Psych Vocab Chapter 9

Front 1

Memory

Back 1

The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information.

Front 2

Flashbult Memory

Back 2

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Front 3

Encoding

Back 3

The processing of information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning.

Front 4

Storage

Back 4

The retention of encoded information over time.

Front 5

Retrieval

Back 5

The process of getting information out of memory storage.

Front 6

Sensory Memory

Back 6

The immediate, very brief recoding of sensory information in the memory system.

Front 7

Short-term memory

Back 7

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.

Front 8

Long-term memory

Back 8

The relatively permanentand limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

Front 9

Working memory

Back 9

A newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

Front 10

Automatic Processing

Back 10

Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.

Front 11

Effortful Processing

Back 11

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Front 12

Rehearsal

Back 12

The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage.

Front 13

Spacing Effect

Back 13

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved though massed study or practice.

Front 14

Serial Position Effect

Back 14

Our tendency to recall best the last and first items ina list.

Front 15

Visual Encoding

Back 15

The encoding of picture images.

Front 16

Acoustic Encoding

Back 16

The encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.

Front 17

Semantic Encoding

Back 17

The encoding of meaning includin the meaning of words.

Front 18

Imagery

Back 18

Mental pictures; a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when commbined with semantic encoding.

Front 19

Mnemonics

Back 19

Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Front 20

Chunking

Back 20

Organizing items into familiar manageable units; often occurs automatically.

Front 21

Iconic Memory

Back 21

A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

Front 22

Echoic Memory

Back 22

A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 to 4 seconds.

Front 23

Long-term potentiation

Back 23

An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Front 24

Amnesia

Back 24

The loss of memory.

Front 25

Implicit Memory, Procedural Memory

Back 25

Retention independent of conscious recollection.

Front 26

Explicit Memory, Declarative Memory

Back 26

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare."

Front 27

Hippocampus

Back 27

A neural center that is located in the limbic system and helps process explicit memories for storage.

Front 28

Cerebellum

Back 28

Brain region extending out from the rear of the brainstem. Plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit memories created by classical conditioning.

Front 29

Recall

Back 29

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

Front 30

Recognition

Back 30

A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.

Front 31

Relearning

Back 31

A memory measure that assesses the amoung of time saved when learning material for a second time.

Front 32

Priming

Back 32

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory. Ask a friend two rapid-fire questions: How do you prononce the word spelled by the letters s-h-o-p? and What do you do when you come to a green light? If your friend answers "stop" to the second question, you have demonstrated priming.

Front 33

Deja Vu

Back 33

That eerie sense that "I've experienced this before." Cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

Front 34

Mood-Congrutent Memory

Back 34

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.

Front 35

Proactive Interference

Back 35

The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

Front 36

Retroactive Interference

Back 36

The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.

Front 37

Repression

Back 37

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

Front 38

Misinformation Effect

Back 38

Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

Front 39

Source Amnesia

Back 39

Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. It, along with misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.