Chapter 7

synaptic consolidation

A process of consolidation that involves structural changes at synapses that happen rapidly, over a period of minutes.

reactivation

A process that occurs during memory consolidation, in which the hippocampus replays the neural activity associated with a memory. During reactivation, activity occurs in the network connecting the hippocampus and the cortex. This activity results in the formation of connections between the cortical areas.

graded amnesia

When amnesia is most severe for events that occurred just prior to an injury and becomes less severe for earlier, more remote events.

Retrieval

___________ cues help us remember information that has been stored in memory.

generation effect

Memory for material is better when a person generates the material him- or herself, rather than passively receiving it.

Standard model of consolidation

Proposes that memory retrieval depends on the hippocampus during consolidation, but that once consolidation is complete, retrieval no longer depends on the hippocampus.

when a memory is reactivated, it becomes capable of being changed or altered, just as it was immediately after it was formed.

Recent research on memory, based largely on fear conditioning in rats, indicates that

state-dependent learning

learning that is associated with a particular internal state, such as mood or state of awareness

Deep processing

processing that involves attention to meaning and relating an item to something else; usually associated with elaborative rehearsal

Shallow processing

processing that involves repetition with little attention to meaning; usually associated with maintenance rehearsal

familiarity effect

re-reading causes material to become familiar, so when you encounter it a second time, there is a tendency to interpret this familiarity as indicating that you know the material.

paired-associate learning

A learning task in which participants are first presented with pairs of words, then one word of each pair is presented and the task is to recall the other word.

cued recall

A procedure for testing memory in which a participant is presented with cues, such as words or phrases, to aid recall of previously experienced stimuli.

d. Making a connection between each word and something you've previously learned

According to the levels of processing theory, which of the following tasks will produce the best long-term memory for a set of words? a. Generating a rhyming word for each word to be remembered b. Repeating the words over and over in your mind c. Deciding how many vowels each word has d. Making a connection between each word and something you've previously learned.

encoding.

Acquiring information and transforming it into long-term memory is

organizational context

Bransford and Johnson's study had participants hear a passage, which turned out to be about a man on the street serenading his girlfriend in a tall building. The wording of the passage made it difficult to understand, but looking at a picture made it easier to understand. The results of this study illustrated the importance of ___________ in forming reliable long-term memories.

increased firing in the neurons

Hebb's idea of long-term potentiation, which provides a physiological mechanism for the long-term storage of memories, includes the idea of

retrograde amnesia

Loss of memory for something that happened prior to an injury or traumatic event such as a concussion.

self-reference effect

Memory for a word is improved by relating the word to the self.

Retrieval

brings information from LTM back into working memory

testing effect

the enhanced performance due to retrieval practice

coding

the form in which stimuli are represented

reconsolidation

the idea that when a memory is retrieved, it becomes fragile, like it was when it was originally formed, and that when it is in this fragile state, it needs to be consolidated again, and before it has been, it can be modified or eliminated.

long-term potentiation (LTP)

the increased firing that occurs in a neuron due to prior activity at the synapse

consolidation

the process that transforms new memories into a state in which they are more resistant to disruption

spacing effect

The advantage in performance caused by short study sessions separated by breaks from studying

temporal context model (TCM)

The context at the time of the memory test is most similar to the context associated with recent items and when an item is retrieved, it reinstates the context that was active when the item was studied

level processing theory

The idea that memory depends on how information is encoded, with better memory being achieved when processing is deep that than when processing is shallow. Deep processing involves attention to meaning and is associated with elaborative rehearsal. Shallow processing involves repetition with little attention to meaning and is associated with maintenance rehearsal

multiple trace model of consolidation

The idea that the hippocampus is involved in the retrieval of remote memories, especially episodic memories. This contrasts with the standard model of memory, which proposes that the hippocampus is involved only in the retrieval of recent memories.

proactive interference

occurs when previously learned information interferes with learning new information

Katie should perform better because of the spacing effect.

Katie and Alana are roommates taking the same psychology class. They have a test in four days during a 10:00-11:00 AM class period. Both women intend to study for three hours, but because of different work schedules, Katie will study one hour for each of the next three days, while Alana will study three hours the day before the exam. What could you predict about their performances?

Highlighting

Research shows that ___________ does not improve reading comprehension because it does not encourage elaborative processing of the material.

remote

Retrograde amnesia is usually less severe for ______ memories

depth of processing

The idea that the processing that occurs as an item is being encoded into memory can be deep or shallow. Deep processing involves attention to meaning and is associated with elaborative rehearsal. Shallow processing involves repetition with little attention to meaning and is associated with maintenance rehearsal.

strongly active when memories are first formed and being consolidated but becomes less active when retrieving older memories that are already consolidated

The standard model of consolidation proposes that the hippocampus is

organization

The story in the text about the balloons that were used to suspend a speaker in mid-air was used to illustrate the role of ___________ in memory.

the type of encoding task matches the type of retrieval task.

Transfer-appropriate processing is likely to occur if

retrieval practice effect

Try to recall important concepts from memory; if retrieval is difficult—and you succeed—your learning is enhanced.

transfer-appropriate processing

When the type of task that occurs during encoding matched the type of task that occurs during retrieval. This type of processing can result in enhanced memory

a failure of memory consolidation.

Your book explains that brief episodes of retrograde amnesia (e.g., the traumatic disruption of newly formed memories when a football player takes a hit to the head and can't recall the last play before the hit) reflect

Consolidation

___________ transforms new memories from a fragile state, in which they can be disrupted, to a more permanent state, in which they are resistant to disruption.

classifier

a computer program designed to recognize patterns of voxel activity

systems consolidation

a consolidation process that involves the gradual reorganization of circuits within brain regions and takes place on a long time scale, lasting weeks, months, or even years

multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA)

a procedure for determining the pattern of voxel activation that is elicited by specific stimuli, within various structures

free recall

a procedure for testing memory in which the participant is asked to remember stimuli that were previously presented

retrieval cue

a word or other stimulus that helps a person remember information stored in memory

maintenance rehearsal

rehearsal that involves repetition without any consideration of meaning or making connections to other information

Elaborative rehearsal

rehearsal that involves thinking about the meaning of an item to be remembered or making connections between that item and prior knowledge

The principle that we encode information together with its context is known as encoding

specificity.The principle that we encode information together with its context is known as encoding

encoding

the process used to get information into LTM

encoding specificity

we encode information along with its context