psych memory and cognition

Benjamin Whorf

1897-1941; Field: language; Contributions: his hypothesis is that language determines the way we think

Maki is a three-month-old living in a household of Japanese speakers. Which of the following best describes how her ability to discriminate phonemes will develop? A Currently, she will likely be able to discriminate the phonemes \l\ and \r\; after she reaches about eight months of age, she will have begun to lose the ability to discriminate these phonemes. B Currently, she will likely be able to discriminate the phonemes \l\ and \r\; after she reaches about eight months of age, her ability to discriminate these phonemes will start to become enhanced. C Currently, she will likely be unable to discriminate the phonemes \l\ and \r\; after she reaches about eight months of age, she will start to develop the ability to discriminate these phonemes. D Currently, she will likely be unable to discriminate the phonemes \l\ and \r\; after she reaches about eight months of age, she will still be unable to discriminate these phonemes. E Currently, she will likely be able to discriminate the phonemes \l\ and \r\; after she reaches about eight months of age, she will be equally able to discriminate these phonemes.

A

The difference between divided attention and selective attention is that divided attention A requires more automatic processing than selective attention does B is used primarily in simple tasks, whereas selective attention is used primarily in complex tasks C is related to the development of reading skills in children, whereas selective attention is not D is more highly correlated with intelligence than selective attention is E is related only to auditory processing, whereas selective attention is related only to visual processing

A

Which of the following best describes the primacy effect? A When people have better recall of things that occur at the beginning of a sequence B When people have better recall of things that occur at the end of a sequence C When people who know very little about a subject tend to be overly confident about how much they know about that subject, while people who know a great deal about the subject tend to downplay their knowledge about that subject D When people state that things that have happened to them recently occur more frequently than they actually do E When people tend to rely too heavily on the first piece of information they get when making decisions

A

Which of the following psychologists is most strongly associated with research on false memories? A Elizabeth Loftus B Noam Chomsky C Ernst Heinrich Weber D Jean Piaget E Mary Ainsworth

A

linguistic relativity hypothesis

A hypothesis, based on the theories of Sapir and Whorf, that perceptions are relative to language.

After visiting her professor's office, Rachel writes down everything she remembers seeing there. She correctly remembers many details, but she falsely remembers seeing books even though there were no books in the office. Additionally, she did not remember seeing a skull that was in the office. Which memory concept best explains why Rachel falsely encoded the books and failed to encode the skull? A The method of loci B Schemas C Association networks D Sensory memory E Context effects

B

Creativity is most closely associated with which of the following? A Convergent thinking B Divergent thinking C Spatial awareness D Interpersonal intelligence E Intrapersonal intelligence

B

Maria is a thirteen-year-old congenitally deaf child who was born to hearing parents living in a remote, rural area. Since birth her parents have provided love, nourishment, educationally enriching toys, and developed their own hand signals to communicate with her about basic necessities. However, Maria did not begin to learn sign language until she was twelve and the family moved to a city and encountered members of a deaf community. Maria has found it very difficult to learn sign language, no matter what her instructors try. Which of the follow concepts best explains Maria's difficulty learning sign language? A Latent learning B A sensitive period C Cognitive dissonance D Maslow's hierarchy of needs E Egocentrism

B

Martine needs a hammer but cannot find one. As she looks around her apartment, her gaze passes over a metal paperweight and some other objects that could potentially serve as a makeshift hammer. However, she is so focused on these objects' typical uses that she does not think to use any of them as a hammer. Martine is experiencing which of the following? A The fundamental attribution error B Functional fixedness C Blindsight D The Hawthorne effect E Repression

B

Professor Belvedere wants to help her anatomy students memorize the names of different parts of the body. Which of the following techniques will best help her students? A Teaching them a rhyme for each word B Asking them questions about the meaning of each word C Writing the words in different fonts and having the students think about the font that each word is printed in D Writing the words in different colors and having the students think about the color that each word is printed in E Having them write sentences where each word of the sentence starts with the same letter as one of the parts of the body

B

When studying for a vocabulary test, Catherine read one of her vocabulary words and its definition aloud several times. About twenty seconds later, she still remembered the word's meaning, but then she moved on to the next word in the list without engaging in any further strategies to enhance her memory. The next day, she tested herself on the same vocabulary word at the same time, in the same mood, and in the same location as when she had first studied the word, but she could not remember its definition. It is most likely that Catherine could not remember the word because she failed to engage which of the following memory functions? A Sensory memory, because Catherine did not pair the word with one of her senses to remember it the next day. B Long-term memory, because Catherine failed to encode the word; therefore, the word did not become a part of her long-term memory. C Retrieval, because though Catherine probably stored the memory, it was difficult for her to retrieve it. D State-dependent memory, because Catherine was too anxious to perform well. E Context-dependent memory, because Catherine did not study the word in a variety of locations.

B

Which of the following activities most directly relies on the hippocampus? A Remembering events specific to one's life B Memorizing the layout of a neighborhood C Using short-term memory to recreate a picture when drawing a copy of the picture D Rehearsing a fact to remember it for a short period of time E Becoming classically conditioned

B

Which of the following is an example of the tip-of-the-tongue effect? A Marcus used to use words he knew were bad because his parents would pay attention to him whenever he did. When his parents learned to stop giving him attention in response to the bad words, he stopped using them for a few months. A few months later, though, he suddenly started using the bad words again. B Emma is telling her friend what she did over summer vacation when she discovers she cannot think of a specific word that she would like to say. She stops telling the story, because she has the distinct feeling that she is about to be able to think of the word if she waits just a moment. C Rodrigo did not like the taste of coffee at first, but after drinking it every day for a while, he started liking it more. D After listening to a long list of words, Peter remembers the words that occurred near the end of the list more than the ones he heard earlier in the list. E When watching a video of a mouth saying the word "bag" while the word "gag" is played over speakers, Charlotte hears a word that sounds somewhere between the two words.

B

Which of the following is true of analogies in supporting problem solving? A Relevant analogies usually help people solve problems, and people do spontaneously think of relevant analogies. B Relevant analogies usually help people solve problems, but people often do not spontaneously think of relevant analogies. C Relevant analogies usually hinder people when solving problems, and people do spontaneously think of relevant analogies. D Relevant analogies usually hinder people when solving problems, but people often do not spontaneously think of relevant analogies E Relevant analogies neither help nor hinder people when solving problems.

B

Which of the following scenarios best demonstrates the role of context effects in memory? A Jonah tutored his classmate on a difficult concept, and now he understands the concept better than he did before tutoring his classmate. B Amy studied for a vocabulary test in the same classroom and at the same time of day as the normal class, and she performed better on the test than students who studied in different classrooms under different conditions. C Mateo studied for an anatomy exam while taking pain medication, which he did not take before the exam. He forgot many of the concepts that he learned when he was studying. D Dina could not remember the name of her second-grade teacher, but after she thought about the names of her classmates, the teacher's name suddenly came to her. E Glenn vividly remembered the details of a car crash he was involved in, but he remembered very little about the rest of the day.

B

Which of the following scenarios involves using cued recall? A Letitia uses a mnemonic device to help her remember the names of all the lobes of the brain. B Steven studies a list of word pairs and is later given the first word of each pair and asked to recall the second word in the pair. C Evelyn studies a list of words and is later asked to list all of the words that were on the list. D To help her remember what she needs from the grocery store, Marjorie imagines walking through her kitchen and visualizing what is missing. E Kumail scores well on a multiple-choice quiz because he recognizes all of the correct answers when he sees them.

B

Dr. Rudolph's class has a big test coming up next week. Which of the following students is using a studying strategy that is most likely to lead to memory consolidation? A Gabriel is anxious about the test, so he distracts himself by playing video games. B Marcus does not study until the night before the test, when he studies for eight hours straight. C Elizabeth studies for a half hour before she goes to bed each night the week before the exam. D Sharon does not study for the test, but she pays close attention, asks lots of questions, and takes good notes during class. E Mario studies by repeating his class notes to himself multiple times.

C

Five-year-old Tahani is entering a school where English is the only language spoken, but in her home, her family uses a combination of both English and her family's native language. When she starts school, she takes a test measuring her English language development. Her score is well below that of the other children in her class, most of whom live in homes where only one language is spoken. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for Tahani's test scores? A Tahani has a language-specific impairment and should go to a language therapist. B The test is culturally biased and contains concepts Tahani does not know. C Because Tahani speaks more than one language, her proficiency in each language may come later than for her monolingual peers. D Tahani is experiencing language confusion due to her exposure to multiple languages. E Tahani experienced stereotype threat while taking the test, and that caused her to score below her peers.

C

Piper reads about someone described as adventurous and extroverted. She then judges that this person is more likely to be a lawyer who enjoys hiking than a lawyer who does not. The best explanation for Piper's error is that she is basing her judgment on A the availability heuristic B the anchoring-and-adjustment heuristic C the representativeness heuristic D confirmation bias E predictable-world bias

C

To help himself remember the name of his new colleague, Hope, Jose thinks about the meaning of her name—the feeling of hopefulness. Which of the following concepts best corresponds to Jose's strategy? A Chunking B Long-term potentiation C Semantic encoding D Self-reference E Imagery

C

When Gustavo goes through lists of inventory items and thinks about whether each one is a fruit or not, he remembers more of the items on those lists later than when he goes through lists of inventory items and does not think about what each item is. Which of the following concepts best explains Gustavo's performance? A Sensory memory, because he is activating information about his sensory experiences of fruit. B The spacing effect, because he is going through the list multiple times. C Elaborative encoding, because engaging in deeper processing improves memory. D Single-trial learning, because he goes through the lists only one time. E Flashbulb memories, because Gustavo has vivid memories of fruit and that helps him remember.

C

Maeve wants to change her college major but has decided not to because she is close to finishing. She believes that the time she has spent in her current program will be wasted if she changes now. Maeve is experiencing A hindsight bias B availability bias C social desirability bias D the sunk-cost fallacy E the self-serving bias

D

Which of the following statements is true of insight problem solving? A It involves trying every possible solution until finding the one that works. B It is only used to solve verbal problems and not spatial ones. C It can only occur in situations where the problem space is very large. D It requires an incubation period in which the problem solver can start fresh on the problem. E It occurs most frequently with well-defined problems.

D

The cerebellum is most directly involved in A forming emotional memories B forming explicit and spatial memories C judgment, higher-order cognition, and personality D sensory processing and relaying E motor learning

E

Which of the following describes one of the functions of the temporal lobe of the brain? A It is where motor control occurs. B It is where decision making happens. C It is where low-level visual features are processed. D It is where the sense of touch is processed. E It is where declarative memories are stored.

E

Herman Ebbinghaus

He was a German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory, and is known for his discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. He was also the first person to describe the learning curve.

functional fixedness

a cognitive bias that limits a person to be creative

prototype

a first, typical or preliminary model of something

morpheme

a meaningful morphological unit of a language that cannot be further divided

algorithm

a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.

long term memory

a type of storage that holds information for hours, days, weeks, or years

relearning effect

a way of measuring retention by measuring how much faster one relearns material that has been previously learned and then forgotten

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly before the information is stored or forgotten ex - what you had for lunch yesterday

retrograde amnesia

amnesia where you can't recall memories that were formed before the event that caused amnesia

flashbulb memory

an accurate and exceptionally vivid, long-lasting memory for the circumstances surrounding learning about a dramatic event. They are memories that are affected by our emotional state.

syntax

an approach to understanding or analyzing the mind or behavior that uses unscientific or fraudulent methods

exemplar

an example or model, especially an ideal one

informational processing model of memory

any conceptualization of memory as involving the progressive transfer of information thru a system. 3 stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval

phonemes

any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another, for example p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat.

sensory memory

brief memory that allows people to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimulus has ceased

recency effect

cognitive bias in which those items, ideas or arguments that came last are remembered more clearly than those that came first

anchoring bias

cognitive bias that causes us to rely too heavily on the first piece of information that comes to mind quickly and easily when making decisions about the future.

Overgeneralization

cognitive distortion where a person applies something from one event to all other events

heuristic

enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves

Henry Gustav

famous case of anterograde and retrograde amnesia in psychology. in attempt to control his seizures, H.M. underwent brain surgery to remove his hippocampus and amygdala

recognition

identification of a thing or person from previous encounters or knowledge

context dependent memory

improved recall of specific episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same

anterograde amnesia

inability to form new memories

language relativity devices

instinctive mental capacity which enables an in infant to acquire and produce language

Noam Chomsky

language development; disagreed with Skinner about language acquisition, stated there is an infinite # of sentences in a language, humans have an inborn native ability to develop language

mnemonic device

learning technique that aids undo retention or retrieval in the human memory for human undrstanding

episodic memory

memory of everyday events that can be explicitly stated or conjured. It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place.

long-term potention

process involving persistent strengthening of synapses that leads to a long-lasting increase in signal transmission between neurons.

chunking

process where individual pieces of information sets are bound together into a meaningful whole

maintenance rehearsal

straight repeating of information to memorize it

elborative rehearsal

strategy to facilitate the formation of memory by linking new info to what one already knows. ex - trying to remember someone named George, you might think of other things that you know about people named George

selective attention

the capacity for or process of reacting to certain stimuli selectively when several occur simultaneously.

state-dependent memory

the fact that acquired info in the effect of a specific drug and/or situation may only be remembered if the organism is in a similar situation where the info was acquired

retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

serial position curve

the tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series best, and the middle items worst

proactive inference

the tendency of previously learned material to hinder subsequent learning.

confirmation bias

the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

mood congruent memory

the tendency to remember experiences that are consistent with one's current mood and overlook or forget experiences that are not

recall

to remember something

procedural memory

type of implicit memory which aids the performance of tasks without conscious awareness of these previous experiences

semantic memory

type of long term memory involving the capacity to recall words, concepts, or numbers, which is essential for the use and understanding of language

representative heuristic

used when making judgments about the probability of an event under uncertainty

retroactive interference

when you forget a previously learnt task stared in memory