2.5-2.6 Storing Memories & Retrieval

Explicit Memories

Involves conscious recall of facts and experiences.

Semantic Memory

Type of explicit memory that involves the recall of general facts and knowledge about the world. Information is independent of personal experience and context.

Episodic Memory

Type of explicit memory that involves the recollection of personal experiences and specific events (first-person POV). Remembers the "what," "where," and "when" of past experiences.

Autobiographical Memory

Type of memory that encompasses events and experiences from an individual's own life. Combines episodic (personal experiences with context and emotion) and semantic (personal knowledge) memory. Example: Remembering your first day of high school — what you wore, how nervous you felt, and who you sat with at lunch.

Implicit Memories

Does not require conscious thought and is crucial for performing everyday tasks automatically. Example: typing on a computer.

Procedural Memory

Type of implicit memory involving recall of how to perform tasks or skills automatically. Includes skill-based actions like driving, typing, or playing instruments that are performed without conscious thought.

Prospective Memory

Remembering to perform a planned action or recall an intention at a future time. Event-based: triggered by specific cues (e.g., giving a message when you see someone). Time-based: triggered by a specific time (e.g., taking medication at noon).

Massed Practice (“Cramming”)

Learning strategy where content is studied intensively over a short period without breaks. Yields quick results but poor long-term retention.

Spacing Effect (“Distributed Practice”)

Learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced over time, allowing better consolidation of memories from short-term to long-term storage.

Maintenance Rehearsal

Learning technique involving repeated review of information to keep it in short-term memory. Effective short-term but weak for long-term retention. Example: repeating “milk, eggs, bread” to remember a shopping list.

Elaborative Rehearsal

Memory technique involving deep processing by adding meaning or connecting information to prior knowledge. Strengthens long-term storage. Example: remembering someone named Baker by picturing them wearing a chef hat.

Retrieval Cues

Stimuli that help bring previously learned information to mind. External cues include environmental triggers; internal cues involve thoughts or feelings linked to the original learning.

Recall

Type of memory retrieval that involves accessing information without the aid of cues (spontaneous retrieval).

Recognition

Type of memory retrieval involving identifying information when it is presented. Includes familiarity (sensing something seen before) and identification (matching new info with stored knowledge, like on a multiple-choice test).

Context-Dependent Memory

Remembering information better in the same environment where it was first learned. Example: recalling material more easily in the same room you studied in.

State-Dependent Memory

Memory retrieval is most effective when in the same physical or emotional state as during learning. Example: recalling events learned while tired when tired again.

Mood-Congruent Memory

Tendency to recall information consistent with one's current mood. Positive moods bring up positive memories, and negative moods bring up negative memories.

Serial Position Effect

Tendency to remember items at the beginning and end of a list better than those in the middle.

Primacy Effect

Remembering items presented at the beginning of a list better because they are rehearsed more and transferred to long-term memory.

Recency Effect

Remembering items presented at the end of a list better because they are still in short-term memory at the time of recall.

Testing Effect

Long-term memory improves when learning sessions include retrieval practice through testing.

Metacognition

Awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes related to learning and memory.

Self-Monitoring

Assessing one’s own learning and memory processes (knowing when you know or don’t know something).

Self-Regulation

Adjusting study strategies to improve learning and recall, such as reviewing unclear material more thoroughly.