2.5-2.7 AP Psychology

Semantic memory

Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems.

Episodic memory

Explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems.

Hippocampus

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

Memory consolidation

The neural storage of a long-term memory.

Flashbulb memories

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Priming

The activation of certain associations that predispose one's perception, memory, or response.

Encoding specificity principle

The idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory are most effective in recalling it.

Mood congruent

The tendency to recall experiences that match one's current mood.

Serial position effect

The tendency to recall best the last items in a list initially and the first items after a delay.

Interleaving

A retrieval practice strategy that involves mixing the study of different topics.

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 recall of new information.

Retroactive interference

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

Repress

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

Reconsolidation

The process of potentially altering retrieved memories before re-storing them.

Misinformation effect

Occurs when a memory is corrupted by misleading information.

Source amnesia

Faulty memory regarding the origin of learned or imagined information.

Deja vu

The eerie sense that one has experienced a current situation before; triggered by cues that recall an earlier experience.