Information-processing model
model of memory that assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer processes memory in a series of three stages.
Levels-of-processing model
model of memory that assumes information that is more “deeply processed” or processed according to its meaning rather than just the sound of physical characteristics of the word or
words, will be remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time.
Parallel distributed processing (PDP)
a model of memory in which memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network of neural connections.
Semantic network models
model of memory organization that assumes information is stored in the brain in a connected fashion with concepts that are
related stored physically closer to each other than retrieval cue a stimulus for remembering.
Sensory memory
the very first stage of memory, the point at which information enters the nervous system through the sensory systems.
Short-term memory (STM)
working memory
the memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used.
Lasts from
12-30 seconds without rehearsal
Long-term Memory (LTM)
the system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently.
Explicit Memory
memory that is consciously known
Semantic and episodic memories
Implicit Memory
memory that is not easily brought into conscious awareness.
Procedural memory
declarative memory
- type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious and known.
- Memory for facts
Procedural
type of long-term memory including the memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses.
These memories are not conscious, but are implies to exist because they affect conscious behavior.
Non-declaritve memory
Episodic Memory
type of declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events.
Semantic memory
type of declarative memory containing general knowledge of language ad information learned in formal education.
recognition memory
the ability to match a
piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact.
Recall memory
type of memory retrieval in which the information to be retrieved must be “pulled” from memory with very few external cues.
Proactive interference
memory retrieval problem that occurs when older information prevents or interferes with the retrieval of newer information.
Ex: problem driving in England after
learning in the U.S.
Retroactive interference
memory retrieval problem that occurs when newer information prevents or interferes with the retrieval of older information.
anterograde amnesia
loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma forward, or the inability to form new long-term memories.
“senile dementia”
Retrograde
amnesia
loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backwards, or loss of memory for the past.
Autobiographical memory
the memory for events and facts related to one’s personal life story (usually after age 3)
Automatic encoding
tendency of certain kinds of information to enter long-term memory with little or no effortful encoding.
Consolidation
the changes that take place in the structure and functioning of neurons when an engram is formed.
Constructive processing
referring to the retrieval of memories in which those memories are altered, revised, or influenced by newer information.
Curve of forgetting
a graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very fast within the first hour after learning a list and then tapers
off gradually.
Decay
loss of memory due to the passage of time, during which the memory trace is not used.
Distributed practice
will produce better retrieval than massed practice
Disuse
another name for decay, assuming that memories that are not used will eventually decay and disappear.
Echoic memory
the brief memory of something a person has just heard.
Eidetic imagery
the rare ability to access a visual memory for 30 seconds or more.
Elaborative rehearsal
a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way.
Encoding
the set of mental operations that people perform on sensory
information to convert that information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems.
Encoding failure
failure to process information into memory.
Encoding specificity
the tendency for memory of information to be improved if related information (such as surrounding or physiological state) available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved.
False positive
error of recognition in which people think that they recognize some stimulus that is not actually in memory.
Flashbulb memories
type of automatic encoding that occurs because an unexpected event has strong emotional associations for the person remembering it.
Hindsight bias
the tendency to falsely believe, through revision of
older memories to include newer information, that one could have correctly predicted the outcome of an event.
Iconic Memory
visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second.
Implicit memory
memory that is not easily brought into conscious awareness.
Infantile amnesia
the inability to retrieve memories from much before age 3.
Maintenance rehearsal
practice of saying some information to be remembered over and over in one’s head in order to maintain it in short-term memory.
Memory
memory that is consciously known.
Memory Trace
physical change in the brain that occurs when a memory is formed.
Misinformation effect
the tendency of
misleading information presented after an event to alter the memories of the event itself.
Primacy effect
tendency to remember information at the beginning of a body of information better than the information that follows.
Recency effect
tendency to remember information at the end of a body of information better than the information ahead of it.
Retrieval
getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used.
Selective attention
the ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input.
Serial position effect
tendency of information at the beginning and end of a body of information to be remembered more accurately than information in the middle of the body of information.
Storage
holding onto information for some period of time
Working memory
Short-term memory; STM
the memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used.
Retroactive interference happens when an individual is unable to recall old information because new information prevents its retrieval. In other words, new memories interfere with the retrieval of old memories. Retroactive interference has been shown to disrupt learning.
Types of Retrieval
There are three ways you can retrieve information out of your long-term memory storage system: recall, recognition, and relearning.
The interference theory is a theory regarding human memory. Interference occurs in learning. The notion is that memories encoded in long-term memory (LTM) are forgotten and cannot be retrieved into short-term memory (STM) because either memory could interfere with the other.
