Chapter 6

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

An active system that receives information from the senses, puts that information into a usable form, and organizes it as it stores it away, and then retrieves the information from storage

Question 2

Encoding

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Storage

Answer 3

Holding on to information for some period of time

Question 4

Retrieval

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Information-processing Model

Answer 5

• process similar to the way a computer processes memory

Encoding, storage, retrieval

Question 6

Parallel distributed processing model (PDP)

Answer 6

memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network of neural connections

Question 7

Levels-of-Processing Model

Answer 7

• information that is more “deeply processed”, or processed according to its meaning rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the words, will be remembered more efficiently and for longer

Question 8

Sensory memory

Answer 8

The very first system in memory, in which raw information from the senses is held for a very brief period of time

Question 9

Iconic memory

Answer 9

Visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second

Question 10

Eidetic imagery

Answer 10

The ability to access a visual memory for 30 seconds or more

Question 11

Echoic memory

Answer 11

Auditory sensory memory, lasting only 2-4 seconds

Question 12

Short-term memory (STM)

Answer 12

The memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being used

Question 13

Selective attention

Answer 13

The ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input

Question 14

Working memory

Answer 14

An active system that processes the information in short-term memory

Question 15

Maintenance rehearsal

Answer 15

Practice of saying some information to be remembered over and over in one’s head in order to maintain it in short-term memory

Question 16

Long-term memory

Answer 16

The system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept

Question 17

Elaborative rehearsal

Answer 17

A way of increasing the number of retrieval cues for information by connecting with something that is already well known

Question 18

Nondeclarative (implicit) memory

Answer 18

• type of long-term memory including memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses
• not conscious, but implied to exist because they affect conscious behavior

Question 19

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Declarative (explicit) memory

Answer 20

Type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious and known

Question 21

Semantic memory

Answer 21

general knowledge (language and information learned in formal education)

Question 22

Episodic memory

Answer 22

• containing personal information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events

Question 23

Semantic network model

Answer 23

• information is stored in the brain in a connected fashion, with concepts that are related stored physically closer to each other

Question 24

Encoding specifity

Answer 24

The tendency for memory of information to be improved if related information (such as surroundings of physiological state) that is available when the memory is first formed is also available when the memory is being retrieved

Question 25

Recall

Answer 25

information to be retrieved must be “pulled” from memory with very few external cues

Question 26

Recognition

Answer 26

The ability to match a piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact

Question 27

Serial position effect

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Primary effect

Answer 28

Tendency to remember information at the beginning of a body of information better than the information that follows

Question 29

Recency effect

Answer 29

Tendency to remember information at the end of a body of information better

Question 30

Automatic encoding

Answer 30

Tendency of certain kinds of information to enter long-term memory with little or no effortful encoding

Question 31

Flashbulb memories

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Constructive processing

Answer 32

Referring to the retrieval of memories in which those memories are altered, revised, or influenced by newer information

Question 33

Hindsight bias

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Misinformation effect

Answer 34

The tendency of misleading information presented after an event to alter the memories of the event itself

Question 35

Curve of forgetting

Answer 35

A graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very far within first hour after learning a list and then tapers off gradually

Question 36

Distributed practice

Answer 36

Spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study periods

Question 37

Encoding failure

Answer 37

Failure to process information into memory

Question 38

Memory trace

Answer 38

Physical change in brain that occurs when a memory is formed

Question 39

Decay

Answer 39

Loss of memory due to passage of time, during which memory trace is not used

Question 40

Disuse

Answer 40

Another name for decay, assuming that memories that are not used will eventually decay and disappear

Question 41

Proactive interference

Answer 41

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

Question 42

Retroactive interference

Answer 42

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

Question 43

Consolidation

Answer 43

The changes that take place in the structure and functioning of neurons when a memory is formed

Question 44

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 44

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

Question 45

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 45

Difficulty remembering anything new