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Memory

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

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Working Memory

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- 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

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Encoding

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- the processing of information into the memory system--for example, by extracting meaning

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Storage

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- the retention of encoded information over time

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Retrieval

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the process of getting information out of memory storage

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Sensory Memory

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- the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

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Long Term Memory

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the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

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Short Term Memory

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

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Automatic Processing

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- unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

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Effortful Processing

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encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

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Rehearsal

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the conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage

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Spacing Effect

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

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Serial Position Effect

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

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Semantic Encoding

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the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words

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Acoustic Encoding

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the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words

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Visual Encoding

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the encoding of picture images

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Imagery

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mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding

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Mnemonics

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memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

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Chunking

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organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

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Iconic Memory

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a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

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Echoic Memory

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a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

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Long Term Potentiation (LTP)

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an increase in a synapses firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

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Amnesia

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Loss of memory

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Implicit Memory

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retention independent of conscious recollection. Also called procedural memory

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Explicit Memory

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

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Hippocampus

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a neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage

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Recall

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

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Recognition

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

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Relearning

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a memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time

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Priming

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the implicit activation of particular associations in memory.

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Deja vu

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that eerie sense that "I've experienced this before." Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

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Mood Congruent Memory

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

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Source Amnesia

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attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined

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Proactive Interference

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

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Retroactive Interference

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

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Repression

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

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Misinformation Effect

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incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

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Flashbulb Memory

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a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

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Aphasia

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loss of ability to understand or express speech, caused by brain damage.

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Broca's Area

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a region of the brain concerned with the production of speech, located in the cortex of the dominant frontal lobe.

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Broca's Aphasia

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words spoken that are characterized by hesitant and fragmented speech with little grammatical structure.

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Wernicke's Area

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a region of the brain concerned with the comprehension of language, located in the cortex of the dominant temporal lobe.

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Wernicke's Aphasia

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words spoken that are characterized by superficially fluent, grammatical speech but an inability to use or understand more than the most basic nouns and verbs.

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Alzheimer's Disease

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a progressive mental deterioration that can occur in middle or old age, due to generalized degeneration of the brain. It is the most common cause of premature senility.

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Senility

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having or showing the weaknesses or diseases of old age, especially a loss of mental functioning

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Serial Position Effect

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finding that immediate recall of items listed in a fixed order is better for items at the beginning and end rather than those in the middle

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Elaboration

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the process of creating associations between a new memory and existing memories

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holding an exact image of the sensory experience.

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Which of the following best describes the memory capacity of the sensory register?

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We form connections between concepts based on experience.

answer

Which of the following is the best explanation of the spreading activation model of long-term memory?

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schema

answer

An associative network of beliefs, knowledge, and expectations is known as a ________

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chunking

answer

To stretch the storage capacity of short-term memory, individuals are capable of grouping like items together. For instance, the directions north, south, east, and west can be group as "directions," and "directions" could be one item in memory. This process of stretching the limits of short-term memory in this fashion is called

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levels of processing model

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The depth at which we process information determines how well it is encoded, stored, and retrieved. This statement is the central idea of the _____

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There is not a strong enough retrieval cue to recover the memory.

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If you believe that long-term memories are permanently stored, then which of the following is the most logical explanation for forgetting long-term memories?

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proactive interference

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The interference built up by prior learning is known as

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retrograde amnesia

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While delivering his papers, Ernie had a bicycle accident and received a hard blow to the head. As a result, he could not remember the events preceding the accident. Ernie is experiencing

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new

answer

Anterograde amnesia is the inability to store and retrieve ______ information in long-term memory.

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both STM and LTM

answer

Experimental evidence for the interference theory of forgetting has been found in studies of _________

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recall

answer

You wish to log on to your computer network and the system requests your password. You no longer have the piece of paper you wrote the password on, so you must rely on

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the spreading activation model

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Which theory of the organization of long-term memory claims that concepts are linked by experience?

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1/4 second

answer

Visual information remains in the sensory register for about ______

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false memories

answer

When people forget, they are not only distorting information but may also be remembering events that never occurred. This is consistent with the idea of

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indexed

answer

One way in which long-term memory is different from short-term memory is that the information in long-term memory is

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hippocampus; cortical

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Information stored in LTM is integrated in the _______ before it is transferred to _______ areas for permanent storage.

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declarative

answer

Researchers who study memory sometimes group semantic and episodic memories together under the category ______ memories.

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They are remembered better because they have more opportunity for rehearsal.

answer

What best explains the degree of recall for items at the beginning of a list?

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procedural memory

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When asked what your parent's phone number is, you cannot repeat it, but a moment later you can dial it from memory without looking it up. In this case, which memory system has served you well?

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proactive

answer

Mary's study of psychology interfered with her capacity to recall sociology. Since psychology was studied first, the interference is__________

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we form concepts based on our experiences

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Which of the following is the best explanation of the spreading activation model of long-term memory?

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memories that are closely associated with memory cues

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Which of the following is the best explanation of the spreading activation model of long-term memory?

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synaptic facilitation

answer

Donald Hebb described a process that he believed was the physiological process responsible for learning and memory. He termed this process _______

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relearning

answer

You cannot remember much of what you learned in high school chemistry but you learn the same chemistry material in college much faster than you did in high school. Which method of memory evaluation does this illustrate?

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recall

answer

You wish to log on to your computer network and the system requests your password. You no longer have the piece of paper you wrote the password on, so you must rely on ______

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episodic

answer

Of all the types of long-term memories, which type appears to be the most fragile?

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proactive interference

answer

Recently Tom's five-speed sports car was in the shop for needed repairs and Tom borrowed a large car with an automatic transmission. Tom kept trying to shift gears as if he were driving a stick shift. This example illustrates _________

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chunks

answer

Of the following, the best way to expand the amount of material one can store in short-term memory is to organize material into _______

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episodic memory

answer

Memory for experiences that can be defined in terms of time and place is called

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short term memory

answer

You were introduced to your date's best friend just 10 minutes ago. Now you need to get her attention but you cannot remember her name. You forgot because of the limits of ________

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Hippocampus

answer

the part of the brain that processes EXPLICIT memories

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Explicit Memory

answer

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare." (Also called declarative memory.) Responsible for facts, knowledge, experiences

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Cerebellum

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Part of the brain that processes IMPLICIT memories

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Implicit Memory

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Retention independent of conscious recollection. (Also called nondeclarative memory.) Responsible for motor skills, classical conditioning (like playing the piano)

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Flashbulb Memory

answer

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event (helped by the amygdala)

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LTP (long term potentation)

answer

Increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

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CREB

answer

A protein that switches genes off or on; helps us retain long-term memories by increasing the production of proteins that enable LTP.

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Glutamate

answer

A neurotransmitter that enhances synaptic communication (LTP).

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Iconic Memory

answer

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

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Ethoic Memory

answer

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

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Magical Number 7

answer

George Miller noted recall capacity to be seven bits of info, plus or minus 2. This is the limitation of information that can be stored in short-term memory.

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Long term memory capacity

answer

Limitless

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recall

answer

A measure of memory in which the person must retrive information learned earlier (Fill-in-the-blank

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Recognition

answer

A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned (Multiple-choice)

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Relearning

answer

You relearn something quicker than when you first learned it, even if you forgot it all

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Retrieval Cues

answer

Anchor points you use to access target information. Mnemonic devies are an example

question

Priming

answer

The activation of particular associations in memory (after seeing the word "rabbit", we are more likely to spell the spoken word hair/hare as "hare").

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Context Effects

answer

Putting yourself back in the context where you originally experienced something helps retrieve the memory (like re-tracing your steps to remember where you put the car keys).

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Deja Vu

answer

The eerie sense that "I've experienced this before". Cues from your current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience. Goes with context effects

question

State Dependent Memory

answer

What we learn in one state may be more easily recalled when back in that same state (if you hide money while drunk, you may remember where you hid it once you're drunk again).

question

Mood Congruent Memory

answer

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood. (currently depressed people describe memories in a bad way, formerly depressed people see memories in a more positive light).

question

3 Sins of Forgetting

answer

Absent-mindedness (inattention to details leads to encoding failure), transcience (storage decay over time), blocking (inaccessibility of stored information-- tip-of-the-tongue)

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3 Sins of Distortion

answer

Misattribution (confusing the source of information), suggestibility (lingering effects of misinformation, as with leading questions), bias (belief-colored recollections)

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Memory and age

answer

The brain areas that encode new information are less responsive in older adults

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Ebbinghaus

answer

After learning lists of nonsense syllables, ___________studied how much he retained. The forgetting curve declines quickly, then levels out (usually after 3 years).

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Proactive Interference

answer

Something you learned earlier disrupts your recall of something you experience later

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Retroactive Interference

answer

New information makes it harder to recall something you learned earlier.

question

Repression

answer

The classical defense mechanism that protects you from impulses or ideas that would cause anxiety by preventing them from becoming conscious

question

Misinformation Effect

answer

Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

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Source Amnesia

answer

Also called source misattribution; attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. (often experienced by songwriters and authors)

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Memory Construction

answer

Our mind Photoshops our memories. Also related to hindsight bias

question

Associative Learning

answer

Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning).

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Classical Conditioning

answer

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

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Learning

answer

A relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience.

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Behaviorism

answer

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).

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Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

answer

Unconditionally (automatically and naturally) triggers a response. In Pavlov's experiment, the food.

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Unconditioned Response (UR)

answer

The unlearned, natural response to the unconditioned stimulus (US). In Pavlov's experiment, the salivation in response to the food.

question

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

answer

The originally neutral stimulus that triggers the CR after conditioning. In Pavlov's experiment, the tone.

question

Conditioned Response (CR)

answer

The learned response to the previously neutral stimulus (CS). In Pavlov's experiment, the salivation in response to the tone.

question

Acquisition

answer

In classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.

question

Higher order conditioning

answer

A new neutral stimulus can become a new conditioned stimulus. It's often weaker than first-stage conditioning.

question

Timing

answer

Presenting the US BEFORE the CS rather than after doesn't work-- animals want to be able to predict events. Half a second should elapse between each stimulus.

question

Extinction

answer

The diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs when the US stops following the CS. The tone no longer signals the food.

question

Spontaneous Recovery

answer

The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a pause.

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Generalization

answer

The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses (fudge looks disgusting when shaped like dog poop).

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Discrimination

answer

The learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus (confronted by a pit bull, your heart may race, but confronted with a golden retriever, it probably won't).

question

Biological Dispositions

answer

Different species are biologically prepared to learn different associations.

question

Applications of Classical Conditioning

answer

Former drug users feel a craving when in the drug-using environment, so we know to advise them to steer clear of their drug-using context. When a particular taste accompanies a drug that influences immune responses, the taste by itself may come to produce an immune response. Little Albert learned to fear animals.

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Respondent Behavior

answer

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response

question

Operant Behavior

answer

Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences

question

Operant Conditioning

answer

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

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Law of Effect

answer

Thorndike's idea that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

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Skinner Box

answer

Named for its developer, B.F. Skinner, a box that contains a responding mechanism and a device capable of delivering a consequence to an animal in the box whenever it makes the desired response

question

Shaping

answer

An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward the desired behavior using successive approximations.

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Reinforcer

answer

Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

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Positive Reinforcement

answer

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food or concert tickets. When ADDED after a response, strengthens the response.

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Negative Reinforcement

answer

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as a headache (taking aspirin is the behavior, the negative reinforcement is that it takes away the headache. Putting on a seatbelt is the behavior, turning off the annoying beeping is the negative reinforcement). When REMOVED after a response, strengthens the response.

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Primary Reinforcer

answer

Unlearned, innately satisfying (getting food when hungry).

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Conditioned reinforcer

answer

Also known as secondary reinforcer; gains its reinforcing power through association with a primary reinforcer (money is secondary, food is primary because money is associated with food. Good gades are another example).

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Continuous Reinforcement

answer

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

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Partial Reinforcement

answer

Reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition but much greater resistance to extinction

question

Fixed Ratio Schedule

answer

Every so many; reinforcement after a fixed number of responses (buy 10 coffees, get one free)

question

Variable Ration Schedule

answer

After an unpredictable number; reinforcement after a random number of behaviors (slot machines, fishing)

question

Fixed Interval Schedule

answer

Every so often; reinforcement after a fixed amount of time (pigeons pecking the key more frequently as anticipated reward time draws near, or checking the mail more frequently when expected delivery time draws near)

question

Variable Interval Schedule

answer

Unpredictably often; reinforcement after a random amount of time (checking for email)

question

Punishment

answer

The opposite of reinforcement; decreases the behavior that it follows.

question

Positive Punishment

answer

Administer an aversive stimulus (parking ticket)

question

Negative Punishment

answer

Withdraw a desirable stimulus (revoked driver's license)

question

Cognitive Map

answer

A mental representation of the layout of one's environment (like a rat's mental representation of a maze)

question

Latent Learning

answer

Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it (evidence of cognitive processes)

question

Intrinsic Motivation

answer

desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake (undermined by excessive rewards)

question

Extrinsic Motivation

answer

desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment (reading the psych book not to learn it but to avoid failing a test)

question

Observational Learning

answer

Learning by observing others

question

Modeling

answer

The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

question

Mirror Neurons

answer

Monkey see, monkey do. Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation, language learning, and empathy. People with autism have "broken mirrors"-- reduced mirror neuron activity.

question

Bobo Doll Experiement

answer

Albert Bandura's famous experiment illustrating modeling (the kids imitated the adults' treatment of the Bobo doll).

question

Prosocial Models

answer

Positive, constructive, helpful (opposite of antisocial)

question

Antisocial Effects of Observational Learning

answer

Abusive parents --> aggressive children. Violent video games --> violent imitation. Prolonged exposure to violence desensitizes viewers as well.

question

Processing of Information

answer

Processing of information

question

Storage

answer

Retention of encoded information over time

question

Retrieval

answer

Process of getting information out of storage

question

Sensory Memory

answer

Immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

question

Short term memory

answer

Holds only a few items briefly, such as a phone number before dialing

question

Long term memory

answer

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

question

Working Memory

answer

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.

question

Automatic Processing

answer

Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meaning

question

Three State Processing of Memory

answer

External events --> Sensory memory --> Encoding (attention to important/novel information) --> Working/short-term memory --> Encoding/Retrieving --> Long-term memory

question

Effortful Memory

answer

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

question

Rehearsal

answer

Conscious repetition of information

question

Spacing Effect

answer

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

question

Serial Position Effect

answer

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

question

Primacy Effect

answer

Recall is best for the first items learned

question

Recall Effect

answer

Recall is best for last items because they are still in working memory

question

Visual Encoding

answer

Encoding of picture images

question

Acoustic Encoding

answer

Encoding of sound, especially of words

question

Semantic Encoding

answer

Encoding of meaning

question

Imagery

answer

We more easily remember things we can picture-- for example, it's easier to remember concrete words than abstract ones.

question

Chunking

answer

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

question

Mnemonic Devices

answer

Memory aids using imagery and organizational devices (ROY G BIV for the colors of the rainbow)

question

Hierarchies

answer

Broad concepts divided into narrower concepts and facts

Psych Chapter 8 – Memory Key Terms / Issues – Flashcards

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