Chapter 23 Student Resources

Flashcards

Key Terms

Free recall

a memory test in which words from a list can be produced in any order.

Cued recall

a memory test in which cues or clues (e.g., first few letters of each list word) are given to assist memory.

Recognition

a memory test in which previously presented information must be distinguished from information not previously presented.

Rehearsal

the verbal repetition of information (e.g., words) which typically increases our long-term memory for the rehearsed information.

Memory span

maximum number of digits or other items repeated back in the correct order immediately after they have been presented.

Chunks

stored units formed from integrating smaller pieces of information.

Working memory

a system that has separate components for rehearsal and for other processing activities (e.g., attention; visual processing).

Central executive

a modality-free, limited capacity, component of working memory.

Phonological loop

a component of working memory in which speech-based information is processed and stored and subvocal articulation occurs.

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

a component of working memory that is used to process visual and spatial information and to store this information briefly.

Episodic buffer

a component of working memory; it is essentially passive and briefly stores integrated information from the phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, and long-term memory.

Declarative memory

a long-term memory system concerned with personal experiences and general knowledge; it usually involves conscious recollection of information.

Non-declarative memory

a form of long-term memory that does not involve conscious recollection of information (e.g., motor skills)

Amnesia

a condition caused by brain damage in which patients have intact short-term memory but poor long-term memory.

Episodic memory

long-term memory for personal events.

Semantic memory

long-term memory for general knowledge about the world, concepts, language, and so on.

Autobiographical memory

memory across the lifespan for specific events involving the individual (especially those of personal significance).

Priming

a form of non-declarative memory involving facilitated processing of (and response to) a target stimulus because the same or a related stimulus was presented previously.

Skill learning

a form of learning where there is little or no conscious awareness of what has been learned.

Categorical clustering

the tendency in free recall to produce words on a category-by-category basis.

Schemas

organised knowledge about the world, events or people in long-term memory and used to guide action.

Rationalisation

In Bartlett’s theory, the tendency in story recall to produce errors conforming to the rememberer’s expectations based on their schemas.

Proactive interference

forgetting occurring when previous learning interferes with later learning and memory.

Retroactive interference

forgetting occurring when later learning disrupts memory for earlier learning.

Encoding specificity principle

the notion that retrieval depends on the overlap between the information available at retrieval and the information within the memory trace.

Consolidation

a physiological process involved in establishing long-term memories; this process lasts several hours or more.

Retrograde amnesia

forgetting by amnesic patients of information learned prior to the onset of amnesia.

Ecological validity

the extent to which research findings are applicable to everyday settings and generalisable to other locations, times, and measures.

Saying-is-believing effect

inaccuracies in memory for an event caused by having previously described it to someone else to fit their biased perspective.

Misinformation effect

the distorting effect on eyewitness memory of misleading information presented after a crime or other event.

Other-race effect

the finding that recognition memory for same-race faces is more accurate than for other-race faces.

Confirmation bias

memory distortions caused by the influence of expectations concerning what is likely to have happened.

Weapon focus

the finding that eyewitnesses attend so much to the culprit’s weapon that they ignore other details and have impaired memory for them.