Chapter 6

Long-term memory p. 211

A relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for a long time.

Script p. 216

A schema for an event. Often have information about physical features, people and typical occurrence.

Autobiographical memory p. 223

A special form of episodic memory consisting of a persons recollections of his or her life experiences.

Tip-of-the-tounge (TOT) phenomenon p. 233

A tupe pf effortful retrieval associate with a person's feeling that he or she knows something (say a word or a name) but can't quite pull it out of memory.

Atkinson-Shiffrin theory p. 207

Sensory memory: time frames of a fraction of a second to several seconds. Short term memory: time frames up to 30 seconds. Long term memory: time frames up to a lifetime.

Retroactive interference p. 232

Situation in which material that was learned later disrupts the retrieval of information that was learned earlier.

levels of precessing p. 204

A continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory.

Anterograde amnesia p. 234

A memory disorder that affects the retention of new information and events.

Semantic memory p.213

A persons's knowledge about the world.

Schema p. 216

A preexisting mental concept or framework that helps people to organize and interpret information. Schemas from prior encounters with the environment influence the way individuals encode, make inferences about and retrieve information.

Encoding p. 203

The first step in memory. The process by which information gets into memory storage. When you are listening to a lecture, watching a play, reading a book or talking with a friend, you are encoding information into memory. Some information takes effort. Some encoding processes that require effort include attention, deep processing, elaboration and the use of mental imagery.

Elaboration p. 204

The formation of a number of different connections around a stimulus at any given level of memory encoding.

Amnesia p. 234

The loss of memory

Flashbulb memory p. 224

The memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery than everyday events.

Retrieval p. 220

The memory process that occurs when information that was retained in memory comes out of storage.

Episodic memory p.213

The retention of information about the where, when, and what of life's happenings- that is, how individuals remember life's episodes.

Memory p. 202

The retention of information or experience over time as the result of three key processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Serial position effect p. 220

The tendency to recall the items at the beginning and end of a lis more readily than those in the middle.

Connectionism (parallel distributed processing: PDP) p. 216

The theory that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections among neurons, several of which may work together to process a single memory.

Decay theory p. 233

Theory stating that when an individual learns something new, a neurochemical memory trace forms, but over time this trace disintegrates; suggests that the passage of time always increases forgetting.

Motivated forgetting p. 226

forgetting that occurs when something is so painful or anxiety laden that remembering it is intolerable.

Divided attention p. 203

Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time. Divided attention can be especially detrimental to encoding.

Storage p. 207

Encompasses how information is retained over time and how it is represented in memory.

Procedural memory p. 215

Implicit memory process that involves memory skills.

Proactive interference p. 232

Occurs when material that was learned earlier disrupts the recall of material learned later.

Short-term memory p. 208

Limited capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 seconds unless we use strategies to retain it longer.

Implicit memory (non declarative memory) p. 214

Memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without a conscious recollection of that experience.

Retrograde amnesia p. 234

Memory loss for a segment of the past but not for new events.

Sensory memory p.207

Memory system that involves holding information from the world in its original sensory form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses.

Interference theory p. 232

People forget not because memories are lost from storage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember.

Working memory p. 209

Refers to a combination of components including short term memory and attention that allow us to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. Working memory is not the same thing as short term memory.

Prospective memory p. 233

Remembering information about doing something in the future; includes memory for intentions.

Retrospective memory p. 233

Remembering information from the past.

Priming p. 215

The activation of information that people already have in storage to help them remember new information better and faster.

Explicit memory (declarative memory) p. 212

The conscious recollection of information such as specific facts or events and at least in humans information that can be verbally communicated.

sustained attention p. 203

Vigilance. The ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time.