Memory
What is memory?
Learning that has persisted over time; information that has been acquired, stored, and can be retrieved.
What is a flashbulb memory?
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
What is anterograde amnesia?
A type of memory loss that occurs when you can't form new memories
What is a concept?
Mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, and people.
What are phonemes?
Smallest distinctive sound units in a language.
What is parallel processing?
When our dual-track brain processes many things simultaneously.
What is the basal ganglia?
Brain structure involved in memory of motor movements.
What is proactive interference?
When prior learning disrupts your recall of new information.
What is convergent thinking?
Narrows the available solutions to determine the best solution.
What are semantics?
Deriving meaning from sounds.
What is working memory?
A newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing and info retrieval from long-term memory.
What is the hippocampus?
The brain's equivalent of a "save" button for explicit memories.
What did Ebbinghaus do?
After learning lists of nonsense syllables, this scientist developed a curve that discussed retention.
What are mnemonic devices?
Memory aids (e.g. peg-word and loci method)
What is grammar?
System of rules that enables us to communicate with one another.
What is a flashbulb memory?
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
What is automatic processing?
Classically conditioned associations among stimuli and procedural memories for certain kinds of skills.
What is the spacing effect?
A certain kind of study effect that results in long-term memory retention.
What is insight?
When no problem-solving strategy seems to work and you arrive at a solution
What is linguistic determinism?
The hypothesis that language determines the way we think
What are heuristics?
Availability; judging a situation based on examples of similar situations that initially come to mind.
What is long-term potentiation?
The strengthening of neural pathways. Neural basis for learning and memory.
What is source amnesia?
The inability to remember when, where or how previously learned info has been acquired, while retaining the factual knowledge. Also known as "false memories"
What is a mental set?
A tendency to approach a problem in a way that has worked before.
What is the nativist theory?
We learn language too quickly for it to be “learned through reinforcement and punishment. There must be an inborn “universal language acquisition device.”