Psychology Chapter 8 Terms

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Alzheimer's disease (AD)

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A progressive brain disorder that is the most common cause if dementia among adults over the age of 65

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Anterograde amnesia

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Memory loss for events that occur after the initial onset of amnesia

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Associative network

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A massive network of associated ideas and concepts

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Autobiographical memory

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Recollections of personally experienced events that make up the stories of our lives

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Chunking

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Combining individual items into larger units of meaning

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Context-dependent memory

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It typically is easier to remember something in the same environment in which it was originally encoded

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Decay theory

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A theory which proposed that with time and disuse, the long-term physical memory trace in the nervous system fades away

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Declarative memory

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Memory involving factual knowledge

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Dementia

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Impaired memory and other cognitive deficits that accompany brain degeneration and interfere with normal functioning

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Dual coding theory

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Encoding information using both verbal and visual codes enhances memory because the odds improve that at least one of the codes will be available later to support recall

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Elaborative rehearsal

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Focusing on the meaning of information or expanding on it in some way

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Encoding

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Getting information into the system by translating it into a neural code that your brain processes

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Encoding specificity principle

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Memory is enhanced when conditions present during retrieval match those that were present during encoding

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Episodic memory

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Our store of knowledge concerning personal experiences: when, where, and what happened in the episodes of our lives

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Explicit memory

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Conscious or intentional memory retrieval, as when you consciously recognize or recall something

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Flashbulb memories

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Recollections that seem so vivid, so clear, that we picture them as if they were snapshots of moments in time

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Implicit memory

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When memory influences our behavior without conscious awareness

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Infantile amnesia

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Memory loss for early experiences

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Levels of processing

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The more deeply we process information, the better we will remember it

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Long-term memory

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Our vast library of more durable stored memories

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Long-term potentiation (LTP)

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Increase in synaptic strength

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Maintenance rehearsal

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Rehearsal that involves simple, rote repetition

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Memory

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The processes that allow us to record, store, and later retrieve experiences and information

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Memory codes

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Mental representations of some type of information or stimulus

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Memory consolidation

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Hypothetical and gradual binding process

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Method of loci

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A memory aid that associates information with mental images of physical locations

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Misinformation effect

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The distortion of a memory by misleading postevent information

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Mnemonic device

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A memory aid

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Mnemonist (memorist)

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A person who displays extraordinary memory skills

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Mood-congruent recall

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We tend to recall information or events that are congruent with our current mood

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Neural network (connectionist) model

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Each memory is represented by a unique pattern of interconnected, and simultaneously activated nodes

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Overlearning

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Continued rehearsal past the point of initial mastery

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Parallel distributed processing (PDP) model

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Alternative name for neural network models

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Priming

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The activation of one concept (or one unit of information) by another

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Proactive interference

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Occurs when material learned in the past interferes with recall of newer material

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Procedural (nondeclarative) memory

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Memory that is reflected in skills and actions

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Prospective memory

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Remembering to perform an activity in the future

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Repression

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A motivational process that protects us by blocking the conscious recall of anxiety-arousing memories

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Retrieval

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Processes that access stored information

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Retrieval cue

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A stimulus, whether internal or external, that activates information stored in long-term memory

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Retroactive interference

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Occurs when newly acquired information interferes with the ability to recall information learned at an earlier time

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Retrograde amnesia

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Memory loss for events that took place sometime in life before the onset of amnesia

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Schema

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A mental framework/organized pattern of thought about some aspect of the world

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Semantic memory

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General factual knowledge about the world and language, including memory for words and concepts

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Sensory memory

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Briefly holds incoming sensory information

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Serial position effect

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The ability to recall an item is influenced by the item's position in a series

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Short-term memory

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A memory store that temporarily holds a limited amount of information

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Source confusion

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Our tendency to recall something or recognize it as familiar but to forget where we encountered it

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State-dependent memory

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Our ability to retrieve information is greater when our internal state at the time of retrieval matches our original state during learning

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Storage

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Retaining information over time

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Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state

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We cannot recall something but feel that we are on the verge of remembering it

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Working memory

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A limited-capacity system that temporarily stores and processes information