Unit 5: Cognitive Psychology - Memory Strategies and Forgetting

This set of flashcards covers key vocabulary from Cognitive Psychology, focusing on memory encoding, storage, retrieval, forgetting mechanisms, and the biological structures involved in memory.

Encoding

Putting information into memory

Storing

Keeping information in memory

Retrieving

Remembering information later

Serial Position Effect

The tendency for people to remember the first or last pieces of information given in a list

Primacy Effect

Remembering the first information in a list

Recency Effect

Remembering the last information in a list

Mnemonic Device

Any memory aid tool; can include rhymes, acronyms, images, stories, outlines, etc.

Spacing Effect

Learning material more effectively by studying it several times over an extended period of time

Testing Effect

Learning material more effectively by forcing ourselves to retrieve it (testing ourselves) rather than simply reading it over and over again

Context-Dependent Memory

The increased likelihood of remembering information in the same place where it was encoded

State-Dependent Memory

The idea that what we encode in one state is more likely to be remembered in that same state

Mood-Congruent Memory

The tendency to recall events with particular associated emotions (sad, happy, angry) when thinking about events with that same emotion

Retroactive Interference

Forgetting old information because it is blocked by new information

Proactive Interference

Forgetting new information because it is blocked by old information

Retrograde Amnesia

The inability to remember past events or information

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to make new memories or remember new events/information

Motivated Forgetting

Freud's idea that we repress memories to forget about unacceptable behavior or painful memories

Repression

A Freudian defense mechanism meant to protect our self-concept and lower our anxiety about a topic or event

Hippocampus

The part of the brain where all explicit memory is stored

Frontal Lobe

The part of the brain that works with the hippocampus to execute working memory by processing incoming sensory information and linking it to prior knowledge

Cerebellum

The part of the brain that works with the hippocampus to execute implicit memory, such as instinctual reactions made by classical conditioning

Basal Ganglia

The part of the brain that works with the hippocampus to execute procedural memory for everyday tasks done through muscle memory

Amygdala

The part of the brain that works with the hippocampus to make highly emotional memories more likely to be stored long term

Implicit Memory

Instinctual reactions made by classical conditioning, executed by the cerebellum

Procedural Memory

Memory for everyday tasks easily done through muscle memory, executed by the basal ganglia

Working Memory

Memory that processes incoming sensory information and links it to long-term memory, executed by the frontal lobe