Psychology- Memory
Amygdala
A limbic system structure involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear and aggression.
When Lisa earns a perfect score on a(n) _____ test in history, she passes a _____ test of memory.
essay; recall
Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory
exceptionally accurate memory for autobiographical memory, larger temporal lobe, larger caudate
Mabel has Alzheimer's disease and her _____ memories for people and events are lost, but she is able to display an ability to form new _____ memories by being repeatedly shown words.
explicit; implicit
Leroy has a very clear memory of his daughter's birth. He remembers the weather, what he was wearing, the sounds in the hallway, and the joy he felt. Psychologists would say that
he has a flashbulb memory for this event
Nine-year-old Jade has just discovered something very interesting. She can look at a picture in a book and, when she closes her eyes, she can still see the picture very clearly for a few tenths of a second. Jade is experiencing _____ memory.
iconic
Hippocampus
a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage. The memories are not permanently stored. acts as a loading dock where the brain registers and temporarily holds the elements of a to-be-remembered episode—its smell, tough, sound, and location. Then, like older files shifted to a basement storeroom, memories migrate to the cortex for storage. This storage process is called memory consolidation
Employing the single word "HOMES" to remember the names of North America's five Great Lakes best illustrates the use of
a mnemonic device
echoic memory
a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
iconic memory
a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second
Luke experiences some damage to his cerebellum. Based on information provided in the textbook, Luke's _____ memory may be impaired.
implicit
The textbook uses the term memoryless memory to refer to priming because priming is a type of _____ memory
implicit
Hippocampus damage typically leaves people unable to learn new facts or recall recent events. However, they may be able to learn new skills, such as riding a bicycle, which is an
implicit memory
What type of memory is not consciously accessible to us?
implicit memory
misinformation effect
incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event
As strange as it may seem, James has run into the same co-worker four times today, in four different locations. He gets a little nervous, wondering if she is following him. His ability to unconsciously keep track of the number of times he has run into the co-worker is known as
automatic processing.
right frontal lobe
calling up a visual party scene; depression and general negativity
The misinformation effect highlights the:
changeability of memory
It is easier to remember information that is organized into meaningful units than information that is not. This is known as _____.
chunking
damage to hippocampus
disrupts recall and formation of explicit memories
Although Ron typically smokes two packs of cigarettes each day, he recalls smoking little more than one pack per day. This poor memory BEST illustrates:
motivated forgetting
Jamal's brother often pretends to listen to what Jamal is saying when his brother is really focused elsewhere. When Jamal asks him, "What did I just say?" his brother can sometimes repeat Jamal's last few words. This MOST likely reflects his _____ memory.
echoic
Studying for a psychology test requires _____. It takes attention and conscious work, but pays off with lasting and accessible memories.
effortful processing
Carlos cannot remember Juan Alvarez's name because he was not paying attention when Juan was formally introduced. Carlos' poor memory is BEST explained in terms of _____ failure.
encoding
What are three ways we forget, and how does each of these happen?
encoding failure- unattended information never entered our memory system storage decay- information fades from our memory retrieval failure- we cannot access stored information accurately, sometimes due to interference or motivated forgetting
positive transfer
when old information facilitates the learning of new information
Jamaal has to make an important phone call. Unfortunately, his cell phone is not charged and he has to use his landline, which does not store phone numbers. To make the call, he has to get the number from his cell phone and remember it long enough to dial on his landline. For this task, _____ memory is MOST important.
working
EFFORTFUL PROCESSING
•Explicit/declarative memory: consciously stores facts, info, and personal life experiences •Semantic memory: facts & general knowledge •Episodic memory: personal experiences & events
Chunking
organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
primacy effect
other things being equal, information presented first usually has the most influence
serial position effect
our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list
left frontal lobe
positive emotions; location of the Broca's area; Recalling a password and holding it in working memory
When bits of information do not compete with each other, and actually facilitate memory, it is called:
positive transfer
"Cat food, cola, toothpaste . . ." Ned's roommate recites items over the phone as he throws his books in the back seat and gets into his car. Ned is supposed to stop at the store on the way home. The roommate continues to list a few more items. Finally, he wraps up, ". . . coffee creamer, spaghetti sauce, dish soap, and iced tea mix." Ned forgets a couple of things, but he does get the cat food, cola, and toothpaste. His memory for these items reflects the _____ effect
primacy
In the process of retrieving a specific memory from a web of associations, a person needs to activate one of the strands that lead to it. This is known as _____
priming
Nana is taking a Spanish final at the end of the spring semester. The problem is that the French vocabulary she learned the semester before keeps getting in the way, causing her to forget Spanish words. Nana is experiencing _____ interference.
proactive
_____ interference occurs when something learned before interferes with one's recall of something learned later.
proactive
In _____ interference, information learned earlier disrupts the recall of information learned more recently; in _____ interference, recently learned information disrupts the recall of information learned earlier.
proactive; retroactive
With respect to interference, _____ is to forgetting new information as _____ is to forgetting old information
proactive; retroactive
If one has NOT studied well for a test, in which format is one likely to get a higher score
recognition
The spacing effect
refers to the finding that long-term memory is enhanced when learning events are spaced apart in time, rather than massed in immediate succession
Tarik has a chemistry test in two days. He has to memorize the elements on the periodic table, so he writes them on index cards. He keeps the cards with him at all times and frequently reads through them. Tarik is using _____ to encode information in short-term memory for longer-term storage.
rehearsal
Through conscious repetition of information in short-term memory, humans can encode information for long-term storage. This is known as _____.
rehearsal
Mrs. Alvarez cannot consciously recall how frequently she criticizes her children because it would cause her too much anxiety. Sigmund Freud would have suggested that her poor memory illustrates a defense mechanism called _____.
repression
The happier Choiya feels, the more readily she recalls experiences with former teachers who were warm and generous. This best illustrates that emotional states can be
retrieval clues
Specific odors, visual images, emotions, or other associations that help us access a memory are examples of
retrieval cues
You will experience less (proactive/retroactive) interference if you learn new material in the hour before sleep than you will if you learn it before turning to another subject.
retroactive
After studying biology all afternoon, Alonzo is having difficulty remembering details of the organic chemistry material he memorized that morning. Alonzo's difficulty BEST illustrates
retroactive interference
Dana is suffering from _____ when she fails to remember events preceding traumatic brain injury
retrograde amnesia
Phone companies created seven-digit phone numbers because this amount BEST suits the capacity of one's:
short term memory
After Maya gave her friend the password to a protected website, the friend was able to remember it only long enough to type it into the password box. In this instance, the password was clearly stored in her _____ memory.
short-term
In a movie the main character has to write everything on his body and take notes, otherwise he quickly forgets. This is because he has sustained an injury that has left him without _____ memory.
short-term
Several months after watching a science fiction movie about space travel and alien abduction, Daniel began to remember that aliens had abducted him and had subjected him to many of the horrors portrayed in the movie. His mistaken recall BEST illustrates _____ amnesia.
source
Victor has been working 70-hour work weeks and has been getting his days and nights mixed up, as well as having trouble separating his dreams from reality. Just yesterday, he thought a project had been completed, but in reality it was only a dream. This problem is known as _____ amnesia.
source
retrieval cues
stimuli that aid the recall or recognition of information stored in memory
stress hormones
stress hormones focus memory. Stress provokes the amygdala (two limbic systems, emotion-processing clusters) to initiate a memory trace that boosts activity in the brain's memory-forming areas stressful events can form unforgettable memories
The hippocampus seems to function as a
temporary processing site for explicit memories.
dejavu
that eerie sense that "I've experienced this before." Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.
Recent research by Ravizza and colleagues suggests that students may spend as much as one-_____ of a typical class hour browsing the internet.
third
left hippocampus damage
trouble remembering verbal information, no trouble recalling visual designs and locations
right hippocampus damage
trouble remembering visual designs and locations
If the functioning of one's cerebellum is impaired, one would have trouble
tying a knot
left hippocampus
verbal information
right hippocampus
visual designs and locations
mood-congruent memory
the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood
In the Pew Survey
95 percent of American adults said they could recall exactly where they were or what they were doing when they first heard the news of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
flashbulb memory
A clear and vivid long-term memory of an especially meaningful and emotional event.
Repression (defense mechanism)
- Involuntary blocking of unpleasant feelings and experiences from ones awareness. EX: An accident victim can remember nothing about the accident
pre-frontal cortex
-associated w/ planning intricate cognitive functions, expressing personality, & making decisions -Receives arousal from brainstem: coordinates arousal
infintile amnesia
-no explicit memories lower than about age 3 -hippocampus is later developing we index much of our explicit memory with a command of language that young children do not possess. Second, the hippocampus is one of the last brain structures to mature, and as it does, more gets retained
Some individuals have an amazing ability to remember things. For example, college student Feng Wang could repeat back _____ digits.
200
Imagine a study in which participants are shown 2000 slides of houses and storefronts, each for only 10 seconds. Later, these same participants are shown 300 of the original slides paired with slides they have not seen before. According to research, these participants would be able to recognize _____ percent of the slides they had seen before.
90
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
peg-word system
A mnemonic in which the items in a list to be remembered are associated with the sequential items in a memorized jingle and then the list is retrieved by going through the jingle and retrieving the associated items.
working memory
A newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.
testing effect
Enhanced performance on a memory test caused by being tested on the material to be remembered.
On a business trip last year, Erum, who really hates to fly, and Pam flew from Los Angeles to Boston. In the middle of the flight, they experienced 20 minutes of very severe turbulence. Erum remembers this incident as if it were yesterday, but Pam cannot recall it. Why
Erum experienced emotion-triggered hormonal changes
sensory memory
Holds sensory information just long enough for our brain to locate relevant bits of data and transfer it to the next stage •large capacity •Short duration
implicit memory
Memories we don't deliberately remember or reflect on consciously
subregions of hippocampus
One part is active as people and mice learn social information. Another part is active as memory champions engage in spatial mnemonics. The rear area, which processes spatial memory, grows bigger as London cabbies navigate the city's complicated maze of streets
automatic processing
Procedural memory: motor skills and habits Priming: prior exposure to stimuli affects the processing of new information even when you don't have any conscious memory of the initial learning and storage Classically conditioned memory: conditioned responses to conditioned stimuli like fears
Hierachies
When people develop expertise, they process information not only into chunks but into hierarchies composed of a few broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts.
recognition
a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test
reconsolidation
a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again
basal ganglia
a set of subcortical structures that directs intentional movements; facilitate formation of our procedural memories for skills. receives input from the cortex, but does not return the favor of sending information back to the cortex for conscious awareness of procedural learning.
autobiographical memory
a special form of episodic memory, consisting of a person's recollections of his or her life experiences
classical conditioning
a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events
production effect
an improvement in recall and recognition resulting from saying the material aloud during rehearsal
long-term potentiation
an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.
frontal lobe
associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving
source amnesia
attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined
memoryless memory
invisible memory without explicit remembering
Consolidation
is the process where our brains convert short-term memories into long-term ones
James has suffered hippocampal damage from a near-fatal bus crash. He is not able to remember verbal information, but retains the ability to recall visual designs and locations. He may have suffered damage to his:
left hippocampus
retrograde amnesia
loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backwards, or loss of memory for the past
tunnel vision
loss of peripheral vision, can be triggered by emotional events. They focus our attention and recall on high-priority information, and reduce our recall of irrelevant details
false memories
memories for events that never happened, but were suggested by someone or something; socially contagious
Mnenomics
memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
A research participant is required to report as much of a poem as he can remember immediately after having read the poem once. The greatest number of recall errors should occur for lines _____ of the poem
middle
Cerebellum
the "little brain" at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance role in forming and storing the implicit memories created by classical conditioning With a damaged cerebellum, people cannot develop certain conditioned reflexes, such as associating a tone with an impending puff of air—and thus do not blink in anticipation of the puff. Implicit memory formation needs the cerebellum.
storage decay
the course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time
retroactive interference
the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information; backward acting
proactive interference
the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information; forward acting
encoding specificity principle
the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it
retrieval cue failure
the inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues
anterograde amnesia
the inability to transfer new information from the short-term store into the long-term store; inability to form new memories
memory consolidation
the neural storage of a long-term memory Sleep supports memory consolidation. In one experiment, students who learned material in a study/sleep/restudy condition remembered material better
state-dependent retrieval
the tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same state during encoding and retrieval