Three-Stage Information Processing Model
Memory Structures in the Brain
Encoding Memories
Retrieving Memories
Forgetting & Memory Construction Errors
100

This type of memory can hold information for about 20 - 30 seconds.

What is short-term memory?

100

This part of the brain is primarily responsible for forming new memories. 

What is the hippocampus?

100

This study technique involves spreading out study sessions over time rather than cramming all at one.

What is the spaced study technique?

100

This memory retrieval cue involves activation of particular associations in memory.

What is priming?

100

This term describes the inability to store information in long-term memory due to insufficient processing during the initial learning phase.

What is encoding failure?

200

This is the first stage in forming explicit memories.

What is sensory memory?

200

This brain structure is involved in emotional memories.

What is the amygdala?

200

This memory strategy organizes information into familiar, more manageable units to enhance recall.

What is chunking?

200

This effect describes the tendency to remember the first and last items in a list better than the middle items.

What is the serial position effect?

200

This phenomenon occurs when new information interferes with the ability to recall older information.

What is retroactive interference.

300

This is the process of bringing stored memories back into conscious awareness.

What is retrieval?

300

This group of structures in the center of the brain is associated with motor movement and help form memories for these skills.

What is the basal ganglia?

300

This memory technique involves using vivid imagery and organizational devices to enhance recall. 

What are mnemonics?

300

This describes the inability to access information from long-term memory due to insufficient retrieval cues. 

What is retrieval failure?

300

This terms describes the gradual fading of memory traces over time due to the lack or use or rehearsal.

What is storage decay?

400

This stage of memory has a virtually unlimited capacity and can store information for long periods. 

What is long-term memory?

400

This area of the brain is where explicit memories are moved for long-term storage.

What is the frontal lobe?

400

This principle states that memory is most effective when information available at encoding is also present at retrieval.

What is the encoding specificity principle?

400

This phenomenon occurs when information is encoded along with the context in which it was learned, making it easier to recall in the same context.

What is context-dependent memory?

400

This type of memory distortion can happen when misleading information presented after an event alters a person's memory of that event.

What is the misinformation effect?

500

This process involves repeating information to keep it in short-term memory longer.

What is rehearsal?

500

This process, typically occurring during sleep, is by which the brain transforms short-term memories into long-term memories. 

What is memory consolidation?

500

This type of processing involves encoding information on a very basic level or surface features.

What is shallow processing?

500

This phenomenon occurs when information learned in a particular physiological or mental state is more easily recalled when in the same state.

What is state-dependent memory?

500

This term describes the inability to remember the origin of a memory.

What is the source amnesia?