Intro to Memory
a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test
What is recognition?
unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings
What is automatic processing?
The overall process of stabilizing a newly formed memory over time, involving the gradual transfer of information from the hippocampus to the cortex
What is memory consolidation?
the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood
What is mood-congruent memory?
a process by which we first recall a generalized schema and then add in specific details
What is constructive memory?
A type of storage that holds sensory information for a few seconds or less.
What is sensory memory?
a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
What is echoic memory?
a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories--of facts and events--for storage.
What is the hippocampus?
improved recall of specific episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same
What is context-dependent memory?
incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event
What is the misinformation effect?
The part of working memory that is responsible for monitoring and directing attention and other mental resources.
What is the central executive?
Organization of items into a few broad categories that are divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts
What are hierarchies?
memory for one's personal past experiences
What is episodic memory?
Technique in which items to be learned are repeated at intervals over a period of time.
What is distributed practice?
an inability to retrieve information from one's past
What is retrograde amnesia?
the part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information
What is the phonological loop?
Enhanced performance on a memory test caused by being tested on the material to be remembered.
What is the testing effect?
a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world
What is semantic memory?
our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list
What is the serial position effect?
the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
What is retractive interference?
A component of working memory where we create mental images to remember visual information
What is the visuospatial sketchpad?
A mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations
What is the methods of loci?
an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.
What is long-term potentiation?
awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.
What is metacognition?
a memory phenomenon in which vividly imagining an event markedly increases confidence that the event actually occurred
What is imagination inflation?