Chapter 7: Episodic and Semantic Memory

Hippocampus

A brain structure located in the medial temporal lobe that is important for new memory formation

Declarative Memory

A broad class of memories, both semantic and episodic, that can typically be verbalized or explicitly communicated in some other way; includes explicit memory only; a type of long-term memory

Non-Declarative Memory

A broad class of memory that includes skill memory and other types of learning that do not fall under the heading of episodic or semantic memory and that are not always consciously accessible or easy to verbalize; includes both explicit and implicit memory as well as skill learning, classical, and operant conditioning; a type of long-term memory; Ex. how to tie your shoes

Explicit Memory

A category of memory that includes semantic memory and episodic memory and consists of memories of which the person is aware: you know that you know the information

Consolidation Period

A length of time during which new episodic and semantic memories are vulnerable and easily lost or altered; each time a memory is recalled, it may become vulnerable again until it is "reconsolidated."

Free Recall

A memory test that involves simply generating requested information from memory; a completely open ended question

Directed Forgetting

A procedure in which subjects are first asked to learn information and later asked to remember or forget specific items; typically, memory is worse for items a subject was directed to forget

Antegrade Amnesia

A severe loss of the ability to form new episodic and semantic memories

Functional Amnesia

A sudden massive retrograde memory loss that seems to result from psychological causes rather than physical causes such as brain injury; also called psychogenic amnesia.

Transient Global Amnesia

A temporary disruption of memory often due to interruption of blood flow and typically including elements of both anterograde and retrograde amnesia.

Sensory Cortex

Areas of cerebral cortex involved in processing sensory information such as sight and sounds

Proactive Interference

Disruption of new learning by previously stored information

Retroactive Interference

Disruption of old (previously stored) information by new learning

Henry Molaison (H. M.)

Had surgery to treat severe epilepsy; had his medial temporal lobes bilaterally removed from his brain (included the hippocampus); Developed antegrade amnesia and lost the ability to form new memories for facts or events; His personality was basically unchanged; His IQ actually went up; Couldn't form new declarative memories, couldn't smell much, didn't report hunger or thirst , and lost all sexual desire; His working memory was left in tact because its located in the frontal lobes

Retrograde Amnesia

Loss of memories for events dating from before a brain injury or disruption; memory loss generally occurs in a time-graded manner so that more recent memories are devastated but older ones may be spared

Semantic Memory

Memory for facts or general knowledge about the world, including general personal information; can sometimes be made after one experience but usually requires practice; seem to be stored in a distributed fashion throughout the cerebral cortex which is stored across specialized sensory cortexes Ex. First US President

Episodic Memory

Memory for specific autobiographical events; it includes information about the spatial and temporal contexts in which the event occurred; typically made after one experience Ex. First Kiss

False Memory

Memory of an event that never actually happened; this happens because memories can be modified and manipulated after encoding

Implicit Memory

Memory that occurs without the learner's awareness;

Interference

Reduction in the strength of a memory due to overlap with the content of other memories

Source Monitoring Error

Remembering information but being mistaken about the specific episode that is the source of that memory

Levels-of-Processing Effect

The finding that, in general, deeper processing (such as thinking about the semantic meaning of a word) leads to better recall of the information than shallow processing (such as thinking about the spelling or pronunciation of the word)

Transfer-Appropriate Processing

The finding that, in general, memory retrieval is best when the cues available at testing are similar to those available at encoding.

Medial Temporal Lobes

The inner surface of the temporal lobes that contains the hippocampus, the amygdala, and other structures important for memory.

Multiple Trace Theory

The medial temporal lobe helps organize together the distributed semantic facts into specific episodic memories; The theory that episodic (and possibly semantic) memories are encoded by an ensemble of hippocampal and cortical neurons and that both hippocampus and cortex are normally involved in storing and retrieving even very old memories.

Standard Consolidation Theory

The theory that the hippocampus and related medial temporal lobe structures are required for storage and retrieval of recent episodic memories but not older ones; during learning, the Medial Temporal Lobe relays information to the cortex

Frontal Cortex

Those regions of cortex that lie within the frontal lobes and that may play a role in determining which memories are stored and in producing metamemory for that information; may play an organizing role in declarative memories by selecting information to be encoded and retrieving information back to working memory

Maintenance Rehearsal

a form of encoding in which simple repetition is usually not enough repetition is useful for remembering something quickly but not for long term storage;

Elaborative Rehearsal

a form of encoding in which the information is actively reviewed and related to information in long-term memory; the more deeply information is encoded, the better it is remembered

Recognition

a memory test that involves picking out a studied item from a set of options; multiple choice options

Cued Recall

a memory test that involves some kind of prompt or cue to aid recall; fill in the blank with a cue

Ebbinghaus on Forgetting

believed that most forgetting happens in the first few hours, or days, after learning

Depth of Processing

deeper processing my involve more medial temporal lobe activity, producing better encoding

Encoding

initial storage into memory; background knowledge helps to make this stronger

Subsequent Forgetting Paradigm

learning a list of words - compare brain activity for words later remembered versus later forgotten; hippocampal area of the temporal lobe and left frontal cortex to encode and consolidate semantic memories

Storage/Consolidation

maintaining stored memory

Retrieval

re-activating the memory for further processing; bringing memory out of storage and into the consciousness; this happens both consciously and unconsciously; forgetting is usually due to a problem in this memory process; this process works best when we are in a similar environment in which encoding happened

Reconsolidation

re-strengthening memories; may include updating or altering memories with new information; restoring the memory and then putting it back

Consolidation

strengthening the stability of stored information; keeps information strong

Forgetting

the inability to access memory from long-term storage; a temporary failure; memory that is corrupted or truly lost

Skill Memory

the things we know how to do; implicit and unconscious; requires practice to master

Godden and Baddely

transfer appropriate processing, aka, encoding specificity effect