What is the testing effect?
Answer: Retrieving information through practice tests strengthens memory more than rereading.
Explanation
Why flashcards work.
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AP Psychology: Memory, Cognition, and Learning (High School)
RetrievalLearningCognitionForgettingMemory modelsStorageEncoding
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Retrieval
What is the spacing effect?
Answer: Distributed study produces better long-term retention than massed practice (cramming).
Explanation
Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve.
What is state-dependent and mood-congruent memory?
Answer: State-dependent: recall improves when internal state matches encoding. Mood-congruent: current mood cues memories consistent with it.
Explanation
Explains why sad moods bring up sad memories.
What is context-dependent memory?
Answer: Recall is better when the retrieval context matches the encoding context.
Explanation
Divers recalled words better in the same environment where they learned them.
Recall vs recognition?
Answer: Recall retrieves information without cues (essay); recognition identifies it among options (multiple choice).
Explanation
Recognition is generally easier.
Learning
What are the four reinforcement schedules?
Answer: Fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval.
Explanation
Variable-ratio (slot machines) produces the highest, steadiest response.
What are acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery in classical conditioning?
Answer: Acquisition: learning the CS-US link. Extinction: the CR fades when the CS appears alone. Spontaneous recovery: the CR reappears after a rest.
Explanation
Generalization and discrimination also apply.
Cognition
What is framing?
Answer: How an issue is presented affects decisions.
Explanation
'90% survival' vs '10% mortality.'
What is functional fixedness?
Answer: Seeing an object only in its usual function, which blocks creative solutions.
Explanation
Duncker's candle problem.
What is confirmation bias?
Answer: Seeking and favoring evidence that supports existing beliefs.
Explanation
Related to belief perseverance.
What is the representativeness heuristic?
Answer: Judging probability by how well something matches a prototype, ignoring base rates.
Explanation
The 'Linda problem' conjunction fallacy.
What is the availability heuristic?
Answer: Judging likelihood by how easily examples come to mind.
Explanation
People overestimate plane crashes after news coverage.
Algorithm vs heuristic?
Answer: An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure guaranteeing a solution; a heuristic is a mental shortcut that is faster but error-prone.
Explanation
Trying every combination vs guessing likely ones.
What is a prototype?
Answer: The best or most typical example of a category used to judge membership.
Explanation
A robin is a more prototypical bird than a penguin.
Forgetting
Anterograde vs retrograde amnesia?
Answer: Anterograde: inability to form new memories after an injury. Retrograde: loss of memories from before the injury.
Explanation
H.M. had severe anterograde amnesia.
What is source amnesia?
Answer: Remembering information but not where or how it was learned.
Explanation
Contributes to false memories.
What is the misinformation effect?
Answer: Exposure to misleading information after an event alters memory of it.
Explanation
Loftus's car-crash studies ('smashed' vs 'hit').
Proactive vs retroactive interference?
Answer: Proactive: old information interferes with learning new. Retroactive: new information interferes with recalling old.
Explanation
PRO = old blocks new; RETRO = new blocks old.
Memory models
What are the three stages of the Atkinson-Shiffrin model?
Answer: Sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory.
Explanation
Information must be attended to and encoded to move forward.
How long does iconic vs echoic sensory memory last?
Answer: Iconic (visual): a fraction of a second. Echoic (auditory): about 3–4 seconds.
Explanation
Sperling's partial report experiments demonstrated iconic memory.
What is working memory and who proposed the model?
Answer: An active system for holding and manipulating information, with a central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketchpad (Baddeley).
Explanation
More than a passive short-term store.
Storage
What is a flashbulb memory?
Answer: A vivid, detailed memory of an emotionally significant event, which feels accurate but is often not.
Explanation
Confidence does not equal accuracy.
What is long-term potentiation?
Answer: A lasting increase in synaptic strength after repeated stimulation, thought to be the neural basis of memory.
Explanation
'Neurons that fire together wire together.'
What brain structure is essential for forming new explicit memories?
Answer: The hippocampus.
Explanation
The cerebellum handles conditioned responses; the amygdala tags emotional memories.
Explicit vs implicit memory?
Answer: Explicit (declarative) is conscious recall of facts (semantic) and events (episodic); implicit includes procedural skills and conditioning.
Explanation
H.M. lost explicit but kept implicit memory after hippocampus removal.
Encoding
What does the serial position effect describe?
Answer: Items at the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of a list are remembered best.
Explanation
Recency fades if recall is delayed.
What is a mnemonic?
Answer: A memory aid that uses imagery, organization, or acronyms.
Explanation
The method of loci uses mental locations.
What is the self-reference effect?
Answer: Information related to oneself is remembered better.
Explanation
A form of deep, elaborative encoding.
What is the difference between shallow and deep processing?
Answer: Shallow processing encodes surface features (appearance, sound); deep processing encodes meaning and leads to better retention.
Explanation
Craik and Lockhart's levels of processing.
What is chunking?
Answer: Grouping items into meaningful units to expand short-term memory capacity.
Explanation
Phone numbers are chunked into groups.
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