Cognition Vocab ch. 5

Magic number

7 +/- 2 coined by Miller (1956) also known as the capacity of STM

Central executive

One component of Working memory, directs the flow of information, chooses which information will be operated on when and how

Working memory

A limited-capacity 'workspace' that can be divided between storage and control processing

Modal Model of Memory

Assumes that information is receives, processed, and stored differently for each kind of memory

Short-Term Memory (STM)

Attended information held for 20-30 seconds is stored here

Memory Trace

Encoded mental representations of the to-be-remembered information that is not rehearsed breaks down within about twenty seconds

Chunking

Grouping information into chunks in order to be able to remember more information

Hebb rule

If a synapse between two neurons is repeatedly activated at about the same time as the postsynaptic neuron fires, the structure or chemistry of the synapse changes

Primary effect

Improved recall of words at the beginning of a list (reasoning: more time to rehearse)

Recency Effect

Improved recall of words at the end of list (reasoning: fresh in memory, less items to cause interference)

Anterograde Amnesia

Inability to form and/or remember new memories

Retrograde Amnesia

Inability to remember past events

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

Information needed for longer periods of time is transferred and stored here

Retention duration

Length of time that information can be stored in STM before is it lost

Clive Wearing

Musician who contracted viral encephalitis and now suffers from forms of both retrograde and anterograde amnesia

Forgetting

Occurs when we cannot retrieve information

Long-term potentiation

Process in which neural circuits in the Hippocampus are subjected to repeated and intense electrical stimulation

Coding

Refers to the way in which information is mentally represented, the form in which the information is held

Echo

Sensory memory storage for auditory material (Also named by Neisser)

Icon

Sensory memory storage system for visual material. Holds information for up to about one second (named by Neisser, 1967)

Serial search

Type of search in which several stores of information are examined one at a time in order to match the target

Self-terminatinng search

Type of search in which several stores of information are examined to match the target and once a match is found, the search stops

Exhaustive search

Type of search in which several stores of information are examined to match the target but even if the match is found, the search continues until all options are exhausted

Parallel Search

Type of search in which several stores of information are simultaneously examined to match to the target

Sensory Memory

Unattended information presented very quickly is stored very briefly in this.

Phonological loop

Used to carry out subvocal rehearsal to maintain verbal material

Visuospatial sketch pad

Used to maintain visual material through visualization

Decay

break down of information or memory

Interference

displacement of knowledge by new knowledge

Alan Baddeley

first coined and proposed the idea of Working Memory

Proactive Interference

material learned first can disrupt retention of new information

Free Recall experiments

participants were asked to read a list of words and recall them later in any order

Serial Position effect

people are more likely to remember words that are at the beginning or end of a list of words

Encoding

process by which information is first translated into a form that other cognitive processes can use

Rehearsal

repetition of items

retrieval

the calling to mind of previously stored information