What is memory

Interference

competition between newer and older information in memory

Rehearsal

conscious repetition of information

Decay

fading of information from memory over time

Motivated forgetting

failure to retrieve negative memories

Phonological loop

holds all verbal and auditory information

Sensory memory

holds large amounts of incoming information for a very short period of time

Declarative memories

memories we can readily state in words (semantic, episodal, autobiographical)

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units

Levels of processing theory

proposes that deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes

Reconstruction during retrieval

rebuilding a memory out of stored elements, more updating is likely likely to occur when the memory is fresh

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory

Memory

the ability to store and retrieve information

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

Tip of the tongue

the feeling that a memory is available but not quite retrievable

Forgetting

the inability to retrieve memory from long-term storage

Elaborate rehearsal

the linking of new information to material that is already known

Autobiographical memory

the memory for events and facts related to one's personal life story (semantic aspects of ones personal life)

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

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

Encoding specificity

the tendency for memory of information to be improved if related information (such as surroundings or physiological state) available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved

Visuaspatial sketchpad

visual and spacial information - working memory

Connectionist theories

-Mind as interconnected network of simpler units -tendency to group memories with overlapping features

Flashbulb memory

A clear and vivid long-term memory of an especially meaningful and emotional event.

Episodic buffer

A component of working memory where information in working memory interacts with information in long term memory (eg. relating information you are processing to a previous memory)

Working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

Lexical decision

A two-way forced choice judgment about whether a letter string (or phoneme string) is a word or not (nurse-doctor, nurse-butter)

procedural memory

A type of long-term memory of how to perform different actions and skills. Essentially, it is the memory of how to do certain things.

... Codes last longer than...codes because...

Acoustic, visual/iconic, need to hear whole phrase before spoken language is understood

Low ach

Alzheimer's / sleep: improves transfer of memories from STM to LTM

GABA

An inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.

Continuum of information processing

Attention, sensation, perception, learning, memory and cognition

Adaptive advantage

Can use information from the past to respond quickly, however requires energy

Following habituation,

Decrease in axon terminals, as decreased responses to stimuli

Long term potentiation

Enhanced communication between 2 neurons resulting from synchronous activation

Semantic memories

General knowledge, memory, facts (objective)

Declarative memories and hippocampus

Hippocampus participates in the consolidation of semantic and location information • Involved in re-experiencing episodic memories, if damaged, procedural memories are infact but declarative are not

High ach

Impairs memory consolidation and retrieval

Following sensitization,

Increase in axon terminals, as increased responses to stimuli

Stress and learning

Learning is enhanced, flashbulb memory

Non-declarative memories

Memories that are unconscious, and do not need to be explicitly thought about, including procedural, classically conditioned memories, priming

Stress before or after learning

Memory is impaired

Sensory memory representations

Mental model of a bit of information that exists even when the information is no longer available

NMDA

N-methyl-D-aspartate, glutamate receptor boosts memory

Cortexes involved in retaining working memory information

Parietal and prefrontal

Spreading activation model

People organize general knowledge based on their individual experience

Episodic memories

Personal recount of past experiences (subjective)

Procedural memories and basal ganglia

Procedural degenerates while declarative intact

Proactive interference

Reduced memory because of earlier learning

Retroactive interference

Reduced memory because of subsequent learning

Schema

Set of expectations about objects and situations

Damage to prefrontal cortex

Source amnesia: maintains semantic information but do not remember haw it is acquired (episodic)

Cue

Stimulus that helps target information

Retrieval of emotional events

Strong negative emotions cause hormones to be released, and changes pattern of brain activity

Central executive

The part of working memory that is responsible for monitoring and directing attention and other mental resources.

Encoding

The transformation of information to be stored in memory.

Declarative memories and central carter

Where nanalization is helpful: occipital lobe, where memory of action is helpful: prefrontal and parietal lobe

Transactive memory

a shared system for remembering information that enables multiple people to remember information together more efficiently than they could do so alone

Short term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly before the information is stored or forgotten

Anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories