PSY 211 Exam 3 SDSU

explicit memory

memories that we can consciously experience, you remember them, and can recall them

implicit memory

memories that you cannot recall, you are experiencing them without having prior knowledge

explicit memory tasks

recognition and free/cued recall

implicit memory tasks

conditioning and repetition priming

episodic memory

memory for experiences, ex. your first day of college, what you ate for breakfast

semantic memory

memory for facts, ex. knowing that paris is the capital of france, a dog has four legs

serial position curve

created by taking the results of participants recalling words from a list and making a curve out of it

purpose of the serial position curve

shows that participants can remember more words from the beginning and the end of a list

primacy effect

participants are more likely to remember words from the beginning of a list

recency effect

participants are more likely to remember words from the end of a list

Von Restorff effect

when presented with a list of words, one that is not alike the others is likely to stand out

double dissociation

a method in cognitive neuroscience used to show that two mental processes rely on different brain systems

patient H.M.

had damage to the hippocampus and could not form new long-term memories

patient K.F.

had damage to the parietal lobe leading to severely impaired short term memory

encoding

the process of transferring information into your long-term memory

consolidation

the process of strengthening memory after it is encoded, storing it better

retrieval

accessing memories from LTM when needed

levels of processing theory

the idea that memory depends on how information is encoded, and that better memory is achieved when processing is deep

self-reference effect

Memory is better if you are asked to relate a word to yourself

generation effect

Memory for material is better when a person generates the material by themselves, rather than passively receiving

state-dependent memory

You remember things better when you are in the same state of mind or in the same mood as when you learned it

context-dependent memory

You remember information better if you are in the same place or situation where you learned it

the spacing effect

Studying in a number of shorter sessions is better than cramming everything into a big, long session

encoding spcificity principle

you remember things best when the situation or cues at recall are the same as when you first learned them

autobiographical memory

memory for specific experiences from our life, can include both semantic and episodic components

reminiscence bump

people over 40 years old have enhanced memory for events from adolescence and early adulthood, compared to other periods of their lives

Cabeza’s study of photos

own- and lab- photos, shows that pictures of a particular location that were taken by the participants themselves activated memories associated with taking the picture, which therefore activated a more extensive network of brain regions

flashbulb memory

memory for the circumstances that surround hearing about shocking, highly charged events. Such memories are particularly vivid and accurate. Usually caused by events such as the pandemic or 9/11

results of Talarico & Rubin

flashbulb memories fade and become distorted over time, just like real memories do

constructive view of memory

memory is not a perfect recording of events, but it is rather constructed using our stored information of experiences, knowledge, and expectations, each time we recall it

illusion of truth

the tendency to believe that something is true because you’ve heard it before, even if it is false

source misattribution

misidentifying the source of a memory

false fame experiment

The participants recognized the names as being familiar but forgot the source from which they had first heard of them, demonstrating source misattribution

methods for improving accuracy of police line-ups

lineup procedures, interviewing techniques, avoiding post-identification feedback

key conclusions from Loftus & Palmer experiments

Memory is reconstructive, false memories can be created depending on the wording, eyewitness testimony is not always reliable