Psychology: Memory
Flashbulb memory
A vivid, clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
Long-term potentiation
An increase in a synapse's firing efficiency that occurs when the sequence of neurons that represents a particular memory fires repeatedly.
Semantic Encoding
Encoding of meaning.
Effortful processing
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.
Herman Ebbinghaus
German philosopher who conducted pioneering memory studies.
Misinformation effect
Incorporating information into a memory or event.
Episodic memory
Recall of a vivid, specific event
Elizabeth Loftus
Research who established the construction of memory
Recognition
Retrieval in which you must identify items you learned earlier
Recall
Retrieval in which you must search for information that you previously stored.
context effect
The enhanced ability to retrieve information when you are in an environment similar to the one in which you encoded the information.
Explicit Memory
The memory of facts and experiences
Implicit memory
The memory of skills and procedures
Repression
The process of moving anxiety-producing memories to the unconscious mind. Freud psychoanalytic theory.
serial position effect
The tendency to recall the first and last items in a list more easily.
Retroactive interference
When a more recent memory disrupts the recall of an older memory.
Proactive interference
When an older memory disrupts the recall of a new memory.
mnemonic devices
a sentence or acronym that helps us to memorize a string of words.
state-dependent memories
best retrieved when a person is in the same mood as when memories were stored.
sensory memory
first stage of information storage -- the immediate, initial recording of data
Implicit memory
includes practical skills and learned habits
long-term memory
memory stored more than briefly and encoded through rehearsal
echoic memory
mental sensory register of mental traces of sound
chunking
organization of items into familiar or manageable units
Memory
process by which we recall experiences, information, and skills
rehearsal
repeated repetition of information to help the learning process
storage
second process of memory; makes memories available for future use
iconic memory
sensory register of accurate, photographic images
short-term memory
sometime called working memory -- when information is stored for 10-12 seconds
encoding
the first process of memory; the translation of information into a form for future use
elaborative rehearsal
the process of relating new information to what you already know well.
automatic processing
the unconscious and effortless process of encoding information such as space, time, and frequency.
retrieval
third memory process; locates stored information and returns it to conscious thought
