Memory Definitions

• Stimulus


  anything that influences an organism
• Sensation


  The detection of stimuli by the sense organs and the conversion of sensory information into electrochemical stimuli.
• Sensory organs


  Organs containing sensory neurons.
• Reception


  The detection of sensory information in the sense organs of the body.
• Transduction 


  The changing of sensory information into electrochemical energy
• Transmission


  The movement of electrochemical energy to the brain for interpreting.
• Perception


  the mental representation that the brain creates using information detected by the senses.
• Selection


  Crucial pieces of information are selected for further processing and other content is discarded.
• Organisation


  Selected information gets categorised allowing for meaningful patterns.
• Interpretation


  Meanings assigned to the groups of patterns.
• Attention


  The mental capacity to concentrate of a specific stimulus while ignoring other stimuli.
• Memory


  Information and past experiences are actively processed, stored, and retrieved.
• Selective attention


  the process of concentrating on a chosen stimuli while disregarding others.
• Divided attention


  The ability to concentrate on two or more stimuli simultaneousl.
• Storage


  The retention of information within the stores of memory
• Retrieval


  The movement of information from the long-term store to conscious awareness
• Encoding


  the form in which information is stored.
• Decay


  The fading of memory over time
• Capacity


  The maximum amount of information that can be stored at any time.
• Duration


  The length of time information can be stored for.
• Sensory register


  The memory store where sensory information is briefly held before decaying or going to the short-term store
• Short-term memory


  A temporary memory store for limited information received from the sensory register and long-term store.
• Long-term memory


  A relatively permanent memory store for a limitless amount of information that sends and receives information from the short-term store.
• Procedural memory


  Type of long term memory for skills and actions that are difficult to explain in words.
• Declarative memory


  Long-term memory that can be expressed in words.
• Semantic memory


  Declarative memory for impersonal, factual knowledge.
• Episodic memory


  Declarative memory for personally significant events.
• Working-memory model


  A view of the short-term memory as a dynamic storage system capable of holding multiple pieces of information.
• Central executive


  Coordinating the slave systems and controlling attention given to information and decision making.
• Phonological loop


  Temporarily stores and processes auditory information.
• Phonological store 


  Storage for heard words
• Articulatory process


  Repeats heard words allowing for maintenance rehearsal.
• Visuospatial sketchpad 


  Stores and manipulates visual and spatial information.