Psych Chapter 5
Memories in this system might last 20-30 seconds. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
B
Memories of an event are usually forgotten... A ...during major life changes. B ...immediately after the event. C ...after about one week. D ...gradually, over time.
B
hippocampus (memory)
A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.
Survival-related encoding
A process that combines some elements of semantic, visual, and organizational encoding and considers the relevance of the information for an individual's survival.
frontal lobe
A region of the cerebral cortex that has specialized areas for movement, abstract thinking, planning, memory, and judgement
Based on Eric Kandel's observations with Aplysia, which of the following will result in stronger synaptic connections between neurons? Multiple choice question A: Stimulating the neurons once and only once. B: Stimulating the neurons over and over. C: Preventing the neurons from firing. D: Stimulating the neurons once, and then a second time an hour later.
B
Brenda thinks that people form stronger memories of negative emotional events than positive emotional events. To examine this, Brenda conducts a study. She interviews 100 people, and asks each to describe all of their most memorable life experiences. Brenda finds that, on average, 65% of the memories are negative, and 35% are positive. Brenda concludes that negative emotional experiences cause stronger memories. A: Illusory correlation or Random chance fallacy B: Illusory causation -or- Correlation does not imply causation C: Confirmation bias D: Observer / Experimenter bias E: Lack of control F: Overgeneralization G: There is nothing wrong with this conclusion.
B
Chunking allows individuals to maintain more information in this memory system. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
B
If I gave you a drug that would prevent LTP from occurring in your brain, which of the following conditions would you have? Multiple choice question A: Retrograde amnesia B: Anterograde amnesia C: Blindness D: Enhanced memory
B
How did Sperling "cue" participants to report letters in a particular row? Multiple choice question A. Participants were always supposed to recall either the top row or the bottom row. B. By telling participants which row to recall just before it was presented. C. With a tone. D. With a very quickly flashed stimulus.
C
If it is repeatedly rehearsed, information might be transferred into this memory system. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
C
In a classic memory study by Peterson and Peterson (1959), participants were given consonant strings to remember—such as DBX and HLM—and then were instructed to count backward from 100 by 3. After a variable amount of time (delay), the participants were asked to recall the consonant strings. Which statement accurately describes the results of the experiment? Multiple choice question A: There was no decrease in recall accuracy until the delay reached about 20 seconds. B: A 3-second delay decreased accuracy by almost 80 percent. C: A 20-second delay decreased accuracy by over 80 percent. D: There was no decrease in recall accuracy until the delay reached about 7 seconds.
C
Jacob cannot remember anything that occurred in the minutes leading up to the bicycle accident that knocked him briefly unconscious. He's experiencing a mild form of ________. Multiple choice question A: anterograde amnesia B: hippocampal damage C: retrograde amnesia D: reconsolidation
C
In a study of memory persistence, researchers found that memory for __________ pictures are usually more accurate than for _____ pictures. Multiple choice question A: pleasant or neutral; unpleasant B: emotional or neutral; detailed C: unpleasant or neutral; pleasant D: unpleasant or pleasant; neutral
D
In his TED talk, Joshua Foer described how he uses "elaborative encoding" to remember large amounts of information, enhancing the information with "all the other things floating around in our minds." Which type of encoding is he describing? Multiple choice question A: Survival encoding B: Visual imagery encoding C: Organizational encoding D: Semantic encoding
D
Josh, a 40-year-old, damaged his hippocampus last year, and he's suffering from anterograde amnesia. Which of the following will Josh experience? Multiple choice question A: The inability to remember his own name. B: The inability to recognize his mother. C: The inability to understand spoken language. D: The inability to tell you what he ate for dinner last night.
D
Survival scenarios that do involve ________ produced superior subsequent memory compared with survival scenarios that did not. Multiple choice question A: Pleasantness B: Escape from predators C: Visual imagery D: Planning
D
Traumatic memories, such as the memory of being abused during childhood... Multiple choice question A ...can sometimes only be accessed through hypnosis. B...are more likely to be forgotten. C...are usually repressed and inaccessible. D...are usually remembered.
D
We are consciously aware of the information in our _____ memory. Multiple choice question A. sensory B. long-term C. procedural D. short-term
D
When Sperling quickly flashed three rows of letters, experimental participants: Multiple choice question A: recalled almost all the letters B:recalled the letters in the first and last rows, but not the letters in the middle row C: recalled about seven letters, due to the capacity limitations of working memory D: appeared to have a momentary (about 1 second) visual memory of all the letters in the display
D
When one neuron sends an action potential to another neuron, the connection between them becomes ________. Multiple choice question A: weaker B: blocked C: slower D: stronger
D
Categorize each of the following situations into the appropriate type of memory error. College students typically recall more good grades than bad grades when they look back at their high school experiences.
Egocentric Bias
_____ is the process by which one transforms one's experiences into enduring memories.
Encoding
Loftus
Eyewitness testimony & constructive memory
Mike is walking down the street and sees a woman he is sure he has met before. Mike asks the woman if they know each other, and she informs him she just arrived in the country and has never been here before. Mike's feeling of familiarity is most likely a result of:
false recognition
transience
forgetting what occurs with the passage of time
recognition
identifying items previously learned (multiple choice)
bias in memory
memories distorted by current belief system
semantic memory
memory for knowledge about the world
implicit memory (non-declarative)
memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without a conscious recollection of that experience
explicit memory
memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"
Chunking
organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
serial position effect
our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list
Josette recently changed the password to her online banking site—at the site's insistence. She cannot remember the new password; she can only remember the preceding one. Josette is experiencing _____ interference.
proactive
Katriana is trying to remember her new phone number but keeps telling others her old phone number. Katriana is suffering from:
proactive interference
retrieval cues
stimuli that aid the recall or recognition of information stored in memory
Humanistic Perspective
the "third force" in psychology that focuses on those aspects of personality that make people uniquely human, such as subjective feelings and freedom of choice
Priming
the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response
episodic memory
the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place
retroactive interference
the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
proactive interference
the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information
false memory
the feeling of retrieving particular info from memory, even though that info was never stored in memory
encoding specificity principle
the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it
persistence
the intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget
Retrieval
the process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored.
rehearsal
the process of keeping information in short-term memory by mentally repeating it
Storage
the process of maintaining information in memory over time.
Encoding
the process of transforming what we perceive, think, or feel into an enduring memory.
tip of the tongue phenomenon
the temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that it's just out of reach
Diane was having lunch with her mother, and they were talking about a popular movie. They could not remember the name of the actor who starred in the movie, but Diane's mother said she thought it started with T, and she felt like she almost "had it." Diane's mother was experiencing the _____ phenomenon.
tip-of-the-tongue
Bailey attends her 20th high school reunion and realizes that she would have great difficulty with names if people were not wearing nametags. Her inability to remember the names of people she spent so much time with 20 years earlier is MOST likely caused by:
transcience
priming memory
unconscious memory processing in which prior exposure to stimulus items may aid subsequent learning
Which picture would people most likely remember
victims of torture
mood-dependent memory
when learning occurs during a particular emotional state, it is most easily recalled when one is again in that emotional state
Information in _______ contributes to the _________. Multiple choice question A: long-term memory; primacy effect. B: short-term memory; retrograde effect. C: short-term memory; primacy effect. D: long-term memory; recency effect.
A
This system only maintains information for about 1/3rd of a second. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
A
What's in the kitchen? Multiple choice question A: A golden brick road B: Cookie Monster C: Nude bicyclists D: Brittany Spears
A
A gifted 2nd grader is working through the vocabulary section of an intelligence test, while Susan is observing the examination session. The student is struggling to remember the meaning of the word "apprehensive," when suddenly, Susan's phone rings loudly. The ringer plays Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata for a few moments before she is able to silence it. And then, just a couple seconds later, the 2nd grader suddenly remembers the meaning of the word. Susan concludes that there must have been something about her phone ringing that facilitated the student's ability to remember the vocabulary word. A: Illusory correlation or Random chance fallacy B: Illusory causation -or- Correlation does not imply causation C: Confirmation bias D: Observer / Experimenter bias E: Lack of control F: Overgeneralization G: There is nothing wrong with this conclusion.
A
Akira Haraguchi and Lu Chao are memory champions, having set records for reciting long sequences of the number pi from memory. According to the article, how do they do that? A: They use mnemonic devices and thousands of hours of practice. B:They take visual snapshots of sequences of numbers, and remember these images. C: They have much larger capacity in their long term memory. D: They are frauds; they cheated during the competitions.
A
Joshua Foer found the process of training his memory to be "fun" - because he didn't think about it as training his memory, instead, what you're doing is... Multiple choice question A ... trying to get better at creating "utterly ludicrous, raunchy, hilarious, and unforgettable images." B ... unlocking your full mental capacity, and "starting to use 100% of your brain's ability." C ... creating "elaborate and dramatic songs where the lyrics are the things you're trying to remember." D ... trying to compete, and "become the best at using a cognitive function that has long since been forgotten.
A
Researchers at University College London brought a bunch of memory champions into the lab, had them perform memory tasks, and compared their brains to control subjects doing the same tasks. They found... Multiple choice question A...that the champions were more likely to be using a part of their brain that's involved in spatial memory and navigation. B...large anatomical differences between the champions and controls. C...that the champions were more likely to be using their auditory cortex while performing the task. D...that the control subjects actually had more brain activation during the memory task than the champions.
A
The Baker/baker paradox goes like this: Multiple choice question A: You're more likely to remember the word "baker" if you think about someone who bakes, rather than if you think about the proper name "Baker." B: You're more likely to remember a word that starts with a capital letter than a lower-case letter. C: You're more likely to remember a baking recipe if you think about the ingredients as names of people. D: You're more likely to remember words when you repeat them twice, but only if you alternate the way you think about the words.
A
The Greek poet Simonides was able to remember the victims of a collapsed building (where he'd just given a speech) by relying on: Multiple choice question A: Visual imagery encoding B: Organizational encoding C: Survival encoding D: Semantic encoding
A
When people are given a drug that interferes with the release of stress hormones, how will it affect their performance on a memory test? Multiple choice question A: There will be no difference in performance between the emotional and neutral content. B: Their memories for the emotional content will be worse than for the neutral content. C: They will have stronger memories of the emotional content. D: There will be no effect on memory.
A
You're having dinner at a restaurant with a bunch of your friends, and you decide that you want to impress them by remembering exactly what each of them ordered. Which of the following would describe an organizational encoding strategy? Multiple choice question A: Putting everyone's orders into categories, like: hot drinks, cold drinks, hot foods, salads, etc. B: Silently repeating everyone's orders over and over, until it's memorized. C: Relating the new information with knowledge that is already stored in memory. D: Taking a mental picture of how the table looks.
A
You're not really paying attention to your mom, but when she says, "You're not paying attention to me!" you can still repeat the last few words she said because they're in this memory system. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
A
_________ memory is usually thought of by most people as "memory." Multiple choice question A: Long-term B: Rehearsal C: Short-term D: Sensory
A
visuospatial sketchpad
A component of working memory where we create mental images to remember visual information
phonological loop
A component of working memory where we repeat verbal information to help us remember it
procedural memory
A type of long-term memory of how to perform different actions and skills. Essentially, it is the memory of how to do certain things.
In the early 1900's scientists compared human memory to _____. (More than one answer is correct. Select each answer that is correct.) A. filing cabinet B. well C. photographs D. tape recorder
A, B and C
The recency effect is due to information stored in this memory system. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
B
Unless you actively rehearse it, information in this memory system will be lost. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
B
Which of the following statements about memory is FALSE? A. Different parts of the brain process visual, auditory, and emotional information - so what you experience as a memory is the combination of separate clumps of neurons firing together. B. Our memory for specific events is better than our memory for general types of events. The basal ganglia and cerebellum are active when we complete tasks with which we've had experience in the past. C. Memories are constructed from bits and pieces of information about the past. D. The hippocampus is active when we recall facts from memory - it pulls bits of information from different parts of the brain.
B
You've been given a long list of words to remember. If we allow you to recall all of the words you can immediately after you hear the final word on the list, you'll tend to remember the first words on the list and the last words on the list. What if we ask you to begin counting backwards by 3's from 215 immediately after you hear the final word on the list and cue you to recall the words only after 20-seconds of counting? Which part of the serial position effect will not occur? Multiple choice question A: primacy effect B: recency effect
B
A failure to retrieve information that is available in memory, even though one is trying to produce it, is known as _____.
Blocking
A frazzled mother trying to pacify her fussy toddler while paying her bill at the supermarket suddenly realizes that she has forgotten to get the most important item on her list. Forgetting to purchase the item is an example of: Multiple choice question A: transience. B: proactive interference. C: absentmindedness. D: change bias.
C
After his medial temporal lobes were removed, HM could not create new memories in this system. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
C
Chunking is used to _____ information. Multiple choice question A: visually encode B: retrieve C: meaningfully encode D: rehearse
C
Even though it's pitch-black, you can temporarily see everything in your bedroom for a fraction of a second after a lightning flash from the storm outside because of this memory system. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
C
Tennis and ping pong are roughly similar sports, but swinging a tennis racquet is very different from swinging a ping pong paddle. Because of this, Adam believes that playing ping pong can impair a tennis player's performance, interfering with the procedural memory of a tennis swing. Adam decides to conduct an experiment. He recruits 20 high school varsity tennis players, and randomly assigns 10 of them to play ping pong games with each another (the ping pong group), while the remaining 10 tennis players will just hang out and talk about tennis (the control group). He then randomly pairs members of the ping pong group with members of the control group, and asks each pair to play a competitive tennis match. Adam finds that, in 6 of these 10 pairs, the player from the control group beat the player from the ping pong group. In the other four pairs, he believes that the member from the control group just wasn't a very good tennis player. Adam concludes that playing ping pong interferes with tennis performance. A: Illusory correlation or Random chance fallacy B: Illusory causation -or- Correlation does not imply causation C: Confirmation bias D: Observer / Experimenter bias E: Lack of control F: Overgeneralization G: There is nothing wrong with this conclusion.
C
The _____ is highly involved in the formation of flashbulb memories. Multiple choice question A: primary visual cortex B: tectum C: amygdala D: hypothalamus
C
The primacy effect is due to information stored in this memory system. Multiple choice question A: Sensory memory B: Short-term (working memory) C: Long-term memory
C
The research described below illustrates which phenomenon described in the videos? ___________ Dr. Elizabeth Loftus suggested to research participants that they had been lost in a mall in childhood when that had never happened to them. How did they know it had never happened to the participants? They interviewed their parents before talking with the participants. How did they suggest to the particpants that they had been lost? They used leading questions such as, "Many people have experienced getting lost in childhood - like getting separated from their parents in a mall. What do you remember about getting lost? About 25% of the participants wound up believing that they had actually gotten lost in a mall and actually made up detailed memories around the idea (e.g., a nice lady saw them crying and call mall staff who could make an announcement to let their parents know where they were and that they should come get their child.) Multiple choice question A. Procedural memory B. Interference C. The effect of post-event information on memory D. memory Decay
C
Typically, when someone experiences amnesia, they cannot... Multiple choice question A...recall their identity. B...recall their long term memory. C...recall recent events. D...recall stories from their childhood.
C
Which of the following best describes the values on the vertical axis (the y-axis) of Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve? Multiple choice question A: The number of items recalled B: The amount of time since the items were initially encoded C: The percent reduction in time needed to relearn the items D: The time needed to initially learn the items
C
Which of the following is NOT a reason that transience occurs? Multiple choice question A: The strength of a memory changes over time. B: Earlier memories interfere with newer memories. C: Memories decay over time. D: Newly formed memories interfere with older memories.
C
Working memory includes subsystems that store and manipulate ________. Multiple choice question A: long-term memories organizationally encoded B: visual images only C: visual images and verbal information D:sensory experiences only
C
______ memory is a fast-decaying store of visual information, and ______ memory is a fast-decaying store of auditory information. Multiple choice question A: Short-term; working B: Sensory; short-term C: Iconic; echoic D: Echoic; iconic
C
Categorize each of the following situations into the appropriate type of memory error. Jason and Jaclyn say that they love each other now more than they've ever loved each other before, even though they've always been head-over-heels for each other.
Change Bias
Categorize each of the following situations into the appropriate type of memory error. Rick used to love eating meat, but when he went to college, he started dating Melissa, who was a vegetarian, and eventually Rick became a vegetarian too. Nowadays, if someone asks him what he thinks of bacon, he'll say that he never really liked it.
Consistency Bias
As people get old, they commonly experience age-related memory impairment (AMI), which is a general decrease in the ability to both encode and retrieve memories. One of the best ways to prevent AMI is to stay active, and to include physical activity as part of your daily routine. Dustin collaborates with a regional hospital, where they have recently launched a free public gym for anyone 50 years or older. To attract additional support for this program, Dustin sends a survey to the gym's most frequent visitors and asks, "Considering that regular exercise is the best way to prevent age-related cognitive decline, how important is this gym to you?" Because 95% of respondents replied that the gym was "Extremely important," Dustin concludes that the gym is a critical aspect of fostering community mental health for aging members of the public. Multiple choice question A: Illusory correlation or Random chance fallacy B: Illusory causation -or- Correlation does not imply causation C: Confirmation bias D: Observer / Experimenter bias E: Lack of control F: Overgeneralization G: There is nothing wrong with this conclusion.
D
Auditory sensory memories _______ than visual sensory memories. Multiple choice question A. were more interesting to Sperling B: require more attention C. decay more quickly D. last longer
D
Foer says that we remember when we are able to take a piece of information and experience, and ... Multiple choice question A ... remove it from the memory palace, so that it can stand alone as an independent, unadulterated piece of information. B ... boil it down to its essence, so that we've stripped away all the unnecessary baggage, and we're only encoding the smallest, most meaningless chunk of information. C ... repeat it over and over until we have no choice other than to have it get stuck in our minds. D ... figure out why it's meaningful, significant, and colorful, and transform it in light of all the other things floating around in our minds.
D
Which of the following is most likely to occur with blocking? Multiple choice question A: Forgetting to do something because you were distracted. B: Forgetting something because it was encoded a long time ago. C: Forgetting something that you didn't give enough attention to. D: Forgetting the name of your roommate's girlfriend's roommate
D
A brain-training company hires Timothy to investigate whether its latest game improves working memory among its players. Timothy decides to embed a standard measure of working memory, the n-back task, inside the game for a random sample of players, and then he tracks these players' performance on the n-back task for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, nearly all players showed an overall improvement in their scores on the n-back task. Timothy concludes that the brain-training game improved its players' working memory performance. A: Illusory correlation or Random chance fallacy B: Illusory causation -or- Correlation does not imply causation C: Confirmation bias D: Observer / Experimenter bias E: Lack of control F: Overgeneralization G: There is nothing wrong with this conclusion.
E
Patricia is concerned that the overwhelming amount of studying, homework, and tests during high school is interfering with students' abilities to form episodic memories of their life experiences. To examine this, Patricia recruits 12 highly-gifted high school seniors who are taking 5 AP classes, and shortly before the AP exams, she asks them to recall what they ate for dinner the previous night. Patricia finds that only 8.3% of the students can remember last night's dinner, but when asked the same question after the AP tests, 50% of the students could remember what they ate the previous night. Patricia concludes that all forms of studying, homework, and tests will interfere with the formation of episodic memories in grade school students. A: Illusory correlation or Random chance fallacy B: Illusory causation -or- Correlation does not imply causation C: Confirmation bias D: Observer / Experimenter bias E: Lack of control F: Overgeneralization G: There is nothing wrong with this conclusion.
F
Recall the demonstration in the text regarding one's likelihood of remembering the words "sweet" and/or "needle." This example illustrates everyone's vulnerability to _____.
False recognition
Long term potentiation (LTP) is a process whereby connections between neurons are made stronger; it's a form of memory encoding at the neural level. Andrea is studying LTP in rats, and is using magnesium injections to "block" LTP, preventing the formation of new memories. After magnesium is injected into the hippocampus, Andrea finds that her rats are unable to learn how to navigate through a complex maze, but rats who receive a placebo injection (that doesn't interfere with LTP) can learn to navigate the maze just fine. Andrea concludes that memory for spatial navigation depends on long-term potentiation in the hippocampus. Multiple choice question A: Illusory correlation or Random chance fallacy B: Illusory causation -or- Correlation does not imply causation C: Confirmation bias D: Observer / Experimenter bias E: Lack of control F: Overgeneralization G: There is nothing wrong with this conclusion.
G
Organizational encoding
The process of categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items.
Categorize each of the following situations into the appropriate type of memory error. A psychologist is questioning Hunter about his childhood memories. Hunter is telling the psychologist the story of his favorite Christmas present, a trip to Disneyland. His memories of the present and the trip itself are very clear; however, Hunter believes that the present came from his Uncle Charley, when in fact it was from his Aunt Beth.
Misattribution
Semantic encoding
The process of relating new information in a meaningful way to knowledge that is already stored in memory.
Having your phone alarm set to remind you to pick up milk at the store 5 minutes before you are scheduled to leave work serves as an aid for _____ memory.
Prospective
_____ occurs when later learning impairs memory for information that was learned earlier.
Retroactive interference
Visual imagery encoding
The process of storing new information by converting it into a mental picture.
Categorize each of the following situations into the appropriate type of memory error. Courtney is called to the witness stand to testify as an eyewitness against a man accused of first-degree murder. The lawyer interrogating her asks a series of questions about the alleged murderer. The lawyer throws in a question, asking Courtney to describe the tattoo on the left shoulder of the accused man. This question is false—there is no tattoo. The lawyer is using the question to try to discredit Courtney, who says that the tattoo was small and hard to see in detail.
Suggestibility
Categorize each of the following situations into the appropriate type of memory error. Three weeks ago, Sandra came home to find an armed robber in the house. When she walked in the door, the man pushed past her and fled the premises. Sandra's sister, Amy, was unloading groceries from the car and said she thought the man had wavy black hair. When Sandra goes in to view a lineup, the man who robbed her is in the lineup. However, Sandra picks a similar man who has wavy black hair instead of the robber's light brown hair.
Suggestibility
levels of processing
a continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory
Unlike déjà vu experiences, déjà vécu experiences involve a feeling that one has experienced something before and have
a detailed memory for this experience that actually did not occur.
false recognition
a feeling of familiarity about something that hasn't been encountered before
working memory
a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory
interference effects
a phenomenon in which mental processing is made slower and less accurate by competing mental processes
anterograde amnesia
an inability to form new memories
retrograde amnesia
an inability to retrieve information from one's past
Which process leads to the formation of new memories?
combining information one already knows with new sensory information
recall
directly retrieving items previously learned (fill in the blank/ essay)
temporal lobe memory
encoding, retrieval, storage of memory
