unit 5

• Memory


  the persistence of learning over time through encoding, storage, and retrieval of information (Myers 318)
• Encoding


  the processing of information into the memory system--for example, by extracting meaning (319)
• Storage


  the process of retaining encoded information over time (319)
• Retrieval


  the process of getting information out of memory storage (319)
• Parallel processing


  the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions. Contrasts with the step-by-step (Serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving (319)
• Effortful processing


  encoding that requires attention and conscious effort (320)
• Shallow processing


  encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words (324)
• Deep processing


  encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention (325)
• Hippocampus


  a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage (330)
• Selective attention


  the focussing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus (152)
• Automatic processing


  unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings (320)
• Overlearning


  additional rehearsal of information leads to increased retention
• Rehearsal


  the conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage
• Semantic encoding


  the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words
• Mnemonic effect


  memory aids, especially those technique that use vivid imagery and organizational devices (323)
• Method of loci


  a mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations
• Self-reference effect


  the tendency to process efficiently and remember well information related to oneself
• Chunking


  organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occcurs automatically (323)
• Basal ganglia


  it receives messages from the motor cortex but does not send back information to the cortex for conscious awareness of procedural memory
• Peg-word system


  a mnemonic in which the items in a list to be remembered are associated with the sequential items in a memorized jingle and then the list is retrieved by going through the jingle and retrieving the associated items.
• Sensory memory


  the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system (319)
• Working memory


  a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory (320)
• Serial position effect


  our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list (337)
• Context effect


  the tendency to recover information more easily when the retrieval occurs in the same setting as the original learning of the information
• Mood-congruent memory


  the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood (337)
• Testing effect


  enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning (324)
• Spacing effect


  the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice (324)
• Permastore memory


  long-term memories that are especially resistant to forgetting and are likely to last a lifetime
• State-dependent memory


  The theory that information learned in a particular state of mind (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind.
• Retroactive interference


  the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information (345)
• Proactive interference


  the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information (345)
• Repression


  in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories (346)
• Anterograde amnesia


  an inability to form new memories (342)
• Short-term memory


  activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten (319)
• Retrograde amnesia


  an inability to retrieve information from one's past (342)
• Misinformation effect


  incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event (347)
• Source amnesia


  attributing to the wrong source an event we have heard, heard about, read about, or imagined. Also called source misattribution. Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories (349)
• Déjà vu


  that eerie sense that 'I've experienced this before.' Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience (349)
• Reconsolidation


  a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again
• Long-term memory


  the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences (319)