psych chapter 6

method of savings

a measure of retention in which the difference between the number of repetitions originally required to learn a list and the number of repetitions required to relearn the list after a certain amount of time has elapsed is calculated

relearning

a measure of retention. material is usually relearned more quickly that it is learned initially.

icon

a mental representation of a visual stimulus that is held briefly in sensory memory

echo

a mental representation of an auditory stimulus (sound) that is held briefly in sensory memory.

elaborative rehearsal

a method for increasing retention of new information by relating it to information that is well known.

chunk

a stimulus or group of stimuli that are perceived as a discrete piece of information

hippocampus

a structure in the limbic system that plays an important role in the formation of new memories

sensory register

a system of memory that holds information briefly, but long enough so that it can be processed further. there may be a ______ ______ for every sense.

schema

a way of mentally representing the world, such as a belief or an expectation, that can influence perception of persons, objects, and situations

dissociative amnesia

amnesia thought to stem from psychological conflict or trauma

memory trace

an assumed change in the nervous system that reflects the impression made by a stimulus. _______ ________ are sad to be "held" in sensory registers.

long-term potentiation

enhanced efficiency in synaptic transmission that follows brief, rapid stimulation

anterograde amnesia

failure to remember events that occur after physical trauma because of the effects of the trauma

retrograde amnesia

failure to remember events that occur prior to physical trauma because of the effects of the trauma

semantic memory

general knowledge as opposed to episodic memory.

repression

in Freud's psychodynamic theory, the ejection of anxiety-evoking ideas from conscious awareness

recognition

in information processing, the easiest memory task, involving identification of objects or events encountered before.

displace

in memory theory, to cause information to be lost from short-term memory by adding new information

infantile amnesia

inability to recall events that occur prior to the age of 2 or 3. also termed childhood amnesia

context-dependent memory

information that is better retrieved in the context in which was encoded and stored, or learned

state-dependent memory

information that is better retrieved in the physiological or emotional state in which it was encoded and stored, or learned

nonsense syllables

meaningless sets of two consonants, with a vowel sandwiched in between, that are used to study memory

rote

mechanical associative learning that is based on repetition

episodic memory

memories of events experienced by a person or that take place in the person's presence.

retrospective memory

memory for past events, activities, and learning experiences, as shown by explicit (episodic and semantic) and implicit memories.

explicit memory

memory that clearly and distinctly expresses (explicates) specific information.

implicit memory

memory that is suggested (implied) but not plainly expressed, as illustrated in the things that people do but do not state clearly.

prospective memory

memory to perform an act in the future, as at a certain time or when a certain event occurs

maintenance rehearsal

mental repetition of information in order to keep it in memory

semantic code

mental representation of information according to its meaning

acoustic code

mental representation of information as a sequence of sounds.

visual code

mental representation of information as picture

encoding

modifying information so that it can be placed in memory. the first stag of information processing.

paired associates

nonsense syllables presented in pairs in experiments that measure recall.

working memory

other name for short-term memory

feeling-of-knowing experience

other name for tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon

prefrontal cortex

part of the brain aware of past and present

frontal lobe

part of the brain aware of where and when

thalamus

part of the brain involved with verbal memories

Atkinson and Shiffrin

people who organized the three stages of memory chart

recall

retrieval or reconstruction of learned material

metamemory

self-awareness of the ways in which memory functions, allowing the person to encode, store, and retrieve information effectively

mnemonic devices

systems for remembering in which items are related to easily recalled sets of symbols such as acronyms, phrases, or jingles

savings

the difference between the number of repetitions originally required to learn a list and the number of repetitions required to relearn the list after a certain amount of time has elapsed.

tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon

the feeling that information is stored in memory although it cannot be readily retrieved. also called the feeling-of-knowing experience

proactive interference

the interference by old learning with the ability to retrieve material learned recently.

retroactive interference

the interference of new learning with the ability to retrieve material learned previously

elaborative rehearsal

the kind of coding in which new information is related to information that is already known.

retrieval

the location of stored information and its return to consciousness. the third stage of formation processing.

eidetic imagery

the maintenance of detailed visual memories over several minutes

storage

the maintenance of information over time. the second stage of information processing.

memory

the processes by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved

saccadic eye movement

the rapid jumps made by a person's eyes as they fixate on different points.

echoic memory

the sensory register that briefly holds mental representations of auditory stimuli

iconic memory

the sensory register that briefly holds mental representations of visual stimuli

serial-position effect

the tendency to recall more accurately the first and last items in a series.

primacy effect

the tendency to recall the initial items in a series of items

recency effect

the tendency to recall the last items in a series of items

long-term memory

the type or stage memory capable of relatively permanent storage

sensory memory

the type or stage of memory first encountered by a stimulus. ________ __________ holds impressions briefly, but long enough so that series of perceptions are psychologically continuous.

short-term memory

the type or stage of memory that can hold information for up to a minute or so after the trace of the stimulus decays. also called working memory.

interference theory

the view that we may forget stored material because other learning interferes with it.

Elizabeth Loftus

took a random sample on : a black man holding a pen and a white man holding a weapon. [people switched the weapon and pen; even a.a.]

engram

1) an assumed electrical circuit in the brain that corresponds to a memory trace

engram

2) an assumed chemical change in the brain that accompanies learning