Memory Psychology

Memory Psychology Define flashbulb memory. - answer-A clear memory of an emotionally significant event. Define sensory memory. - answer-a fleeting, immediate recording of information absorbed from sensory stimulus. Define short term memory. - answer-activated memory that briefly holds a few items. How is working memory categorized? - answer-as short term memory. Define long term memory. - answer-relatively permanent and unlimited storage of memories. Who postulated the theory that "the amount remembered depends on the time spent learning"? - answer-Ebbinghaus. Define encoding. - answer-The process in which we gather new information into our brain. Define storage. - answer-How we retain newly processed information. Define retrieval. - answer-How we 'go and get', or recall, stored information. What are the three steps of information processing, in order? - answer-encoding, storage, and retrieval. Define automatic processing. - answer-unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings. Define effortful processing. - answer-encoding that requires attention and conscious effort; the opposite of automatic processing. Define rehearsal. - answer-The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage. Define spacing (the spacing effect). - answer-The tendency for distributed study of practice to yield long-term retention that is achieved through massed study or practice. What do rehearsal, spacing, and overlearning all have in common? - answer-They are all functions of effortful processing, and increase retention of information. Define the serial positioning effect. - answer-When the first and last pieces of information in a list are more easily recalled than items of information in the middle of a list. Define visual encoding. - answer-The internalization and memory of pictures or images. Define acoustic encoding. - answer-The internalization and memory of sound, especially the sound of words. Define semantic encoding. - answer-The internalization and memory of meaning, including the meaning of words. Which type of encoding is most effective? - answer-Semantic encoding. Define the self reference effect. - answer-The ability to recall stored information better when one can relate it to oneself. When learning new information, it is more easily processed if personal meaning is applied. Define iconic memory. - answer-A photographic or visual memory that lasts no more than a few tenths of a second. Define echoic memory. - answer-A momentary memory of auditory information. Sounds or words can be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds. Define long-term potentiation. - answer-The strengthening of a synapse's firing potential, caused by rapid stimulation. What role does the hippocampus play in memory? - answer-Processes new explicit memories into short term memory. What role does the cerebellum play in memory? - answer-Stores implicit memory created by classical conditioning. What is infantile amnesia? - answer-The inability to recall events from early childhood; occurs because the hippocampus and the amygdala are not fully developed at infancy. Define retrieval cues. - answer-A circumstance or context that aids in the recollection of memory. What causes the deja vu experience? - answer-The presence of familiar retrieval cues or being in a context that is similar to one we've been in before. Define proactive interference. - answer-When prior knowledge disrupts the retention of new information. Define retroactive interference. - answer-When newly processed information prevents the recollection of old information. What is the best time of the day to learn new information? - answer-An hour before you sleep. Define positive transfer. - answer-When old memories aid in the retention of new memories. Define repression. - answer-The basic defense mechanism that suspends anxiety-arousing recollection of thoughts, feelings, or memories. Who is the leading researcher in the misinformation effect among eyewitnesses? - answer-Elizabeth Loftus. What are a few examples of things that can implant false memories of an event that never took place? - answer-Leading questions, vivid dreams, imagination inflation, and being told the vivid memories of another. What technique yields the best memory retention? - answer-Self-testing. Define implicit memory. - answer-Retention that is independent of conscious recollection (how to do something). Define explicit memory. - answer-Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare". What is the hierarchy of taking in information? - answer-Food (hunger/survival), unusual/bizarre/unique things, and things that are of interest to you/things that appeal to you. Define selective attention. - answer-Choosing what to focus on. Define feature extraction. - answer-Funneling details of the chosen focus specified by selective attention. Define the primacy effect - answer-Retaining the first pieces of information that you processed. Define the recency effect. - answer-Retaining the last pieces of information that you processed. Define chunking. - answer-Breaking up information into more manageable sections. What kind of retrieval does a multiple choice test require? - answer-Recognition. What kind of retrieval does a short answer question require? - answer-Recall. What is eidetic memory? - answer-Photographic memory. Define confabulation. - answer-Filling in gaps of memory with false information.