Vocab Chap. 7

Front 1

Memory (7.1)

Back 1

Any system - human, animal, or machine - that encodes, stores, and retrieves information.

Front 2

Information-Processing Model (7.2)

Back 2

A cognitive understanding of memory, emphasizing how information is changed when it is encoded, stored, and retrieved.

Front 3

Encoding (7.3)

Back 3

One of the three basic tasks of memory, involving the modification of information to fit the preferred format for the memory system.

Front 4

Storage (7.4)

Back 4

One of the three basic tasks of memory, involving the retention of encoded material over time.

Front 5

Retrieval (7.5)

Back 5

The third basic task of memory, involving the location and recovery of information from memory.

Front 6

Eidetic Imagery (7.6)

Back 6

An especially clear and persistent form of memory that is quite rare; sometimes known as "photographic memory."

Front 7

Sensory Memory (7.7)

Back 7

The first of three memory stages, preserving brief sensory impressions of stimuli.

Front 8

Working Memory (7.8)

Back 8

The second of three memory stages, and the most limited in capacity. It preserves recently perceived events or experiences for less than a minute without rehearsal.

Front 9

Long-term memory (7.9)

Back 9

The third of three memory stages, with the largest capacity and longest duration. Stores material organized according to meaning.

Front 10

Chunking (7.10)

Back 10

Organizing pieces of information into a smaller number of meaningful units. This is a process that frees up space in working memory.

Front 11

Maintenance Rehearsal (7.11)

Back 11

A working-memory process in which information is merely repeated or reviewed to keep it from fading while in working memory. This involves no active elaboration.

Front 12

Elaborative Rehearsal (7.12)

Back 12

A working-memory process in which information is actively reviewed and related to information already in LTM.

Front 13

Acoustic Encoding (7.13)

Back 13

The conversion of information, especially semantic information, to sound patterns in working memory.

Front 14

Levels-of-processing theory (7.14)

Back 14

The explanation for the fact that information that is more thoroughly connected to meaningful items in long-term memory will be remembered better.

Front 15

Procedural memory (7.15)

Back 15

A division of LTM that stores memories for how things are done.

Front 16

Declarative memory (7.16)

Back 16

A division of LTM that stores explicit information; also known as fact memory. This has two subdivisions: episodic memory and semantic memory.

Front 17

Episodic Memory (7.17)

Back 17

A subdivision of declarative memory that stores memory for personal events

Front 18

Semantic Memory (7.18)

Back 18

A subdivision of declarative memory that stores general knowledge, including the meanings of words and concepts.

Front 19

Engram (7.19)

Back 19

The physical changes in the brain associated with a memory. It is also known as the memory trace.

Front 20

Anterograde Amnesia (7.20)

Back 20

The inability to form memories for new information (as opposed to retrograde amnesia, which involves the inability to remember information previously stored in memory).

Front 21

Consolidation (7.21)

Back 21

The process by which short-term memories are changed to long-term memories over a period of time.

Front 22

Retrograde Amnesia (7.22)

Back 22

The inability to remember information previously stored in memory.

Front 23

Flashbulb Memory (7.23)

Back 23

A clear and vivid long-term memory of an especially meaningful and emotional event.

Front 24

Implicit Memory (7.24)

Back 24

A memory that was not deliberately learned or of which you have no conscious awareness.

Front 25

Explicit Memory (7.25)

Back 25

Memory that has been processed with attention and can be consciously recalled.

Front 26

Retrieval Cues (7.26)

Back 26

Stimuli that are used to bring a memory to consciousness or into behavior.

Front 27

Priming (7.27)

Back 27

A technique for cuing implicit memories by providing cues that stimulate a memory without awareness of the connection between the cue and the retrieved memory.

Front 28

Recall (7.28)

Back 28

A retrieval method in which one must reproduce previously presented information.

Front 29

Recognition (7.29)

Back 29

A retrieval method in which one must identify present stimuli as having been previously presented.

Front 30

Encoding Specificity principle (7.30)

Back 30

The doctrine that memory is encoded and stored with specific cues related to the context in which it was formed. The more closely the retrieval cues match the form in which the information was encoded, the better it will be remembered.

Front 31

Mood-congruent memory (7.31)

Back 31

A memory process that selectively retrieves memories that match one's mood.

Front 32

TOT phenomenon (7.32)

Back 32

The inability to recall a word, while knowing that it is in memory. People often describe this frustrating experience as having the word "on the tip of their tongue."

Front 33

Transience (7.33)

Back 33

The impermanence of a long-term memory. This is based on the idea that long-term memories gradually fade in strength over time.

Front 34

Forgetting Curve (7.34)

Back 34

A graph plotting the amount of retention and forgetting over time for a certain batch of material, such as a list of nonsense syllables. Typically steep at first, then becoming flatter as time goes on.

Front 35

Absent-mindedness (7.35)

Back 35

Forgetting caused by lapses in attention.

Front 36

Blocking (7.36)

Back 36

Forgetting that occurs when an item in memory cannot be accessed or retrieved. Blocking is caused by interference.

Front 37

Proactive interference (7.37)

Back 37

A cause of forgetting by which previously stored information prevents learning and remembering new information.

Front 38

Retroactive interference (7.38)

Back 38

A cause of forgetting by which newly learned information prevents retrieval of previously stored material.

Front 39

Serial position effect (7.39)

Back 39

A form of interference related to the sequence in which information is presented. Generally, items in the middle of the sequence are less well remembered than items presented first or last.

Front 40

Misattribution (7.40)

Back 40

A memory fault that occurs when memories are retrieved but are associated with the wrong time, place, or person.

Front 41

Suggestibility (7.41)

Back 41

The process of memory distortion as the result of deliberate or inadvertent suggestion.

Front 42

Misinformation effect (7.42)

Back 42

The distortion of memory by suggestion or misinformation.

Front 43

Expectancy bias (7.43)

Back 43

IN memory, a tendency to distort recalled events to make them fit one's expectations.

Front 44

Self-consistency bias (7.44)

Back 44

The commonly held idea that we are more consistent in our attitudes, opinions, and beliefs than we actually are.

Front 45

Persistence (7.45)

Back 45

A memory problem in which unwanted memories cannot be put out of mind.

Front 46

Mnemonics (7.46)

Back 46

Techniques for improving memory, especially by making connections between new material and information already in long-term memory.

Front 47

Method of loci (7.47)

Back 47

A mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations.

Front 48

Natural language mediators (7.48)

Back 48

Words associated with new information to be remembered.

Front 49

Language acquisition device (7.49)

Back 49

A biologically organized mental structure in the brain that facilitates the learning of language because it is innately programmed with some of the fundamental rules of grammar.

Front 50

Grammar (7.50)

Back 50

The rules of a language, specifying how to use words, morphemes, and syntax to produce understandable sentences.

Front 51

Morphemes (7.51)

Back 51

The meaningful units of language that make up words.

Front 52

Overregularization (7.52)

Back 52

Applying a grammatical rule too widely and thereby creating incorrect forms.

Front 53

Computer metaphor (7.53)

Back 53

The idea that the brain is an information-processing organ that operates, in some ways, like a computer.

Front 54

Concepts (7.54)

Back 54

Mental representations of items or ideas, based on experience.

Front 55

Natural concepts (7.55)

Back 55

Mental representations of objects and events drawn from our direct experience.

Front 56

Prototype (7.56)

Back 56

An ideal or most representative example of a conceptual category.

Front 57

Artificial Concepts (7.57)

Back 57

Concepts defined by rules, such as word definitions and mathematical formulas.

Front 58

Concept hierarchies (7.58)

Back 58

Levels of concepts, from most general to most specific, in which a more general level includes more specific concepts - as the concept of "animal" includes "dog", "giraffe", and butterfly".

Front 59

Event-related potentials (7.59)

Back 59

Brian waves shown on the EEG in response to stimulation.

Front 60

Schema (7.60)

Back 60

A knowledge cluster or general conceptual framework that provides expectations about topics, events, objects, people, and situation in one's life.

Front 61

Script (7.61)

Back 61

A cluster of knowledge about sequences of events and actions expected to occur in particular settings.

Front 62

Algorithms (7.62)

Back 62

Problem-solving procedures or formulas that guarantee a correct outcome, if correctly applied.

Front 63

Heuristics (7.63)

Back 63

Cognitive strategies or "rules of thumb" used as shortcuts to solve complex mental tasks.

Front 64

Mental set (7.64)

Back 64

The tendency to respond to a new problem in the manner used for a previous problem.

Front 65

Functional fixedness (7.65)

Back 65

The inability to perceive a new use for an object associated with a different purpose; a form of mental set.

Front 66

Hindsight bias (7.66)

Back 66

The tendency, after learning about an event, to "second guess" or believe that one could have predicted the event in advance.

Front 67

Anchoring bias (7.67)

Back 67

A faulty heuristic caused by basing an estimate on a completely unrelated quantity.

Front 68

Representativeness Bias (7.68)

Back 68

A faulty heuristic strategy based on the presumption that once people or events are categorized, they share all the features of other members in that category.

Front 69

Availability Bias (7.69)

Back 69

A faulty heuristic strategy that estimates probabilities based on information that can be recalled from personal experience.

Front 70

Creativity (7.70)

Back 70

A mental process that produces novel responses that contribute to the solutions of problems.

Front 71

Aptitudes (7.71)

Back 71

Innate potentialities (as contrasted with abilities acquired by learning).

Front 72

Whole Method (7.72)

Back 72

The mnemonic strategy of first approaching the material to be learned, forming an impression of the overall meaning of the material. The details are later associated with this overall impression.

Front 73

Distributed Learning (7.73)

Back 73

A technique whereby the learner spaces learning sessions over time, rather than trying to learn the material all in one study period.

Front 74

Overlearning (7.74)

Back 74

A strategy whereby the learner continues to study and rehearse the material after it has been initially brought to mastery.