Chapter 8: Memory

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

3 ways we forget

1. encoding failure (info never entered our memory system bc we were not paying attention to it, or the info was entered inaccurately) 2. storage decay (info fades from our memory) 3. retrieval failure (we cannot access stored info accurately, sometimes due to interference or motivated forgetting)

memory stages

1. sensory memory (sense momentarily register amazing detail) 2. working/short-term memory (a few items are both noticed and encoded) 3. long-term storage (some items are altered or lost) 4. retrieval from long-term memory (depending on interference, retrieval cues, moods, and motives, some things get retrieved, some don't)

electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

glutamate

a major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory

recall

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test

recognition

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

relearning

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again (learning something more quickly when you learn it the second time)

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

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory; appears to reflect intelligence level

short-term memory

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

frontal lobes (memory)

also a processing site for explicit memories (EXPLICIT)

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories (can recall the past, but can't form new memories)

retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

long-term potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

information-processing models

analogies that compare human memory to a computer's operations

source amnesia (source misattribution)

attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories

massed practice (cramming): spacing effect

cramming information can produce speedy short-term learning and feelings of confidence

basal ganglia (memory)

deep brain structures involved in motor movement; facilitate information of our procedural memories for skills, receive input from the cortex but don't send info back to the cortex (IMPLICIT)

shallow processing

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

deep processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort; begins with sensory memory

testing effect (or retrieval practice effect/test-enhanced learning)

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply reading, information

review of key memory structures in the brain

frontal lobes and hippocampus: explicit memory formation cerebellum and basal ganglia: implicit memory formation amygdala: emotion-related memory formation

recency effect

immediate recall: last items remembered best

repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

misinformation effect

incorporating misleading info into one's memory of an event

primacy effect

later recall: only first items recalled well

positive transfer

mastery of one task aids learning or performing another

reconsolidation

memories can become vulnerable to disruption when they are recalled, requiring them to become consolidated again

mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices (ex: peg-word system)

explicit memory (or declarative memory)

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

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

cerebellum (memory)

plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit memories created by classical conditioning (IMPLICIT)

hippocampus (memory)

processing site for explicit memories (EXPLICIT)

distributed practice: spacing effect

produces better long-term recall

alzheimer's

progressive mental deterioration characterized by severe memory loss; explicit memories for people and events are lost, but can form new implicit memories

implicit memory (or nondeclarative memory)

retention independent of conscious recollection; produced from automatic processing

sleep (memory)

sleep supports memory consolidation; during deep sleep the hippocampus processes memories for later retrieval

amygdala

stress hormones provoke the amygdala (two limbic system, emotion-processing clusters) to initiate a memory trace in the frontal lobes and basal ganglia and to boost activity in the brain's memory-forming (EMOTION-RELATED MEMORY FORMATION)

deja vu

that eerie sense that you've experienced something before. cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

retroactive interference (backward-acting)

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

proactive interference (forward-acting)

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

CREB

the molecular messenger that brings news to the nucleus that more protein is needed; more creb the more protien synthesis and stronger synapse becomes

memory

the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

encoding

the processing of information into the memory system; getting info into our brain (ex: by extracting meaning)

long-term memory

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

storage

the retention of encoded information over time; retaining info

spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

mood-congruent memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

connectionism

theory that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections between neurons, many of which can work together to process a single memory

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings; happens without our awareness