What is memory
Mental processes and storage:
The process involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present
When is memory active
Anytime some past experience has an affect on the way one thinks or behaves in the present or future
What is primary memory
Short term (lasts a few seconds) memory that holds information in the consious state
What is secondary memory
Longer term (unlimited duration) memory that can be brought to consiousness if desired
How long is short term memory
15-20 seconds or less
How much can long term memory hold
A large amony of information for years or even decades
What is auditory sensory memory
A breif sensory memory for auditory stimuli
What is sensory memory
Inital stage of memory that holds all incoming information for seconds or fractions of a second
How long does auditory sensory memory last
2-3 seconds
What is iconic memory
Breif sensory memory for visual stimuli that lasts for a second after the stimulus is extinguished
What is echotic memory
Brief sensory memory for auditory stimuli that lasts for a few seconds after a stimulus is extinguished
What type of memory is visual sensory memory
Iconic memory
What type of memory is auditory sensory memory
Echoic memory
What is encoding
Taking in new information into memory
What is storage
Holding information
What is retrieval
Finding, assessing, and bringing information back out of memory
What is span of apprehension
The number of items recallable after any short display
What is persistence of vision
The continued perception of light for a fraction of a second after the original light stimulus has been extinguished
What is the whole report method
Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report all of the stimuli they saw in a breifly presented display
What is the partial report method
Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of visual icon, in which particpants were instructed to report only some of the stimuli in a breifly presented display
What was the conclusion in Sperling’s experiment
A short-lived sensory memory registers all or most of information that hits one’s visual receptors, but that this information deays within less than a second
What is decay
The process by which information is lost from memory due to the passage of time
What is digit span
The number of digits a person can remember
What is chunking
Combinging small units into larger ones
