AP Psychology :Unit 4 - Cognition
Mnemonic Devices
(Memory aids.) Like in the Method of Loci Ex. Visual imagery, Peg word system, ROY G BIV, Acronym-HOMES
Echoic Memory
A brief auditory memory
Iconic Memory
A brief visual memory
Flashbulb Memories
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event
Encoding Failure
Not getting information into LT Memory
Recall
* You must retrieve the information from your memory. Ex. Fill-in-the-blank or essay test.
Recognition
*You must identify the target from possible targets. Ex. Mutiple Choice Test
Anterograde Amnesia
A loss of ability to create new memories while long-term memories remain intact. Usually caused by damage to the hippocampus Can be caused by alcohol intoxication (i.e. blackouts)
Sensory Memory
A split second holding tank for ALL sensory information Two Types- Iconic Memory and Echoic Memory
Forgetting
Anterograde Amnesia, Retrograde Amnesia and Encoding Failure
Source Amnesia( source misattribution)
Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about or imagined This is often at the heart of "false memories"
Dual- Track Memory
Autonomic Vs. Effortful Processing
Ways to Remember Things in STM....so they go to LTM
Chunking, Mnemonic Devices, Rehearsal, Hierarchies
Effortful Processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.
Retrograde Amnesia
Form of amnesia where someone is unable to recall events that occurred before the development of amnesia. Commonly results from damage to the temporal lobes or hippocampus
Hierarchies
Help us organize and thus remember information. The human brain likes order-hierarchies help us get that.
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories from consciousness.
Misinformation Effect
Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
The Hippocampus
Is involved in storing explicit memories. The Cerebellum is involved in storing implicit memories. Damage to the Hippocampus disrupts your memory.
Long Term Potential
Is the long-lasting enhancement in signal transmission between 2 neurons. When learning occurs more serotonin is released into the synapses.
Rehearsal
Is the most common effortful processing technique
Storing Memories
Long Term Potential
Explicit Memories
Memory of facts and experiences that you can consciously know and declare. (Declarative Memory) Episodic Memories (events): autobiographical memory (Experience) Semantic Memories (facts): Knowledge about the world
State Dependent Memories
Mood congruent memories when in a certain mood, its easier to recall memories that fit the mood.
Retroactive Interference
New information blocks out old information. Like getting a new bus # and forgetting the old one
Proactive Interference
Old information blocks out new information Like calling your New girlfriend by her the old girlfriend
Chunking
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units.
Parallel Processing
Our dual tracking brain processing many things simultaneously(some of them unconsciously)
Serial Position Effect
Our tendency to recall best the last and first items on a list.
Mnemonic for the Interference Theory
Proactive Old Information blocking out new info. Retroactive New information blocking out old info.
Parts Of Memory
Recall and Recognition
Repetition Priming
Refers to the fact that it is easier to recognize a face or word if you have recently seen that same face or word.
Semantic Priming
Refers to the fact that it is easier to recognize a person or a word if you have just seen something closely associated with them/it.
Testing Effect
Repeated self-testing better than simply re-reading. This is like when reading a textbook that ask you questions throughout the lesson and at the unit.
Rehearsal
Repetition, Repetition, etc.
Motivated Forgetting
Repression and Retrieval Failure
Types of Encoding
Semantic Encoding, Acoustic Encoding, Visual Encoding.
Déjà Vu
That eerie sense that you have experienced something before.
Storage
The Retention of encoded material over time (holding on to the information.)
Semantic Encoding
The encoding of meaning like the meaning of words.
Visual Encoding
The encoding of picture images
Acoustic Encoding
The encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words.
Retrieval Failure
The memory was encoded and stored, but sometimes you just cannot access the memory, (Like the Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon)
Memory
The persistence of learning over time through: information that has been acquired, stored and can be retrieved.
Retrieval
The process of getting the information out of memory storage (Getting the information back out)
Encoding
The processing of information into the memory system. (Getting information into our brains)
Short Term Memory
The stuff we encode from sensory memory goes to STM. (Holds about 7(+ or -2] items for about 20 seconds). We recall random digits better than random letters. Information unrehearsed will decay in about 12 seconds.
Retrieval Cues
Things that help us remember. We often use a process called priming (the activation of associations in our memory)
Implicit Memories
Unconscious encoding of incidental information(Non-Declarative Memory) Procedural Memories (skills) like riding a bike, or classical conditioned memories (learning to do something)
Long Term Memory
Unlimited storehouse of information. It can last days, months, or years. 3 Ways memories are measured- Recall, Recognition, Relearning.
Spacing Effect
We encode better when we study a practice over time.
Interference
When something familiar gets in the way of remembering something else
Storage Decay
Without rehearsal, we forget things over time Even when we encode something well, we can forget it. Remember Herman Ebbinghaus
Automatic Processing
You encode space, time and word meaning without effort.