Chapter 6 - Memory

The process by which we encode, store, and retrieve information.

The initial, momentary storage of information, lasting only an instant.

Memory that holds information for 15 to 25 seconds.

Memory that stores information on a relatively permanent basis, although it may be difficult to retrieve.

A meaningful grouping of stimuli that can be stored as a unit in short-term memory.

The repetition of information that has entered short-term memory.

A set of active, temporary memory stores that actively manipulate and rehearse information.

Memory for factual information: names, faces, dates, and the like.

Memory for skills and habits, such as riding a bike or hitting a baseball; sometimes referred to as nondeclarative memory.

Memory for general knowledge and facts about the world, as well as memory for the rules of logic that are used to deduce other facts.

Memory for events that occur in a particular time, place, or context.

Mental representations of clusters of interconnected information.

The inability to recall information that one realizes one knows - a result of the difficulty of retrieving information from long-term memory.

Memory task in which specific information must be retrieved.

Memory task in which individuals are presented with a stimulus and asked whether they have been exposed to it in the past or to identify it from a list of alternatives.

The theory of memory that emphasizes the degree to which new material is mentally analyzed.

Intentional or conscious recollection of information.

Memories of which people are not consciously aware but that can affect subsequent performance and behavior.

A phenomenon in which exposure to a word or concept (called a prime) later makes it easier to recall related information, even when there is no conscious memory of the word or concept.

Memories centered on a specific, important, or surprising event that are so vivid it is as if they represented a snapshot of the event.

Processes in which memories are influenced by the meaning we give to events.

Organized bodies of information stored in memory that bias the way new information is interpreted, stored, and recalled.

Our recollections of circumstances and episodes from our own lives.

The loss of information in memory through its nonuse.

The phenomenon by which information in memory disrupts the recall of other information.

Forgetting that occurs when there are insufficient retrieval cues to rekindle information that is memory.

Interference in which information learned earlier disrupts the recall of newer material.

Interference in which there is difficulty in the recall of information learned earlier because of later exposure to different material.

An illness characterized in part by severe memory problems.

Memory loss that occurs without other mental difficulties.

Amnesia in which memory is lost for occurrences prior to a certain event.

Amnesia in which memory is lost for events that follow an injury.

A disease that afflicts long-term alcoholics, leaving some abilities intact, but including hallucinations and a tendency to repeat the same story.