Unit two understanding and using principles of memory, thinking, and learning week 2

Cognitive

The mental activity that deals with perception and with knowledge

Encoding

Putting information into memory systems

Retrieval

Taking information out of the memory system

Storage

Keeping memories in the brain for future use

Working memory

A short-term memory storage system that holds information in consciousness for immediate use or to transfer it into long long-term memory

Long term Memory

An essentially unlimited, nearly permanent memory storage system

Chunks

A unit of meaningful information

Sensory memory

A very short (about one second), extrenely accurate memory system that holds information long enough for an individual to pay attention to it

Procedural memory

Memory for skills and procedures

Declarative memory

Memory for facts and episodes

Semantic memory

The part of declarative memory that refers to one’s general store of knowledge.

episodic memory

The part of declarative memory that refers to specific events or episodes from someone’s life.

rehearsal

The basic strategy that people use to encode information from working memory into long term memory

Levels of processing

Strategies that affect how well a memory is encoded. Craik and Tulving’s research demonstrates that deeper processing (that is, semantic encoding) leads to better memory than shallower processing (that is, encoding into a different format)

Auditory (acoustic) encoding

Encoding from working memory into long-term memory by paying attention to the sounds of words only

Recoding

Transforming information to be encoded into a different format

Sematic encoding

Encoding from working memory into long-term memory by paying attention to the meaning of words

Elaborative verbal rehearsal

An encoding technique that encourages semantic processing by restating information to be remembered in your own words, as if teaching it to someone else

Self-reference effect

An encoding technique that encourages semantic processing by applying to-be-remembered information to yourself

Concept map

A pictorial representation of the relationship between a set of related concepts

Activation

The electrical charging of a neuron, which readies it to communicate with other neurons

Axon

The single tube in a neuron that carries an electrical signal away, toward other neurons

Dendrite

One of the many branches on a neuron that receive incoming signals

Neuron

The basic cell of the nervous system; our brain has billions of neurons

Neurotransmitters

Chemical that carries a neural signal from one neuron to another

Synapse

The area between two adjacent neurons, where neural communication occurs,

Synaptic plasticity

The brain’s ability to change its structure through tiny changes in the surfaces of neurons or in their ability to produce and release neurotransmitters.

Memory construction

The process of building up a recollection of an event, rather than “playing” a memory, as if it were a recording

Misformation effect

A memory distortion that results when misleading information is presented to people after an event has occurred

Source misattribution

A memory distortion in which a person misremembers the actual source of a memory.

Desirable difficulties

Strategies that are difficult to use and make you feel as if you are not learning, but lead to much more effective and lasting learning

Spacing effect

The finding that information that is learned and practiced over a period of time (instead of all once) is remembered better

Memory retrieval

Withdrawing information from long term memory into working memory

Retrieval cue

A reminder that leads to the withdrawal of information from long-term memory into working memory

Neural network

An interconnected group of neurons