Study guides › P/S › Psychology
Memory
This chapter follows a memory from encoding to storage to retrieval. You will learn the memory stages and types, the brain regions behind them, why we forget, and how memories are rebuilt and distorted, with the studies and terms the MCAT uses.
Study this chapter in PrepMed (free)
What this chapter covers
- Encoding & the Stages of Memory. Sensory, short-term, and working memory are each tested by capacity and duration numbers. Learn them and the model behind them.
- Long-Term Memory Systems & Their Neural Basis. Every memory type has a matching brain region. Expect a question that gives you a patient and asks what is spared.
- Retrieval, Cues & the Serial Position Effect. Memory tests hinge on retrieval: what kind of task it is, what cues help, and why the ends of a list are remembered best.
- Forgetting, Interference & Amnesia. Forgetting is predictable. Know the curve, the two kinds of interference, and the two directions of amnesia.
- Memory Construction & the Misinformation Effect. Memory is rebuilt, not replayed. Bartlett, Loftus, and source monitoring explain false memories and unreliable eyewitnesses.
Key points to know
- Short-term memory: 7 ± 2 items, about 20-30 s; chunking raises capacity
- Iconic memory under 1 s; echoic memory 3-4 s
- Explicit = episodic + semantic (hippocampus); implicit = procedural, priming, conditioning
- Amygdala: emotional memory; cerebellum and basal ganglia: skills
- Recall is harder than recognition; relearning reveals savings
- Primacy = long-term memory; recency = working memory
- Forgetting curve: steep early loss, then a plateau (Ebbinghaus)
- Proactive: old interferes with new; retroactive: new interferes with old
Try a practice question
Which memory store holds information for about 3 to 4 seconds and is auditory?
- Iconic memory
- Echoic memory
- Working memory
- Procedural memory
Show the answer
B. Echoic memory is the brief auditory sensory store. Iconic memory is its visual counterpart and lasts less than a second.
Common questions
What does this chapter cover?
Memory covers Encoding & the Stages of Memory, Long-Term Memory Systems & Their Neural Basis, Retrieval, Cues & the Serial Position Effect, Forgetting, Interference & Amnesia, Memory Construction & the Misinformation Effect.
What should I know first?
Short-term memory: 7 ± 2 items, about 20-30 s; chunking raises capacity Iconic memory under 1 s; echoic memory 3-4 s Explicit = episodic + semantic (hippocampus); implicit = procedural, priming, conditioning
24 original practice questions accompany this chapter in the app. Spaced review brings missed ideas back at the right time; it helps memory but cannot promise you will not miss an idea again.