Psychology Chapter 8 - Memory

cerebellum

A large structure of the hindbrain that controls implicit memories.

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

Blocking

Accessibility of information is temporarily blocked

Stroop Effect

Explains the decreased speed of naming the color of ink used to print words when the color of ink and the word itself are of different colors.

Elizabeth Smart

FBI didn't want to corrupt a girl's memories in order to find her sister

Persistence

Inability to forget undesirable memories

Bias

Memories are distorted by current belief system

Memory construction

Occurs during retrieval. Memory is a construct of the mind and therefore can be updated with new info and experiences.

Memory reconstruction

Remembering past events and features of these events and putting them together during memory recall.

Misattribution

Source of memory is confused

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Absentmindedness

a lapse in attention that results in memory failure

elaborative rehearsal

a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way

Semantic Memory

a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

misinformation effect paradigm

after exposure to incorrect information, a person may misremember the original event

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

Retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

neurotransmitter

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons

Ebbinghaus

created the forgetting curve and serial position effect in memory

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Transience

forgetting over time

equipotentiality hypothesis

if part of one area of the brain involved in memory is damaged, another part of the same area can take over that memory function

Relearning

learning information that was previously learned

Amnesia

loss of memory

Explicit memories

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

false memory syndrome

recall of false autobiographical memories

Amygdala

regulates emotions such as fear and aggression. Storage is influenced by stress hormones

Implicit memories

retention independent of conscious recollection

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory

mneumonic devices

strategies for enhancing memory

arousal theory

stronger emotions trigger stronger memories, and weaker emotions form weaker memories

self-reference effect

tendency to better remember information relevant to ourselves

Recognition

the ability to match a piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact

Declarative memory

the cognitive information retrieved from explicit memory; knowledge that can be declared

Episodic Memory

the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place

Rehearsal

the conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage

Storage

the creation of a permanent record of information

retroactive interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

Proactive inferference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

Semantic Encoding

the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words

Visual Encoding

the encoding of picture images

Acoustic encoding

the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words

procedural memory

the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or "knowing how" to do things

Engram

the group of neurons that serve as the "physical representation of memory"

Sensory Memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

Forgetting

the inability to retrieve memory from long-term storage

Encoding

the input of information into the memory system

persistence

the intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget

Memory consolidation

the neural storage of a long-term memory

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

Memory

the set of processes used to encode, store and retrieve information over different periods of time

Suggestibility

the tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections

Automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings