All flashcards
Flashcard 1: Which memory system best explains the recency effect in list recall?
Answer: Short-term/working memory (recent items still active). Last items remain in STM at time of recall.
Flashcard 2: What is the phonological loop in Baddeley’s working memory model?
Answer: Subsystem for temporary storage/rehearsal of verbal sounds. Processes speech-based info through rehearsal.
Flashcard 3: What is iconic memory?
Answer: Brief visual sensory memory lasting about 0.5 s. Allows perception of complete visual scenes despite brief exposure.
Flashcard 4: What is the typical duration of iconic (visual sensory) memory?
Answer: About 0.5 seconds. Visual afterimages fade extremely quickly.
Flashcard 5: Identify the retrieval strategy: using a related memory to access the target memory.
Answer: Cue-dependent retrieval. Environmental or mental cues trigger associated memories.
Flashcard 6: What is procedural memory, and which broad memory category does it belong to?
Answer: Skill and habit memory; implicit (nondeclarative) memory. Motor skills operate without conscious awareness.
Flashcard 7: What is the spacing effect in learning and memory?
Answer: Spaced practice yields better long-term retention than massed practice. Distributed learning beats cramming.
Flashcard 8: What is levels-of-processing theory in memory encoding?
Answer: Deeper semantic processing produces better long-term retention. Meaningful processing beats shallow processing.
Flashcard 9: What is the difference between maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal?
Answer: Maintenance repeats; elaborative links to meaning for long-term storage. Simple repetition vs. meaningful connections.
Flashcard 10: What is levels-of-processing theory of memory?
Answer: Deeper semantic processing produces stronger, more durable memories. Processing meaning creates stronger memories than surface features.
Flashcard 11: What is the difference between maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal?
Answer: Maintenance repeats; elaborative adds meaning/associations to encode deeply. Maintenance just repeats; elaborative creates connections.
Flashcard 12: What is the episodic buffer in Baddeley’s working memory model?
Answer: Integrates information across modalities and links to long-term memory. Temporary store combining different types of information.
Flashcard 13: Which working memory component allocates attention and coordinates the subsystems?
Answer: Central executive. Directs attention and integrates information from subsystems.
Flashcard 14: Which working memory component temporarily stores visual and spatial information?
Answer: Visuospatial sketchpad. Processes mental images and spatial relationships.
Flashcard 15: Which working memory component temporarily stores auditory or verbal information?
Answer: Phonological loop. Rehearses speech-based information through subvocal repetition.
Flashcard 16: What is working memory (relative to short-term memory)?
Answer: Active, limited-capacity system for holding and manipulating information. Unlike passive STM, it actively processes information.
Flashcard 17: What is the Atkinson–Shiffrin (modal) model’s three memory stores?
Answer: Sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory. Information flows sequentially through these three stages.
Flashcard 18: What is retrieval in the context of human memory?
Answer: The process of accessing stored information. Reactivates stored memory traces to bring them to consciousness.
Flashcard 19: What is storage in the context of human memory?
Answer: The retention of encoded information over time. Maintains encoded memories in neural networks over time.
Flashcard 20: What is encoding in the context of human memory?
Answer: The process of converting information into a storable memory trace. Transforms sensory input into neural representations for storage.
Flashcard 21: Identify the retrieval principle: Recall improves when internal/external context matches encoding.
Answer: Encoding specificity (context-dependent memory). Memory is enhanced when retrieval context matches encoding context.
Flashcard 22: Which long-term memory type is most directly involved in learning motor skills?
Answer: Procedural memory. Stores how-to knowledge for automatic skill execution.
Flashcard 23: Which long-term memory type stores personally experienced events with context?
Answer: Episodic memory. Includes time, place, and emotional context of experiences.
Flashcard 24: Which long-term memory type stores facts and general knowledge?
Answer: Semantic memory. Stores conceptual knowledge without personal context.
Flashcard 25: What is the difference between explicit (declarative) and implicit (nondeclarative) memory?
Answer: Explicit is conscious recall; implicit is unconscious learning (skills/priming). Explicit requires conscious effort; implicit occurs automatically.
Flashcard 26: What is long-term potentiation (LTP) as a mechanism of memory?
Answer: Persistent strengthening of synapses after repeated activation. Cellular mechanism where synapses become more responsive.
Flashcard 27: Identify the effect: A delay before recall eliminates recall of the last list items.
Answer: Recency effect is reduced because short-term memory contents decay. Delay allows STM traces to fade, eliminating recency advantage.
Flashcard 28: What is chunking as a strategy for improving short-term memory performance?
Answer: Grouping items into meaningful units to increase effective capacity. Overcomes STM's 7±2 item limit by creating larger units.
Flashcard 29: What is working memory, and how does it differ from short-term memory?
Answer: Active manipulation of info; STM emphasizes brief storage. Working memory processes info; STM just holds it.
Flashcard 30: What is the Atkinson–Shiffrin (three-stage) model of memory?
Answer: Sensory memory → short-term memory → long-term memory. Sequential flow through three distinct memory stores.