| memory | The retention of information or experience over time as the result of three key processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
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| encoding | The first step in memory; the process by which information gets into memory storage.
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| divided attention | Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time.
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| sustained attention | Also called vigilance, the ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time.
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| levels of processing | A continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory.
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| elaboration | The number of different connections that are made around a stimulus at a given level of memory encoding.
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| storage | The retention of information over time and how this information is represented in memory.
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| Atkinson-Shiffrin theory | Theory stating that memory storage involves three separate systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
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| sensory memory | Memory system that involves holding information from the world in its original sensory form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses.
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| short-term memory | Limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 seconds unless we use strategies to retain it longer.
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| working memory | A three-part system that allows us to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks; a kind of mental workbench on which the brain manipulates and assembles information to help us understand, make decisions, and solve problems.
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| long-term memory | A relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for a long time.
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| explicit memory | Also called declarative memory, the conscious recollection of information, such as specific facts or events and, at least in humans, information that can be verbally communicated.
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| episodic memory | The retention of information about the where, when, and what of life's happenings—that is, how individuals remember life's episodes.
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| semantic memory | A person's knowledge about the world, including his or her areas of expertise; general knowledge, such as of things learned in school, and everyday knowledge.
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| implicit memory | Also called nondeclarative memory, memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without a conscious recollection of that experience.
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| procedural memory | Memory for skills.
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| priming | The activation of information that people already have in storage to help them remember new information better and faster.
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| schema | A preexisting mental concept or framework that helps people to organize and interpret information. Schemas from prior encounters with the environment influence the way we encode, make inferences about, and retrieve information.
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| script | A schema for an event, often containing information about physical features, people, and typical occurrences.
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| connectionism | Also called parallel distributed processing (PDP), the theory that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections among neurons, several of which may work together to process a single memory.
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| retrieval | The memory process that occurs when information that was retained in memory comes out of storage.
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| serial position effect | The tendency to recall the items at the beginning and end of a list more readily than those in the middle.
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| autobiographical memory | A special form of episodic memory, consisting of a person's recollections of his or her life experiences.
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| flashbulb memory | The memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery than everyday events.
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| motivated forgetting | Forgetting that occurs when something is so painful or anxiety-laden that remembering it is intolerable.
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| interference theory | The theory that people forget not because memories are lost from storage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember.
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| proactive interference | Situation in which material that was learned earlier disrupts the recall of material that was learned later.
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| retroactive interference | Situation in which material that was learned later disrupts the retrieval of information that was learned earlier.
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| decay theory | Theory stating that when we learn something new, a neurochemical memory trace forms, but over time this trace disintegrates; suggests that the passage of time always increases forgetting.
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| tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon | A type of effortful retrieval that occurs when we are confident that we know something but cannot quite pull it out of memory.
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| retrospective memory | Remembering information from the past.
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| prospective memory | Remembering information about doing something in the future; includes memory for intentions.
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| amnesia | The loss of memory.
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| anterograde amnesia | A memory disorder that affects the retention of new information and events.
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| retrograde amnesia | Memory loss for a segment of the past but not for new events.
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