Memory

Sensory Memory

Sensory memory forms automatically, without attention or interpretation. Attention is needed to to transfer memory to working memory.

Types of Sensory Memory

Iconic memory (visual) and echoic memory (auditory).

Iconic Memory

A type of sensory memory that involves a brief memory of an image or icon.

Echoic Memory

A type of sensory memory that retains auditory information longer than visual information.

George Sperling

Psychologist known for studying iconic memory.

Attention

The process needed to transfer memory from sensory to working memory.

Short-Term Memory

Also known as working memory; responsible for conscious processing of information.

Capacity of Short-Term Memory

Limited to 7 +/- 2 items.

Duration of Short-Term Memory

Typically lasts about 30 seconds.

Chunking

A technique of grouping small bits of information into larger units to expand memory capacity.

Long-Term Memory

memory store that organizes and retains information, characterized by unlimited capacity.

Encoding

The process that controls the movement of information from working memory to long-term memory.

Retrieval

The process of accessing information stored in long-term memory.

Procedural Memory

A type of long-term memory involving motor skills and actions.

Implicit Memory

Memory that cannot be consciously recalled; also known as non-declarative memory.

Effortful Processing

Memory processing that requires attention and conscious effort.(memorizing notes)

Hierarchical Organization

Group related items together into categories for better memory recall.

Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon

The sensation of knowing specific information is stored in long-term memory but being unable to access it.

Serial Position Effect

The tendency to remember the first and last items in a list better than the middle items.

Encoding Specificity

The principle that retrieval is more successful when conditions match those in which the information was encoded.

Context Effects

The influence of environmental cues on memory retrieval.

State Dependent Retrieval

The tendency to recall information better when in the same physical or internal state as when it was encoded.

The Forgetting Curve

A concept introduced by Hermann Ebbinghaus that describes the exponential loss of information from memory over time.

Four Reasons for Forgetting

Encoding failure, absentmindedness, decay theory, and interference theory.

Retroactive Interference

When new memories interfere with the retrieval of older memories.

Proactive Interference

When older memories interfere with the retrieval of new memories.

Motivated Forgetting

The process of repressing or purposefully forgetting undesired memories.

Loftus Experiment

Research demonstrating how wording can alter memory recall, particularly in eyewitness testimonies.

Schemas

Mental representations that organize knowledge and events into categories.

Amnesia

Severe memory loss.

Retrograde Amnesia

Inability to recall past episodic information; often occurs after head injuries.

Anterograde Amnesia

Inability to form new memories, often related to damage to the hippocampus.

Cued Recall

test of LTM that involves remembering an item of info in response to a retrieval cue(multiple choice)

Recall

test of LTM that involves retrieving memories without cues, also termed free recall

Recognition

test of LTM that involvers identifying correct info from a series of possible choices

Richard Thompson

found that memory for simple classical conditioned responses was localized (in the cerebellum)

Karl Lashley

searched for a localized memory trace. Found that maze-learning in rats was distributed throughout the brain