Learning and Memory Flashcards
(20 cards)
LEARNING
The brain’s ability to change in response to experience.
MEMORY
The brain’s ability to store and access the learned effects of experiences.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Memories (e.g., recall of a phone number) that are stored only until a person stops focusing on them – typically assessed with the digit-span test.
LONG-TERM MEMORY
Memory for experiences that endures after the experiences are no longer the focus of attention.
MEMORY CONSOLIDATION
The transfer of short-term memories to long-term storage.
DIGIT SPAN
The longest sequence of random digits that can be repeated correctly 50% of the time – most people have a digit span of 7.
WORKING MEMORY
Temporary memory necessary for the successful performance of a task on which one is currently working.
EPISODIC MEMORIES
Explicit memories for the particular events and experiences of one’s life.
SEMANTIC MEMORIES
Explicit memories for general facts and knowledge.
EXPLICIT MEMORIES
Conscious memories.
IMPLICIT MEMORIES
Memories that are expressed by improved performance without conscious recall or recognition.
MEDIAL TEMPORAL LOBE AMNESIA
Amnesia associated with bilateral damage to the medial temporal lobes; its major feature is anterograde amnesia for explicit memories in combination with preserved intellectual functioning.
REPETITION PRIMING TEST
Tests of implicit memory; in one example, a list of words is presented, then fragments of the original words are presented and the subject is asked to complete them.
MEDIAL DIENCEPHALIC AMNESIA
Amnesia that is associated with damage to the medial diencephalon (e.g., Korsakoff’s amnesia).
RETROGRADE AMNESIA
Loss of memory for events or information learned before the amnesia-induced brain injury.
ANTEROGRADE AMNESIA
Loss of memory for events occurring after the amnesia-inducing brain injury.
POSTTRAUMATIC AMNESIA (PTA)
Amnesia produced by a nonpenetrating head injury (a blow to the head that does not penetrate the skull).
ELECTROCONVULSIVE SHOCK (ECS)
An intense, brief, diffuse, seizure-inducing current administered to the brain via large electrodes attached to the scalp.
STANDARD CONSOLIDATION THEORY
Theory that memories are temporarily stored in the hippocampus until they can be transferred to a more stable cortical storage system.
MULTIPLE-TRACE THEORY
Theory that memories are encoded in a distributed fashion throughout the hippocampus and other brain structures for as long as the memories exist.
