Memory Fundamentals
This type of long-term memory stores organizational knowledge about the world, such as the names of the 50 states.
Semantic Memory
This approach states that deep and meaningful processing leads to more accurate recall than shallow sensory processing.
Levels-of-Processing Approach
In this type of task, participants are asked directly to remember information, such as on a multiple-choice exam.
Explicit Memory Task
A memory of the circumstances in which one first learned about a very surprising and emotionally arousing event.
Flashbulb Memory
This principle states that pleasant items are usually processed more efficiently and accurately than unpleasant ones.
Pollyanna Principle
This is the large-capacity memory for experiences and information accumulated throughout your lifetime.
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
This effect states that we remember information significantly better if we relate it to ourselves.
Self-Reference Effect
This type of memory task indirectly assesses memory, showing the effects of prior experience without conscious effort.
Implicit Memory Task
The process of identifying the origin of a particular memory—whether you actually saw it or just heard about it.
Source Monitoring
The perspective that traumatic events may be forgotten for years and then later "flood" back into consciousness.
Recovered-Memory Perspective
This stage of memory involves taking in information and processing it to be represented in memory.
Encoding
This principle argues that recall is better if the context during retrieval matches the context during encoding.
Encoding Specificity Principle
This phenomenon occurs when a variable has a large effect on one type of memory test but little to no effect on another.
Dissociation
This bias occurs when we exaggerate the consistency between our past and current feelings and beliefs.
Consistency Bias
The tendency for people to rate unpleasant past events more positively as time passes.
Positivity Effect
This specific type of memory is for personal events, such as remembering a crime you witnessed.
Episodic Memory
These are the two primary reasons deep processing is more effective: one relates to stimulus uniqueness and the other to connections
Distinctiveness and Elaboration
This specific deficit involves the loss of memory for events that occurred before brain damage.
Retrograde Amnesia
This process involves identifying whether an event really occurred or if it was merely imagined.
Reality Monitoring
This occurs when misleading information given after an event is mistakenly recalled as part of the original event.
Post-Event Misinformation Effect
This memory process involves locating and accessing stored information when it is needed.
Retrieval
This occurs when difficulty recalling old material is caused by interference from newly learned material.
Retroactive Interference
This bias explains why we are more accurate at identifying faces of our own ethnic group than those of other groups.
Own-Ethnicity Bias (or Cross-Race Effect)
The perspective that we actively integrate what we know to build our memories rather than recording them like a video.
Constructivist Approach
This theory explains how a child may inhibit memories of abuse by a caretaker to maintain a necessary attachment.
Betrayal Trauma