Memory Systems
Maria sees a sparkler wave in the dark and briefly “sees” a trail of light even after it disappears.
Iconic Memory
A student repeats vocabulary terms over and over to keep them in mind temporarily.
Maintenance Rehearsal (Shallow Processing)
You are driving, listening to music, and thinking about directions at the same time.
Parallel Processing
Maya is trying to remember her locker combo. She sees someone else spinning a lock, and suddenly the numbers come back.
Priming / Retrieval Cues
Someone has damage to the hippocampus and cannot form new long-term memories.
Anterograde Amnesia
A person hears someone talking, gets distracted, but still remembers the last few words a second later.
Echoic Memory
You remember your friend’s birthday because it’s the same day as your brother’s.
Elaborative Rehearsal (Deep Processing)
You imagine the layout of your bedroom when deciding where to put new furniture.
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Brandon walks into his old elementary school and suddenly remembers classmates and events from years ago.
Context-Dependent Memory
A witness’s memory changes after hearing misleading information about a car crash.
Misinformation Effect / Constructive Memory
You can only hold about 7 digits of a phone number just long enough to dial it.
Short-Term Memory Capacity (~7 items)
Someone memorizes information by forming a rhyme or jingle.
Acoustic Encoding / Mnemonic Device
You repeat a phone number in your head to prevent forgetting it.
Phonological Loop / Articulatory Rehearsal
Sofia studies while chewing cinnamon gum, and on test day she chews the same flavor and performs better.
State-Dependent Memory
(DAILY DOUBLE) Someone remembers where they were and every detail of the moment they heard shocking news.
Flashbulb Memory
(DAILY DOUBLE) Even after not swimming for years, someone jumps into the pool and instantly knows how to perform freestyle.
Procedural Memory (Implicit)
A student studies a little each day for two weeks and remembers far more than someone who crammed the night before.
Distributed Practice / Spacing Effect
The “boss” of working memory that directs attention, decision-making, and coordinates the loop and sketchpad.
Central Executive
Jack is in a bad mood and suddenly remembers every embarrassing or upsetting event he’s experienced.
Mood-Congruent Memory
A person remembers a fact but cannot remember where or how they learned it.
Source Amnesia