engram

n. the hypothetical memory trace that is stored in the brain. The nature of the engram, in terms of the exact physiological changes that occur to encode a memory, is as yet unknown. The term was introduced by German biologist Richard Semon (1859–1918) in the early 1900s and was popularized by Karl S. Lashley in his 1950 paper “In Search of the Engram.” Also called mneme; mnemonic trace; neurogram.

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Psychology term of the day

July 27th 2024

temperament trait

1. a biologically based, inherited personality characteristic.

2. a personality trait that involves emotional qualities and affective styles of behavior. It is one of three classes of source traits in Cattell’s personality trait theory, the other two being ability traits and dynamic traits.