AP Psychology :Unit 4 - Cognition

Mnemonic Devices

(Memory aids.) Like in the Method of Loci Ex. Visual imagery, Peg word system, ROY G BIV, Acronym-HOMES

Echoic Memory

A brief auditory memory

Iconic Memory

A brief visual memory

Flashbulb Memories

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Encoding Failure

Not getting information into LT Memory

Recall

* You must retrieve the information from your memory. Ex. Fill-in-the-blank or essay test.

Recognition

*You must identify the target from possible targets. Ex. Mutiple Choice Test

Anterograde Amnesia

A loss of ability to create new memories while long-term memories remain intact. Usually caused by damage to the hippocampus Can be caused by alcohol intoxication (i.e. blackouts)

Sensory Memory

A split second holding tank for ALL sensory information Two Types- Iconic Memory and Echoic Memory

Forgetting

Anterograde Amnesia, Retrograde Amnesia and Encoding Failure

Source Amnesia( source misattribution)

Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about or imagined This is often at the heart of "false memories"

Dual- Track Memory

Autonomic Vs. Effortful Processing

Ways to Remember Things in STM....so they go to LTM

Chunking, Mnemonic Devices, Rehearsal, Hierarchies

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Retrograde Amnesia

Form of amnesia where someone is unable to recall events that occurred before the development of amnesia. Commonly results from damage to the temporal lobes or hippocampus

Hierarchies

Help us organize and thus remember information. The human brain likes order-hierarchies help us get that.

Repression

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories from consciousness.

Misinformation Effect

Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

The Hippocampus

Is involved in storing explicit memories. The Cerebellum is involved in storing implicit memories. Damage to the Hippocampus disrupts your memory.

Long Term Potential

Is the long-lasting enhancement in signal transmission between 2 neurons. When learning occurs more serotonin is released into the synapses.

Rehearsal

Is the most common effortful processing technique

Storing Memories

Long Term Potential

Explicit Memories

Memory of facts and experiences that you can consciously know and declare. (Declarative Memory) Episodic Memories (events): autobiographical memory (Experience) Semantic Memories (facts): Knowledge about the world

State Dependent Memories

Mood congruent memories when in a certain mood, its easier to recall memories that fit the mood.

Retroactive Interference

New information blocks out old information. Like getting a new bus # and forgetting the old one

Proactive Interference

Old information blocks out new information Like calling your New girlfriend by her the old girlfriend

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units.

Parallel Processing

Our dual tracking brain processing many things simultaneously(some of them unconsciously)

Serial Position Effect

Our tendency to recall best the last and first items on a list.

Mnemonic for the Interference Theory

Proactive Old Information blocking out new info. Retroactive New information blocking out old info.

Parts Of Memory

Recall and Recognition

Repetition Priming

Refers to the fact that it is easier to recognize a face or word if you have recently seen that same face or word.

Semantic Priming

Refers to the fact that it is easier to recognize a person or a word if you have just seen something closely associated with them/it.

Testing Effect

Repeated self-testing better than simply re-reading. This is like when reading a textbook that ask you questions throughout the lesson and at the unit.

Rehearsal

Repetition, Repetition, etc.

Motivated Forgetting

Repression and Retrieval Failure

Types of Encoding

Semantic Encoding, Acoustic Encoding, Visual Encoding.

Déjà Vu

That eerie sense that you have experienced something before.

Storage

The Retention of encoded material over time (holding on to the information.)

Semantic Encoding

The encoding of meaning like the meaning of words.

Visual Encoding

The encoding of picture images

Acoustic Encoding

The encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words.

Retrieval Failure

The memory was encoded and stored, but sometimes you just cannot access the memory, (Like the Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon)

Memory

The persistence of learning over time through: information that has been acquired, stored and can be retrieved.

Retrieval

The process of getting the information out of memory storage (Getting the information back out)

Encoding

The processing of information into the memory system. (Getting information into our brains)

Short Term Memory

The stuff we encode from sensory memory goes to STM. (Holds about 7(+ or -2] items for about 20 seconds). We recall random digits better than random letters. Information unrehearsed will decay in about 12 seconds.

Retrieval Cues

Things that help us remember. We often use a process called priming (the activation of associations in our memory)

Implicit Memories

Unconscious encoding of incidental information(Non-Declarative Memory) Procedural Memories (skills) like riding a bike, or classical conditioned memories (learning to do something)

Long Term Memory

Unlimited storehouse of information. It can last days, months, or years. 3 Ways memories are measured- Recall, Recognition, Relearning.

Spacing Effect

We encode better when we study a practice over time.

Interference

When something familiar gets in the way of remembering something else

Storage Decay

Without rehearsal, we forget things over time Even when we encode something well, we can forget it. Remember Herman Ebbinghaus

Automatic Processing

You encode space, time and word meaning without effort.