Study materials›AP Psychology›Memory, Encoding, and Retrieval
🧠AP PSYCHOLOGY STUDY GUIDE

Memory, Encoding, and Retrieval

Study the models, brain structures, and learning strategies behind memory for AP Psychology.

8 key ideas8 flashcards5 practice questions
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EXAM SCOPEAP Psychology cognition and memory review

This review follows the current course framework.

Checked against College Board AP Psychology framework ↗
MEMORY TEST

Retrieval beats another passive reading.

read once

build an initial memory trace

close the source

answer without looking

check and return

correct errors, then try later

SMART NOTES

Key ideas to know

Start with the relationships between ideas. Then close the notes and explain each one from memory.

  1. 01

    Encoding gets information into the memory system.

  2. 02

    Storage retains encoded information over time.

  3. 03

    Retrieval brings stored information back into awareness.

  4. 04

    The hippocampus helps form new explicit memories.

  5. 05

    Spacing and retrieval practice improve long-term retention.

  6. 06

    Long-term memory includes explicit memories that can be stated and implicit memories expressed through performance.

  7. 07

    The spacing effect occurs when sessions distributed across time produce stronger retention than one massed session.

  8. 08

    Memory is reconstructive, so wording, expectations, and later information can alter recall.

PART OF THE AP PSYCHOLOGY GUIDE

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COMMON MIX-UPS

Two ideas worth correcting now

NOT QUITE

Memory records an exact copy of experience

→
USE THIS INSTEAD

Recall rebuilds an event from stored details and later information.

NOT QUITE

One long session is best for retention

→
USE THIS INSTEAD

Spaced sessions with retrieval usually produce stronger later recall.

ACTIVE RECALL

Flashcards

Answer before opening each card. The effort to retrieve is part of the learning.

1What are the three basic memory processes?Show answer ＋

Encoding, storage, and retrieval.

2What is working memory?Show answer ＋

A limited system for actively processing and holding information.

3What is the testing effect?Show answer ＋

Improved retention caused by retrieving information during practice.

4What is proactive interference?Show answer ＋

Older information makes new information harder to remember.

5What is context-dependent memory?Show answer ＋

Recall improves when the retrieval context matches the learning context.

6What brain structure is strongly involved in new explicit memory formation?Show answer ＋

The hippocampus.

7What is retroactive interference?Show answer ＋

Newer learning disrupts recall of older information.

8What is the misinformation effect?Show answer ＋

Later misleading information alters memory for an event.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Explain it in your own words

Use the answer as a check after you have written or spoken your response.

01Why is recognition usually easier than recall?

Recognition provides cues, while recall requires producing information with fewer cues.

02What is the serial-position effect?

People tend to remember the first and last items in a list best.

03How does sleep support memory?

Sleep supports consolidation, making recently formed memories more stable.

04How does retrieval practice differ from rereading?

Retrieval practice requires producing an answer from memory, while rereading supplies the answer again.

05Why can an eyewitness sound certain and still be wrong?

Confidence can rise from repetition or feedback even when reconstructed details are inaccurate.

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