Glossary • 401Memory consolidation Process by which experiences or information that has entered the
memory system becomes strengthened so it is resistant to interference caused by trauma or
other events. (1)
Memory trace replacement hypothesis The idea that misleading postevent information impairs
or replaces memories that were formed during the original experiencing of an event. (8)
Mental approach to coding Determining how a stimulus or experience is represented in the
mind. (5)
Mental imagery Experiencing a sensory impression in the absence of sensory input. (10)
Mental scanning A process of mental imagery in which a person scans a mental image in his
or her mind. (10)
Mental set A preconceived notion about how to approach a problem, which is determined by
a person’s experience or what has worked in the past. (12)
Mental simulation Models that people create about what will happen following different
decisions. (10, 12)
Mental time travel According to Tulving, the defining property of the experience of episodic
memory, in which a person travels back in time in his or her mind to reexperience events
that happened in the past. See also Self-knowing. (6)
Mental walk task A task used in imagery experiments in which participants are asked to
form a mental image of an object and to imagine that they are walking toward this mental
image. (10)
Method of loci A method for remembering things in which the things to be remembered
are placed at different locations in a mental image of a spatial layout. See also Pegword
technique. (10)
Microelectrodes Small wires that are used to record electrical signals from single neurons. (2)
Mind System that creates and controls mental functions such as perception, attention,
memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning, and that creates mental
representations of the world. (1)
Mirror neuron Neuron in the premotor cortex, originally discovered in the monkey, that
responds both when a monkey observes someone else (usually the experimenter) carrying
out an action and when the monkey itself carries out the action. There is also evidence for
mirror neurons in humans. (3)
Misinformation effect Misleading information presented after a person witnesses an event can
change how the person describes that event later. (8)
Misleading postevent information (MPI) The misleading information that causes the
misinformation effect. (8)
Modal model of memory The model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin that describes
memory as a mechanism that involves processing information through a series of stages,
including short-term memory and long-term memory. It is called the modal model
because it contained features of many models that were being proposed in the 1960s. (5)
Model In cognitive psychology, a representation of the workings of the mind; often
presented as interconnected boxes that each represent the operation of specific mental
functions. (1)
Module An area of the brain that is specialized for a specific function. For example, the
fusiform face area, extrastriate body area, and parahippocampal place area are modules for
perceiving faces, bodies, and places, respectively. (2)
Morpheme The smallest unit of language that has a definable meaning or a grammatical
function. For example, truck consists of a number of phonemes but only one morpheme,
because none of the components that create the word truck means anything. (11)
Multiple trace hypothesis The idea, associated with memory consolidation, that the hip-
pocampus is involved in retrieval of remote memories, especially episodic memories. This
contrasts with the standard model of memory, which proposes that the hippocampus is
involved only in the retrieval of recent memories. (7)
Mutilated checkerboard problem A problem that has been used to study how the statement of
a problem influences a person’s ability to reach a solution. (12)Narrative rehearsal hypothesis The idea that we remember some life events better because
we rehearse them. This idea was proposed by Neisser as an explanation for “flashbulb”
memories. (8)33559_14_glossary_p391-410.indd 40133559_14_glossary_p391-410.indd 401 13/04/10 5:47 PM13/04/10 5:47 PM
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