Memory: study guide
During her psychology test, Kelsey could not remember the meaning of the term proactive interference. Surprisingly, however, she accurately remembered that the term appeared on the fourth line of a left-hand page in her textbook. Her memory of this incidental information is best explained in terms of
automatic processing.
Negative recall primed by distressing emotions most clearly illustrates
mood-congruent memory.
The smell of freshly baked bread awakened in Mr. Hutz vivid memories of his early childhood. The aroma apparently acted as a powerful
retrieval cue.
The accuracy of the flashbulb memories of those who witnessed the 2010 earthquake in Haiti best illustrates that memory formation is facilitated by
the body's release of stress hormones.
We are more likely to remember the words "typewriter, cigarette, and fire" than the words "void, process, and inherent." This best illustrates the value of
Imagery
Who emphasized that we repress anxiety-arousing memories?
Sigmund Freud
Information learned while a person is ________ is best recalled when that person is ________.
drunk; drunk
Recorded information played during sleep is registered by the ears but is not remembered. This illustrates that the retention of information requires
effortful processing
The misinformation effect best illustrates the dynamics of
memory construction.
Arnold so easily remembers his old girlfriend's telephone number that he finds it difficult to recall his new girlfriend's number. Arnold's difficulty best illustrates
proactive interference.
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information is called
proactive interference.
After studying biology all afternoon, Alonzo is having difficulty remembering details of 8the organic chemistry material that he memorized that morning. Alonzo's difficulty best illustrates
retroactive interference.
Learning a new ATM password may block the recall of a familiar old password. This illustrates
retroactive interference.
Memory aids that involve the use of vivid imagery and clever ways of organizing material are called
mnemonic devices.
Austin can't remember Jack Smith's name because he wasn't paying attention when Jack was formally introduced. Austin's poor memory is best explained in terms of
encoding failure.
A flashbulb memory would typically be stored in ________ memory.
long-term
Compulsive gamblers frequently recall losing less money than is actually the case. Their memory failure best illustrates
motivated forgetting.
Fill-in-the-blank test questions measure ________; matching concepts with their definitions measures ________.
recall; recognition
An eyewitness to a grocery store robbery is asked to identify the suspects in a police lineup. Which test of memory is being utilized?
recognition
Rephrasing text material in your own words is an effective way of facilitating
semantic encoding.
The process by which information is encoded by its meaning is called
semantic encoding.
To remember the information presented in her psychology textbook, Toyosi often relates it to her own life experiences. Toyosi's strategy is an effective memory aid because it facilitates
semantic encoding.
After reading a newspaper report suggesting that drunken driving might have contributed to a recent auto accident, several people who actually witnessed the accident began to remember the driver involved as traveling more recklessly than was actually the case. This provides an example of
the misinformation effect.
The process of encoding refers to
getting information into memory.
The process of retrieval refers to
getting information out of memory storage.
Tim, a third-grader, learns the sentence "George Eats Old Gray Rats And Paints Houses Yellow" to help him remember the spelling of "geography." Tim is using
a mnemonic device.
After having a stroke, Aaron has great difficulty recalling any of his subsequent life experiences. He is most likely suffering from
amnesia.
Using the mnemonic ROY G. BIV to remember the colors of the rainbow in the order of wavelength illustrates the use of
an acronym
During the course of a day, people may unconsciously encode the sequence of the day's events. This best illustrates
automatic processing
The letters Y, M, O, M, R, E are presented. Jill remembers them by rearranging them to spell the word "MEMORY." This provides an illustration of
chunking.
Effortful processing can occur only with
conscious attention.
Automatic processing occurs without
conscious awareness.
Walking into your bedroom you think, "I need to get my backpack in the kitchen." When you reach the kitchen, you forget what you came there for. As you return to your bedroom, you suddenly remember, "Backpack!" This sudden recall is best explained by
context effects
Automatic processing and effortful processing involve two types of
encoding
The ability to learn something without any conscious memory of having learned it suggests the need to distinguish between
explicit memory and implicit memory.
Exceptionally clear memories of emotionally significant events are called
flashbulb memories
By creating an outline in which specific facts and theories are located within the larger framework of major topics and subtopics, Jasmine can remember much more of what she reads in her textbooks. This best illustrates the benefits of
hierarchical organization.
Explicit memory is to ________ as implicit memory is to ________.
hippocampus; cerebellum
Cerebellum is to ________ memory as hippocampus is to ________ memory.
iconic; echoic
"The magical number seven, plus or minus two" refers to the storage capacity of ________ memory.
implicit
Harry Bahrick observed that three years after people completed a Spanish course, they had forgotten much of the vocabulary they had learned. This finding indicates that information is lost while it is
in storage.
Which type of memory has an essentially unlimited capacity?
long-term memory
By shrinking the hippocampus, prolonged stress is most likely to inhibit the process of
long-term memory formation.
When Bryan's girlfriend broke up with him, he felt very down. As he sat in his bedroom, he thought about all of the other times his heart had been broken. Bryan's experience provides an example of
mood-congruent memory.
Reading a romantic novel caused Claudia to recall some old experiences with a junior high school boyfriend. The effect of the novel on Claudia's memory retrieval is an illustration of
priming
A type of motivated forgetting in which anxiety-arousing memories are blocked from conscious awareness is known as
repression.
Philippe has just completed medical school. In reflecting on his years of formal education, he is able to recall the names of all his instructors except the fifth-grade teacher who flunked him. According to Freud, his forgetting illustrates
repression.
Judy is embarrassed because she momentarily fails to remember a good friend's name. Judy's poor memory most likely results from a failure in
retrieval
When Jake applied for a driver's license, he was embarrassed by a momentary inability to remember his address. Jake's memory difficulty most likely resulted from a(n) ________ failure.
retrieval
Words, events, places, and emotions that trigger our memory of the past are called
retrieval cues
The tendency to immediately recall the first and last items in a list better than the middle items is known as the ________ effect.
serial position
After looking up his friend's phone number, Alex was able to remember it only long enough to dial it correctly. In this case, the telephone number was clearly stored in his ________ memory.
short-term
After his last drinking spree, Harvir hid a half-empty liquor bottle. He couldn't remember where he hid it until he started drinking again.Harvir's pattern of recall best illustrates
state-dependent memory.
Memory is best defined as
the persistence of learning through the storage and retrieval of information.
Jamille performs better on foreign language vocabulary tests if she studies the material 15 minutes every day for 8 days than if she crams for 2 hours the night before the test. This illustrates what is known as
the spacing effect.