cognitive psych quiz #3

sensory memory duration and capacity

huge and short

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

memory

- Acquired - Encoding - Retained - Storage - Later retrieved - Retrieval - Eventually (possibly) forgotten

echoic memory

- Auditory - Last for a few (3-4) secs.

short-term memory

- Stores small amounts of information for a brief duration - Includes both new information received from the sensory stores and information recalled from long- term memory

iconic memory

- Visual, usually lasts about 0.3 seconds - Sperling's tests (1960s)

3 types of memory

- sensory memory - short term memory - long term memory

3 types of coding

1. Visual: images "a picture is worth a thousand words" 2. phonological: sound 3. Semantic: general meaning

3 stages of memory

1. encoding 2. storage 3. retrieval

duration of STM

18-20 seconds

Brown-Peterson Task

A simple three-letter stimulus was presented to the subject, followed by a three-digit number. Subjects were instructed firt to attend to the stimulus, then to begin counting backward by threes from the number they were shown. This counting was a distracter task designed to prevent rehearsal and prove that forgetting caused by decay.

Central executive

An attentional system which supervises and coordinates a number of subsidiary slave systems

properties of memory stages

Capacity: how much information can be maintained Duration: how long information stays there

chunking

Combining the numbers with meaningful sets Chunking information augments STM

proactive interference

Info that was learned previously interferes with learning new info

Articulatory suppression

Prevents one from rehearsing items to be remembered - Reduces memory span (# of items to be remembered) - Eliminates word-length effect - Reduces phonological similarity effect for reading words

encoding

Process of acquiring (or receiving) input

storage

Process of holding info in memory over time.

2 types of retrieval

Recall 1. Retrieve info from memory without much help. 2. Essay tests Recognition: 1. aided with clues 2. Multiple choice questions - Circle all the words you previously studied - indicate which pictures you saw yesterday

Phonological loop

Responsible for speech-based information (language) Storage (passive) and rehearsal (active)

Visuospatial sketch pad

Responsible for visual images

Working memory differs from STM

STM is a single component WM consists of multiple parts

6. A person with a reduced digit span would most likely have a problem with a. STM b. LTM

a. STM

1. If you remember something in terms of its meaning, the type of encoding you are using is a. semantic. b. acoustic. c. visual. d. iconic

a. semantic.

5. The effective duration of short-term memory, when rehearsal is prevented, is a. a fraction of a second. b. 18-20 seconds. c. 1-3 minutes. d. 5-7 minutes.

b. 18-20 seconds.

3. Compared to the whole-report technique, the partial-report procedure involves a. a smaller stimulus set. b. a smaller response set. c. a smaller stimulus set and a smaller response set. d. a shorter rehearsal period.

b. a smaller response set.

8. STM's capacity is best estimated as seven (plus or minus two) a. meaningful units. b. digits. c. words. d. sentences.

b. digits.

Articulatory suppression does all of the following EXCEPT it a. reduces memory span. b. interferes with semantic coding. c. reduces the phonological similarity effect for reading words. d. eliminates the word-length effect.

b. interferes with semantic coding.

Shanta has frontal lobe damage. She is doing a problem solving task in which she has to choose the red object out of many choices. She can easily complete this repeatedly, but when the experimenter asks her to choose the blue object on a new trial of the task, she continues to choose the red one, even when the experimenter gives her feedback that she is incorrect. Shanta is displaying: a. the central executive. b. perseveration. c. decay. d. sensory memory.

b. perseveration.

Which task should be easier: keeping a sentence like "John went to the store to buy some oranges" in your mind AND: a. saying "yes" for each word that is a noun and "no" for each word that is not a noun? b. pointing to the word "yes" for each word that is a noun and "no" for each word that is not a noun?

b. pointing to the word "yes" for each word that is a noun and "no" for each word that is not a noun?

7. The "magic number," according to Miller, is a. 7 and 11. b. 5 plus 2. c. 7 plus or minus 2. d. lucky 13.

c. 7 plus or minus 2.

4. When an eyewitness to a robbery tries to identify the criminal from a lineup of suspects, he or she in engaging in which memory retrieval process? a. Recall b. Rehearsal c. Recognition d. Relearning

c. Recognition

2. When light from a flashlight is moved quickly back and forth on a wall in a darkened room, it can appear to observers that there is a trail of light moving across the wall, even though physically the light is only in one place at any given time. This experience is an effect of memory that occurs because of a. a visual delay effect. b. echoic memory. c. persistence of vision. d. top-down processing.

c. persistence of vision.

1. Working memory differs from short-term memory in that: a. short-term memory consists of a number of components. b. working memory has unlimited capacity. c. working memory is concerned with the manipulation of information. d. short-term memory has unlimited capacity.

c. working memory is concerned with the manipulation of information.

The word-length effect shows that it is more difficult to remember: a. a long list of words than a short list of words. b. a list of words that are all the same length than a list of words that are of different lengths. c. a list of words that are of different lengths than a list of words that are all the same length. d. a list of long words than a list of short words.

d. a list of long words than a list of short words.

9. Chase and Simon's research compared memory of chess masters and beginners for the position of game pieces on sample chess boards. They found that the chess master remembered positions better when the arrangement of the pieces was consistent with a real game but not when the pieces were randomly placed. The significance of this finding was that a. experts show larger primacy and recency effects than beginners. b. knowledge in an area of expertise increases a person's digit span. c. expertise with some material reduces susceptibility to proactive interference with that material. d. chunking requires knowledge of familiar patterns or concepts.

d. chunking requires knowledge of familiar patterns or concepts.

working memory

limited capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning

retrieval

process of pulling info out of memory and bringing it into consciousness.