AP Psychology Memory

Representative Heuristic

We judge on how people fit our representation of groups we feel they belong

Availability Heuristic

• Judging a situation based on the availability of information in memory.

Recall

• you must retrieve the information from your memory 

• fill-in-the blank or essay tests

Recognition

• you must identify the target from possible targets

•  multiple-choice tests

Encoding

the process of getting information into the memory system

Storage

the process of retaining information over time

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

Sensory Memory

• Like a sparkler

• Memory traces in visual and auditory stores last ¼ of a second

Short Term Memory

• Memory can hold for 20 seconds UNLESS rehearsed and/or uninterrupted

• Capacity of STM is limited  - George Miller 7 + or – 2

relearning

• learning something more quickly when you learn it a second or later time. 

  • When you study for a final exam or engage a language used in early childhood, you will relearn the material more easily than you did initially.

Working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory → sight-reading music.

central executive system

The ____ ____ ____, a core component of working memory, controls attention and coordinates the phonological loop (handling auditory information), and the visuospatial sketchpad (processing visual and spatial information).

phonological loop

handling auditory information

visuospatial sketchpad

processing visual and spatial information

Long Term Memory

• “Unlimited Memory Storehouse” of effectively encoded information

• Information is BUILT into your ___ ___ ___ – neural networks are formed (long-term potentiation)

• When you mess with the neurotransmitters or neural networks you affect the long-term potentiation

Method of Loci

a strategy for memory enhancement, which uses visualizations of familiar spatial environments in order to enhance the recall of information

Spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study (breaking periods of review over several days) to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through mass practice  (studying a little each night is more effective than cramming)

Self-referent encoding

when information is meaningful to the individual, they are more likely to remember it

Explicit

• Memory of facts and experiences that one must consciously retrieve and use

• Effortful processing

• Processed through hippocampus

Implicit

• Memory of skills and procedures that are retrieved without conscious recollection

• Produced by automatic processing

• Processed through cerebellum

Automatic Processing

• Unconscious encoding of incidental information.

• You encode space, time and word meaning without effort.

• Things can become automatic with practice.

Effortful Processing

• Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

• Rehearsal is the most common ___ ___ technique.

Maintenance Rehearsal

memorize information for short term

Elaborative Rehearsal

involves deep processing, remember long term

Autobiographical memory

blend of memory into coherent study of self

Serial position effect

• our tendency to best remember the items at the beginning and end of a list

Recency effect

• only remembering the end of the list

Primacy effect

only remembering the beginning of the list

Parallel Processing

ability to handle multiple pieces of information, tasks, or stimuli simultaneously, rather than one at a time

Flashbulb memory:

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.  The memory is as clear as looking at a picture.  Ex. Being in the Twin Towers on 9/11, you remember every detail: sights, sounds, smells, etc.

Semantic memory:

fact based Jeopardy-like information.

Procedural memory:

how-to memory.

Episodic memory

memories of certain episodes/events.  Ex. vacations, birthdays, holidays, prom, etc.  Not every episodic memory is a flashbulb memory, but every flashbulb memory is an episodic memory.

Eidetic memory

photographic memory, very rare.

Prospective memory

remembering not to forget to do something.  Ex. I can’t forget to call my boss later today.

Shallow processing

encoding the shapes, looks, or surface structure of things, especially words, not the meanings.  It is difficult to remember things if it is only shallowly processed.  *Remember: the “what would you need on an island activity” – does the word have the letter E in it?

Deep processing

encoding something according to its semantics.

Semantic encoding

the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words

Next-in-line effect

a person in a group has diminished recall for the words of others who spoke immediately before or after the person.

Richard Atkinson and Richard Shriffin Three Stage Memory Model:

1. Sensory memory: a quick, fleeting memory that is activated by the five senses.

2. Short-term/working memory: activated memory that holds a few items (on the average 7) for a brief time (usually 30 seconds) before the information is stored or forgotten. Located in the frontal lobe.

3. Long-term memory: the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system that includes knowledge, skills and experiences.

Explicit memory

memories of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”, such as telling about a vacation or giving directions.  Also called declarative memory.  Goes through the hippocampus (the part of the limbic system responsible for explicit memories of names, images, and events).

Implicit memory

procedural, how-to memory that you don’t have to think about, it’s independent of conscious recollection.  Also called nondeclarative or procedural memory.  Goes through the cerebellum (the part of the brain that plays an important role in forming and storing implicit memories).

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation.  Believed to be the neural basis for learning and memory.

Priming

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

Mood-congruent memory

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

State-dependent memory

what we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state, such as being happy or sad.

Context-dependent memory

putting yourself back in the context where you experienced something can prime your memory retrieval.

Retrograde amnesia

the inability to remember anything after specific brain surgery or an accident.

Anterograde amnesia

the inability to form new memories after specific brain surgery or an accident.

Proactive interference

the disruptive effect prior learning on the recall of new information; forward-acting.  Ex. can’t remember your new locker combination because you keep remembering your old one.

Retroactive interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information; backward-acting.  Ex. can’t remember your old locker combination because you keep remembering your new one.

Forgetting Curve

we rapidly forget new information soon after learning it, with a steep drop in retention initially, followed by a gradual slowdown in forgetting over time