Sensory memory –

·        Main function= pattern recognition

·        an immediate and brief replica of sensory information

Iconic memory

 visual sensory memory lasts a fraction of a second

-          Eidetic imagery

 Echoic memory 

 auditory sensory memory lasts 2-4 secon

Short-Term Memory (STM) 

·        “activated” memory system that holds onto information while you are using it     

-          mental desktop

·        duration – 12 to 30 seconds

·        magical number 7 (+ or – 2)

-          Digit span, word span

Long-term memory (LTM) 

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system

·        e.g., remembering your first kiss, first bike, the house where you lived in junior high.

·        Made more likely through elaborative encoding

   Explicit (declarative) memory

type of LTM containing information that is conscious and known (memory for facts).

-          refers to knowledge that can be retrieved and then reflected on consciously, discussed, etc.

 hippocampus

neural structure in limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage; late maturation

-          Childhood amnesia

-          Patient HM – no new memories

·        Anterograde amnesia - 

loss of memory from the point of injury forward in time

Retrograde amnesia

 loss of memory from the point of injury backward in time

 Semantic memory

 type of explicit (declarative) memory containing general information, such as language and formal coursework material.

  Episodic memory

 type of explicit (declarative) memory containing personal episodes, or information not readily available to others, such as daily activities and events.

Implicit (procedural) memory

      type of LTM including memory for skills, procedures, habits, and conditioned responses

-          Non-conscious, but known to exist because it affects conscious behavior

-          Also includes emotional associations that may or may not be in conscious awareness.

  Proactive interference

when old information blocks or interferes with the retrieval of newer information

Retroactive interference

when new information blocks or interferes with the retrieval of old information

-          New information works BACKWARD in time to disrupt OLD information

Serial position effect 

demonstrates the action of both kinds of interference!