INTROPSYCH Chapter 6 -

• Memory


  The processes by which information is encoded, stored and retrieved
• Types of memory


  • Explicit memory (declarative memory)
  • Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory)
  • Retroactive memory
  • Prospective memory
• Explicit memory


  Memory for specific information
• Types of explicit memory


  • Episodic memories
  • Semantic memory
• Episodic memories


  Memories of the things that happen to us or take place in our presence
• Semantic memory


  Memory for general knowledge and facts about the world
• Implicit memory


  Memory of how to perform a procedure or skill
• Retroactive memory


  Recalling of information that has been previously learned
• Prospective memory


  Remembering to do things in the future
• Processes of memory


  • Encoding
  • Storage
  • Retrieval
• Encoding


  Modifying information so that it can be placed in memory; the first stage of information processing
• Storage


  The maintenance of information over time; the second stage of information processing
• Retrieval


  The location of stored information and its return to consciousness; third stage of information processing
• Stages of memory


  • Sensory memory
  • Short-term memory
  • Long-term memory
• Sensory memory


  The type or stage of memory first encountered by a stimulus; sensory memory holds impressions briefly, but long enough so that series of perceptions are continuous
• Memory trace


  An assumed change in the nervous system that reflects the impression made by a stimulus
• Iconic memory


  The sensory register that briefly holds mental representations of visual stimuli
• Echoic memory


  The sensory register that briefly holds mental representation of auditory stimuli
• Short-term memory


  The type of stage of memory that can hold information for up to a minute or so after the trace of the stimulus decays
• Working memory


  Another term for short-term memory
• Serial-position effect


  The tendency to recall more accurately the first and last items in a series
• Chunk


  A stimulus or group of stimuli that are perceived as a discrete piece of information
• Displacement


  In memory theory, to cause information to be lost from short-term memory by adding new information
• Long-term memory


  The type or stage of memory capable of relatively permanent storage
• Regression


  In Freud's psychodynamic theory, the ejection of anxiety-evoking ides from conscious awareness
• Schema


  A way of mentally representing the world, such as belief or an expectation, that can influence perception of persons, objects and situations
• Tip-of-the-tongue Phenomenon

  The feeling that information is stored in memory although it cannot be readily retrieved
• Context-dependent memory


  Information that is better retrieved in the context in which it was encoded and stored, or learned
• State-dependent memory


  Information that is better retrieved in the physiological or emotional state in which it was encoded and stored, or learned
• Forgetting


  • Recognition
  • Recall
  • Relearning
• Nonsense syllables


  Meaningless sets of two constants, with a vowel sandwiched in between, that are used to study memory
• Paired associates


  Nonsense syllables presented in pairs in experiments that measure recall
• Method of savings


  A measure of retention in which the difference between the number of repetitions originally required to learn a list and the number of repetitions required to relearn the list after a certain amount of time has elapsed
• Retroactive interference


  The interference of new learning with the ability to retrieve material learned previously
• Proactive interference


  The interference by old learning with the ability to retrieve material learned recently
• Dissociative amnesia


  Loss of memory of personal information thought to stem from psychological conflict or trauma
• Infantile amnesia


  Inability to recall events that occur prior to the age three or so; also termed childhood amnesia
• Hippocampus


  A structure in the limbic system that plays an important role in the formation of new memories
• Types of amnesia


  • Biogenic (caused by brain damage or disease)
  • Psychogenic or dissociative or functional (caused by psychological trauma)
• Types of biogenic amnesia


  • Retrograde (inability to retrieve information that was acquire before a particular date)
  • Anterograde (inability to transfer new information from the short-term store into long-term store)