Memory Terms
Created by AP Psychology
2009 2nd Block
Mrs. Whitlock
Method of Loci
(plural for locus, meaning location)
"in the first place", "in the second place“
Associate items with locations
of familiar room,
building, or street.
"stroll down memory lane"
and visualize same locations
Hebb Hypothesis aka Hebb Rule
strength of connection across synapse between two
neurons will increase whenever two neurons are
simultaneously active
• So,memories are stronger if connections are
stronger
– if connection is not permanent = STM
– if connection is permanent = LTM
• Donald Hebb introduced terms
short term/ long term memory
If you don’t use it, you lose it! (connection dies)
Serial Position Effect
• serial position effect n.
In serial learning (1), a
tendency for the items
near the beginning and
end of the series to be
recalled best, and those
in the middle worst,
producing a U-shaped
serial position curve of
recall as a function of
serial position.
Procedural Memory
• long-term memory of
skills, procedures
• “how to” knowledge
• Ex.: learning to ride a
bicycle, play an
instrument, how to swim,
etc.
By Briana Morgan
Repression
• Repressed memory is a
concept described as a
significant memory, of a
traumatic nature that is
unavailable for recall.
• In the movie, „The
Butterfly Effect‟ a young
man has the ability to
travel back to his
repressed memories.
Episodic Memory
• Memory of autobiographical
events
•Example: A memory you have of
a sports practice you participated
in
Made by: Carlee Forrest
Echoic Memory
• A sensory memory in which there is
a brief mental echo that continues
to sound after stimuli has been
heard.
• Lasts for only about 3-4 seconds.
• For example, your mother needs
you to go to the grocery store after
school. She names off a list of items
you need to pick up. Because she
knows teenagers don’t listen, she
asks you to list off the things she
said. Echoic memory can replay
the last few seconds of a
conversation quite accurately. You
name off the last few things she
said correctly. She thinks you were
listening completely and you don’t
get yelled at! (:
Eidetic Memory
• Photographic Memory (Total Recall)
• The ability to recall images, sounds, or
objects from memory with
extreme accuracy
• Akira Haraguchi recited the
number Pi to 100,000 decimal
places from memory
• Rain Man
Miller‟s Magic 7
• Individual can only
process or retain 7+/-
2 pieces of
information in short
term memory
• Ex: trouble with long
words or names
Hermann ebbingHaus’
Forgetting Curve
1885—Discovered the
exponential
nature of
R=e -
forgetting
(t/S)
Strength of Memory
- Physical memory
traces through
the brain
- The stronger the
Gayle-Anne Hendricks
memory, the easier
aka Deterioration Theory
• When something new is learned a neurochemical, a
“memory trace,” is formed.
• Unless this memory trace is occasionally used it will
disintegrate and the memory will fade and decay away.
• This is 1 of 4 reasons
memory loss is
believed to occur.
By: JA Alexander
TOTP
Tip-of-the-tongue Phenomena
•
• Is an instance of Every Thursday in social studies
class the teacher always played
knowing something jeopardy games to review for
tests. Mark was up for the
that cannot question he had studied the night
immediately be before really hard, but when the
teacher asked him the question he
recalled. remembered it but he couldn‟t
quite get the word out it was the
tip of his tongue.
• Jennifer Baker
• 2nd block 3-5-09
Chunking
• Strategy of making efficient use short-
term memory.
• Using mnemonics to remember to
remember a word, phrase, or
sequence of numbers.
• Example- 14101946
Use mnemonics by remembering
them in groups as 14, 10, and 1946
Generic/Declarative Memory
By: Jason Reese
• 2 types of Declarative Memory
(Stores Facts)
– Semantic - Knowing something is
what it is
(Example: Knowing a
banana when one sees it)
– Episodic – This type comes from
personal experiences
(Example: Remembering
when and where
you were when you broke
your arm)
• Generic Memory is the
memory for items of
knowledge
(Example: Knowing
the population of
Georgia)
Retrograde Amnesia
Inability to recall events that happened
before the development of amnesia.
In an episode of NCIS, Agent Jethro
Gibbs suffers head injuries, causing him
to forget much of the past, including his
retirement from the Marines.
Andrew Smith 2nd block
3/5/09
Mnemonics
• the process or technique of improving
or developing the memory; devices
that helps us remember; memory
aids.
• Example: acronyms, rhymes,
images
Priming
•Prior experience to a stimulus causes increased
sensitivity to that same or similar stimuli
•Relies on implicit
memory
- previous
experience aids in
future performance
•Believed to occur
outside conscious
awareness
Practice makes perfect!
Iconic Memory
- A type of short term visual memory that occurs after a brief
exposure to a stimulus.
-The brain remembers all visual information for less than one
second.
-During that second, the brain processes what should be stored
into short term memory, compares that immediate visual
information with the visual information that has been stored as
iconic memory, and decides what should be discarded.
-The ability to see motion can be attributed to iconic memory
because a new image must be compared to a previous image
in order to detect motion like the individual frames of a cartoon.
-If only there is nothing to compare a frame of a cartoon to,
then there will be no perception of a change in the image.
Terry Hinkemeyer
• Encoding is the processing of physical
sensory input into one’s memory.
• The four types of encoding are:
Visual- processing of images
Acoustic- sound, particularly the sound of words
Semantic- meaning, particularly the meaning of
words
Tactile- how something feels, normally through
touch
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
• Is the strengthening
of the connection
between two nerve
cells lasting a long
period of time.
• Often takes place in
hippocampus.
• One of the major
cellular devices that
contribute to learning
and memory.
Interference Theory
William Pike II
• Idea that forgetting occurs because the recall of
certain items interferes with the recall of other
items
• Example: attempting to remember a short
sequence of letters, such as “BWV,” after
counting backwards for a short period of time.
• Proactive interference
• Retroactive interference
• Output interference