The capacity to store and retrieve information.

A vast storehouse of information.
All the information that you "know"
All the information that makes you, you.

The part of the memory that contains information you are actively using.

An episodic memory for important, emotional, or surprising events (9/11). People report that they can remember every detail about their experience.

The serial position effect shows the difference between STM and LTM. Participants asked to memorize a list of words, given one at a time. There were better recall for the first few items because there was more time for rehearsal (Primacy) and the last few

Encoding
Storage
Retrieval

Semantic memory
Procedural memory
Episodic memory

The capacity is 7+/-. Chunking an help expand the amount of info you can hold into your STM.

The duration is indefinite WITH rehearsal, but WITHOUT rehearsal information can quickly fade away (most likely due to interference).

A schema is an overall idea of how things are, or how things are supposed to be.

A script is a generic account of a more specific event (Going to a restaurant).

Participants were asked to learn a set of words on dry land and underwater. Then they were asked to recall the words in the same environment and in a different environment. It was found that the participants could recall the information better in the envi

Sensory Memory
Short-term memory
Long-term memory

Tricks to help you remember information and encode into LTM. (imagery, songs, roy g. biv, etc.)

Rote repetition: cramming it in
Elaboration: fit it in and connect to known material

Declarative memory is for facts and are typically shared or written easily (Procedural) whereas non-declarative is for memories for procedures, feelings, and impressions (Episodic)

This was to test iconic memory. Participants were asked to look at a 3x3 square for a few seconds and then asked to write them down (Whole report method). Then they were asked to write down a specific row to see if they could recall them. They found that

Sensory memory are very short memories at the level of the senses (like aftertaste). Echo is auditory information and Icon is visual information.

Prejudice can alter memories. When shown a picture of a white man attacking a black man, some participants remembered the black man attacking the white man when shown the picture some time later.

Shallow
MIddle
Deep
Super-deep

Mood congruence is better when to-be remembered material is congruent, or similar in emotional content, with person's current mood. Mood dependent is when your emotional and physical state seems to be encoded along with the information which can be used t

A group of people watched a video of a minor auto accident and then split into two different groups. They were asked how fast they were going when the cars "smashed into each other" and when they "hit each other". The "smash" group remembered a higher spe

Recall is bringing the information out of yourself ("Fill in the blank").
Recognition is recognizing the information ("multiple choice").

Old model: Information stored acoustically (phonological loop)

New model: Information is stored in dfiferent ways.
Phonologival loop (auditory information
Visuospatial Sketchpad (Visual information)
Central executive (Helps focus attention)
Episodic buff

Ebbinghaus learned "nonsense syllables" to avoid context effects. He memorized the list until he could perfectly recall them and then waited a while and then tried to recall them again and found that it took fewer trials to relearn the material. Traces of

The context of the situation may also be encoded with the information. (the room, the lighting, the smell).

Elderly people over 70 were asked to recall important events from their lives. It was found that they remembered more events between the ages of 16-30 because this is when they developed their identities and had events that shaped their lives.