Chapter 8: Memory

Memory as Information Processing

• Memory: refers to the processes that allow us to record, store, and later retrieve experiences and information.
• Encoding: refers to getting information into the system by translating it into a neural code that your brain processes
• Storage:  involves retaining information over time
• Retrieval:  refers to processes that access stored information
• Sensory Memory: briefly holds incoming sensory information
• Short-term memory: a memory store that temporarily holds a limited amount of information
• Memory Codes: are mental representations of some type of information or stimulus
• Long-Term Memory: is our vast library of more durable stored memories
• Serial Position Effect: meaning that the ability to recall an item is influenced by the item’s position in a series

Encoding: Entering Information

• Levels of Processing:  the more deeply we process information, the better we will remember it
• Maintenance rehearsal: Involves simple, role repetition
• Elaborative Rehearsal: which involves focusing on the meaning of information or expanding (i.e., elaborating) on it in some way
• Dual Coding Theory:  encoding information using both verbal and visual codes enhances memory because the odds improve that at least one of the codes will be available later to support recall
• Method of Loci:  a memory aid that associates information with mental images of physical locations
• Mnemonic Device: a memory aid; things like acronyms
• Schema:  is a mental framework—an organized pattern of thought—about some aspect of the world
• Mnemonist: a person who displays extraordinary memory skills

Storage: Retaining Information

• Associative Network: a massive network of associated ideas and concepts
• Priming: refers to the activation of one concept (or one unit of information) by another
• Neural Network (connectionist) models: each memory is represented by a unique pattern of interconnected and simultaneously activated nodes
• Parallel distributed processing (PDP) models: neural network (connectionist) models are also called this
• Declarative memory: involves factual knowledge
• Episodic memory: is our store of knowledge concerning personal experiences: when, where, and what happened in the episodes of our lives.
• Procedural (nondeclarative) memory: is reflected in skills and actions
• Explicit Memory: involves conscious or intentional memory retrieval, as when you consciously recognize or recall something
• Implicit memory: occurs when memory influences our behavior without conscious awareness

Retrieval: Accessing Information

• Retrieval cue: is a stimulus, whether internal or external, that activates information stored in long-term memory.
• Autobiographical Memories: recollections of personally experienced events that make up the stories of our lives
• Encoding specificity principle: which states that memory is enhanced when conditions present during retrieval match those that were present during encoding
• Context-dependent memory: it typically is easier to remember something in the same environment in which it was originally encoded
• State-dependent memory: proposes that our ability to retrieve information is greater when our internal state at the time of retrieval matches our original state during learning.
• Mood-congruent recall: we tend to recall information or events that are congruent with our current mood

Forgetting

• Decay Theory: which proposed that with time and disuse, the long-term physical memory trace in the nervous system fades away
• Proactive Interference: occurs when material learned in the past interferes with recall of newer material.
• Retroactive Interference: occurs when newly acquired information interferes with the ability to recall information learned at an earlier time.
• Tip-of-the-Tounge (TOT) state: in which we cannot recall something but feel that we are on the verge of remembering it
• Repression: is a motivational process that protects us by blocking the conscious recall of anxiety-arousing memories.
• Prospective memory: concerns remembering to perform an activity in the future
• Retrograde amnesia: represents memory loss for events that took place sometime in life before the onset of amnesia
• Anterograde amnesia: refers to memory loss for events that occur after the initial onset of amnesia.
• Dementia: refers to impaired memory and other cognitive deficits that accompany brain degeneration and interfere with normal functioning.
• Alzheimer’s disease (AD): is a progressive brain disorder that is the most common cause of dementia among adults over the age of 65
• Infantile Amnesia: loss of memory of early experiences

Memory as a Constructive Process

• Misinformation Effect: the distortion of memory by misleading postevent information
• Source Confusion: our tendency to recall something or recognize it as familiar but to forget where we encountered it

Memory and the Brain

• Long-term potential (LTP): enduring increase in synaptic strength

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