MEMORY
The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information. Studies of amnesia victims show that there are TWO distinct types of this.
ENCODING
The processing of information into the memory system - for example, by processing meaning
STORAGE
The retention of encoded information over time.
RETRIEVAL
The process of getting information out of memory storage.
SENSORY MEMORY
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
SHORT TERM MEMORY
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing before the information is stored or forgotten.
LONG TERM MEMORY
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills and experiences.
WORKING MEMORY
30 Seconds. 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. Skips the first 2 STAGES of Atkinson and Shiffrin'
ATKINSON AND SHIFFRIN
In 1968 proposed a 3 STAGE information processing model of memory. 1) Sensory Memory records information 2) then processed into SHORT TERM MEMORY BIN, where it is encoded through REHEARSAL, 3) Information moves into LONG TERM MEMORY for retrieval.
CONNECTIONISM
Modern model of information processing, views memories as emerging from interconnected neural networks. Specific memories arise from particular activation patterns within these networks.
AUTOMATIC PROCESSING
A level of processing/encoding which involves unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency and of well learned information, such as word meanings.
EFFORTFUL PROCESSING
A level of processing/encoding which produces durable and accessible memories but requires attention and conscious effort.
REHEARSAL
The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage.
HERMANN EBBINGHAUS
German philosopher who studied information processing based on repetition of study. Those who learn quickly also forget quickly.
SPACING EFFECT
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.
TESTING EFFECT
Means of improving learning by self-assessment.
SERIAL POSITION EFFECT
Tendency to best recall the last and first items in a list.
RECENCY EFFECT
Part of the Serial Position Effect. The ability to recall the last items in a list, perhaps because the last items are still in working memory.
PRIMACY EFFECT
Part of the Serial Position effect. After a delay in recalling a list, after shifting attention from the last items, the recall becomes best for the first items.
IMAGERY
A method of VISUAL ENCODING. Mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with encoding.
MNEMONICS
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices or peg words.
CHUNKING
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units;often occurs automatically. An ACRONYM is a version of chunking.
HIERARCHIES
Processing information by dividing information at first into broad concepts and then divide and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts. Helps to retrieve information efficiently.
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.
ECHOIC MEMORY
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 - 4 seconds.
DURATION OF SHORT TERM MEMORY
Limited in duration and capacity, typically storing about 7 bits of information. Miller - Magical Number Seven, plus or minus two. Auditory is about as many words that can be spoken in 2 seconds.
LTP
Long Term Potentiation
LONG TERM POTENTIATION
An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for LEARNING and memory. Provides a neural basis for learning and remembering associations.
FLASHBULB MEMORY
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event. Emotion triggered stress hormones make more glucose energy available to fuel brain activity. Stronger emotional experiences make for stronger more reliable memories. Noteworthy for vividness.
AMNESIA
The loss of memory. Famous case: H.M.
IMPLICIT MEMORY
Retention independent of conscious recollection, i.e. unconscious recognition. Cannot declare that one knows. Also called NONDECLARATIVE MEMORY. Processed by other brain areas, including the CEREBELLUM.
NONDECLARATIVE MEMORY
Retention independent of conscious recollection, i.e. unconscious recognition. Cannot declare that one knows. Also called IMPLICIT MEMORY. Processed by other brain areas, including the CEREBELLUM.
EXPLICIT MEMORY
Memory of facts, experiences and general knowledge that one can consciously know and "declare". Also called DECLARATIVE MEMORY. Processed by the hippocampus.
HIPPOCAMPUS
Lateralized of the brain where EXPLICIT memories for facts and episodes are processed and fed to other brain regions for storage. LEFT=verbal, RIGHT=visual designs and locations. Active during slow wave sleep. One of the last brain areas to mature - expla
CEREBELLUM
Area of the brain that plays an important part in our forming and storing of implicit memories for skills and conditioned associations.
RECALL
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill in the blank test. This is the ability to retrieve information not in conscious awareness.
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 for a second time. Our speed at relearning also reveals memory.
RETRIEVAL CUES
Anchor points that are used to access target information, when needing to retrieve it later. Can be mnemonic cues, visual cues, tastes, smells and sights.
PRIMING
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory. "Wakening of associations".
DEJA VU
The eerie sense that one has experienced something before. Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.
MOOD CONGRUENT MEMORY
Tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.
CONTEXT EFFECTS
The idea that putting oneself back in the context where one experienced something can prime memory retrieval. Familiar contexts can activate memories.
STATE DEPENDENT MEMORY
What we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state. Events in the past may have aroused a specific emotion that later primes us to recall its associated events.
PROACTIVE INTERFERENCE
Forward acting interference occurs when something learned earlier disrupts recall of something experienced later.
RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE
Backward acting interference occurs when new information makes it harder to recall something you learned earlier.
RETRIEVAL FAILURE
When stored information cannot be accessed - leads to forgetting.
REPRESSION
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings and memories.
ENCODING FAILURE
When meaningless information has not been transferred from short term memory into long term memory.
MISINFORMATION EFFECT
Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
SOURCE AMNESIA
Attributing to the wrong source and event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. Also called SOURCE MISATTRIBUTION. Along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.
SERATONIN
Kandel and Schwartz found that when learning occurs, more of this is released into synapses.
MEMORY
The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information. Studies of amnesia victims show that there are TWO distinct types of this.
ENCODING
The processing of information into the memory system - for example, by processing meaning
STORAGE
The retention of encoded information over time.
RETRIEVAL
The process of getting information out of memory storage.
SENSORY MEMORY
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
SHORT TERM MEMORY
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing before the information is stored or forgotten.
LONG TERM MEMORY
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills and experiences.
WORKING MEMORY
30 Seconds. 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. Skips the first 2 STAGES of Atkinson and Shiffrin'
ATKINSON AND SHIFFRIN
In 1968 proposed a 3 STAGE information processing model of memory. 1) Sensory Memory records information 2) then processed into SHORT TERM MEMORY BIN, where it is encoded through REHEARSAL, 3) Information moves into LONG TERM MEMORY for retrieval.
CONNECTIONISM
Modern model of information processing, views memories as emerging from interconnected neural networks. Specific memories arise from particular activation patterns within these networks.
AUTOMATIC PROCESSING
A level of processing/encoding which involves unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency and of well learned information, such as word meanings.
EFFORTFUL PROCESSING
A level of processing/encoding which produces durable and accessible memories but requires attention and conscious effort.
REHEARSAL
The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage.
HERMANN EBBINGHAUS
German philosopher who studied information processing based on repetition of study. Those who learn quickly also forget quickly.
SPACING EFFECT
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.
TESTING EFFECT
Means of improving learning by self-assessment.
SERIAL POSITION EFFECT
Tendency to best recall the last and first items in a list.
RECENCY EFFECT
Part of the Serial Position Effect. The ability to recall the last items in a list, perhaps because the last items are still in working memory.
PRIMACY EFFECT
Part of the Serial Position effect. After a delay in recalling a list, after shifting attention from the last items, the recall becomes best for the first items.
IMAGERY
A method of VISUAL ENCODING. Mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with encoding.
MNEMONICS
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices or peg words.
CHUNKING
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units;often occurs automatically. An ACRONYM is a version of chunking.
HIERARCHIES
Processing information by dividing information at first into broad concepts and then divide and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts. Helps to retrieve information efficiently.
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.
ECHOIC MEMORY
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 - 4 seconds.
DURATION OF SHORT TERM MEMORY
Limited in duration and capacity, typically storing about 7 bits of information. Miller - Magical Number Seven, plus or minus two. Auditory is about as many words that can be spoken in 2 seconds.
LTP
Long Term Potentiation
LONG TERM POTENTIATION
An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for LEARNING and memory. Provides a neural basis for learning and remembering associations.
FLASHBULB MEMORY
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event. Emotion triggered stress hormones make more glucose energy available to fuel brain activity. Stronger emotional experiences make for stronger more reliable memories. Noteworthy for vividness.
AMNESIA
The loss of memory. Famous case: H.M.
IMPLICIT MEMORY
Retention independent of conscious recollection, i.e. unconscious recognition. Cannot declare that one knows. Also called NONDECLARATIVE MEMORY. Processed by other brain areas, including the CEREBELLUM.
NONDECLARATIVE MEMORY
Retention independent of conscious recollection, i.e. unconscious recognition. Cannot declare that one knows. Also called IMPLICIT MEMORY. Processed by other brain areas, including the CEREBELLUM.
EXPLICIT MEMORY
Memory of facts, experiences and general knowledge that one can consciously know and "declare". Also called DECLARATIVE MEMORY. Processed by the hippocampus.
HIPPOCAMPUS
Lateralized of the brain where EXPLICIT memories for facts and episodes are processed and fed to other brain regions for storage. LEFT=verbal, RIGHT=visual designs and locations. Active during slow wave sleep. One of the last brain areas to mature - expla
CEREBELLUM
Area of the brain that plays an important part in our forming and storing of implicit memories for skills and conditioned associations.
RECALL
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill in the blank test. This is the ability to retrieve information not in conscious awareness.
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 for a second time. Our speed at relearning also reveals memory.
RETRIEVAL CUES
Anchor points that are used to access target information, when needing to retrieve it later. Can be mnemonic cues, visual cues, tastes, smells and sights.
PRIMING
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory. "Wakening of associations".
DEJA VU
The eerie sense that one has experienced something before. Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.
MOOD CONGRUENT MEMORY
Tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.
CONTEXT EFFECTS
The idea that putting oneself back in the context where one experienced something can prime memory retrieval. Familiar contexts can activate memories.
STATE DEPENDENT MEMORY
What we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state. Events in the past may have aroused a specific emotion that later primes us to recall its associated events.
PROACTIVE INTERFERENCE
Forward acting interference occurs when something learned earlier disrupts recall of something experienced later.
RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE
Backward acting interference occurs when new information makes it harder to recall something you learned earlier.
RETRIEVAL FAILURE
When stored information cannot be accessed - leads to forgetting.
REPRESSION
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings and memories.
ENCODING FAILURE
When meaningless information has not been transferred from short term memory into long term memory.
MISINFORMATION EFFECT
Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.
SOURCE AMNESIA
Attributing to the wrong source and event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. Also called SOURCE MISATTRIBUTION. Along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.
SERATONIN
Kandel and Schwartz found that when learning occurs, more of this is released into synapses.