Term Explanation Application/Example/Extension is the process of getting, or putting Encoding is similar to typing, or putting, information on a computer. information into the memory system You first have to put the information in before you can save it. Automatic processing is the unconscious If you were asked what you had for lunch earlier in the day you would be encoding of information such as space, able to remember- you did not memorize the contents of your lunch, but time, and well-learned information since it was automatically encoded, without effort you remembered. Effortful processing is encoding through Studying information for a test is an example of effortful processing- you a conscious effort have to make an effort to remember. ry ry Semantic encoding is encoding with Learning the meaning of words is an example of semantic encoding. For meaning example- you are storing semantic encoding with meaning. In other ng words, the term has a definition (meaning) also encoded. For example, encoding means to put information in Encoding imagery involves using mental When you try to remember something, often you are trying to remember pictures in order to remember a picture, or an image, of the situation. For example, gazing up during a test you are trying to remember the situation when you learned the term- the imagery of the teacher covering the term. Rosy retrospection- is the tendency Some people who are contemplating getting back together with an old

to remember pleasant images and not girlfriend/ boyfriend may only remember the positives about the the bad images relationship- however, once they get back together, they will be reminded quickly of the negatives Method of loci is a device, Some people, when they go grocery shopping, mentally picture the or memory aid, which you associate location of items in their fridge in order to decide what to buy and what Processes of of Memo Processes Encodi items with the imagery of places. they already have Richard Atkinson and developed the information processing model . They believed information is seen as passing through 3 types of memory stages: , short-term memory, and long-term memory Sensory memory is a brief George Sperling Sensory have to be very brief as enormous initial encoding of sensory researched the duration amounts of sensory information are constantly around us- if information of sensory memory we take too much time to process certain stimuli we would

Processes of Processes Memory miss other stimuli.

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Iconic memory is a momentary sensory Our dominant sense is vision, called visual capture . There memory of visual stimuli is much more to see, which is why has to be very brief, about a few tenths of a second is a momentary sensory Echoic memories last about 3-4 seconds , which is why memory of auditory memory when you repeat terms you are able to retain the terms longer- lasts longer than just looking at a term. Selective - paying attention to certain There is an enormous amount of sensory information that environmental sensory stimuli is necessary to move the surrounds us. What we choose to pay attention to is what we information to short-term memory, where it will are going to actually think about in short-term memory. For interpreted or thought about example, you hear a weird noise in your bedroom that gets your attention- now you are paying attention to it Short-term memory is an active, temporary memory After the weird noise gets your attention, you start to think system where information is processed (making sense what the weird noise can be. This thinking occurs in short- of) resulting in either being passed to the next memory term memory- you are trying to make sense of the weird system and stored permanently in long-term memory, noise. or never reaching long-term memory and being forgotten George Miller’s “Magical number 7 plus or The technique of , which is grouping items into minus 2 - short-term memory’s capacity is meaningful chunks like acronyms, free up space in short- limited to 7 items give or take 2 term memory/ TGIF is one item rather than 4 items The duration of the time you can work with Maintenance rehearsal is the mental or verbal repeating of information in short-term memory is 20 or 30 a term, resulting in each time repeated increasing the seconds, resulting in information being either duration of how long an item is held in short-term memory transferred to long-term memory or forgotten is the active part of short-term memory- the information which you are “working,” or thinking about

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Long-term memory is the relatively permanent and Elaborative rehearsal If you were to tell your friend of limitless storehouse of memory. involves providing meaning the weird noise in your bedroom to information, which helps that occurred the night before, send, or encode, the than this is an indication that the information from short-term noise was stored in long-term to long-term memory. memory Flashbulb memories are vivid, clear memories Flashbulb memories are often remembered because they involve of an emotionally significant moments or events more parts of the in terms of forming the memory. that are processed in the amygdala, which often Images of 9/11 are flashbulb memories for many people who ties emotions to this information witnessed that event Long-term potentiation is an increase in a If you had a shed in the backyard and a snowstorm made it neurons’s firing, which involves the difficult to get to the shed, the more you walked back and forth neurotransmitter serotonin , which is linked to from your house to the shed the easier it would be to get to the learning and memory. shed. You would have created a path, which you will now each *When neurons continue to fire at the same time use you have to go to the shed. The is similar to the time the dendrites of each neuron grow, causing process of learning (walking back and forth to the shed) and the synapse, or gap between neurons, to forming a memory (the path in the snow) decrease resulting in a memory trace, or path, produced in the brain. Each time that memory is activated, the memory trace is activated, resembling a path.* Types of Long term Memories Explicit memories are also called declarative Explicit memories have explicit answers, such as your memories , which involve personal experiences address, which you have to declare consciously, which (episodic information) AND general knowledge, like means you have to think in order to remember the facts (semantic information ) Explicit memories have answer. to be consciously recalled , which means you have to put some thought into coming up with the answer- these memories are stored in the hippocampus

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Episodic information are events only you Your life is full of “episodes,” which are personal personally have experienced memories of your life. This may include your phone number, birth date, mom’s name Semantic information is general knowledge Semantic information involves common knowledge, and facts that everyone seems to know or common sense information- like how many tires on a car, what color is a stop light Implicit memories are nondeclarative memories, Implicit memories If someone was to ask you how which involve procedural information containing are “implied” to write, you would have a hard motor skills and procedures that do not require active memories, which time explaining the process thinking in order perform- these memories are stored means “you just because the memory for writing in the cerebellum know” how to do, is implicit- nondeclarative- like walk or ride a which means you don’t have to bike. declare or think about the memory. Procedural information involves motor Each time you learned a motor skill, like tying your skills, actions, shoe, you learned it as a procedure- “loop and swoop.” The Brain and Memories Explicit memories are processed in the hippocampus, which is the area of the brain responsible for forming new memories Implicit memories are processed in the People who have had damage to their cerebellum have to cerebellum , which is the area of the brain relearn their implicit memories like walking, writing, riding a in charge of balance and movement bike. Organizing long-term memory Conceptual hierarchy - long-term A conceptual hierarchy is like a filling system- you create files based memories are organized into groups on their commonalities- all of your phone bills are in a file, tax bills in that share similar characteristics or another file. This is similar to memories- all of your memories about features school are in a file, all of your memories about food are in another file

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Semantic network model states that If you think of the color red then you tend to also think of other items long-term memories are organized that are tied to red, like a fire truck, apple, stop sign- in other words, red through a network of associations- is associated, or tied to, all of these items memories are tied, or are linked together through a characteristic is an unconscious ( does When you think of the color red you automatically (unconsciously, not require thought- just happens) without thinking,) have the memory of a fire truck or apple. These process that activates associations memories just “pop-into” to your thinking because they are tied, or in the semantic network associated with, other memories that have a similar characteristic. Retrieval cues are stimuli that help to Multiple-choice tests involve recognition of items from long-term information from long-term memory and bring memory- recognizing a term helps to retrieve the memory, or back into short-term memory. definition. Essay questions involve free-recall , which often do not provide any retrieval cues. This is why students do not particularly care for essay questions because there are limited retrieval cues to access information in long-term memories. Fill-in-the-blank questions involve cued recall because the questions by

themselves can cue a memory Serial position effect is the tendency to People often forget the items in the middle of a list recall the first (primacy) and last (recency) items of a list Encoding specificity principle - when When you are studying, or trying to encode information into long-term you store something in memory, the memory, you are unaware but you are also encoding additional memory is not just of the item but also the information, such as a song playing in the background, the color of context in which the memory occurred, or your note book. This explains why when you later look at your was being formed notebook; you remember the song playing and what you were studying. When you were forming a memory of what you had to study, you also tied to this memory the color of your notebook and the song playing. That explains why each of these items serves as a retrieval cue for the

Process of Memory Memory of Process Retrieval other- notebook cues song/ song cues information being studied

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Examples Context-dependent You run out of toothpaste as you are getting ready in the morning, so of the memory is a memory that you remind yourself to buy some on the way home from school. encoding involves the context, or Throughout the day you forget about the toothpaste until you walk back specificity content present, during the into the bathroom. The reason why you remember the moment you principle time learning took place. walked into the bathroom is that the bathroom is a retrieval cue because it is part of the memory to purchase the toothpaste.

State-dependent memory If someone were to drink alcohol while having a conversation, then is a memory that is aided alcohol will be part of the memory encoding process. Next time that or affected by a person’s person drinks alcohol; the alcohol will serve as a retrieval cue for the internal or mental state. conversation. Mood-congruent memory When people are happy they often remember other happy memories. occurs when a person’s When people fight they often remember other times they fought, which mood serves as a retrieval is why arguments often get worse- past memories of fighting often cue arise, or are retrieved. Encoding failure occurs when information does When you don’t use elaborative rehearsal, or provide enough meaning, not go from short-term to long-term memory. to a term or event, then more than likely it will never be encoded into long-term memory- you never learned the term. If you don’t care about

something or it does not mean anything to you, then you probably are not going to remember it Retrieval cue failure , also referred to as tip-of- When you are having a conversation and someone asks you about the the-tongue , occurs when a retrieval cue is not time you went to the store, and you can’t remember going to the store, strong enough to retrieve, or trigger the memory then that person’s question was not a good enough retrieval cue to stored in long-term memory. recall the memory of going to the store. If the person then adds more detail to the question and you are now able to remember going to the store then the person has strengthened the retrieval cue is the gradual disappearance of a If a person does not dial their childhood phone number for a few years, memory because the memory has not been then the memory of that number will start to decay, or fade away. thought about, or retrieved, from long-term However, years can go by where when that person has not thought memory into short-term memory about that phone number, when someone suddenly shows it to them, they instantly recognize it, supporting the fact that long-term memories

Forgetting are permanent.

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Hermann Ebbinghaus developed the After your psychology class is dismissed, the information that you . He believed information that remember as you walk out of class has been encoded into long-term will be forgotten is forgotten right away, memory. The information you cannot remember was probably information that that is not forgotten right forgotten as soon as it was presented or taught. away will be encoded into long-term memory is the process through which either the storage or retrieval of a memory impairs other information and memories Proactive interference occurs when previous, An example of proactive interference is when you try and can’t old information affects, or interferes, with remember your NEW locker combination because you keep on trying to remember new information . dialing your old locker combination. Retroactive interference occurs when recently An example of retroactive interference is when you can’t remember learned new information affects, or interferes, your OLD class schedule because your new class schedule is with remembering old information. interfering, or causing you to forget your old class schedule. Sigmund Repression occurs when traumatic or Repression keeps memories in long-term memories without your Freud painful events are automatically effort or desire. If someone was to ask you about an event that was (without your effort) placed in the repressed then no matter how hard you try you will not be able to unconscious. remember. Suppression occurs when you If someone was to ask you about your ex-boy/girlfriend and you consciously choose not to remember choose not to think or talk about it, then you are suppressing the something, or think about something memory, or keeping the memory in long-term memory and not allowing it to enter short-term memory. is the loss of memory is the inability to recall Retrograde amnesia tends to be temporary. As the brain starts past memories due to an injury to the head to heal from an injury, the memories start to come back. is the inability to form “50 First-dates” is an example of anterograde amnesia- she new memories due to damage to the could not form any new memories. hippocampus

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Elizabeth Loftus is when new The process of accommodation Lawyers could affect people’s researched how information that is presented affects, incorporates new information, memories through the types of memories are or changes, previous or formed which often changes questions they ask. When formed and memories established schemas , the people are asked a question affected by new mental organizations of that they have not thought and different information, or what we know about or considered, then this information and how we organize the new information could change information. their schema or what they know about an event or

Memory Construction Memory thought they knew.

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