Unit 4 - Memory - AP Psychology

Automatic Encoding

Requires no effort (What did you have for breakfast?)

Effortful Encoding

Requires work (School)

Structural Encoding

(Shallow) Emphasis on physical structural

Phonemic Encoding

Emphasis on what words sound like

Semantic Encoding

(Deep) Emphasis on the meaning of words themselves

Elaborative Rehearsal - Imagery

Attaching images to information makes it easier to remember

Elaborative Rehearsal - Dual Encoding

Using multiple methods of processing to remember (Word + photo)

Elaborative Rehearsal - Chunking

Break info into smaller units to aid in memory (Such as a phone #)

Elaborative Rehearsal - Mnemonics

Shortcuts to help us remember info (Acronyms, Method of Loci (imaginary location in your mind))

Context Dependent Memory

Where you learn the info is where you best remember the info

State Dependent Memory

Physical state you were in when learning is the way you should be when testing (study drunk, test drunk.)

Mood Congruent Memory

Remember happy events when happy, or sad when sad

Forgetting curve

Recall decreases rapidly at first, and then eventually reaches a plateau.

Distributed Practice (Spacing effect)

Review a little every night (resets forgetting curve)

Massed Practice

Cramming info into one session

Testing effect

Testing over material perodically

Sensory Memory

Stores all incoming stimuli that you receive

Iconic Memory

Visual memory, lasts for less than a second.

Echoic Memory

Auditory memory, lasts 2-3 seconds.

Short Term Memory

Info passes from sensory memory to STM — lasts 30 secs, and can remember 7 items

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repeating the info — resets the clock

Explicit Memory

Requires conscious effort to recall, Amygdala & Hippocampus

Implicit Memory

Automatic, no effort needed, in the Cerebellum

Episodic

Explicit - Memories of events, life experiences

Semantic

Explicit - Facts and general knowledge

Priming

Implicit - info that is seen earlier “primes” you to remember something later on or perceive something a certain way

Procedural

Implicit - info of skills and muscle memory

Working Memory

Splits STM into 2 - visual spatial memory (Iconic) & phonological loop (Echoic).

Prospective Memory

Remembering you need to do something (Pick up milk).

Autobiographical Memory

Memory for your own personal history — combo of episodic and semantic

Tip of the tongue phenomenon

Feel as if you know information but cannot directly recall it

Schemas

Frameworks that organize information

Assimilation

Incorporate new info into existing scheme (Cat is a dog b/c 4 legs)

Accommodation

Adjusts existing schemas to incorporate new information (Cat and dogs = different)

Long-term potentiation

Neural basis of memory — connections are strengthened over time with repeated stimulation

Serial Position Effect

Tendency to remember the beginning (primacy), and the end (recency) of the list best.

Recall

Remember what you’ve been told w/o cues (Essays)

Recognition

Remember what you’ve been told w/ cues (MCQ)

Repressed Memories

Unconsciously buried memories due to trauma or as a defense mechanism

Encoding failure

Forgetting info because you never encoded it/paid careful attention to it in the first place

PROactive Interference

OLD info blocking NEW info

RETROactive Interference

NEW info blocking OLD info

Constructive Memory

THe way we update memories w/ new memories, associations, feelings — memory is unreliable

Source Amnesia

You remember the information, but not where it comes from

Misinformation Effect

Distortion of memory by suggestion or misinformation

Framing

The way a question is framed impacts how information is recalled/perceived

Imagination Inflation

People are more confident an event happened after repetitively imagining it

Anterograde Amnesia

Amnesia moves forwards, therefore you forget new information.

Retrograde Amnesia

Amnesia moves backwards, therefore you forget old information.

Infantile Amnesia

Memories before age 3 are unreliable — hippocampus still forming

Where are implicit/procedural processed?

Cerebellum

Where are emotional memories processed?

Amygdala

Where is encoding and retrieval processed?

Frontal Lobe

Memory consolidation

Memories are strengthened and made more stable with time