Glossary
Constructive Memory
The idea that memories are not exact replicas of past events but are actively built and reconstructed each time they are recalled, often incorporating new information or filling in gaps.
Example:
When you vividly remember a childhood birthday party, but later realize some details were likely imagined or influenced by photos, you're experiencing constructive memory.
Encoding Failure
A type of memory failure where information never successfully made it into long-term memory in the first place, often due to lack of attention or processing.
Example:
You might look at a penny every day, but if you've never paid attention to its specific details, you'll experience encoding failure when asked to draw it from memory.
Interference
A memory phenomenon where other memories disrupt the recall of desired information, making it difficult to retrieve.
Example:
Trying to remember your new locker combination while your old one keeps popping into your head is a classic case of interference.
Misinformation Effect
The phenomenon where a person's memory of an event is altered after being exposed to misleading information about it.
Example:
An eyewitness who initially recalled a car stopping at a stop sign might later remember it as a yield sign after a police officer's leading question, illustrating the misinformation effect.
Proactive Interference
A type of interference where old, previously learned information hinders the recall of new information.
Example:
When you get a new phone number, you might accidentally give out your old number because of proactive interference.
Rapid Initial Forgetting
The phenomenon where a significant amount of newly learned information is forgotten very quickly, often within the first few hours or days.
Example:
You might feel like you understood everything in a new coding lesson, but by the next morning, you've experienced rapid initial forgetting of many specific syntax rules.
Repression
In psychodynamic theory, a defense mechanism where anxiety-provoking thoughts, feelings, or memories are unconsciously pushed out of conscious awareness.
Example:
According to Freud, a person who experienced a traumatic event in childhood might later have no conscious memory of it due to repression.
Retroactive Interference
A type of interference where new information makes it harder to recall old, previously learned information.
Example:
After learning a new language, you might find it harder to remember vocabulary from a language you studied years ago due to retroactive interference.
Slowing Over Time
The characteristic of the forgetting curve where the rate at which information is forgotten decreases as more time passes since the initial learning.
Example:
While you quickly forgot many details from a movie you watched last month, the core plot points have remained stable, demonstrating the slowing over time aspect of memory decay.
Source Amnesia
A type of memory error where an individual can recall a piece of information but forgets where or how they acquired it.
Example:
You might confidently share a fascinating fact with a friend, only to realize you have no idea if you read it in a textbook or heard it on a podcast, which is an example of source amnesia.
The Forgetting Curve
A graphical representation showing that the rate of forgetting is initially rapid after learning, then gradually slows down over time.
Example:
After cramming for a history test, you might experience a steep drop in recalled facts within hours, but the remaining knowledge tends to the forgetting curve to stabilize over the following days.
Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon
A state where a person knows they know a piece of information but cannot immediately retrieve it, feeling as though the answer is just out of reach.
Example:
When you're trying to remember the name of an actor you know well, but it just won't come to you, you're experiencing the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.