AP Psychology Unit 7: Cognition Flashcards
Memory
The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information
Alzheimer’s Disease
A disease that weakens the brain’s memory centers. Begins as difficulties remembering new information and progresses into an inability to do everyday tasks
Recall
A measure of memory in which a person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test
Recognition
A measure of memory in which the person identifies terms previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test
Relearning
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again
Overlearning
Studying material beyond a pre-determined level of mastery, increasing retention (especially when practice is distributed over time)
Information-Processing Model
Likens human memory to computer operations. Thus, to remember any event, we must encode, store, and retrieve it
Encoding
The process of getting information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning
Storage
The process of retaining encoded information over time
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage
Parallel Processing
Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions
Connectionism
Views memories as products of interconnected neural networks. Specific memories arise from particular activation patterns within these networks. Each time you learn something new, your brain’s neural connections change, forming and strengthening pathways allowing you to interact with and learn from the changing environment
Atkinson’s and Shiffrin’s Memory Model
- We record to-be-remembered information as fleeting sensory memory
- We process information into short-term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal
- Information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval
Focuses on how we process explicit memories
Sensory Memory
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system
Short-Term Memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten
Long-Term Memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences
Working Memory
A newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from the long-term memory
Alan Baddeley’s Model of Working Memory
Includes visual-spatial and auditory rehearsal of new information. A hypothetical central executive (manager) focuses our attention, and pulls information from long-term memory to help make sense of new information.
Central Executive
According to Baddeley’s model, the central executive coordinates focused processing without which, information often fades.
Explicit Memory
Retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare” (also called declarative memory)
Effortful Processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Automatic Processing
Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings
Implicit Memory
Retentions of learned skills/procedural memory or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. Implicit memory processes information about space, time, and frequency (also called “nondeclarative memory”)
Iconic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second
Echoic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
Chunking
An effortful processing strategy that organizes items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Mnemonics
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Hierarchies
An effortful processing technique that divides and subdivides a few broad concepts into narrower concepts and facts
Effortful Processing Strategies
- Chunking
- Mnemonics
- Hierarchies
Spacing Effect
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice
Massed Practice
Also known as “cramming.” Produces speedy short-term learning and a tendency to forget learned information quickly
Testing Effect
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning
Shallow Processing
Encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words
Deep Processing
Encoding semantically, cased on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention
Self-Reference Effect
We remember material that is personally meaningful/applicable to ourselves better than information that is not
Semantic Memory
Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory)
Episodic Memory
Explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory)
Prefrontal Cortex
The front part of the frontal lobe and the part of the brain where many brain regions send input when you remember a past experience.
Hippocampus
A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories - of facts and events - for storage. Located in the temporal lobe and the limbic system, similar to a “save” button for memories. Damage to the hippocampus disrupts the formation and recall of explicit memories.
Memory Consolidation
The neural storage of long-term memory. When information moves from the hippocampus to other parts of the brain. Supported by sleep.
Cerebellum
Plays a key role in forming and storing implicit memories (classically-conditioned responses). With damage to the cerebellum, people cannot develop certain conditioned reflexes.
Basal Ganglia
Facilitate the formation of our procedural movements for skills. Receive input from the cortex but do not send information back to the cortex for conscious learning.
Infantile Amnesia
The phenomenon in which a person cannot remember the first four years of our lives. This is because:
1. We index much of our explicit memory with a command of language that young children do not possess
2. The hippocampus is one of the last brain structures to mature. As it does, more gets retained
Amygdala
Two limbic system, emotion-processing clusters that can initiate a memory trace that boosts activity in the brain’s memory-forming areas. Thus, emotional arousal can sear certain events into the brain while disrupting memory for irrelevant events.
Tunnel-Vision Memory
A type of memory caused by a highly-emotional situation that focuses our attention and recall high priority information and reducing our recall of irrelevant details
Flashbulb Memories
A clear, sustained memory of an emotionally-significant event or moment
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
An increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory. By stimulating certain memory-circuit connections, they become more sensitive and the sending neuron needs less prompting to release its neurotransmitter, and more connections exist between the neurons
Glutamate
A neurotransmitter that increases LTP. Some people want to make drugs with glutamate to boost memory
CERB
A protein that enhances LTP. Boosting CERB might trigger increased production of other proteins that help reshape synapses and transfer short-term memories into long-term memories.
Retrieval Cues
Aspects of an individual’s physical and cognitive environment which aid the recall process; they can be explicitly provided at recall, self-generated, or encountered more incidentally through the retrieval context
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
