Psychology: Chapter 6

Information is stored in short-term memory for about:

20 seconds.

While auditory sensory memory can last for about _____, visual sensory memory lasts for about _____.

3 to 4 seconds; a half second

_____ involves recovering the stored information so that we are consciously aware of it.

Retrieval

_____ is the process of accessing information stored in long-term memory.

Retrieval

_____ is the process of retaining information in memory so that it can be used at a later time.

Storage

What happens to information in short-term memory that is not further processed or rehearsed?

The information fades or decays.

How can you increase the length of time that you can hold information in your short-term memory?

Use maintenance rehearsal by repeating the information.

According to George Miller, the capacity of short-term memory is:

about seven items at one time.

Jamie found the ISBN of the book she wanted to order in the Books in Print Catalog. To remember the 11-digit number, 19772552901, she thought of the number as the year her best friend was born (1977) and her aunt's phone number (255-2901). Jamie was using the strategy of _____ to help her remember the ISBN number.

chunking

According to _____ theory, we forget memories because we don't use them and they simply fade away over time as a matter of normal brain processes.

decay

On a visit to his mother's home, Steve's mother introduced him to her new next-door neighbor. After chatting with the neighbor for a few minutes, Steve realized that he could not remember the new neighbor's name. The MOST likely explanation for Steve's forgetting the neighbor's name is:

encoding failure.

The inability to recall information that was previously available to memory is called:

encoding failure.

We transform information into a form that can be entered and retained by the memory system. This process is known as:

encoding.

Brandon vividly remembers when he had to go to the emergency room for stitches on his left thigh. This is an example of which type of long-term memory?

episodic memory

As you are taking this exam, you are actively retrieving information that you have learned and stored in your long-term memory. The information that you are able to consciously recall is an example of which subsystem of long-term memory?

explicit memory

This multiple-choice test question is a good example of using _____ to test long-term memory.

free recall

Essay tests are to _____ as matching tests are to _____.

free recall; cued recall

At age 80, Bonita recalls the wonderful summers she spent with her grandparents during her childhood. She talks about the market in town where you could buy freshly churned ice cream and garden vegetables, the county fair, and bonfires where her grandmother would make s'mores for the family. Bonita's recollections are an example of _____ memory.

long-term

Merely repeating information over and over is called _____, while focusing on the meaning of the information to help encode and transfer it to long-term memory is called _____.

maintenance rehearsal; elaborative rehearsal

Suppression is to _____ as repression is to _____.

motivated forgetting that occurs consciously; motivated forgetting that occurs unconsciously

The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve shows that:

much of what we learn is forgotten very quickly

Implicit memory is to _____ as explicit memory is to _____.

procedural information; episodic and semantic information

The amount of information that can be held in long-term memory:

seems to be limitless.

Your general knowledge of words, facts, names, definitions, and other assorted trivia reflects which type of long-term memory?

semantic memory

Chloe could not remember the name of the husband of a very important client. So, Chloe began reciting the alphabet until a letter triggered her memory, and she could remember the name. The letter of the alphabet:

served as a retrieval cue.

Because she didn't have a piece of paper handy, Mary mentally repeated the long-distance phone number over and over. Mary was trying to keep this information in her _____ memory.

short-term

Motivated forgetting of a painful or embarrassing memory because we don't want to consciously remember the information is called:

suppression

Memory is formally defined as:

the mental processes that enable us to acquire, retain, and retrieve information.

While trying to recall a list of items in correct order, the tendency to remember the first items in the list is called _____ while the tendency to remember the last items in the list is called _____.

the primacy effect; the recency effect

In a study by Elizabeth Loftus, subjects watched a film of an automobile accident, then answered a series of questions, including one asking them to estimate the speed of the cars. What factor affected the subjects' estimate of how fast the cars in the film were traveling?

whether the word contacted, hit, bumped, collided, or smashed was used in the question