PSY Chapter 6

Episodic memory

A category of long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations and experiences.

Suppression

A conscious effort to put something out of mind or to keep it from awareness. A deliberate attempt to not think about or remember specific information.

Information processing theory

A framework for studying memory that uses the computer as a model of human cognitive processes.

Misinformation effect

A memory-distortion phenomenon in which a person's existing memories can be altered if the person is exposed to misleading information.

The structure of human memory.

A process of multiple steps: 1) encoding 2) storage 3) retrieval of information

Autobiographical memories

A special form of episodic memory, consisting of a person's recollections of his or her life experiences. Recollections that a person includes in an account of the events of his or her life: Subject to positive bias

Rehearsal

A strategic process that helps to maintain short-term memories indefinitely through the use of internal repetition

Semantic memory

A subdivision of declarative memory that stores general knowledge, including the meanings of words and concepts. Facts

Nondeclarative memory

A subsystem within Long term memory which consists of skills we acquire through repetition and practice (e.g., dance, playing the piano, driving a car) Motor skills Classically conditioned responses

Maintenance rehearsal

A system for remembering involving repeating information to oneself without attempting to find meaning in it. "Shallow" processing (sound of a word)

Recency effect

A theory that the most recent information presented in the message will be the most likely to be remembered

Transfer

(Encoding) Long-Term Memory: Permanent or relatively permanent storage. Capacity: virtually unlimited Duration: from minutes to a lifetime.

Transfer

(Encoding) Short-term Memory: brief storage for information currently being used Capacity: About 7 items (a range of 5-9) Duration: Less than 30 seconds without rehearsal [Rehearsal] loops

Expertise

(Influences on reconstructive memories:) An extensive amount of background knowledge that is relevant to a reconstructed memory task.

Culture

(Influences on reconstructive memory) Culturally biased schemas influence reconstructive memory in the same way that expertise does. The ability to store/retrieve particular information is influenced by its status/importance in the culture

Reconstruction

Account of an event pieced together from new highlights. Uses schemas

Anterograde amnesia

An inability to form new memories.

retrograde amnesia

An inability to retrieve information from one's past.

Repression

An unconscious process that excludes unacceptable thoughts and feelings from awareness and memory

Consolidation failure

Any disruption in the consolidation process that prevents a long-term memory from forming. Ex: loss of consciousness from car accident

Elaborative rehearsal

Association of new information with already stored knowledge and analysis of the new information to make it memorable "Deep" processing (meaning of information) (deeper the level of processing, higher the accuracy of memory)

Three memory system

Atkinson-shiffrin model

Alzheimer's

Brain cells are gradually destroyed, may be caused by virus or heredity, short term memory loss, 4th leading killer of adults

Short-term memory

Brief storage for information currently being used. Codes information according to sound. Letter "t", is remembered as sound "tee"

Retrieval

Bringing to mind information stored in memory

Chunking

Combining small pieces of information into larger clusters or chunks that are more easily held in short-term memory. "FBI is stored as one item, not three letters."

Repressed memory controversy

Critics: Techniques used (hypnosis, guided imagery) impact false memories. Infantile amnesia. Supporters: Can successfully treat psychological problems.

Dementia

Degenerative brain processes that diminish ability to remember and process information. Alzheimer's disease

Memory in legal system

Eyewitness testimony Loftus Misinformation effect Confidence doesn't equal accuracy

Proactive Interference

Forgetting that occurs when previously stored material interferes with the ability to remember similar, more recently learned material. Old info blacks new info from forming

Motivated forgetting

Forgetting through suppression or repression in order to protect oneself from material that is otherwise painful, frightening, or otherwise unpleasant.

Hippocamal region (broader area around hippocampus)

Forming semantic memories

Schemas

Frameworks of knowledge and assumptions we have about people, objects, and events. A knowledge cluster or general conceptual framework that provides expectations about topics, events, objects, people, and situations in one's life; in Piaget's theory, mental structures or programs that guide a developing child's thought.

Loftus

Highly subject to error. Cognition and memory; Concepts: False memories, memory consolidation; Study Basics: Showed how easily memories could be changed and falsely created by techniques such as leading questions and illustrating the poverty of accuracy in eyewitness reports.

Episodic memories form in:

Hippocampus

Recognition

Identifying material as familiar or as having been encountered before.

Displacement

In short term memory, when storage gets filled, new info input pushes out old info.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Increase in efficiency of neural transmission at the synapses. Lasts for hours longer Possible basis for learning and memory at the level of the neurons.

Declarative memory

It refers to memories which can be consciously recalled such as facts and events. Episodic and semantic memories

Storage

Keeping or maintaining information in memory

Duration of short-term memory

Less than 30 seconds without rehearsal Rehearsal: the act of purposely repeating information to maintain it in short-term memory

State-dependent memory effect

Long-term memory retrieval is best when a person's physiological state at the time of encoding and retrieval of the information is the same.

Rehearsal

Loops the transfer in short term memory

Hormones and memory

Memories of threatening situations tend to be more powerful and enduring than ordinary memories because of the hormones associated with the strong emotions aroused in such situations

Decay theory

Memory degrades with time (use it or lose it) Ultimately disappear altogether

Working memory

Memory subsystem we use when trying to understand information, remember it, use it to solve a problem, or communicate with someone. Important working memory process: applications of memory strategies: 1) maintenance rehearsal 2) Elaborative rehearsal

Retroactive interference

New learning interferes with your prior knowledge. (e.g. getting a new cell phone number)

Retrieval failure

Not remembering somthing one is certain of knowing. The inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues. Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon Unable to recall that one thing you know you know

Perspective forgetting

Not remembering to carry out some intended action. (Usually not important to other things trying to remember)

Primacy effect

Other things being equal, information presented first usually has the most influence

Amnesia

Partial or total loss of memory Anterograde Retrograde

Long-term memory

Permanent or relatively permanent storage Capacity: virtually unlimited Duration: from minutes to a lifetime

Recall

Producing required information by searching memory. Possible hints from retrieval cues.

Atkinson-shiffrin memory model

Proposed that we form memories in three stages-Sensory memory, short term memory, rehearsal then long term

Retrieval

Pulls long term and outs in short term.

Measuring retrieval

Recall, recognition, relearning

Relearning

Retention expressed as the percentage of time saved when material is relearned compared with the time required to learn it originally

Classically conditioned responses

Review

Sensory input

Sensory memory: Temporary storage for sensory information. Capacity: Large Duration: Visual, fraction of a second. Auditory: 2 seconds

Sensory memory

Temporary storage for information Capacity: large Duration: Visual: fraction of a second Auditory: 2 seconds

Serial position effect

The ability to recall items from a list depends on order of presentation, with items presented early or late in the list remembered better than those in the middle

Levels-of-processing model

The explanation for the fact that information that is more thoroughly connected to meaningful items in long-term memory (more "deeply" processed) will be remembered better.

Forgetting

The inability to bring to mind information that was previously remembered.

Encoding failure

The inability to recall specific information because of insufficient encoding of the information for storage in long-term memory.

Source monitoring

The process whereby people try to identify the source of their memories

Positive bias

The tendency for pleasant autobiographical memories to be more easily recalled than unpleasant ones and memories of unpleasant events to become more emotionally positive over time.

Encoding

Transforming information into a form that can be stored in memory

Capacity of short-term memory

Very limited (about 7 items) Displacement occurs when short-term memory is filled to capacity New incoming item pushes out an existing item, which is then forgotten Chunking

Automaticity

When information an be retrieved automatically, working me,Roy space is freed up for other tasks.

Flashbulb memories

detailed memory for events surrounding a dramatic event that is vivid and remembered with confidence. Memories for shocking emotion-provoking events that include information about the source from which the information was acquired.

Retrieval clues

hints or clues that trigger recall of information in the long term memory; a memory will activate the associated concepts in the web and bring them to short term memory too

Context effect

remembering better when you are in the same place you learned the material

Source memory

the ability to remember where one learned something. declines with age. Example: forgetting who told you a joke, and telling the person who told it to you. Most memories do not include source information, so memories for sources must be reconstructed. Source monitoring (Family stories, photographs, home videos, television.)

Background knowledge

what you already know based on your previous experiences and learning; long-term memory, where learning is permanently stored