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Memory
The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.
Encoding
The processing of information into the memory system- for example, by extracting meaning.
Storage
The process of storing memories
Parallel processing
The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions. Contrasts with the step by step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.
Sensory memory
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
Short term memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.
Long term memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Working memory
A newer understanding of shirt term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual spatial information, and of information retrieved from long term memory.
Explicit memory
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare" (also called declarative memory).
Effortful processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Automatic processing
Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well learned information, such as word meanings.
Implicit memory
Retention independent of conscious recollection (also called nondeclarative memory).
Iconic memory
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.
Echoic memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, wound and words can still be recalled within 3-4 seconds.
Chunking
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.
Mnemonics
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Spacing effect
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.
Testing effect
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test enchanted learning.
Shallow processing
Encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words.
Deep processing
Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention.
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage
Hippocampus
A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage.
Flashbulb memory
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event
Long term potential (LTP)
An increase in a cell's firing potential after brief and rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill in the blank test.
Recognition
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple choice test.
Relearning
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.
Priming
The activation, offer unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.
Mood congruent memory
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with ones current good or bad mood.
Serial position effect
Our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list.
Anterograde amnesia
An inability to form new memories.
Retrograde amnesia
An inability to retrieve information from one's past.
Proactive interference
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
Retroactive interference
The disruptive effect of new learning in the recall of old information.
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Misinformation
Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
Source amnesia
Attributing to the wrong source of an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. (Also called Source Misattribution.) Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.
Déjà vu
The eerie sense that "I've experienced this before." Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.
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