• Memory – ability to retain information
over time
Three processes of memory
• Encoding – making mental representations
of information so that it can be placed in
our memories
o Automatic – transfer of
information from short to long
term without any effort
o Effortful – transfer from short to
long by working hard
• Storing – process of placing encoded
information into relatively permanent
storage for later recall
• Retrieving – process of recalling
information
Memory Flow and three types of memories (S, ST,
LT)
• Sensory – initial process that receives and
holds environmental information in its raw
form
o Iconic Memory – holds visual
information for a second or more
o Echoic Memory – holds auditory
information for 1 or 2 seconds
• Attention
• Short term memory – (working memory),
can only hold a limited amount of
information
o Maintenance Rehearsal – practice
of intentionally repeating or
rehearsing information
o Interference – when new
information enters short term
memory and pushes out old
information
o Chunking – combining separate
items of info into a larger unit
o Functions – attending, rehearsing,
storing.
• Encoding – process of transferring
information from short to long term mem.
• Long-term memory – process of storing
almost unlimited amount of information
over a long period of time
• Retrieving – process of selecting
information from long term mem and
transferring it back to short term mem.
• Primacy Effect – better recall info at the
beginning of task
• Recency Effect – better recall info at the
end of end of task
• Declarative Memory – memories for facts
or events
o Semantic Memory – knowledge of
facts, concepts, what you learn in
class
o Episodic Memory – knowledge of
specific events, personal exp
• Procedural / Nondeclarative – memories
for motor skills, cognitive skills, and
emotional behaviors
• Maintenance Rehearsal – simply repeating
or rehearsing information rather than
forming new associations
• Elaborative Rehearsal – make meaningful
associations
• Repression – process by which the mind
pushes a memory of some traumatic event
into the unconscious.
• Ghana – oral tradition
• US – written tradition
• Photographic Memory – ability to form
detailed visual images
• Super recognizers – people who can easily
recognize someone they met in passing
• Flashbulb Memory – vivid recollections of
dramatic events