Psych Chapter 7: Memory
Memory trace
An assumed change in the nervous system the reflects the impression made by a stimulus
Infantile Amnesia
Cognitive explanations: No interest in remembering the past, Specific episodes versus networks of memories, Unreliable use of symbolic language
Nonsense syllables (Ebbinghaus)
Depend on acoustic coding and maintenance rehearsal, CVC strings (consonant, vowel, consonant)
Déjà vu
Doing something that is similar to something that you did in the past
Recognition
E.g. multiple choice
Repression
In Freud's psychodynamic theory, the ejection of anxiety-evoking ideas from conscious awareness
Displace
In memory theory, to cause information to be lost from short-term memory by adding new information
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to remember new information (more common)
Retrograde amnesia
Inability to remember old information (less common)
Script
Knowing what you're supposed to do in a certain situation through memory; e.g. going to a restaurant and knowing that you are supposed to sit down, look at the menu, order, etc.
Method of Savings
A measure of retention in which the difference between the number of repetitions originally required to learn a list and the number of repetitions required to relearn the list after a certain amount of time has elapsed is calculated
Icon
A mental representation of a visual stimulus that is held briefly in sensory memory
Echo
A mental representation of an auditory stimulus (sound) that is held briefly in sensory memory
Chunk
A stimulus or group of stimuli that are perceived as a discrete piece of information
Sensory register
A system of memory that holds information briefly, but long enough so that it can be processed further
Schema
A way of mentally representing the world, such as a belief or an expectation, that can influence perception of persons, objects and situations
Metamemory
Self-awareness of the ways in which memory functions, allowing the person to encode, store, and retrieve information effectively
Effectiveness of Memory
Semantic - deep, Visual - shallow, Acoustic - shallow
Flashbulb memories
Tend to remember events that are important and emotionally stirring
Priming
The activation of specific associations in memory, often as a result of repetition and without making a conscious effort to access the memory
Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon
The feeling that information is stored in memory although it cannot be readily retrieved, also known as feeling-of-knowing experience
Sensory memory
The first stage of memory that occurs as one encounters a stimulus. Holds impressions briefly, but long enough so that series of perceptions are psychologically continuous
Elaborative memory
The kind of coding in which new information is related to information that is already known
Retrieval
The location of stored information and its return to consciousness. The third stage of information processing
Eidetic memory
The maintenance of detailed visual memories over several minutes
Storage
The maintenance of information over time. The second stage in information processing
Saccadic eye movement
The rapid eye movements that the eyes make as they focus on different points
Iconic memory
The sensory register that briefly holds mental representations of visual stimuli
Serial-position effect
The tendency to recall more accurately the first and last items in a series
Interference Theory
The theory that we may forget stored material because other learning interferes with it
Long-term memory
The type or stage of memory capable of relatively permanent storage
Short-term memory
The type or stage of memory that can hold information for up to a minute or so after the trace of stimulus decays. Also called working memory, 7+or-2 is the limit, within 7 minutes someone can remember something, past that point they usually can't remember it unless they put it into their long-term memory
Recall
You have to come up with the answers without any hints
Long-term potentiation
Enhanced efficiency in synaptic transmission following a period of brief, rapid stimulation
Semantic memory
General knowledge, as opposed to episodic memory
Rote
Mechanical associative learning that is based on repetition
Episodic memory
Memories of events experienced by a person or that take place in the person's presence
Retroresponsive memory
Memory for past events, activities, and learning experiences, as shown by explicit (episodic and semantic) and implicit memories
Explicit memory
Memory that clearly and distinctly expresses specific information
Context-dependent memory
Memory that is more easily retrieved when in the context or setting in which said memory was encoded and stored, or learned
State-dependent memory
Memory that is more easily retrieved when in the physiological or emotional state in which it was encoded and stored, or learned
Implicit memory
Memory that is suggested/implied, but not plainly expressed, as illustrated in things that people do but don't state clearly
Prospective memory
Memory to perform an act in the future, as at a certain time or when a certain event occurs
Maintenance rehearsal
Mental repetition to keep it in memory
Semantic meaning
Mental representation of information according to its meaning
Visual code
Mental representation of information as a picture
Acoustic code
Mental representation of information as acoustic sound
Encoding
Modifying information so that it can be placed in memory. The first stage is information processing
Retroactive Interference
New learning interferes with the retrieval of old learning, new to old
Long-term memory
Often reconstructed, no known limit for amount of information stored in long-term memory
Proactive Interference
Older learning interferes with the capacity to retrieve more recently learned material, old to new