Chapter 7: Memory

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts of memory storage, encoding processes, and retrieval models based on the Chapter 7 lecture notes.

Memory

The capacity to store and receive information in order to facilitate learning.

Encoding

The process of taking information from the world, including our internal thoughts and feelings, and converting it to memories.

Storage

The maintenance of information in the brain for later access.

Retrieval

The process of bringing to mind previously encoded and stored information.

Long-term memory

A storage level of memory where information can be held for hours to many years and potentially a lifetime.

Iconic memory

A rapidly decaying store of visual sensory information, limited to about $1/3$ of a second.

Echoic memory

A rapidly decaying store of auditory sensory information that lasts for $2-10$ seconds.

Neural persistence

Continued activity in neurons after a stimulus ceases, which rapidly fades.

Short-term memory

A memory stage used to hold information for less than $30$ seconds.

Working memory

The manipulation of information that retrieves what we already know about the world to recognize and interpret what is coming in through senses.

Working memory span

How many items can be juggled and manipulated in the mind.

Rehearsal

The holding of information in the brain through mental repetition.

Phonological loop

Repeating information to keep it in short-term memory, which overlaps with brain areas involved in language.

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Seeing mental images to hold information in the brain.

Central executive function

Allows for the manipulation of information in short-term memory by engaging regions of the frontal cortex.

Deep encoding

Encoding based on an event’s meaning as well as connections between the new event and past experience.

Elaboration

A memory process that requires associations between new information and old information already represented in the brain.

Semantic encoding

A type of deep encoding that operates on the meaning of events and engages the visual cortices and the left lateral prefrontal cortex.

Self-referential encoding

Encoding based on an event’s relation to our self-concept, which leads to enhanced memory for the event.

Explicit memory

A form of memory that involves intentional and conscious remembering, also known as declarative memory.

Implicit memory

A form of memory that occurs without intentional recollection or awareness and can be measured indirectly, also known as nondeclarative memory.

Mood-dependent retrieval

The increased likelihood of remembering when a person is in the same mood during both encoding and retrieval.

Misinformation effect

The decreased accuracy of episodic memories because of information provided after the event.

Imagination inflation

A boost in confidence associated with imagining misleading information.