Psych Ch.8 Memory

How Would You Know If Our Memory is Accurate? You chose to measure whether participants recalled words they saw and words they had not seen. Why?

This provided measures of recall accuracy and whether participants had a false memory.

When people have recollections of long-ago child sexual abuse, what are two possible injustices?

Two possible injustices are (1) disbelieving people's true stories of victimization, and (2) accusing innocent people of abuse as a result of false "recovered memories."

___________ is a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, as well as of information retrieved from long-term memory.

Working memory

How Would You Know If Our Memory is Accurate? By using an experimental design, you could determine whether seeing some words, but not others, caused some participants to have:

a false memory.

If different parts of the brain could talk, this brain structure would say, "Brain, encode this moment for future reference!"

amygdala

Janet hears a familiar word in her native language and it is virtually impossible for her not to recognize the word's meaning. This best illustrates the importance of:

automatic processing.

Implicit memory formation is dependent on which brain structure?

cerebellum

The misinformation effect highlights the:

changeability of memory.

Luke experiences some damage to his cerebellum. Based on information provided in the textbook, Luke's _____ memory may be impaired.

implicit

Six-year-old Bree has no memory of being taken to the hospital when she was 2 years old. The rest of her family recalls what happened in vivid detail, but Bree only "remembers" what they have told her. Her inability to remember this event is known as:

infantile amnesia.

A retrieval cue:

is something outside your head in the surrounding environment that is related to the memory you are trying to retrieve.

When someone is unsuccessfully trying to remember something, there is activity in the:

left frontal lobe.

__ memory is a relatively permanent and limitless storehouse in one's memory system.

long term

Mrs. McConnell underestimates how frequently she criticizes her children, perhaps because it would cause her too much anxiety. Sigmund Freud would have suggested that her poor memory illustrates:

repression.

In daily life, when one says one remembers some information or a piece of knowledge, one means that one is able to use it. Memory, therefore, entails not only encoding and storage but also _____.

retrieval

Sebastian took three years of Latin in high school. In college, he takes three courses in Spanish. By the end of college, he finds it hard to remember much Latin. Sebastian is experiencing _____ interference.

retroactive

This activated memory holds a few items—for example, the seven digits of a phone number—briefly before the information is stored or forgotten.

short-term memory

Consolidation is the process by which:

short-term memory can be encoded to form long-term memories.

Ricardo distributes his study time rather than cramming because he wants to retain the information for the long term. He is taking advantage of the _____ effect.

spacing

When we place ourselves in the physical space our original learning process occurred, we prime ourselves to more readily retrieve memories that were encoded in the same space. This is called:

the encoding specificity principle.

Some individuals have an amazing ability to remember things. For example, Russian journalist Shereshevsky had an amazing memory but struggled with:

thinking abstractly.

The most common response to a traumatic experience is:

vivid and persistent memories.

How Would You Know If Our Memory is Accurate? In your study, you found that some participants were more likely to recall seeing the word ties or the word socks than others. This happened because these words _________ as _________.

were in the same word category; the other words on the list.

Some patients with anterograde amnesia have learned how to spot hard-to-find figures in the Where's Waldo? series without any conscious awareness that they can do so. This BEST illustrates their retention of _____ memories.

implicit

What type of memory is not consciously accessible to us?

implicit memory

Katrina studied the Russian language in high school. Although she was not fluent, she did accumulate a large vocabulary. Years later she decided to go to Russia, so she wanted to brush up on her vocabulary. She picked up the vocabulary much more quickly because:

it is easier to relearn; that is, to learn the material for a second time.

Whenever Rachel gets blue, she immediately is flooded with thoughts of failed relationships and missed chances. Rachel's experience BEST illustrates _____ memory..

mood-congruent

Although Ron typically smokes two packs of cigarettes each day, he recalls smoking little more than one pack per day. This poor memory BEST illustrates:

motivated forgetting.

Using nonsense syllables to study memory, Hermann Ebbinghaus found that:

the most rapid memory loss for new information occurs shortly after it is learned.

It's evening and Benson is mentally replaying the day's events. He pictures his facial expression as he listened to a friend's tale of woe. Because he was unable to see his expression at the time, his recall necessarily illustrates:

reconsolidation

One way that researchers have explored short-term memory is by eliminating _____, as in the study conducted by Lloyd Peterson and Margaret Peterson.

rehearsal

____ is NOT an effective effortful processing strategy to better remember information.

Massed practice

How Would You Know If Our Memory is Accurate? The confounding variables for your study would include those highlighted below: Fluency in English Damage to brain regions that do not influence memory Damage to the hippocampus, which is a brain region that aids memory An ability to accurately remember the days of the week for any date in the past 500 years Whether people enjoy reading about those with photographic memories Whether participants rely on public transportation for their everyday travel

-Fluency in English -Damage to the hippocampus, which is a brain region that aids memory

Marisela seeks treatment for depression. To explore possible early childhood roots, the therapist hypnotizes her and in the process, Marisela recalls being sexually abused by her father at age 2. Why might some memory researchers be skeptical of Marisela's resulting accusation of her father?

Memories tend to be unreliable for things that occurred at very young ages (before age 4), and when constructed long afterward with suggestions implanted during hypnosis or therapy.

Research has proven which of the following statements to be untrue?

Memory in the brain works like memory in a computer; we take in information and then file it away for recollection.

After having an argument with one's significant other, one is likely to view him or her very negatively as a person. This is BEST seen as reflecting:

State-dependent memory.

A long time ago, Leslie was stuck in an elevator for over 3 hours. Though generally not claustrophobic, after 2 hours she felt like the elevator walls were closing in on her. Now, 10 years later, she still vividly recalls the details of the emotionally traumatic experience. What is MOST likely causing her long-lasting robust memory of this event?

Stress hormones increase glucose activity, which then fuels brain activity.

Laurie, Jim's wife, complains that he never notices when she has made changes in her hairstyle. At her latest hair appointment, she had several inches cut from her hair. When Jim came home from work, he greeted her and did not notice or make a comment about her new hairstyle until Laurie pointed out his failure to notice. Jim may NOT have noticed the difference because of a(n):

encoding failure.

Xui was daydreaming about her college plans during a boring lecture on the history of computers. She does not remember that ENIAC was the first functioning digital computer because she was not paying attention. Xui's poor memory is BEST explained in terms of:

encoding failure.

In a motorcycle accident, Adam suffered a brain injury that makes it impossible for him to form new memories. He can, however, remember his life experiences before the accident. Adam's memory difficulty MOST clearly illustrates a failure in the memory process of:

encoding.

When Lisa earns a perfect score on a(n) _____ test in history, she passes a _____ test of memory.

essay; recall

Mr. Nydam suffers amnesia and is unable to remember playing golf on a particular course. However, the longer he plays the course, the more his game improves. His experience illustrates the difference in:

explicit memory and implicit memory.

Mabel has Alzheimer's disease and her _____ memories for people and events are lost, but she is able to display an ability to form new _____ memories by being repeatedly shown words.

explicit; implicit

With respect to memory, hippocampus is to cerebellum as _____ is to _____.

explicit; implicit

Some memories of an emotionally significant moment or event are vividly clear. These are known as:

flashbulb memories.

After a week of being asked about the false photo, what percent of students recalled having had a hot-air balloon ride?

50

It's often supposed that people repress memories of trauma, to banish the pain. How does evidence support or challenge this idea?

The available evidence challenges this idea, indicating that people seldom forget traumas, and are instead much more likely to be haunted by intrusive memories.

How Would You Know If Our Memory is Accurate? What would be a good measure of whether your participants' memory is accurate?

You would be interested in determining whether participants recalled words on the lists they DID SEE, and whether they had a false memory for other words that were NOT on the list, by asking a valid question (something like this: How certain are you that you saw the word ties?). You would want to provide them with a scale to indicate how sure they are of their response (something like this: 1=not at all certain to 4=certain).

Dora found the serial number of the used car she wanted to purchase online. To remember the 11-digit number, 19801776317, she thought of the number as the year she was born (1980), the date of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the area code of her home phone (317). Dora was using the strategy of _____ to help her remember the car's serial number.

chunking

Dora found the serial number of the used car she wanted to purchase online. To remember the 11-digit number, 19801776317, she thought of the number as the year she was born (1980), the date of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the area code of her home phone (317). Dora was using the strategy of _____ to help her remember the car's serial number. }

chunking

The feeling that one has had the same experience before is known as:

déjà vu.

Austin cannot remember Jack Smith's name because he was not paying attention when Jack was formally introduced. Austin's poor memory is BEST explained in terms of:

encoding failure.

Memories can often be triggered by an associated environmental stimulus. This process is called:

priming.

Jonny has suffered hippocampal damage from a near-fatal bus crash. He is able to remember verbal information, but has no ability to recall visual designs and locations. He has MOST likely suffered damage to his:

right hippocampus.

In a movie, the main character has to write everything on his body and take notes, otherwise he quickly forgets. This is because he has sustained an injury that has left him without _____ memory.

short-term

MaryAnne Garry explicitly states that viewing memory as a _______________ is mistaken.

tape or video recording

How Would You Know If Our Memory is Accurate? Of the following options, which one would be the best group for your study? A group of people who have won the United States Memory Championship A group of people who have average memory abilities A group of people who have extremely poor memory abilities A group of people who have a family history of memory loss

A group of people who have average memory abilities.

How Would You Know If Our Memory is Accurate? Why did you choose an experimental design rather than a correlational design to test this research question?

An experimental design allows us to determine what causes false memories, rather than just learning about relationships between memory-related variables.

what are some effortful processing strategies that can help us remember new information?

Effective effortful processing strategies are like chunking, mnemonics, hierarchies, and distributed practice sessions.

How Would You Know If Our Memory is Accurate? From the following options, which one would be best for testing whether our memory is accurate?

Experimental design

How Would You Know If Our Memory is Accurate? If someone asks you whether our memory is accurate, how might you respond based on what you learned in this activity?

We've learned that memory is in fact not always accurate. We sometimes make the mistake of thinking we remember seeing words that we did not actually see. We tend to form false memories when we see a word that is related to a list of words we saw, but wasn't actually on that list.