156 ❯ Step 4. Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High
- Recognition—identification of something as familiar such as multiple choice and
matching questions on a test. - Recall—retrieval of information from LTM in the absence of any other informa-
tion or cues such as for an essay question or fill-in on a test. - Reconstruction—retrieval that can be distorted by adding, dropping, or changing
details to complete a picture from incomplete stored information. - Confabulation—process of combining and substituting memories from events
other than the one you’re trying to remember.
• Flashbulb memory—vivid memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.- Misinformation effect—incorporation of misleading information into memories
of a given event. - Serial position effect—better recall for information that comes at the beginning
(primacy effect) and at the end of a list of words (recency effect). - Encoding specificity principle—retrieval depends upon the match between the
way information is encoded and the way it is retrieved. - Context-dependent memory—physical setting in which a person learns informa-
tion is encoded along with the information and becomes part of the memory trace. - Mood congruence (mood-dependent memory)—tendency to recall experiences
that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood. - State-dependent memory effect—tendency to recall information better when in
the same internal state as when the information was encoded. - Distributed practice—spreading out the memorization of information or the learning
of skills over several sessions typically produces better retrieval than massed practice. - Massed practice—cramming the memorization of information or the learning of
skills into one session.
Forgetting—the inability to retrieve information. Forgetting results from failure to
encode, decay of stored memories, or inability to access stored information. Key terms
and concepts associated with memory include: - Interference—learning some items prevents retrieving others, especially when the
items are similar. - Proactive interference—the process by which old memories prevent the retrieval
of newer memories. - Retroactive inference—the process by which new memories prevent the retrieval
of older memories. - Repression—the tendency to forget unpleasant or traumatic memories hidden in
the unconscious mind according to Freud. - Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon—the often temporary inability to access informa-
tion accompanied by a feeling that the information is in LTM. - Anterograde amnesia—inability to put new information into explicit memory
resulting from damage to hippocampus; no new semantic memories are formed. - Retrograde amnesia—memory loss for a segment of the past, usually around the
time of an accident.