Major Concepts and Behavioral Objectives

CONCEPT I: Sensory Memory

Psychologists describe three types of memory: sensory memory, a clearinghouse for incoming information; short-term memory, where information is stored for about twenty seconds; and long-term memory, an enduring store for information that might be needed again. Sensory memory is the momentary lingering of sensory information after a stimulus has been removed.

1. Define and distinguish among sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

2. Describe sensory memory and the methods that are used to study it.

CONCEPT II: Short-term or Working Memory

Information which is important enough to command our attention enters short-term, or working, memory, a relatively brief store where this information can be rehearsed and encoded into a more permanent long-term store.

3. Describe the roles of selective attention, encoding, and chunking in the formation of short-term memory.

4. Describe three kinds of information stored in long-term memory.

CONCEPT III: Long-term Memory

Retrieving specific information from long-term memory can be difficult, because its capacity is enormous. If we cannot remember details, we may unconsciously supply them—a problem in eyewitness testimony. Techniques do exist, however, for improving long-term memory retrieval.

5. Discuss how information is transferred to long-term memory and how it can be retrieved.

6. Describe techniques that can be used to improve long-term memory.

7. Discuss the occurrence of and consequences of memory distortion.

CONCEPT IV: The Physiology of Memory

Transferral of information from short- to long-term memory is called consolidation and may involve a change in the way neurons communicate across synapses.

8. Describe the changes that occur in the nervous system that are related to short-term and long-term memory.

9. Distinguish retrograde and anterograde amnesia, and discuss what can be learned from them regarding memory.

CONCEPT V: Forgetting

Forgetting can mean that some information cannot be retrieved or that some memories are permanently altered or lost.

10. Describe the decay, interference, and motivated forgetting theories of forgetting.

11. Discuss research that supports or contradicts each of these theories of forgetting.

12. Compare and contrast the research presented in the text regarding the permanence of memory.