Psychology Exam 3

Front 1

What do we mean by Encoding?

Back 1

The processing of information into the memory system

Front 2

Sensory Memory
Short-Term Memory
Long-Term Memory

Back 2

Sensory Memory - Immediate, very brief recording of sensory information.
Short-Term Memory - Activated memory that hold a few items briefly, such as the digits of a phone number
Long-Term Memory - Relatively permanent and limitless memory.

Front 3

Flashbulb Memory

Back 3

Vivid snapshot of an emotionally charged or surprising event.

Front 4

Automatic Processing

Back 4

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

Front 5

Effortful Processing

Back 5

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Front 6

Spacing Effect

Back 6

The tendency for distributed study or practice to be remembered better.

Front 7

Serial-Position Effect

Back 7

Last items in a list are remembered easiest, followed by the first items.

Front 8

Mnemonic devices

Back 8

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

Front 9

Chunking

Back 9

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

Front 10

What did Ebbinhaus Discover?

Back 10

The forgetting curve and spacing effect.

Front 11

Iconic vs. Echoic Memory

Back 11

Iconic memory is a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; basically a photographic memory for a few tenths of a second.

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

Front 12

Explicit (procedural) vs. Implicit Memory (declarative)

Back 12

Explicit memories can be consciously recalled and are processed in the hippocampus; includes facts, general knowledge and personally experienced events.

Implicit memories are without conscious recall and are processed by other brain areas; includes motor and cognitive skills, and things learned from Classical Conditioning.

Front 13

Magical number 7 plus or minus two.

Back 13

Our short term memory is limited in capacity, typically storing about seven bits of information (give or take two)

Front 14

Long Term Potentiation

Back 14

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

Front 15

Proactive vs. Retroactive interference

Back 15

Proactive interference occurs when something you learned earlier disrupts your recall of new information.


Retroactive interference occurs when new information makes it harder to recall old information.

Front 16

State Dependent Memory

Back 16

What is learned in one state (while one is high, drunk, or depressed) can more easily be remembered when in the same state.

Front 17

What are the criteria for a mental disorder

Back 17

A “harmful dysfunction” in which behavior is judged to be:
o Atypical – not enough in itself
o Disturbing – Varies with time and culture
o Maladaptive – Harmful
o Unjustifiable – According to society’s norms

Front 18

Medical Model

Back 18

o Concept that diseases have physical causes.
o Can be diagnosed, treated, and n most cases, cured.
o Assumes that these illnesses can be diagnosed by their symptoms and cure through therapy, may include treatment in a psychiatric hospital.

Front 19

Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective

Back 19

o Assumes that biological, socio-cultural, and psychological factors combine and interact to produce psychological disorders
o Nature and nurture.

Front 20

DSM-IV

Back 20

o American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fourth edition)
o A widely used system for classifying psychological disorders. While it can be useful, it applies labels.

Front 21

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Back 21

A person is unexplainably and continually tense and uneasy.

Front 22

Panic Disorder

Back 22

A person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread

Front 23

Phobias

Back 23

A person feels irrationally and intensely afraid of a specific object or situation.

Front 24

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Back 24

Where a person is troubled by repetitive thoughts or actions

Front 25

Major Depressive Disorder

Back 25

A mood disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or a medical condition, two or more weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities.

Front 26

Bipolar Disorder

Back 26

A mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania.

Front 27

Schizophrenia

Back 27

A group of severe disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions. i

Front 28

What causes Schizophrenia?

Back 28

Brain abnormalities - Includes enlarged, fluid-filled cerebral cavities and corresponding decreases in the cortex. Also includes decreased brain activity in certain regions. A mid pregnancy viral infection may be a causal factor

Genetic Factors - Highly dependent on family history. Identical twins are very likely to either both have it or not.

Psychological factors - None have been discovered.