Memory Terms
Encoding: The process of converting sensory input into a form that can be processed and stored in memory.
Storage: The retention of encoded information over time for future use.
Retrieval: The process of accessing stored information from memory when needed.
Sensory memory: A very brief storage system for sensory information, lasting only milliseconds to seconds.
Short-term memory: A limited-capacity memory system that holds information temporarily for about 20–30 seconds.
Long-term memory: A memory system with virtually unlimited capacity that stores information over extended periods.
Explicit memories: Memories that require conscious effort to recall, such as facts or events.
Implicit memories: Memories that occur without conscious awareness, such as skills or conditioned responses.
Iconic memory: A fleeting sensory memory of visual stimuli lasting about a fraction of a second.
Chunking: The process of organizing information into manageable units to improve memory.
Mnemonics: Memory aids or strategies, often using vivid imagery or organizational devices.
Flashbulb memory: A vivid and detailed memory of an emotionally significant event.
Recall: Retrieving information from memory without external cues, such as on an essay question.
Recognition: Identifying previously learned information with the help of external cues, such as on a multiple-choice test.
Mood-congruent memory: The tendency to recall memories that match one’s current mood.
Serial position effect: The tendency to remember the first and last items in a list better than the middle ones.
Anterograde amnesia: The inability to form new long-term memories following brain damage.
Retrograde amnesia: The inability to recall past memories that were formed before brain damage.
Repression: A defense mechanism that unconsciously blocks traumatic or anxiety-inducing memories from awareness.
Misinformation effect: The distortion of memory caused by exposure to misleading information.
Convergent thinking: A problem-solving approach that focuses on finding a single, correct solution.
Divergent thinking: A creative thinking process that generates multiple solutions to a problem.
Schema: A mental framework that organizes and interprets information based on experience.
Forgetting curve: Ebbinghaus’s theory that memory retention decreases rapidly at first but then levels off over time.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: The frustrating experience of being unable to retrieve a word or memory despite feeling close to recalling it.
Functional fixedness: The cognitive bias of seeing objects as only functioning in their typical way, hindering problem-solving.