Name:______________________
Unit 7A: Memory Review Sheet
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Flashbulb memory- a clear moment of an emotionally significant moment or event.
encoding – get info into the brain
o iconic or visual encoding
o echoic or acoustic encoding
o semantic encoding – encoding meaning
o automatic processing – unconscious encoding of information about space, time, and frequency that occurs
without interfering with our thinking about other things
o effortful processing – encoding that requires attention
Examples of how to help/hurt this:
 Rehearsal
 Next in line effect
 Info presented about an hour before sleep is remembered well (not minutes before though)
 Spacing effect - we retain better when our rehearsal is distributed over time
 Serial position effect- we remember items at the beginning and end of a list better
Storage– retaining information
Retrieval – get info back later on after it has been stored
Short term memory or working memory – can only hold a limited amount (7 +/- 2) of information for about 30 seconds.
You can hold it longer if you rehearse. We can increase the capacity of STM by chunking (grouping information in
meaningful units)
Long term memory – unlimited and relatively permanent. Divided into two parts
o Explicit or Declarative – Long term memory of facts and experiences we consciously know and can verbalize
 processed by the hippocampus
o Implicit or Non-declarative – LTM for skills and procedures to do things.
 classical and operant conditioning effects (automatic associations between stimuli) – processed
by the cerebellum
Visual encoding: We tend easily remember mental pictures. Mnemonic devices – memory aids that especially use vivid
imagery and organizational devices (peg words)
Retrieval cues: reminders associated with information we are trying to get out of memory – aid in remembering
Brain areas and memory:
o Hippocampus: new explicit memories of names, images, and events are laid down here (damage here can hurt
memories learned about a month prior but long term memories are still intact).
o Cerebellum: processed new memories for skills and conditioned associations.
o Amygdala: emotional memories
Proactive interference – occurs when something you learned earlier disrupts your recall of something you experience later
(forward acting)
Retroactive interference – occurs when new info makes it harder to recall something you learned earlier (backward acting)
Mood congruent memory– we recall experiences better that are consistent with our moot at retrieval (you remember
happy memories when you are happy better)
Context Effect – being in the environment in which you learned something helps you to remember
Misinformation effect– occurs when we incorporate misleading information into or memory of an event - Elizabeth Loftus
(page389)
Source Amnesia - Attributing a memory to the wrong source.
Unit 7B
LANGUAGE:
 Building blocks
o Phonemes: basic sound unit - example: CAT has 3; STAY has 3; COIN has 3; WHERE has 2 (see phonemes
handout from earlier in the year)
o Morphemes: smallest meaningful unit s of speech (words, prefixes, suffixes, etc.) – examples: apple = 1;
apples = 2; previewed = 3; subway = 2
 Grammar: rules that determine how sounds and words can be combined and used to communicate meaning
o Syntax: the set of rules that regulates the order in which words can be combined into grammatically
sensible sentences. Example: does the verb come before or after the adjective?
o Semantics: the set of rules that enables us to drive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences.
Example: we know that adding “ed” to the end of the word makes it past tense.
 Language Development:
o Babbling Stage: starting at 3-4 months, the infant makes spontaneous sounds. Not limited to the
phonemes of the infant’s household language.
o One-word stage: 1-2 years old, uses one word to communicate big meanings.
o Two word stage: at age 2, uses two words to communicate meanings- called telegraphic speech.
o Overgeneralization or overregulation: when kids apply grammatical rules without making appropriate
exceptions. Example: “I tooked a cookie.”
 Language Acquisition: Nature vs. Nurture
o Biological predisposition argument (the Nature side): Chomsky argued that kids are prewired to learn
language. He says that overgeneralization is proof b/c kids say all kinds of sentences that they have
never heard before so it can’t be simply repetition of others. He also believes in a critical period for
language development. He believes that kids have to be exposed to language before adolescents to be
able to learn a language
o Behaviorists’ argument (the Nurture side): Skinner said kids learn language through association,
reinforcement, and imitation. He said that anytime kids utter a phoneme that is close to a word, they
get reinforced for that and so SHAPING takes place.
 Linguistic relativity hypothesis: Whorf said that our language guides and determines our thinking. He thought
different languages can cause people to view the world very differently. Example: Hopi tribe has no past tense
so they rarely think of the past. This idea has been somewhat disproven. He says your environment affects how
you use language.
 Language disorders
o Aphasia: absence of some part of the ability to use language
o Broca’s Aphasia: inability to produce fluent speech
o Wernicke’s Aphasia: inability to comprehend speech