ch7 vocab*

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

Question 2

Encoding

Answer 2

Forming a memory code

Question 2

Retrieval

Answer 2

recovering information from memory stores

Question 2

Storage

Answer 2

Maintaining encoded information in memory over time

Question 3

Retention

Answer 3

The proportion of material remembered

Question 3

procedural memory

Answer 3

a part of the long-term memory that is responsible for knowing how to do things, also known as motor skills

Question 3

long-term memory

Answer 3

An unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time

Question 4

short-term memory

Answer 4

A limited-capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for up to about 20 seconds

Question 5

spacing effect

Answer 5

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

Question 5

Rehearsal

Answer 5

The process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about information to be stored in memory

Question 6

serial position effect

Answer 6

In memory tests, the fact that subjects show better recall for items at the beginning and end of a list than for items in the middle

Question 7

mnemonic devices

Answer 7

Strategies for enhancing memory

Question 7

iconic memory

Answer 7

A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

Question 7

Chunking

Answer 7

organizing items into familiar, manageable units

Question 8

echoic memory

Answer 8

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

Question 9

long-term potentiation

Answer 9

an increase in a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation

Question 10

flashbulb memories

Answer 10

Unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events

Question 11

anterograde amnesia

Answer 11

Loss of memories for events that occur after a head injury

Question 12

retrograde amnesia

Answer 12

Loss of memories for events that occurred prior to a head injury

Question 13

nondeclarative memory

Answer 13

the repository for memories for actions, skills, conditioned responses, and emotional memories. Also called procedural memory

Question 14

declarative memory

Answer 14

Memory for factual information

Question 14

Recall

Answer 14

measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier

Question 15

Recognition

Answer 15

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned

Question 16

relearning measure

Answer 16

A memory test that requires a subject to memorize information a second time to determine how much time or effort is saved by having learned it before

Question 16

Priming

Answer 16

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations memory

Question 17

State-dependent memory

Answer 17

What we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state

Question 18

mood congruent memory

Answer 18

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood

Question 19

proactive interference

Answer 19

A source of forgetting that occurs when previously learned information interferes with the retention of new information

Question 20

Repression

Answer 20

Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious

Question 21

misinformation effect

Answer 21

Phenomenon that occurs when participants’ recall of an event they witnessed is altered by introducing misleading post-event information

Question 21

acoustic encoding

Answer 21

The encoding of sound

Question 22

effortful processing

Answer 22

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Question 23

Amnesia

Answer 23

loss of memory

Question 24

hindsight bias

Answer 24

The tendency to mold one’s interpretation of the past to fit how events actually turned out

Question 25

forgetting curve

Answer 25

A graph showing retention and forgetting over time

Question 26

hippocampus

Answer 26

Curved structure located within each temporal lobe

Question 27

parallel processing

Answer 27

processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously

Question 27

automatic processing

Answer 27

unconscious encoding of incidental information

Question 28

photographic memory

Answer 28

Powerful and enduring visual images

Question 29

retrospective memory

Answer 29

ability to remember events from the past or previously learned information

Question 29

decay theory

Answer 29

forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time

Question 29

Deja vu

Answer 29

Eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.”

Question 29

prospective memory

Answer 29

Narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Question 30

interference theory

Answer 30

The idea that people forget information because of competition from other material

Question 31

levels of processing theory

Answer 31

The theory holding that deeper levels of mental processing result in longer-lasting memory codes

Question 31

visual encoding

Answer 31

encoding of picture images

Question 32

schema

Answer 32

An organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or sequence of events

Question 33

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Answer 33

The temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that it’s just out of reach

Question 34

retroactive interference

Answer 34

source of forgetting that occurs when new information impairs the retention of previously learned information

Question 35

working memory

Answer 35

model of short-term memory consisting of a modular system for temporary storage and manipulation of information