"

hub-and-spoke model

"A model of semantic memory where a central 'hub' (anterior temporal lobe) connects 'spokes' (sensory/motor areas) (Layman's: A central 'concept' hub connects to all the related 'spokes' like what it looks like sounds like etc.)"

category-specific deficits

"An inability to identify or recognize items from a specific category (Layman's: Being unable to name 'animals' but being fine with 'tools')"

schema

"A knowledge structure about a concept or situation based on past experience (Layman's: Your mental script for what to expect in a 'restaurant')"

script

"A type of schema that represents a sequence of events in a common situation (Layman's: Your step-by-step mental guide for 'going to the movies')"

repetition priming

"Priming where a stimulus is processed more efficiently the second time it is seen (Layman's: You read a word faster the second time you see it)"

perceptual priming

"Priming based on the physical form of a stimulus (Layman's: Seeing 'table' makes you identify 'lable' faster because they look similar)"

conceptual priming

"Priming based on the meaning of a stimulus (Layman's: Seeing 'doctor' makes you identify 'nurse' faster because they are related)"

priming processes

"The various cognitive mechanisms underlying the priming effect (Layman's: The different ways your brain gets 'warmed up' by one idea for the next)"

repetition suppression

"A reduced neural response when a stimulus is presented a second time (Layman's: Your brain cells fire less when they see something familiar)"

procedural memory or skill learning

"The gradual acquisition of skills through practice (Layman's: Learning to play guitar)"

interacting systems

"The idea that different memory systems (e.g. hippocampus and basal ganglia) work together (Layman's: Your brain systems cooperating to learn and remember)"

how different priming and skill learning are

"Priming is often fast and unconscious while skill learning is slow and requires practice (Layman's: Priming is a quick hint skill learning is long-term practice)"

traditional memory research vs. everyday memory research

"Lab research using simple stimuli vs research studying memory in real-world complex settings (Layman's: Remembering word lists in a lab vs remembering your wedding day)"

saying-is-believing effect

"When tailoring a message for an audience makes the speaker's own memory change to fit the message (Layman's: You convince yourself of the story you told someone else)"

autobiographical memory

"Memory for one's own life experiences combining episodic and semantic memory (Layman's: Your personal life story)"

flashbulb memories

"A highly detailed vivid memory of the moment one heard about a shocking public event (Layman's: Remembering exactly where you were on 9/11)"

hyperthymestic syndrome

"A rare condition where individuals have extraordinarily detailed autobiographical memory (Layman's: Being able to remember what you did on almost every day of your life)"

flashbacks

"Involuntary and vivid re-experiencings of past traumatic events (Layman's: Suddenly and intensely reliving a bad memory)"

memories across the lifetime

"The pattern of how well we remember events from different periods of our lives (Layman's: How memory is good for some life periods and bad for others)"

childhood amnesia

"The inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories from the first few years of life (Layman's: Not remembering anything from when you were two)"

reminiscence bump

"The tendency for older adults to have increased recall for events from their adolescence and early adulthood (Layman's: People over 50 remembering their high school years best)"

cognitive self

"A theory that the reminiscence bump occurs because memory is strongest for events that shape one's identity (Layman's: You remember your teens/20s because that's when you figured out 'who you are')"

social-cultural developmental theory

"A theory that childhood amnesia ends as children learn to use narrative language from their culture (Layman's: You start remembering when you learn how to 'tell stories' about your life)"

two-stage theory

"A theory of childhood amnesia suggesting an absolute amnesia for early infancy followed by a gradual reduction in memory loss (Layman's: Total forgetting of babyhood then slowly starting to remember)"

neurogenic hypothesis

"The idea that high rates of new neuron growth in the infant hippocampus cause childhood amnesia (Layman's: Your baby brain was building so fast it overwrote old memories)"

neurogenesis

"The creation of new neurons in the brain (Layman's: Your brain growing new cells)"

false memory

"A recollection of an event or details of an event that did not actually occur (Layman's: Remembering something that never happened)"

life script

"A cultural narrative of the expected timing of major life events (Layman's: Society's 'plan' for you like graduating marrying and having kids)"

theoretical approaches to autobiographical memory

"The different models scientists use to explain how personal memory works (Layman's: Different theories about how your life story is stored)"

self-memory system model

"A model viewing autobiographical memory as a combination of a 'working self' and a 'knowledge base' (Layman's: Your 'current goals' pull 'old stories' from your memory database)"

autobiographical memory knowledge base

"The personal information stored in long-term memory at different levels of specificity (Layman's: Your memory database from 'my college years' down to 'that one specific class')"

working self

"A set of active personal goals and self-concepts that influence memory retrieval (Layman's: Your 'current self' that decides which memories are relevant right now)"

generative retrieval

"A deliberate and effortful process of reconstructing an autobiographical memory (Layman's: Actively digging deep to try and remember a specific old memory)"

direct retrieval

"The effortless and involuntary recall of an autobiographical memory (Layman's: A memory just 'popping' into your head)"

depression

"A mood disorder that can be associated with a bias toward retrieving negative autobiographical memories (Layman's: Being sad and finding it easier to remember other sad times)"

structure of autobiographical memory

"The hierarchical organization of personal memories from broad themes to specific events (Layman's: How your life story is organized like chapters in a book)"

eyewitness testimony

"An account given by a person of an event they have witnessed (Layman's: Telling the police what you saw happen)"

confirmation bias

"The tendency to search for interpret or favor information that confirms one's pre-existing beliefs (Layman's: Only paying attention to evidence that proves you're right)"

post- and pre-event information

"Information presented before or after an event that can influence an eyewitness's memory (Layman's: Things you hear before or after an event that change your memory of it)"

misinformation effect

"When misleading information presented after an event becomes incorporated into the memory (Layman's: Someone's wrong suggestion changing your own memory of what happened)"

reconsolidation of event memory information

"The process where reactivated memories become fragile and can be modified before being stored again (Layman's: Every time you 'open' a memory file you can accidentally 'change' it before you 'save' it again)"

group pressure and conformity of event memory information

"When a person's memory report changes to align with the reports of others (Layman's: Changing your story to match what everyone else is saying)"

source misattribution of event memory information

"Incorrectly remembering the source of a memory (Layman's: Remembering a fact but thinking you heard it from a friend when you actually read it online)"

weapon focus

"The tendency for witnesses to a crime to focus their attention on the weapon (Layman's: Staring at the gun so you don't remember the robber's face)"

anxiety and violence

"High levels of stress or anxiety can impair the accuracy of eyewitness memory (Layman's: Being really scared or stressed makes your memory worse)"

own-age bias

"The tendency for eyewitnesses to be better at identifying faces of people their own age (Layman's: You're better at telling apart faces of people who are about as old as you)"

aging and memory

"The general decline in memory performance associated with increasing age (Layman's: Forgetting things more often as you get older)"

eyewitness testimony: face recognition

"The ability of an eyewitness to correctly identify a suspect's face (Layman's: An eyewitness picking the right person out of a lineup)"

unconscious transference

"When a witness misidentifies a familiar but innocent person as the culprit (Layman's: Blaming a bystander you saw at the scene instead of the real criminal)"

from laboratory to courtroom

"Applying findings from controlled memory experiments to real-life legal situations (Layman's: Using lab results about memory to improve the justice system)"

enhancing eyewitness testimony

"Techniques used to improve the accuracy of witness reports (Layman's: Methods to help witnesses remember more accurately)"

line-ups

"A procedure where a witness is shown several people to identify the suspect (Layman's: A police 'who-dunit' with a victim pointing to the suspect)"

cognitive interview

"A method of questioning witnesses that uses memory retrieval techniques to increase recall (Layman's: A special interview that helps witnesses remember more details correctly)"

obsessive-compulsive disorder and checking behavior

"A disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors like checking (Layman's: Feeling you have to check the stove 10 times even though you know it's off)"

meta-memory

"One's knowledge and beliefs about one's own memory (Layman's: 'Knowing' that you are good at remembering faces but bad at remembering names)"

retrospective memory

"Memory for people events and information from the past (Layman's: Remembering things that already happened)"

prospective memory

"Remembering to perform an intended action in the future (Layman's: Remembering to buy milk on the way home)"

stages in prospective memory

"The phases of prospective memory: intention formation retention and execution (Layman's: 1.Deciding to do it 2.Holding it in mind 3.Actually doing it)"

time-based prospective memory

"Remembering to perform an action at a specific time (Layman's: Remembering to take a pill at 8 PM)"

event-based prospective memory

"Remembering to perform an action when a specific event occurs (Layman's: Remembering to give your friend a message 'when you see her')"

prospective memory in real life

"How prospective memory functions in everyday situations (Layman's: How we manage to remember all the things we need to do)"

functions of language

"The purposes language serves such as communication social bonding and expressing identity (Layman's: All the different jobs language does for us)"

Chomsky's approach to language

"The theory that humans have an innate 'language acquisition device' allowing for universal grammar (Layman's: The idea we are all born with a 'language-ready' brain)"

Whorfian hypothesis

"The theory that the language one speaks influences the way one thinks (Layman's: The language you speak shapes how you see the world)"

linguistic relativity

"The idea that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view or cognition (Layman's: A weaker version of the Whorfian hypothesis)"

research methods in reading

"Experimental techniques used to study how people read and process text (Layman's: How scientists study reading)"

differences between reading and speech perception

"Contrasts between processing written language (visual) and spoken language (auditory) (Layman's: How reading (visual) is different from listening (sound))"

lexical decision task

"A task where participants must quickly decide if a string of letters is a real word or not (Layman's: A computer game of 'Is this a real word? Yes/No')"

naming task

"A task where participants must read a printed word aloud as quickly as possible (Layman's: A test of how fast you can say a word you see)"

orthography

"The conventional spelling system of a language (Layman's: The rules of how words are spelled)"

phonology

"The sound system of a language (Layman's: The rules of how words sound)"

semantics

"The study of meaning in language (Layman's: What words and sentences mean)"

phonological processes

"Mental operations involved in processing the sound structure of language (Layman's: The brain work involved in dealing with speech sounds)"

weak phonological model

"A model of reading suggesting phonology is accessed slowly and is not essential for word recognition (Layman's: A theory that 'sounding out' words is slow and optional when reading)"

strong phonological model

"A model of reading suggesting phonology is automatically accessed quickly and is essential for word recognition (Layman's: A theory that you 'sound out' words in your head automatically and very fast)"