AP Psych Memory

Long Term Memory

the memory system into which all the information is placed to be kept more or less permanently

Working Memory

the system that processes information present in short-term memory

Semantic Memory

declarative memory containing general knowledge-knowledge of language, information learned in formal education

Episodic Memory

declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to others

-daily activities and events

Chunking

bits of information are combined into meaningful units, so that more information can be held in STM

implicit (nondeclarative) memory

type of long-term memory including memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses

-these memories are not conscious, but their existence is implied because they affect conscious behavior

-also include emotional associations, habits, and simple conditioned reflexes that may or may not be in conscious awareness

Proactive Interference

memory retrieval problem that occurs when older information prevents or interferes with the retrieval of newer information

Retroactive Interference

memory retrieval problem that occurs when newer information prevents or interferes with the retrieval of older information

Procedural Memory

skills and habits

Anterograde Amnesia

loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma forward, or the inability to form new long-term memories

-usually does NOT affect procedural LTM

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

explicit (declarative) memory

type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious and known memory for facts

Retrograde Amnesia

loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backwards, or loss of memory for the past

Sensory Memory

the very first stage of memory; the point at which information enters the nervous system through the sensory systems

Flashbulb Memories

automatic encoding that occurs because an unexpected event has strong emotional associations for the person remembering it

Memory

an active system that receives information from the senses, organizes and alters that information as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage

Mnemonic Devices

enhance retention and memory. It is a tool that helps you remember an idea or phrase. An example of a this would be ROYGBIV, which is used to remember the colors of the rainbow

Retrieval

getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used

Elaborative Rehearsal

a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way

Prospective Memory

remembering to perform an action at a certain time. An example would be remembering to take medicine after lunch

Storage

holding onto information for some period of time

Serial Position Effect

information at the beginning and the end of a body of information more accurately remembered than the information in the middle

Priming

improvement in identifying or processing concepts after having prior experience with them

Amnesia

A significant memory loss that is too extensive to be due to normal forgetting.

Long Term Potentiation

changes in number and sensitivity of receptor sites/synapses through repeated stimulation

Maintenance Rehearsal

saying bits of information to be remembered over and over in one's head in order to maintain it in short-term memory (STMs tend to be encoded in auditory form)

Recall

memory retrieval in which the information to be retrieved must be "pulled" from memory with very few external cues

Decay Theory

The notion that memories are lost as a result of a fading of the memory trace.

Encoding Specificity Theory

the belief that retrieval will be more successful when cues available during recall are similar to those present when the material was first committed to memory

State Dependent Memory

memories formed during a particular physiological or psychological state will be easier to recall while in a similar state