Memory

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 is perceived as a discrete piece of information.

Hippocampus

A structure in the limbic system that plays an important role in the formation of new memories.

Sensory register

A system of memory that holds information briefly, but long enough so that it can be processed further. There may be a sensory register for every sense.

Schema

A way of mentally representing the world, such as a belief or an expectation, that can influence perception of persons, objects, and situations.

Memory trace

An assumed change in the nervous system that reflects the impression made by a stimulus. Memory traces are said to be held in sensory registers.

Engram

An assumed electrical circuit in the brain that corresponds to a memory trace.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Enhanced efficiency in synaptic transmission that follows brief, rapid stimulation.

anterograde amnesia

Failure to remember events that occurred after physical trauma because of the effects of the trauma.

Retrograde amnesia

Failure to remember events that occurred prior to physical trauma because of the effects of the trauma.

Semantic memory

General Knowledge, as opposed to episodic memory.

Recognition

In information processing, the easiest memory task, involving identification of objects or events encountered before.

Displace

In memory theory, to cause information to be lost from short-term memory by adding new information.

Infantile amnesia

Inability to recall events that occurred prior to the age of 2 or 3. Also termed childhood amnesia.

state dependent memory

Info that is better retrieved in the physiological or emotional state in which it was encoded and stored, or learned.

Context-dependent memory

Information that is better retrieved in the context in which it was encoded and stored, or learned.

Saccadic eye movement

The rapid jumps made by a person's eyes as they fixate on different points.

Echoic memory

The sensory register that briefly holds mental representations of auditory stimuli.

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.

Primacy effect

The tendency to recall the initial items in a series of items.

Recency effect

The tendency to recall the last items in a series of items.

Sensory memory

The type or stage of memory first encountered by a stimulus. Sensory memory holds impressions briefly, but long enough so that series of perceptions are psychologically continuous.

Interference theory

The view that we may forget stored material because other learning interferes with it.

Dissociative amnesia

amnesia thought to stem from psychological conflict or trauma.

Long-term memory

he type or stage of memory capable of relatively permanent storage.

encoding

modifying information so that it can be placed in memory; the first stage of information processing.

Metamemory

self-awarness of the ways in which memory functions, allowing the person to encode, store, and retrieve information effectively.

Repression

the theory in which the ejection of anxiety-evoking ideas from conscious awareness.

Memory

The processes by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved.

Nonsense syllables

Meaningless sets of two consonants, with a vowel sandwiched in between, that are used to study 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.

Retrospective 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

Implicit memory

Memory that is suggested (implied) but not plainly expressed, as illustrated in the things that people do but do not 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 of information in order to keep it in memory

Semantic code

Mental representation of information according to its meaning.

Visual code

Mental representation of information as a picture.

Acoustic code

Mental representation of information as a sequence of sounds.

Paired associates

Nonsense syllables presented in pairs in experiments that measure recall.

Recall

Retrieval or reconstruction of learned material.

Working Memory

Same as short-term memory.

Priming

The activation of specific associations in memory, often as a result of repetition and without making a conscious effort to acess the memory.

Tip of the tounge (TOT) phenomenon

The feeling that information is stored in memory although it cannot be readily retrieved. Also called the feeling-of-knowing experience.

Proactive interference

The interference by old learning with the ability to retrieve material learned recently.

Retroactive interference

The interference of new learning with the ability to retrieve material learned previously.

Elaborative rehearsal

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 Imagery

The maintenance of detailed visual memories over several minutes.

Storage

The maintenance of information over time; the second stage of information processing.