| memory | retention of information over time |
| paradox of memory | our memories are either very good or poor in certain situations |
| the paradox of memory hinges on a crucial fact, which is... | the same memory mechanisms that serve us well in most circumstances can cause problems in others |
| memory illusion | false but subjectively compelling memory |
| how do we reconstruct our memories? | actively |
| how are memories shaped? | by hunches, expectations and cultural backgrounds |
| span | how much information each system of memory can hold |
| duration | over how long a period of time system of memory can hold information |
| sensory memory (system of memory) | brief storage of perceptual information before it's passed to short-term memory |
| iconic memory | visual sensory memory |
| eidetic imagery | photographic memory |
| echoic memory | auditory sensory memory |
| short-term memory (system of memory) | memory system that retains information for limited durations and is closely linked to working memory |
| working memory | ability to hold on to information we're currently thinking about, attending to, or processing actively |
| decay | fading of information from memory over time |
| interference | loss of information from memory due to additional incoming information |
| retroactive interference | interference with retention of old information due to new information |
| proactive interference | interference with acquisition of new information due to previous learning of memory |
| magic number | span of short-term memory, according to George Miller, is 7+ or -2 pieces of information |
| chunking | organising information into meaningful groupings, which allows us to extend the span of the short-term memory |
| rehearsal | repeating information to extend the duration of retention in short-term memory |
| maintenance rehearsal | repeating stimuli in their original form to retain them in short-term memory |
| elaborative rehearsal | linking stimuli to each other in a meaningful way to improve retention of information in short-term memory |
| levels of processing | depth of transforming information, which influences how easily we remember it |
| long-term memory | relatively enduring (from minutes to years) retention of information stored regarding our facts, experiences, and skills |
| what are the differences between short and long-term memory? | capacity and duration are endless in long-term memory while they are limited in short-term memory |
| permastore | type of long-term memory that appears to be permanent |
| primacy effect | tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well |
| recency effect | tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well |
| serial position curve | graph depicting both primacy and recency effects on people's ability to recall items on a list |
| what are types of long term-memory? | explicit memory and implicit memory |
| explicit memory | memories we recall intentionally and of which we have conscious awareness |
| semantic memory | our knowledge of facts about the world |
| episodic memory | recollection of events in our lives |
| implicit memory | memories we don't deliberately remember or reflect on consciously |
| procedural memory | memory for how to do things (motor skills and habits) |
| priming | our ability to identify a stimulus more easily or quicker after we've encountered similar stimuli |
| what are the three processes of memory | encoding, storage, and retrieval |
| encoding | process of getting information into our memory banks |
| the role of attention | to encode something, you must attend to it |
| next-in-line effect | in a group/line being so preoccupied with what you are going to do, you don't hear or notice what others before you have done |
| mnemonic | a learning aid, strategy, or device that enhances recall |
| pegword method | rhythm with words, link your concepts to the words of the rhythm |
| keyword method | word that relates in phonetics to your word, and breach an association between that word |
| storage | process of keeping information in memory |
| how do we store our experiences in memory? | it depends on our interpretations and expectations of events |
| schema | organised knowledge structure or mental model that we've stored in memory (a script) |
| retrieval | reactivation or reconstruction of experiences from our memory stores |
| retrieval cues | hints that make it easier for us to recall information |
| what are the three ways to assess people's memory? | recall, recognition, and relearning |
| recall | generating previously remembered information |
| recognition | selecting previously remembered information from an array of options |
| relearning | reacquiring knowledge that we'd previously learned but have largely forgotten over time |
| distributed practice | studying information in small increments over time |
| massed practice | studying in large increments over a brief amount of time |
| tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon | experience of knowing that we know something but being unable to access it |
| encoding specificity | phenomenon of remembering something better when the conditions under which we retrieve information are similar to the conditions under which we encoded it |
| context-dependent learning | superior retrieval of memories when the external context of the original memories matches the retrieval context |
| state-dependent learning | superior retrieval of memories when the organism is in the same physiological or psychological state as it was during encoding |
| mood-dependent learning | superior retrieval when in the same mood |
| engram | the physical trace of each memory in the brain |
| Lashley's research | seeing if removing different parts from rats' brains affect memory |
| long-term potentiation (LPT) | gradual strengthening of the connections among neurons from repetitive stimulation |
| LPT and glutamate | LPT enhances the release of glutamate into the synaptic cleft which results in enhanced learning |
| where is memory stored? | most importantly the hippocampus, but there are other parts of the brain that are also crucial for memory |
| retrogade amnesia | loss of memories from our past |
| anterograde amnesia | inability to encode new memories from our experiences |
| the role of amygdala | interacts with the hippocampus during memory formation |
| erasing painful memories | adrenaline and noradrenaline help store emotional memories |
| around what age does memory decay begin? | around 65 |
| what is the most frequent cause of senility | dementia, Alzheimer |
| habituation | a decrease in attention to familiar stimuli |
| meta-memory | knowledge about our own memory abilities and limitations |
| flashbulb memories | emotional memory that is extraordinarily vivid and detailed |
| phantom flashbulb memory | the idea that many seeming flashbulb memories are false |
| source monitoring confusion | lack of clarity about origin of a memory |
| cryptomnesia | failure to recognise that our ideas originated with someone else |
| suggestive memory techniques | procedures that encourage patients to recall memories that may or may not have taken place |
| misinformation effect | creation of fictitious memories by providing misleading information about an event after it takes place |
| weapon focus | people tend to focus on the weapon rather than the perpetrator's appearance |
