Chapter 6

Glossary

Cognitive interview An approach to interviewing eyewitnesses which makes use of the findings of cognitive psychology, such as context reinstatement.

Ecological validity The extent to which findings in psychology (especially those obtained in the laboratory) generalise to the real world.

Encoding The process of transforming a sensory stimulus into a memory trace.

Encoding specificity principle (ESP) The theory that retrieval cues will only be successful in accessing a memory trace if they contain some of the same items of information which were stored with the original trace.

Episodic memory Memory for specific episodes and events from personal experience, occurring in a particular context of time and place (contrasts with semantic memory ).

Explicit memory Memory which a subject is able to report consciously and deliberately (contrasts with implicit memory).

Familiarity The recognition of an item as one that has been encountered on some previous occasion.

Feature overlap The extent to which features of the memory trace stored at input match those available in the retrieval cues. According to the encoding specificity principle (ESP), successful retrieval requires extensive feature overlap.

Flashbulb memory A subject’s recollection of details of what they were doing at the time of some major news event or dramatic incident.

Implicit memory Memory whose influence can be detected by some indirect test of task performance, but which the subject is unable to report deliberately and consciously (contrasts with explicit memory).

Long-term memory (LTM) Memory held in permanent storage, available for retrieval at some time in the future (contrasts with short-term memory).

Misinformation effect The contamination of eyewitness testimony by information acquired after the witnessed event.

Mnemonic A technique or strategy used for improving the memorability of items, for example by adding meaningful associations.

Orienting task A set of instructions used to influence the type of cognitive processing employed.

Recollection Remembering a specific event or occasion on which an item was previously encountered.

Reconsolidation The finding that the reactivation of a memory makes it temporarily vulnerable to change.

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) The phenomenon whereby the successful retrieval of a memory trace inhibits the retrieval of rival memory traces.

Semantic memory Memory for general knowledge, such as the meanings associated with particular words and shapes, without reference to any specific contextual episode (contrasts with episodic memory).

Short-term memory Memory held in conscious awareness, and which is currently receiving attention (contrasts with long-term memory).

Testing effect The finding that actively testing a memory improves its subsequent retrievability.

Summary

Processing an input to a deep level, by making use of past experience to analyse its meaningful content, will increase the likelihood of retrieving that input in the future.
Retrieval cues have a major effect on the success of retrieval, and are especially effective if there is extensive feature overlap between retrieval cues and stored information.
The reinstatement of the context in which a memory trace was acquired can be of great assistance in retrieving the trace.
Memory involves both automatic processes (such as implicit memory and familiarity judgements) and controlled processes (such as explicit memory and context recollection).
The act of retrieving a memory makes it more retrievable in the future. This finding is known as the testing effect.
Retrieval of a memory trace causes the suppression of rival memory traces, a phenomenon known as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF).
The retrieval of a stored memory makes it vulnerable to change, and may result in a stronger or weaker trace. This phenomenon is known as reconsolidation.
Studies of memory phenomena in real-life settings, such as eyewitness testimony and the cognitive interview, provide an important complementary approach to laboratory studies because of their greater ecological validity.