Ap Psychology Cognition and Memory

Memory

The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information.

Flashbulb Memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Encoding

The process of putting information to the memory system.

Storage

The retention of encoded information over time.

Retrieval

The process of getting the information of the memory storage.

Sensory Memory

A type of short term memory that has a very short duration, but stores massive amount of information.

Short Term Memory

A working memory that last less than 18 seconds before forgotten. The capacity is very limited. 7 +/- 2.

Long Term Memory

A relatively permanent storage of memory with unlimited capacity. It's subdivided into explicit memory and implicit memory.

Automatic Processing

An unconscious encoding of information about space, time and frequency that occurs without interfering with our thinking.

Effortful Processing

An encoding that requires our attention and conscious effort.

Rehearsal

A conscious repetition of information to either maintain information in the short term memory or to encode it for storage.

Spacing Effect

The tendency for disturbed study or practice to yield better long term retention that is achieved through massed study.

Serial Position Effect

A better recall for information that comes at the beginning (primary effect) and at the end of a list of words (recency effect).

Visual Encoding

The encoding of picture images.

Acoustic Encoding

The encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.

Semantic Encoding

Associated with the deep processing, emphasizes the meaning of the verbal input.

Imagery

Mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding.

Mnemonics

A memory aid, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar manageable units; often occurs automatically.

Iconic Memory

A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; capacity is seemingly immense while duration is rather short at a few tenths of a second

Echoic memory

Stores the sounds we have heard for about 3 to 4 seconds.

Long Term Potentiation

An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. These neurons fire more readily.

Amnesia

Loss of memory.

Implicit memory

Retention without conscious recollection.

Explicit memory

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare.

Recall

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier. Type of retrieval.

Recognition

A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned.

Relearning

A memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time.

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.

Déjà vu

the eerie sense that "I've experienced this before" caused by retrieval cues activating memory of a previous experience.

Mood-congruent Memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.

Proactive Interference

The process by which old memories prevent the retrieval of newer memories.

Retroactive Interference

The process by which new memories prevent the retrieval of older memories.

Repression

The tendency to forget unpleasant or traumatic memories hidden in the unconscious mind according to Freud.

Misinformation Effect

Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

State Dependent Memory

The impact of a physiological state such as being on drugs has on recall.

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing and remembering.

Concepts

Mental representations of related things.

Prototypes

The most typical examples of a concept.

Schemas

The frameworks of basic ideas and preconceptions about people, objects, and events based on past experiences.

Algorithm

Problem-solving strategy that involves a step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution to certain types of problems.

Heuristic

A problem-solving strategy used as a mental shortcut to quickly simplify and solve a problem, but that does not guarantee a correct solution.

Insights

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem.

Inductive Reasoning

Reasoning from the specific to the general.

Deductive Reasoning

Reasoning from the general to the specific.

Representativeness Heuristic

Tendency to judge the likelihood of things according to how they relate to a prototype.

Availability Heuristic

Tendency to estimate the probability of certain events in terms of how readily they come to mind.

Anchoring Heuristic/Effect

Tendency to be influenced by suggested reference point, pulling our response toward that point.

Conformation Bias

Tendency to notice or seek information that already supports our preconceptions and ignore information that refutes our ideas.

Fixation

The inability to see a problem from a new perspective.

Mental Set

A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way especially a way that has been successful in the past

Functional Fixedness

The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions

Gambler's Fallacy

The tendency to assume something is likely to happen (coming up red) just because it hasn't happened recently.