1. Memory

Learning that has persisted over time, information that has been stored and can be retrieved

2. Recall

Being able to access the information without being cued (fill in the blank test without word bank)

3. Recognition

Identifying information after experiencing it again (multiple choice test)

4. Relearning

The process by which we learn something for the second time. This learning process often occurs faster than the first time (study for cumulative final)

5. Information Processing Model

Model of memory, compares our mind to a computer in a series of three stages

1. Encoding: The process of putting information into the memory system 

“Get information into our brain” 

• Once we receive sensory information from the environment, our brains label or code it

2. Storage: The creation of a permanent record of the encoded information

“Retain the information” 

• Storage is for a period of time, ranging from a moment to a lifetime 

3. Retrieval: The calling back of stored information on demand when it is needed

“Get the information back out” 

• We must locate it and return it to our consciousness. Some retrieval attempts may be effortless due to the type of information

6. Atkinson-Shiffrin Three-stage Model of Memory

Three different memory systems characterized by time frames 

1. Sensory Memory: External events from our senses are held just long enough to be perceived. Our selective attention, focusing of awareness on a specific stimulus in sensory memory, determines which very small fraction is encoded into short-term memory 

   1. Iconinc: Sensory input to the visual system goes into iconic memory,  duration of less than a second

   2. Echoic: The branch of sensory memory used by the auditory system

   3. Haptic: The branch of sensory memory used by the sense of touch, seems to decay after about 2 seconds

2. Short-term Memory: The information we are currently aware of or thinking about

3. Long-term memory: All the memories we hold for periods of time longer than a few seconds

7. Levels of Processing Model

How long and how well we remember information depends on how deeply we process the information when it is encoded 

• Depth refers to the attention, focus, elaboration, and emphasis on a particular memory

8. Shallow Processing

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance

• Structural-encode physical qualities 

• Phonemic-encode sound

• Shallow processing usually only results in the short term retention of the information

9. Deep Processing

Occurs when we attach meaning to information and create associations between the new memory and existing memories 

10. Chunking

Process of taking individual pieces of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units

• Ex. 1 7 7 6 or 1776 

11. Short-Term Memory

The capacity for holding a small amount of information in an active, readily available state for a brief period of time (about 20 to 30 seconds) (very sensitive)

12. Baddeley’s Working Memory

System in your brain that allows you to temporarily retain and manipulate the stored information involved in a complex process

13. Memory Span

Number of items a person can remember and repeat back using attention and short-term memory 

14. Long-Term Memory

The storage of information over an extended period

• Can last from a few days to decades

15. Implicit (Unconscious) Memory

Information that you remember unconsciously and effortlessly

16. Procedural Memory

“rules and tasks”, how to perform a specific task, you don't have to consciously recall how to perform these tasks.

17. Explicit (Conscious) Memory

Information that you have to consciously work to remember

• Memory of facts, concepts, and events that require conscious recall of the information and can verbalize 

• We encode explicit memories through conscious, effortful processing

18. Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort. You must purposely try to remember

19. Semantic Memory

“Facts”: These are memories of facts, concepts, names, and other general knowledge

• You use semantic memory when you take a test  

20. Episodic Memory

(events) Long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations, and experiences

• Autobiographical memory or your memories of your own personal life history

• Episodic and autobiographical memories play an important role in your self-identity

21. Prospective Memory

Remembering to complete a task in the future 

• Ex. knowing that a car needs to be filled every few days

22. Eidetic Memory

A person has visual images clear enough to be retained for seconds and realistic in their vividness

23. Memory Consolidation

Process where our brains convert short-term memories into long-term ones 

24. Long-Term Potentiation

Strengthening of a synaptic connection that happens when the synapse of one neuron repeatedly fires ad excites another neuron

• Currently believed to be a biological basis for learning and memory in mammals 

• LTP occurs in the hippocampus, transfer of information from short-term to long-term   

25. Storage Decay

First to conduct experimental studies on memories by using himself as a subject 

1. Forgetting Curve: the exponential loss of information shortly after learning it 

26. Amnesia

Occurs when a person experiences the full or partial loss of memory, injury or trauma can create problems with various brain functions

1. Retrograde Amnesia: Cannot remember things that happened before the event that caused their amnesia 

2. Anterograde Amnesia: Condition in which a person is unable to create new memories after an amnesia-inducing event

27. Retrieval Failure

“Why We Forget”: The failure to recall a memory due to missing stimuli or cues that were present at the time the memory was encoded to help trigger the memory

28. Encoding Failure

Occurs when a memory was never formed in the first place (without effort, many memories never form)

• “In one ear and out the other” 

• We cannot learn or recall what we do not perceive and attend to 

29. Interference Theory

Some memories interfere with the retrieval of other memories, forgetting in long-term memory

1. Proactive Interference: Older memories interfere with the retrieval of newer memories

• It is often easier to recall previously learned information rather than more recent learning

2. Retroactive Interference: newer memories interfere with the retrieval of older memories

• Learning new things can make it more difficult to recall things that we already know

30. Flashbulb Memory

Vivid and detailed memories that people create during times of personal tragedy, accident, or emotionally significant world events 

• Can develop in response to big events in our own lives

31. Memory Reconstruction

Approach to understanding memory as a cognitive process and the errors that occur within it 

• We often construct our memories as we encode them, and we may also alter our memories as we withdraw them from our memory bank

• People update their memories with logical processes, reasoning, new information, perception, imagination, beliefs, and cultural biases