Chapter 6: Memory

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

The retention of information or experience over time as a result of three key processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval

Question 2

Encoding

Answer 2

The first step in memory; the process by which information gets into memory storage

Question 3

Divided attention

Answer 3

Concentrating on more than one activity at a time

Question 4

Sustained attention

Answer 4

The ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time

Question 5

Executive attention

Answer 5

The ability to plan action, allocate attention to goals, detect errors and compensate for them, monitor progress on tasks, and deal with novel or difficult circumstances

Question 6

Levels of processing

Answer 6

A continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory

Question 7

Elaboration

Answer 7

The formation of a number of different connection around a stimulus at a given level of memory encoding

Question 8

Storage

Answer 8

The retention of information over time and how this information is represented in memory

Question 9

Atkinson-shiffrin theory

Answer 9

Theory stating that memory storage involves three separate systems: sensory memory, short term memory, and long term memory

Question 10

Sensory memory

Answer 10

Memory systems that involve holding information from the world in its original sensory form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses

Question 11

Echotic memory

Answer 11

Refers to auditory sensory memory, which is retained for up to several seconds

Question 12

Iconic memory

Answer 12

Refers to visual sensory memory which is only retained for around 0.25 second

Question 13

Short-term memory

Answer 13

Limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 seconds unless strategies are used to retain it longer

Question 14

Chunking

Answer 14

Involves grouping or packing information that exceeds the 7+/-2 memory span into higher order units that can be remembered as single units

Question 15

Working memory

Answer 15

A combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow individuals to hold memory temporarily as they preform cognitive tasks; a kind of mental workbench on which the brain manipulates and assembles information to guide problem solving, understanding, and decision making

Question 16

Phonological loop (working memory)

Answer 16

Specialized to briefly store speech based information about the sound of language

Question 17

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 17

Stores visual and spatial memory, including visual imagery

Question 18

Central executive (working memory)

Answer 18

Integrates information not only from the phonological loop and the visual-spatial sketchpad, but also from long term memory

Question 19

Long-term memory

Answer 19

A relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for a long time

Question 20

Explicit (declarative) memory

Answer 20

The conscious recollection of information, such as specific facts or events and, at least in humans, information that can be verbally communicated

Question 21

Episodic memory

Answer 21

The retention of information about where, when, and what of life’s happenings- that is, how individuals remember life’s episodes

Question 22

Semantic memory

Answer 22

A person’s knowledge about the world

Question 23

Implicit (nondeclarative) memory

Answer 23

Memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without a conscious recollection of that experience

Question 24

Procedural memory

Answer 24

A type of implicit memory for skills

Question 25

Priming

Answer 25

The activation of information that people already have in storage to help them remember new information better and faster

Question 26

Schema

Answer 26

A preexisting mental concept or framework that helps people to organize and interpret information. Schemas from prior encounters with the environment influence the way individual encode, make inferences about, and retrieve information

Question 27

Retrieval

Answer 27

The memory process that occurs when information that was retained in memory comes out of storage

Question 28

Serial position effect

Answer 28

The tendency to recall the items at the beginning and the end of a list more readily than those in the middle

Question 29

Recall

Answer 29

A memory task in which the person must retrieve previously learned information, as on an essay test

Question 30

Recognition

Answer 30

A memory task in which a person must identify (recognize) learned items, such as multiple choice on a test

Question 31

Encoding specificity principle

Answer 31

States that information present at the time of encoding or learning, tends to be an effective retrieval cue

Question 32

Context dependent memory

Answer 32

The principle that people remember better when they attempt to recall information in the same context as when they learned (encoded) it

Question 33

Autobiographical memory

Answer 33

A special form of episodic memory, consisting of a person’s recollections of their life experiences

Question 34

Flashbulb memory

Answer 34

The memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery than every day events

Question 35

Motivated forgetting

Answer 35

Forgetting that occurs when something is so painful or anxiety-laden that remembering it is intolerable

Question 36

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve

Answer 36

The principle that most forgetting occurs quickly after encoding, and then continues to decline as time passes

Question 37

Inference theory

Answer 37

The theory that people forget not because memories are lost from storage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember

Question 38

Proactive interference

Answer 38

Situation in which material that was learned earlier disrupts the recall of material that was learned later

Question 39

Retroactive interference

Answer 39

Situation in which material that was learned later disrupts the retrieval of information that was learned earlier

Question 40

Decay theory

Answer 40

Theory stating that when an individual learns something new, a neurochemical memory trace forms, but over time this trace disintegrates; suggests that the passage of time always increases forgetting

Question 41

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Answer 41

A type of effortful retrieval associated with a person’s feeling that they know something (say, a word or a name) but cannot quite pull it out of memory

Question 42

Amnesia

Answer 42

The loss of memeory

Question 43

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 43

A memory disorder that affects the retention of new information and events

Question 44

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 44

Memory loss for a segment of the past, but not for new events