Cognitive Psych Chapter 8

Which of the following statements is FALSE? Memory connections can both help and hurt memory accuracy. When events are misremembered, they tend to be remembered as more normal, or more consistent with expectations, than they actually were. Elements of a particular episode are stored in a "file" that separates them from elements of other episodes. The greater the density of connections that are associated with a particular episode, the more likely it is that intrusion errors will occur.

Elements of a particular episode are stored in a "file" that separates them from elements of other episodes. FEEDBACK: Episodic memories intermingle with other memories.

Which of the following is NOT true of the "narrowing" of focus that is often found in memories of emotional events? The narrowing is a product of attention; when you focus your attention, your memory ends up similarly focused. Emotion can actually have a negative effect on your memory for the noncentral aspects of an event. Emotion improves memory for peripheral details of events, sometimes at the cost of memory for the central aspects. Different emotions may be associated with different behavioral goals, and this may affect your attention.

Emotion improves memory for peripheral details of events, sometimes at the cost of memory for the central aspects. FEEDBACK: Narrowing means that the central aspects of the event are remembered well, but the peripheral aspects are not.

Which statement pertaining to the overall state of memory is FALSE? Errors in memory are more common than accurate memories. Some forgetting is beneficial because it allows us to generalize. Schemata allow us to direct our attention more efficiently so that we can encode more useful memories. There are principles that apply to all of memory, as well as principles that apply only to specific sorts of memory.

Errors in memory are more common than accurate memories. FEEDBACK: Most memories are accurate because they capture the gist of things. It is only when dealing with the details that they become false.

Which of the following statements about memory over the lifespan is most accurate? Most people can remember events from when they were younger than 3 years old. Most adults have particularly clear and detailed memories of their late teens and 20s. People are most likely to remember the most recent decade of their lives, regardless of their age. Most people have relatively few memories from their high school years.

Most adults have particularly clear and detailed memories of their late teens and 20s. FEEDBACK: The "reminiscence bump" is the name for this pattern of particularly good memory for late adolescence and early adulthood.

Which of these features reliably distinguishes false memories from true memories? difference in speed of recounting false memories and true memories level of emotionality in recalling the memory level of detail in the recalled memory Nothing that we know of reliably distinguishes true from false memories.

Nothing that we know of reliably distinguishes true from false memories. FEEDBACK: Results from studies show that true and false memories do not differ in the amount of detail, speed of recall, or level of emotionality. Thus, there is no single characteristic that reliably distinguishes them.

Which of the following about autobiographical memories is FALSE? People tend to remember themselves as having been very different in the past. Recollection is better for memories that seem more directly relevant to the self. When an event is forgotten, reconstruction tends to favor seeing the self in a positive light. Reconstruction of past events will often be consistent with current views of the self.

People tend to remember themselves as having been very different in the past. FEEDBACK: When retrieving autobiographical memories, people will actually bias their memories toward current characteristics.

Which of the following claims about false memories is accurate? Memories can only be implanted if participants find them plausible. Photographs must be digitally manipulated in order for them to produce false memories. Researchers have used repeated interviews to give participants false memories for committing felonies. Some false memories can be implanted in children, but not memories about major traumatic events.

Researchers have used repeated interviews to give participants false memories for committing felonies. FEEDBACK: Repeated suggestive interviews have been used to produce false memories for a variety of events, including committing crimes like assault with a weapon.

Based on current knowledge, which of the following is the LEAST well-established reason for a traumatic childhood memory to come to light after many years? There was retrieval failure, but a cue finally appeared that triggered the memory. The memory was repressed because it was too painful, but it has now been recovered. The memory was consciously remembered all along, but it was not talked about before. The memory is false and was created, probably with the help of suggestion from an outside party.

The memory was repressed because it was too painful, but it has now been recovered. FEEDBACK: Repression was once a controversial topic, but it is now established that so-called repressed memories can be explained by the other factors described above (e.g., a memory trace was remembered all along but not discussed).

Which of the following statements is the MOST accurate? There is little or no relation between memory confidence and memory accuracy. People who are more confident in their memories are likely to be more accurate. Although juries tend to believe that memory confidence in witnesses is a good sign of memory accuracy, judges do not. Feedback about memory accuracy has no effect on memory confidence.

There is little or no relation between memory confidence and memory accuracy. FEEDBACK: People can be very confident of memories that are not accurate. The fact that a memory is correct can increase confidence, but this does not affect the accuracy because it comes after the fact.

Which of the following would NOT be due to schemata? During recall of a story taken from the folklore of Native Americans, British participants systematically change the facts to be more in line with their worldview. Witnesses to a crime blur together in memory what they saw with what they heard from another witness. Participants remember seeing books on the shelves in an academic office even when there were none. When people give accounts of past events, they are easily able to fill in the holes in their memory by making inferences, which are usually correct.

Witnesses to a crime blur together in memory what they saw with what they heard from another witness. FEEDBACK: This is not due to schemata because it involves taking information from a specific person rather than from a crime schema to change details.

The 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was a very emotional event, which, for many people, led to a flashbulb memory. Details of the day of this event are likely to be remembered MOST accurately by an individual from a neighboring state who had not previously known of the building. an individual who worked in the immediate vicinity and narrowly escaped harm, and who is questioned immediately. an individual who worked in the immediate vicinity and narrowly escaped harm, and who is questioned one year later. a closely involved individual who expressed extreme confidence in his or her memory one year later.

an individual who worked in the immediate vicinity and narrowly escaped harm, and who is questioned immediately. FEEDBACK: The best memory is found at short retention intervals in people who were involved in the incident.

Which hypothesis about forgetting points to the fact that over time, relevant brain cells die off and connections between memories gradually weaken? decay hypothesis retrieval-failure hypothesis misinformation hypothesis interference hypothesis

decay hypothesis FEEDBACK: Decay involves the loss of information over time and hence leads to forgetting.

Memories that are not lost within a few years of their acquisition will mostly be lost within ten years. have probably achieved a state of relatively permanent storage. need to be rehearsed frequently to stay in long-term memory. tend to pop into one's thoughts much more frequently than they initially did.

have probably achieved a state of relatively permanent storage. FEEDBACK: Permanent storage relates to memories that are not likely to be lost.

Which of the following is LEAST likely to promote misremembering? imagining what might have happened had an event gone differently being exposed to misinformation after the event having some involvement in an event rather than just witnessing it the passage of time

having some involvement in an event rather than just witnessing it FEEDBACK: If the event is personally relevant, it is unlikely to result in misremembering.

A study found that rugby players' recall of the names of opposing teams suffered based on the number of intervening games, and not based on the mere passage of time. This study demonstrates that interference is a major contributor to forgetting. decay is a major contributor to forgetting. separate events are stored as separate, contained units in memory. a change in the players' perspective leads to retrieval failure in recall.

interference is a major contributor to forgetting. FEEDBACK: It is interference, because it does not matter how much time has passed. All that matters is how many games have already occurred.

Intrusion errors are NOT typically caused by words or ideas associated with the material being learned. background knowledge brought to a situation. maintenance rehearsal. thoughts about an event that take place after that event has occurred.

maintenance rehearsal. FEEDBACK: Maintenance rehearsal involves keeping things in mind for a short period of time. There is no time for intrusion errors to occur, as they arise when retrieving items from long-term memory.

Which of the following is likely to INCREASE the intrusion of schematic knowledge in later recall? thinking about how the event unfolded, rather than what it meant making an effort to fill in the gaps in one's memories decreasing the retention interval thinking about what was distinctive, rather than typical, about the episode

making an effort to fill in the gaps in one's memories FEEDBACK: Trying to fill in the gaps is likely to increase the use of schemata in order to guess what might have happened.

According to interference theory, most forgetting is attributable to the fact that due to a change in perspective, you lose paths to the information. emotion causes the disruption of memories acquired earlier. memories and memory connections fade with time. new learning disrupts, or overwrites, old learning.

new learning disrupts, or overwrites, old learning. FEEDBACK: Interference arises because the new memories interfere with, or impede, older memories.

In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure, participants are asked to remember a list of words like "bed, snooze, awake, tired, dream, rest," which are all words concerning the topic of sleep, although the word "sleep" is not on the list. After this procedure, participants recall that they heard the word "sleep" on the original list unless they are explicitly warned to be careful. recall the word "sleep" being on the list even if they were explicitly warned to be careful. are less confident in their recognition of the word "sleep" than in their recognition of words that are actually on the list. are likely to say that the word "sleep" was on the list during a recognition test but not during a recall test.

recall the word "sleep" being on the list even if they were explicitly warned to be careful. FEEDBACK: This is a task that is designed to induce false memories by priming a concept that is not explicitly presented.

In a basic recall task, participants read a story about a character named Nancy and her behavior at a party. During recall, participants made fewer intrusion errors if they received a prologue giving context to Nancy's behavior. remembered more details and made more inferences about the story if they received a prologue giving additional context. remembered extra events that did not make much sense in the context of the story. were susceptible to leading questions unless they received a prologue giving context.

remembered more details and made more inferences about the story if they received a prologue giving additional context. FEEDBACK: The prologue creates a context, which is then used to generate details, even ones that were not explicitly mentioned in the paragraph.

Which is LEAST well established as a contributor to the forgetting of traumatic events? extreme stress disrupting the biological processes of memory consolidation alcohol and drug use self-protective memory repression on the part of the traumatized individual sleep deprivation

self-protective memory repression on the part of the traumatized individual FEEDBACK: Repression is a very controversial issue and hence is the least likely explanation for forgetting an event.

While under hypnosis, people are quite accurate at distinguishing true from false memories. tend to remember more about the event they are being questioned about. tend to talk more about the event they are being questioned about. are less susceptible to the misinformation effect.

tend to talk more about the event they are being questioned about. FEEDBACK: Hypnosis makes people open to suggestion, and hence they are likely to add details to an event that they are being questioned about.

In one study, participants saw a video of a car wreck and were then asked questions about what they had seen. Participants who heard the question "How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?" were more confident that they saw broken glass than participants who heard "smashed into each other." gave speed estimates equal to those of participants who had heard "smashed into each other" if both groups were questioned immediately. were less likely than those individuals who had heard "smashed into each other" to recall that they had seen broken glass. gave lower speed estimates than participants who had heard "smashed into each other" only if both groups were questioned after a one-week delay.

were less likely than those individuals who had heard "smashed into each other" to recall that they had seen broken glass. FEEDBACK: The words "smashed into each other" led people to remember the cars as traveling faster and hence was likely to elicit the memory of broken glass.

Results of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure demonstrate the role of perceptual priming in recall. the importance of having multiple retrieval paths in memory. intrusion errors based on semantic knowledge. that confidence is a direct index of the accuracy of recall.

intrusion errors based on semantic knowledge. FEEDBACK: People are likely to infer that a word was on the list when in fact it was not.

Schemata do all of the following EXCEPT help us understand a situation. help fill in gaps in our recollection. encourage the formation of certain types of errors in our perception and memory. prevent us from confusing an event with other, similar events.

prevent us from confusing an event with other, similar events. FEEDBACK: Schemata cause us to regularize our memories, and hence we may confuse one event with another.