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Memory
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Memory | An active system that receives information from the senses, organizes and alters information as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage. |
Encoding | The set of mental operations that people perform on sensory info. to convert that information into a form that is usable in the brain's storage systems. |
Storage | Holding onto info. for some period of time. |
Retrieval | Getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used. |
Information-processing model | Model of memory that assumes that the processing of the information for memory storage in similar to the way a computer processes memory in a series of three stages. |
Levels-of-processing model | Model of memory that assumes that information that is more "deeply processed" - or processed according to its meaning, rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the word or words - will be remembered more efficiently and for longer period. |
Sensory Memory | The very first stage of memory; the point at which information enters the nervous system through the sensory organs. |
Iconic Memory | Visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second. |
Capacity (of sensory/iconic memory) | Everything that can be seen at one time. |
Duration (of sensory/iconic memory) | Information that has just entered iconic memory will be pushed out very quickly by new information a process called masking. |
Eidetic Imagery | The (rare) ability to access a visual memory for 30 seconds or more. |
Echoic Memory | The brief memory of something a person has just heard. |
Capacity (of eidetic/echoic memory) | Limited to what can be heard at any and smaller than the capacity of iconic memory. |
Duration (of eidetic/echoic memory) | Lasts longer than iconic; about 2-4 seconds. |
Short-term memory (STM) (working memory) | The memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used. |
Selective Attention | The ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input. |
Digit-span test | Memory test in which a series of numbers is read to subjects |
"Magical Number" | The capacity of STM is about 7 items or pieces of info. plus or minus 2 items - or from five to nine bits of information. So the "magical number" is 7. |
Chunking | Bits of information are combined into meaningful units so that more information can be held in STM. |
Maintenance Rehearsal | Practice of saying some info. to be remembered in one's head in order to maintain it in short-term memory (STM's tend to be encoded in auditory form). |
Lasts for about 12-30 seconds | Short-term memory |
What is STM susceptible to? | Interference |
Long-term memory (LTM) | The system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently. |
Elaborative Rehearsal | A method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way. |
Procedural (nondeclarative) Memory | Type of LTM including memory for skills, procedures, habits and conditioned responses; these memories are conscious, but their existence is implied because they affect conscious behavior. |
Declarative Memory | Type of LTM containing information that is (memory or facts) conscious and known; skills that people know how to do; also include emotional associations, habits, and simple conditioned reflexes that may or may not be in conscious awareness. |
Anterograde Amnesia | Loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma or the inability to form new LTM's. Usually does NOT affect procedural LTM. |
Procedural Memory (often called implicit memory) | Memory that is not easily brought to conscious awareness. |
Declarative LTM | All the things that people know. |
Semantic Memory | Type of declarative memory containing general knowledge, such as knowledge of language and information learned in formal education. |
Episodic Memory | Type of declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events. |
Semantic and episodic memories | Are forms of explicit memory - memory that is consciously known. |
How is LTM organized? | It is organized in terms of related meanings and concepts. |
Semantic Network Model | Model of memory organization that assumes information is stored in the brain in a connected fashion, with concepts that are related stored physically closer to each other than retrieval cue a stimulus for remembering. |
Retrieval Cue | A stimulus for remembering. |
Encoding Specificity | The tendency for memory of info. to be improved if related information (such as surroundings or physiological state) available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved. |
State-dependent learning | Memories formed during a particular physiological or psychological state will be easier to recall while in a similar state. |
Recall | Type of memory retrieval in which the information to be retrieved must be "pulled" from memory with very few external cues - filling in blanks on a application. |
Retrieval Failure | Recall has failed (at least temporarily). |
Tip of the Tongue (TOT) Phenomenon | Inability to recall info. that seems so very close to the surface of conscious thought that it feels like it is on the tip of your tongue. |
Serial Position Effect | Tendency of information at the beginning and end of a body of information to be info. to be remembered accurately than information in the middle of the body of info.of info. of information. |
Primary Effect | Tendency to remember information at the beginning of a body on information better than the information that follows. |
Recency Effect | Tendency to remember information at the end of a body of information better than the information ahead of it. |
Recognition | The ability to match of a piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact. |
False Positive | Error of recognition in which people think they recognize some stimulus that is not actually in memory. |
Elizabeth Loftus Study | Showed that what people see and hear about an event after the fact can easily affect the accuracy of their memories of that event. |
What is not always reliable? | Eyewitness testimony |
Automatic Encoding | Tendency of certain kinds of information to enter long-term memory with little or no effortful encoding. |
Flashbulb Memories | Type of automatic encoding that occurs because an unexpected event has strong emotional associations for the person remembering it. |
Constructive Processing | The retrieval of memories through which those memories are altered, revised, or influenced by newer info. |
Hindsight Bias | The tendency to falsely believe, through revision of older memories to include newer information, that one could have correctly predicted the outcome of an event. |
Misinformation Effect | The tendency of misleading info. presented after an event to alter the memories of the event itself. |
False Memory Syndrome | The creation of inaccurate or false memories through the suggestion of others, often while the person is under hypnosis. |
What does evidence suggest? | Evidence suggests that false memories cannot be created for just any kind of memory. The memories must be at least plausible, |
Curve of forgetting | A graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very fast within the first hour of learning a list and then tapers off gradually. |
Distributed practice | Will produce better retrieval than massed practice. |
Encoding Failure | Failure to process info. into memory. |
Memory Trace | Physical change in the brain that occurs when a memory is formed. |
Decay | Loss of memory due to the passage during which the memory trace is not used. |
Disuse | Another name for decay, assuming that memories that are not used will eventually decay and disappear. |
Memory after many years | Are not explained by memory trace theory. |
Proactive Interference | Memory retrieval problem that occurs when older info. prevents or interferes with the retrieval of newer info. |
Retroactive Interference | Memory retrieval problem that occurs when newer info. prevents or interferes with the retrieval of older info. |
Proactive Interference | Problems living in England after learning in the U.S. |
Consolidation | The changes that take place in the structure and functioning of neurons when a memory is formed. |
Hippocampus | Area of the brain responsible for the formation of LTM's. |
Retrograde Amnesia | Loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backwards. |
Anterograde Amnesia | Loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma, or the inability to form new LTM's ("senile dementia"). |
Infantile Amnesia | The inability to retrieve memories from much before age 3. |
Autobiographical Memory | The memory for events and facts related to one's personal life story (usually after age 3). |
What is the primary difficulty in Alzheimer's? | Anterograde amnesia, although retrograde amnesia can also occur as the disease progresses. |
Are there drugs to help amnesia/Alzheimer's? | There are various drugs in use or in development for the use in development for use in slowing down or stopping amnesia in the progression of Alzheimer's. |