Unit 4 - Memory

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

Persistence of learning over time via encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

Question 2

Schema

Answer 2

Mental representation of a set of connected ideas.

Question 3

Encoding

Answer 3

First step in memory in which stimuli from the environment is converted into a form that the brain can understand and use.

Question 4

Storage

Answer 4

Process by which encoded information is maintained over time.

Question 5

Retrieval

Answer 5

Process of brining to consciousness information in the memory system.

Question 6

Sensory memory

Answer 6

Immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system. George Sperling did research where he showed 9 letters for a fraction of a second – People could say 4 letters but knew there were a total of 9 in all.

Question 7

Iconic memory

Answer 7

Visual sensory memory which lasts no more than a few tenths of a second.

Question 8

Echoic memory

Answer 8

Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli, which lasts about 3 to 4 seconds.

Question 9

Selective attention

Answer 9

We voluntarily focus on a portion of our sensory input while ignoring other inputs.

Question 10

Short-term memory

Answer 10

Temporary storage of information in the conscious mind for seconds.

Question 11

Long-term memory

Answer 11

Relatively permanent and unlimited capacity memory system into which information from short-term memory may pass.

Question 12

Working memory model

Answer 12

Cognitive theory that describes short-term memory as not just a storage place but as an active system capable of manipulating information temporarily, allowing for complex cognitive tasks like reasoning and decision making.

Question 13

Central executive

Answer 13

Control system that directs attention, manages information flow between different parts of working memory and is responsible for complex cognitive tasks like task planning and decision making; part of the working memory model.

Question 14

Phonological loop

Answer 14

Component of working memory that stores and processes verbal and auditory information.

Question 15

Visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 15

Component of working memory that stores and manipulates visual and spatial information.

Question 16

Prospective memory

Answer 16

Memory for future tasks like your to-do list or weekly/monthly events.

Question 17

Automatic processing

Answer 17

Our unconscious encoding of incidental information such as space, time, and frequency and of well-learned information.

Question 18

Effortful processing

Answer 18

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Question 19

Rehearsal

Answer 19

Conscious, effortful repetition of information that you are trying to either maintain in consciousness or to encode for storage; manipulation of information so that it can be stored.

Question 20

Maintenance rehearsal

Answer 20

Repeating information to prolong its presence in STM.

Question 21

Elaborative rehearsal

Answer 21

Linking new information with existing memories and knowledge in LTM to help transfer info from STM to LTM.

Question 22

Spacing Effect

Answer 22

Tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention that massed study or practice.

Question 23

Massed Practice

Answer 23

Learns information or practices a skill in a short period of time without much rest.

Question 24

Distributed Practice

Answer 24

Practice is spread out over multiple short sessions, with breaks in between.

Question 25

Testing effect

Answer 25

Retrieving information from memory during the learning process improves long-term memory; enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than rereading, information.

Question 26

Metacognition

Answer 26

Thinking about how you think.

Question 27

Serial Position Effect

Answer 27

Tendency for items at the beginning and the end of a list to be more easily retained than those in the middle due to primary effect (remember first item best) and recency effect (remember the last item the best).

Question 28

Visual encoding

Answer 28

Use of imagery to process information into Memory.

Question 29

Acoustic encoding

Answer 29

Processing of information into memory per its sound.

Question 30

Mnemonics

Answer 30

Memory aids (method of loci, acronyms, peg-words) which often use visual imagery.

Question 31

Method of loci

Answer 31

Strategy for memory enhancement which uses visualizations of familiar environments in order to enhance recall of information.

Question 32

Chunking

Answer 32

Memory technique of organizing material into familiar, meaningful units; uses categories or hierarchies to group things.

Question 33

Long term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 33

An increase in a synapse's firing potential following a brief, rapid stimulation; believed to be the neural basis for learning and memory; lasting strengthening of synapses that increased neurotransmitters.

Question 34

Implicit memory (AKA procedural or nondeclarative memory)

Answer 34

Recall of skills, preferences, and dispositions; are processed by the cerebellum.

Question 35

Procedural memory

Answer 35

Memories of how to do something such as riding a bike or tying your shoes.

Question 36

Explicit memory

Answer 36

Memories of facts, including names, images, and events; stored in the hippocampus.

Question 37

Episodic memory

Answer 37

The stories of our lives and experiences that we can recall and tell someone.

Question 38

Autobiographical memory

Answer 38

Memory system that allows people to recall past events from their lives -- great detail with names of places, people, and events.

Question 39

Semantic memory r

Answer 39

Impersonal memories that are not drawn from experience but from common knowledge; facts we learn over life.

Question 40

Recall

Answer 40

Measure of retention in which the person must remember, with few retrieval cues, information learned earlier.

Question 41

Retrieval cues

Answer 41

Stimuli that help people access memories stored in their long-term memory and bring them to conscious awareness.

Question 42

Mood-congruent memory

Answer 42

Tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with our current mood.

Question 43

Proactive interference

Answer 43

Disruptive effect of something you already have learned on your efforts to learn or recall new information -- "old info gets into eh way of new info" PRoactive = PRevious.

Question 44

Retroactive interference

Answer 44

Disruptive effect of something recently learned on old knowledge -- "new info gets in the way of old info" REtroactive = REcent

Question 45

Encoding failure

Answer 45

Occurs when a memory was never formed because we didn't perceive or attend to the information/situation.

Question 46

Constructive memory

Answer 46

Memory errors that occur because people update memories with logical processes, reasoning, new info, perception, imagination, beliefs, and cultural biases.

Question 47

Imagination inflation

Answer 47

Memory distortion that occurs when someone imagines an even that never happened and then becomes more confident it actually occurred.

Question 48

State dependent memory

Answer 48

Memory retrieval is efficient when individuals are in the same state of consciousness as they were when the memory was formed.

Question 49

Mood dependent memory

Answer 49

Recall of information can be retrieved better if we are in the same mood as when we encountered the info

Question 50

Context dependent memory

Answer 50

Recall of information can be retrieved better if you are in the same space as when you encountered the information.

Question 51

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Answer 51

Psychological state where someone is temporarily unable to recall a word they know well.

Question 52

Amnesia

Answer 52

Loss of memory

Question 53

Infantile amnesia

Answer 53

Trouble remembering any biographical events typically before the age of 4 or 5.

Question 54

Source amnesia

Answer 54

Inability to remember the source of a memory while retaining its substance.

Question 55

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 55

Loss of memory for events that occurred before the onset of amnesia; typical of people who suffered a blow to the head.

Question 56

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 56

Inability to form new long term memories due to destruction or damage to the hippocampus.

Question 57

Fugue

Answer 57

Sudden travel away from memory typical of people under extreme stress.

Question 58

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

Answer 58

Mental illness that occurs due to the repression of traumatic event (occurring most often in young females who were abused) causing the mind to create alter personalities; therapy is integration of the personalities.

Question 59

Repression

Answer 59

Freud's theory of forgetting claiming that we push painful, embarrassing, or threatening memories out of awareness or consciousness; part of psychodynamic perspective.

Question 60

Alzheimer's disease

Answer 60

Progressive and irreversible brain disorder caused by deterioration of neurons that produced Ach and is characterized by gradual loss of memory, reasoning, language, and physical functioning.

Question 61

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Answer 61

Father of memory; key principle is the amount remembered depends on the time spent learning which he called the learning curve; forgetting curve is the initial rapid decline of information then what remains will be remembered for a long time.

Question 62

Shallow processing

Answer 62

Only memorizing or learning at a superficial level.

Question 63

Levels of processing from shallow to deep

Answer 63

structural, phonemic, semantic

Question 64

Deep processing

Answer 64

Elaborative rehearsal a long with a meaningful analysis of the ideas and words being learned.

Question 65

Elizabeth Loftus

Answer 65

"Father" of eyewitness recall, how we construct memories, create false memories and misinformation effect-tendency of eyewitnesses to an event or incorporate misleading information about the event into their memories because the new information has altered the way previous information is held in memory.