Study Guide for Chapter 6: Memory
● How do psychologists define memory: The retention of information or experience over
time.
● What does it mean to encode information in memory: It means to commit something to
memory, it’s basically the packaging of a memory to send it off to long term or short
term memory.
○ What are the different levels of processing and how do they affect
memory: The different levels of processing are shallow, intermediate,
and deep. They affect memory because they literally determine how
effective a memory is, which is obviously an integral part of
remembering something.
○ What are examples of elaboration:
- Thinking about the ketchup you spilled on your shirt earlier today: Then
thinking about other embarrassing moments or what food the ketchup was
for, or even random ketchup facts.
- Thinking about your Spanish test you just did: Thinking about questions you
answered in your head or maybe thinking about previous Spanish tests or
overall how good you are with tests.
● What is storage? What does it mean to store information in memory: Storage is the
capacity to how much you can remember but also represents how information is
retained for long periods of time.
● What is sensory memory and what does it accomplish: Sensory memory is an extremely
detailed memory of someone, someplace, or something that usually lasts for a few
seconds after the memory happens. It accomplishes the short, conscious and
unconscious memory of almost everything that is presently happening around you, it
also is the first stage of memory that we can eventually transfer into long term. When a
friend comes in when you and the rest of your friends are laughing and they ask what
happened, you can answer them with detail because what just transpired is still sensory
memory.
● What is short-term memory and what does it accomplish: short term memory is our
limited ability to remember things after a short period of time. It accomplishes the
remembrance of memories for about thirty seconds after they happened and is the
gateway for some memories to go into long term.
○ How does chunking increase the capacity of short-term memory: By combining
higher order units into meaningful single units, it increases our short term
memory by helping us better remember the higher order units.
● What is long-term memory and what does it accomplish: Long-term memory is our
almost permanent ability to remember things after weeks, years, or a lifetime. It basically
accomplishes our ability to remember anything as time winds on endlessly.
○ What is the difference between semantic memory, episodic memory, and
procedural memory? What are examples of each kind of memory: The
differences between semantic, episodic, and procedural is that episodic deals
with spatial location and time of things, semantic deals with our knowledge of
the world, and procedural deals with skills. Procedural is like suddenly
remembering how to ride a bike, although mentally, you didn’t remember how. If
we remember facts for a test, like “Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology
lab in 1879, that is semantic memory. Episodic memory is like remembering a
vacation you took sophomore year, a period in your life, weeks to years long.
○ What are the brain structures related to long-term memory: The hippocampus
and temporal lobes.
● What is priming and what does it accomplish? What are examples: Priming is the
activation of known information to help process and remember new information. It
accomplishes a useful way to use old information efficiently and remember new
information effectively. An example of this could be learning what the word big means
and then seeing something big, slapping on that word with it to help you remember it,
using previously learned info.
● What is a schema? What are examples: A schema is basically an association or
familiarity, the theory itself explains a schema as: If this thing happens around this thing,
it must happen most or all the time. If cats are frequently mean to you, even if you are
presented a nice cat it scares you because you associate it with clawing or biting.
● What is retrieval? What does it mean to retrieve information from memory: retrieval is
the purposeful reacquisition of something to use it in some way. purposefully pulling
something from memory for the purpose of remembering it and using it’s information.
○ What is the serial position effect? What does the primacy effect and recency
effect tell us about how the location of items affects memory: the serial position
effect is where we better remember the beginning and end of things or
memories. This is also what the primacy effect (remembering the first few things)
and the recency effect (remembering the last few things) tell us.
● What are the brain structures related to memory deficits/diseases: Thalamus and
amygdala.
● How accurate are eyewitness testimonies? How does it impact populations involved in
the criminal justice system: Not very accurate. It impacts the population by prolonging
confusing manhunts or leading to wrongful convictions/arrests of innocent suspects.