Memory and Neuroscience Flashcards
(39 cards)
What is memory?
The recording of the past for future use
Memory involves encoding, storage, and retrieval.
What is Hermann Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve?
A key concept in memory research that describes the decline of memory retention over time.
What did Peterson and Peterson’s (1959) experiment show?
A significant increase in memory retention.
What did Miller’s (1956) study on memory span stimuli reveal?
A unitary model of memory.
What is semantic memory?
The recollection of ideas, concepts, and facts.
What is autobiographical memory?
A combination of episodic and semantic memory.
What role does emotional memory play?
It is often important in episodic memory.
Why is memory crucial?
For coherence, reason, feeling, and action.
What is sensory memory?
Storage of information prior to short-term memory, lasting for 0.3 to 3 seconds.
What is Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi-store model of memory?
It includes sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory with processes like rehearsal and retrieval.
What is the Serial Position Effect?
It describes the tendency to recall the first and last items in a list better than the middle items.
What is Baddeley and Hitch’s Working Memory Model?
It views short-term memory as a ‘mental workbench’ for active manipulation of information.
What is chunking in memory?
Grouping individual items into larger units of meaning.
What is maintenance rehearsal?
Crucial for the transfer of information into long-term memory.
What is elaborative rehearsal/encoding?
The process of organizing and relating new information to material already held in long-term memory.
What is depth of processing?
The depth of processing varies from shallow (e.g. sound, shape) to deep (meaning, semantic structure).
What is a schema?
A mental framework or organized pattern of thought about some aspect of the world.
What are semantic networks?
Information stored in a semantic network in long-term memory.
What is context-dependent memory?
The ability to recall information based on the context in which it was learned.
What is trace decay?
A change in the biology of the memory trace, weakening connections between neurons.
What is interference in memory?
Retroactive and proactive interference that affects retrieval.
What is blocking in memory?
A retrieval failure characterized by the feeling of knowing or ‘tip of the tongue’.
What are the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
Avoidance symptoms, psychophysiological reactivity, and re-experiencing the traumatic event.
What is misattribution in memory errors?
A source monitoring error where a memory is incorrectly attributed to its source.
