Memory Key Terms Flashcards
FPP4 Revision
Attention
Focusing on a stimulus in our SR to transfer to STM.
Capacity
How much information can be held in any part of the memory.
Central Executive
Directs attention to particular tasks, determining allocation of the brain’s resources for them.
Diverts info to other SLAVE SYSTEMS
- Very small capacity
Decay
When memory is forgotten as a result of limited duration.
Declarative
Memories that can be consciously recalled (e.g facts or events) - episodic & semantic memory.
Displacement
When memory is lost due to a limited capacity.
Dual-task performance
The ability to perform two different tasks at once (one being visual, one being aural, e.g.)
Duration
How long information can be kept in any part of the memory.
Ecological Validity
Often an issue with lab experiments - refers to how much research findings can be generalised to the real world.
Encoding/coding
How information to be remembered is changed to be processed and stored in the memory.
Episodic Buffer
General stores that allows both sound & visual info to be bound together. Offers a sense of time sequencing. Record events (episodes) happening.
Episodic Memory
- Part of LTM
- Stores autobiographical record of events
- Contains what, where, when
- Constructed, not reproductive
- Time-stamped
Eye-Witness Testimony
When people who have witnessed a crime are interviewed by the police.
Forgetting
Inability to recall information from memory.
Laboratory Experiments
The most common method used in memory research where the data is collected in a controlled environment.
Long-term Memory
Memory which can last forever and is thought to have unlimited capacity.
Models of Memory
Ways of explaining the structure & process of memories. They are theoretical models which explain how it may work.
Phonological Loop
Stores speech-based sounds for brief periods. Made up of phonological store (briefly stores acoustic info) & Inner ear (sub-vocal repetition).
Proactive Interference
Old information interferes with the retrieval of new information.
Procedural Memory
- Part of LTM
- Unconscious
- Memory of skills & bodily movements
- Acquired via repetition 7 practice
- Non-declarative
Rehearsal
Repeating information over & over
Semantic Memory
- Records facts, meanings, concepts and knowledge of the external world acquired
- Independent of time & personal experience of discovery
- Declarative
Short-term Memory
Immediate memory which has limited capacity and duration.
