part 1

• Grandmother cell


  • every memory has a spot where it is stored
  • brain cells that respond to very specific things
  • cells specialized - only activate when they see or hear something particular
  • debated
• Encoding influenced by 


  quality of representation =

  • image / richness
  • distinctiveness
• Picture superiority effect


  • people tend to remember images better than words
  • suggests that visual information is processed more efficiently & retained more effectively in memory compared to verbal information
• Distinctiveness - Isolation effect 


  • an item that stands out from its surrounding environment = more likely to be remembered
  • distinctive or unique items = more memorable than those similar to others in a set or context = context dependent
• Self-reference effect 


  • better memory recall for information that is personally relevant compared to information that is not
  • relating new information to yourself or own experiences = tend to encode it more deeply = enhanced retention & easier retrieval
• Retrieval - memory interference 


  • need to search through many similar memories
  • makes remembering difficult
  • distinctive = memories easier to retrieve + retrieve accurately
• Encoding Specificity 


  • to get information in memory you must reistate conditions at encoding
  • memory better if retrieval context matches encoding context
• Transfer appropriate processing


  • memory performance best when processing operations used during encoding match those used during retrieval
• State dependent learning 


  Memory best when environmental or mental context same at encoding & retrieval = information is more easily recalled