Memory pt1

Memory

The mental processes that enable you to encode, retain, and retrieve information over time

Encoding

Transforming information to a form that can be entered into and retained by the memory system (lines and dots → meaningful words)

Storage

Retaining information in memory so that it can be used at a later time

Retrieval

Recovering information stored in memory so that we are consciously aware of it

Sensory Memory

Registers all information from the environment and holds it for a very brief period of time

Visual sensory memory/iconic memory

Holds an image for 0.3sec before being replaced by another 'snapshot'

Auditory sensory memory/echoic memory

Holds sound information for 3-4 seconds; allows us to hear speech as continuous words rather than sounds

Short-Term Memory

Attention directs sensory memory to short-term memory; information is stored for up to about 20 seconds before forgotten unless it is encoded into long-term memory

Maintenance rehearsal

Mental or verbal repetition of information in order to maintain it beyond 20sec duration of short-term memory

Elaborative rehearsal

Focuses on meaning of information to encode and transfer it to long-term memory rather than maintaining it in short-term

Self-reference effect

Applying information to yourself improves memory

Magic number

Miller: capacity of short-term memory is seven items

Rouder: used visual stimuli to demonstrate that it was more likely four items

Rouder: capacity is more likely four (used visual stimuli rather than lists of letters)

Chunking

Increasing the amount of information that can be held in short-term memory by grouping items into a single unit

Working Memory

The temporary storage and active, conscious manipulation of information needed for complex cognitive tasks, such as reasoning, learning, and problem solving; more likely than short-term memory to involve recall and manipulation of long-term memory

Phonological loop

Specialized for auditory material (lists of numbers or words)

Visuospatial sketchpad

Specialized for spatial or visual material, like remembering the layout of somewhere

Central executive

Controls attention, integrates information, and manages phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad activities; initiates retrieval and decision processes

Long-Term Memory

Represents the long-term storage of information; technically limitless

Clustering

Organizing items into related groups during recall from long-term memory

Explicit memory

Information that can be consciously recollected

Semantic/generic memory

Type of explicit memory; memories of general knowledge, concepts, facts, and names

Semantic network model

Describes units of information in long-term memory as being organized in a complex network of associations

Episodic memory

Type of explicit memory; memories of particular events, including time and place they occurred

Implicit memory

Information that affects behavior or task performance but cannot be consciously recollected

Procedural memory

Type of implicit memory; memories of different skills, operations, and actions (feeding ourselves, walking, etc.)

Autobiographical memory

Personal life history; includes episodic memory (events) and semantic memory (facts like where you were born)

Reminiscence bump

People over 40 have a disproportionately large number of autobiographical memories from adolescence to early adulthood; due to remembering formative adult identity experiences

Highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM)

People remember almost everything about their lives; tend to become absorbed in imaginative fantasies and replay information

Priming

Partial activation of associated words after exposure to first word; unconscious exposure to one stimulus makes related information in long-term memory more accessible

Retrieval cue

Clue, prompt, or hint that helps trigger recall of a given piece of information stored in long-term memory and transfer it to short-term memory

Tip-of-the-tongue experience (TOT)

Memory phenomenon involving the sensation of knowing that specific information is stored in long-term memory but being temporarily unable to retrieve it; proves retrieval can be partial

Recall

Retrieving information without the aid of retrieval cues

Cued recall

Retrieving information in response to a retrieval cue

Recognition

Identifying correct information out of several possible choices

Serial position effect

Tendency to retrieve information more easily from the beginning and end of a list

Primacy effect

Recalling first items in a list

Recency effect

Recalling final items in a list

Encoding Specificity Principle

Retrieval is more likely to be successful when conditions of information retrieval are similar to the conditions of information encoding

Context effect

Recovering information more easily when the retrieval occurs in the same setting as the original learning of the information

Mood congruence

A given mood tends to evoke memories that are consistent with that mood

Flashbulb memory

Recall of very specific images or details surrounding a vivid, rare, or significant event; people have higher degree of confidence in accuracy though they are no more accurate

Forgetting

The inability to remember information that was previously available

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve

Illustrates that we lose most information soon after learning it but eventually levels off after eight hours

Encoding failure

Failure at encoding level; forgetting because of insufficient encoding of that information from short-term to long-term memory storage

Decay theory

Failure at storage level; memory trace creates a change in brain structure or chemistry that is eroded by metabolic brain processes unless it is refreshed by frequent rehearsal (false)

Interference theory

Theory that forgetting is caused by one memory competing with or replacing another memory

Retroactive interference

New memory interferes with remembering an old memory

Proactive interference

Old memory interferes with remembering a new memory

Retrieval cue failure

Inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues

Motivated forgetting

Forgetting due to an unpleasant or disturbing memory

Suppression

Occurs consciously; deliberate attempt to not think about and remember specific information

Ironic process theory

Wegner's theory that trying to suppress a thought makes it more likely to surface, often with increased intensity

Repression

Occurs unconsciously; memory that is blocked and unavailable to consciousness

Baddeley's model of working memory

contains phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and central executive