Chapter 7: LTM: Encoding, Retrieval, and Consolidation

Reference: "Cognitive Psychology Connecting mind, Research and Everyday experience" Goldstein, E.B. (2019)

encoding

the process of acquiring information and transferring it into long term memory

retrieval

the process of transferring information from long term memory back into working memory (consciousness)

maintenance rehearsal

rehearsal that involves repetition without any consideration of meaning or making connections to other information, typically resulting in poor memory

elaborative rehearsal

rehearsal that involves thinking about the meaning of an item or making connections between the item and prior knowledge, resulting in better memory

levels of processing theory

the idea that memory depends on how information is encoded, with better memory being achieved when processing is deep rather than shallow

shallow processing

processing that involves little attention to meaning, such as focusing on physical features; usually associated with maintenance rehearsal

deep processing

processing that involves close attention to meaning and relating an item to something else; usually associated with elaborative rehearsal

paired associate learning

a learning task in which participants are presented with pairs of words and later asked to recall the second word when presented with the first

self reference effect

the finding that memory for a word is improved by relating the word to oneself

generation effect

memory for material is better when a person generates the material themselves rather than passively receiving it

retrieval cue

a word or other stimulus that helps a person remember information stored in memory

testing effect

enhanced performance on a memory test caused by being tested on the material to be remembered (also known as the retrieval practice effect)

spacing effect

the advantage in memory performance caused by short study sessions separated by breaks rather than one long session

free recall

a procedure for testing memory in which a participant is asked to remember stimuli without any specific cues

cued recall

a procedure for testing memory in which a participant is presented with cues, such as words or phrases, to aid recall

encoding specificity

the principle that we encode information along with its context, meaning that returning to that context can help with retrieval

state dependent learning

the principle that memory is best when a person is in the same internal state (such as mood) for both encoding and retrieval

transfer appropriate processing

the phenomenon where memory is enhanced when the type of task used during encoding matches the type of task used during retrieval

consolidation

the process that transforms new memories from a fragile state to a more permanent state in which they are resistant to disruption

synaptic consolidation

a process of consolidation involving structural changes at synapses that happens rapidly over a period of minutes or hours

systems consolidation

a consolidation process involving the gradual reorganization of circuits within brain regions, taking place over weeks, months, or years

long term potentiation (ltp)

the increased firing and structural changes in a neuron due to prior activity at the synapse, representing a neural basis for memory

standard model of consolidation

the proposal that memory retrieval depends on the hippocampus during consolidation but eventually moves to the cortex alone

reactivation

a process during consolidation in which the hippocampus replays the neural activity associated with a memory to form connections in the cortex

retrograde amnesia

loss of memory for events that happened prior to an injury or traumatic event

graded amnesia

a characteristic of retrograde amnesia where memory loss is most severe for events just before the injury and less severe for earlier events

multiple trace model of consolidation

the idea that the hippocampus is involved in the retrieval of episodic memories even after they have been consolidated

reconsolidation

the process that occurs when a memory is retrieved and becomes fragile again, requiring it to be consolidated once more to stay in memory

multivoxel pattern analysis (mvpa)

a procedure for determining the pattern of voxel activation elicited by specific stimuli to understand how information is represented in the brain

classifier

a computer program used in multivoxel pattern analysis to recognize specific patterns of brain activity