Experience Psychology 3rd Edition King Test Bank
Experience Psychology 3rd Edition King Test Bank
Experience Psychology 3rd Edition King Test Bank
2. _____ refers to the process by which information gets into memory storage.
A. Transmission
B. Retrieval
C. Decay
D. Encoding
3. Attention, deep processing, elaboration, and the use of mental imagery are _____ processes.
A. encoding
B. storage
C. retrieval
D. chunking
4. In the context of memory processes, which of the following scenarios best illustrates the process of encoding
information?
A. Alex, a five-year-old boy, is reciting his alphabets.
B. Deborah is watching a movie in the theater.
C. Daniel is writing an essay on the dinosaurs he learned about last week.
D. Mike is painting a picture of a woman he used to know.
5. _____ is the ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time.
A. Divided attention
B. Elaboration
C. Multitasking
D. Sustained attention
6. Multitasking is an example of
A. mental imagery.
B. divided attention.
C. priming.
D. rehearsal.
8. Which of the following is true of divided attention in the context of memory encoding?
A. Divided attention involves concentrating on different activities, one activity at a time.
B. Divided attention is the ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time.
C. Divided attention is not likely to impede an individual's ability to pay attention to a specific aspect of an experience.
D. Divided attention can be especially detrimental to the process of encoding information.
9. Elsa is studying for her psychology exam with the TV on in the background. Research on the effects of divided
attention suggests that watching TV while studying will _____ Elsa's exam performance.
A. slightly increase
B. strongly increase
C. decrease
D. have no effect on
10. Fifteen-year-old Matt and his father are in an electronics store looking at video-game systems. Matt gives his father
a complete breakdown of the pros and cons of each of the different video-game systems on display. According to
research on encoding processes, Matt is able to accurately recall all this information because he
A. has shallowly processed this information.
B. has deeply processed this information.
C. has processed this information at an intermediate level.
D. used non-linguistic encoding processes.
11. Which of the following is true of the term “levels of processing” in memory?
A. It negates the role of deep processing in memory.
B. It emphasizes shallow processing as the key step in memory retrieval.
C. It asserts that deeper processing produces poorer memory.
D. It refers to a continuum of memory processing.
14. Which of the following is a feature of the deepest level of processing in memory?
A. It is usually confined to analyzing the physical features of a stimulus.
B. It deals with recognizing and labeling a stimulus.
C. It involves thinking about the meaning of a stimulus.
D. It predominantly uses the amygdala of the human brain.
15. Kevin is studying for a vocabulary test. When he studies the word “braggart,” he thinks of how his childhood friend
Billy acted whenever Billy was given a new toy. Which of the following is the highest level of processing Kevin has
engaged in while encoding the word “braggart”?
A. shallow
B. intermediate
C. deep
D. impersonal
16. _____ refers to the formation of a number of different connections around a stimulus at any given level of memory
encoding.
A. Imagery
B. Elaboration
C. Divided attention
D. Sustained attention
17. Your roommate Chuck is having difficulty in his chemistry class. He asks you for advice on how to improve his
memory of the material. You suggest that rather than trying to memorize the definitions, he should learn the concept by
coming up with real-world examples. You tell Chuck to work on making links between new information and
everything he already knows. Which of the following memory strategies are you recommending to Chuck?
A. elaboration
B. imagery
C. chunking
D. selective attention
20. _____ of information is linked with neural activity, especially in the brain's left frontal lobe.
A. Self-reference
B. Forgetting
C. Chunking
D. Elaboration
21. According to _____, memory for pictures is better than memory for words.
A. Ebbinghau's curve of forgetting
B. the Atkinson-Shiffrin theory
C. the dual-code hypothesis
D. parallel distributed processing (PDP)
22. _____ states that memory storage involves three separate systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-
term memory.
A. The dual-code hypothesis
B. The Atkinson-Shiffrin theory
C. Ebbinghau's curve of forgetting
D. Parallel distributed processing (PDP)
24. According to the Atkinson-Shiffrin theory, which of the following memory systems has a time frame of up to 30
seconds?
A. sensory memory
B. short-term memory
C. long-term memory
D. schemas
26. Although _____ is rich and detailed, we lose the information in it quickly unless we use certain strategies that
transfer it into other memory systems.
A. sensory memory
B. selective memory
C. long-term memory
D. declarative memory
28. Identify the element of sensory memory that would be most useful in quickly scanning a map of a country to learn
the geographical location of its states.
A. echoic memory
B. implicit memory
C. iconic memory
D. procedural memory
29. _____ refers to auditory sensory memory, whereas _____ refers to visual sensory memory.
A. Iconic memory/echoic memory
B. Declarative memory/nondeclarative memory
C. Echoic memory/iconic memory
D. Nondeclarative memory/declarative memory
30. Which of the following correctly differentiates between sensory memory and short-term memory?
A. Compared with sensory memory, short-term memory is limited in capacity.
B. Compared with sensory memory, short-term memory stores information for a shorter time.
C. Compared with short-term memory, sensory memory retains all information from the environment.
D. Compared with short-term memory, sensory memory can store smaller amounts of information.
31. When you are asked to recall your first day of kindergarten, you rely on _____, whereas when you are asked to
recall the name of a person you just met a few seconds ago, you rely on _____.
A. sensory memory/long-term memory
B. long-term memory/short-term memory
C. long-term memory/procedural memory
D. semantic memory/long-term memory
32. A person is most likely to store a seven-digit phone number in his or her _____ memory.
A. sensory
B. short-term
C. implicit
D. echoic
34. George Miller's classic research showed that the average capacity of short-term is between _____ units of
information.
A. 2 and 7
B. 5 and 9
C. 7 and 12
D. 9 and 12
35. After hearing a friend’s telephone number for the first time, Harold was immediately able to recite all seven digits
of the phone number in perfect order. Harold most likely used his _____ to recite these digits.
A. procedural memory
B. sensory memory
C. long-term memory
D. short-term memory
37. When asked to memorize the 15 letters, C I A C B S A B C F B I I R S, Mary reorganizes them into CIA, CBS,
ABC, FBI, and IRS. Mary used the tactic of
A. mental structuring.
B. visual structuring.
C. chunking.
D. cueing.
38. Jeff is trying to remember a list of 20 letters, grouped into the following chunks: OL DHA ROL DAN DYO UNG
BEN. In the context of chunking, which of the following is most likely to improve his recollection of the letters?
A. waiting at least a few hours before trying to recall the letters
B. reading them only once and trying to recall them later
C. re-chunking the letters to form meaningful words
D. removing the chunks and arranging the letters alphabetically
39. Shannon is an excellent student. She rewrites her class notes after each class. Rewriting her notes is a form of
A. rehearsal.
B. priming.
C. chunking.
D. imagery.
40. In the context of short-term memory, which of the following is true of rehearsal?
A. Information stored in short-term memory lasts half a minute or less with rehearsal.
B. Rehearsal can only be verbal, giving the impression of an inner voice.
C. Information can be retained indefinitely if rehearsal is not interrupted.
D. Rehearsal is the best strategy for retaining information over longer periods of time.
41. Minutes before her biology test, Katie tries to learn the definition of “osmosis” from her class notes. She repeats the
definition over and over again in her mind until she is confident that she will remember it. Which of the following
methods is Katie using to help her memorize the definition?
A. chunking
B. rehearsal
C. mental imagery
D. elaboration
42. Which of the following is the main reason that hampers the use of rehearsal as a tool for retaining information over
a long period of time?
A. It involves the unconscious repetition of information.
B. It can only be used to store verbal information for half a minute or less.
C. It always results in distortion of memories.
D. It involves mechanically repeating information, without imparting meaning to it.
44. If all of the information on the hard drive of your computer is like long-term memory, then _____, like RAM, is
comparable to what you actually have open and active at any given moment.
A. semantic memory
B. working memory
C. declarative memory
D. procedural memory
45. Identify a statement that accurately differentiates between short-term memory and working memory.
A. Short-term memory functions as an active memory system, while working memory functions as a passive
storehouse.
B. Short-term memory can be used to solve problems, while working memory can be used to rehearse information.
C. Measures of working memory capacity are strongly related to cognitive aptitudes, whereas measures of short-term
memory capacity are hardly related to cognitive aptitudes.
D. Working memory has a limited capacity, while short-term memory has a virtually unlimited capacity to store
information.
47. According to Baddeley's view of the three components of working memory, the _____ acts like a supervisor who
monitors which information deserves our attention and which we should ignore.
A. visuo-spatial working memory
B. central executive
C. phonological loop
D. amygdala
48. Which of the following is true of the different components of Alan Baddeley's model of working memory?
A. The phonological loop stores visual and spatial information.
B. The phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad function independently.
C. The central executive integrates information only from the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad and
not from long-term memory.
D. Unlike the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad, the central executive has an unlimited capacity.
49. According to Baddeley, the _____ is specialized to briefly store speech-based information about the sounds of
language.
A. visuo-spatial sketchpad
B. central executive
C. phonological loop
D. amygdala
50. According to Baddeley's view of the three components of working memory, which of the following contains two
separate components: an acoustic code and rehearsal?
A. phonological loop
B. central executive
C. visuo-spatial sketchpad
D. amygdala
53. _____ has to do with remembering who, what, where, when, and why. _____ has to do with remembering how.
A. Semantic memory/Episodic memory
B. Episodic memory/Semantic memory
C. Implicit memory/Explicit memory
D. Explicit memory/Implicit memory
54. Which of the following is subdivided into episodic and semantic memory?
A. sensory memory
B. implicit memory
C. explicit memory
D. working memory
55. _____ includes the systems involved in procedural memory, classical conditioning, and priming.
A. Explicit memory
B. Implicit memory
C. Episodic memory
D. Semantic memory
56. Based on the famous case study of H.M., a patient who had severe epilepsy, H.M. underwent surgery that involved
removing the hippocampus and a portion of the temporal lobes of both hemispheres in his brain. After the surgery, his
epilepsy was cured, but his memory was impaired. Which of the following best describes the effect that surgery had on
H.M.'s memory?
A. H.M. developed an inability to form new memories that outlive working memory.
B. H.M. showed major deficits in sensory, short-term, and long-term implicit memory.
C. H.M.'s procedural memory suffered the most damage.
D. H.M. could not learn new physical tasks.
57. Which of the following refers to the conscious recollection of information, such as specific facts and events and, at
least in humans, information that can be verbally communicated?
A. sensory memory
B. short-term memory
C. declarative memory
D. nondeclarative memory
58. Recalling the names of the members of a famous football team is an example of
A. iconic memory.
B. implicit memory.
C. declarative memory.
D. procedural memory.
61. Best friends Kate and Diana are at the park, watching their children play together. Kate reminds Diana about the
time that they had a big fight on the same playground as children and didn’t talk to each other for almost a week. In the
context of long-term memory, Kate’s recollection of this event best exemplifies the use of her _____ memory.
A. implicit
B. semantic
C. episodic
D. procedural
62. You go to a hypnotist to help you quit smoking. The hypnotist asks you to remember and describe things that you
did differently before you started smoking. Which memory system will you use most to comply with this request?
A. your procedural memory system
B. your permastore memory system
C. your episodic memory system
D. your nondeclarative memory system
63. Recollections of one's first family vacation to Disneyland are most likely part of one's
A. implicit memory.
B. nondeclarative memory.
C. episodic memory.
D. procedural memory.
65. Jacob asks his little brother Boris to play a game of chess with him. As Boris has never played chess before, Jacob
explains the rules of the game to him. What type of long-term memory has primarily helped Jacob to recount his
knowledge of chess to Boris?
A. semantic memory
B. flashbulb memory
C. episodic memory
D. sensory memory
66. Jillian was in a car accident and sustained a serious head trauma. Since the surgery, she has forgotten her name,
career, and other vital information about herself. Yet, she is still able to talk, know what words mean, and have general
knowledge about the world, such as what day it is or who currently is the president of the U.S. This behavior suggests
that Jillian's _____ is impaired, but her _____ is still functioning.
A. episodic memory/semantic memory
B. semantic memory/episodic memory
C. sensory memory/long-term memory
D. declarative memory/nondeclarative memory
67. In which subsystem of long-term memory is your knowledge of how to drive a car and how to ride a bike stored?
A. episodic memory
B. semantic memory
C. nondeclarative (implicit) memory
D. declarative (explicit) memory
69. _____ is the activation of information that people already have in storage to help them remember new information
better and faster.
A. Priming
B. Procedural memory
C. Classical conditioning
D. Skill memory
71. Jeremiah, an eight-year-old boy, did not learn to tie his shoelaces until he was six years old. Now, he ties them
expertly while talking to others and without looking at his feet. Such skills are associated with _____ memory.
A. flashbulb
B. procedural
C. episodic
D. semantic
72. Although you had never been to the Fancy Foods Restaurant in your town, you weren't at all surprised when the
hostess seated you, handed you the menu, and informed you that your server would soon be there to take your order.
Shortly after, a man in a tuxedo came to your table. You knew exactly what was going to happen because you
A. are a certified psychic.
B. have a script for what happens in a restaurant.
C. have been to similar Fancy Foods Restaurants in other towns.
D. have a friend who works there.
73. People very quickly adapt to the procedures and behaviors appropriate at a birthday party. General knowledge of
what to expect and how to behave at a birthday is called a(n)
A. script.
B. implicit memory.
C. discovered memory.
D. working memory.
74. In the context of how memory is organized, which of the following is true of schemas?
A. Schemas from prior encounters with the environment have no influence on the way individuals handle information.
B. Schemas support the reconstruction process, helping individuals fill in gaps between their fragmented memories.
C. According to the schema theory, memories cannot be viewed as large knowledge structures.
D. According to the schema theory, memories are organized sets of neurons that are routinely activated together.
76. What has research in neuroscience revealed about where memories are stored and how they are processed?
A. Memories are stored in a single structure in the brain.
B. Neurons work independently to process memories and represent information.
C. Memory is located in specific sets or circuits of neurons.
D. Brain chemicals play little role in forging the connections that represent memory.
79. The hippocampus, the temporal lobes in the cerebral cortex, and other areas of the limbic system play a very
important role in _____ memory.
A. repressed
B. implicit
C. explicit
D. sensory
80. Vince suffered serious brain injury to his cerebellum in a motorcycle accident. What effect will this have on Vince's
life?
A. He probably won't remember his name.
B. He probably won't remember how to ride his motorcycle.
C. He probably won't recognize his wife.
D. He probably won't remember where he lives.
81. The cerebellum and _____ play an important role in implicit memory.
A. cerebral cortex
B. frontal lobes
C. corpus callosum
D. hypothalamus
82. Which of the following is true of brain structures and memory functions in long-term memory?
A. the amygdala, a part of the limbic system, is involved in emotional memories.
B. the hippocampus and the temporal lobes in the cerebral cortex play a role in implicit memory, not in explicit
memory.
C. the parietal lobes of the brain are involved in both retrospective memory and prospective memory.
D. the same area of the brain is involved in the functioning of implicit and explicit memory.
83. Jack doesn't need to look at his keyboard while typing. His fingers automatically move over the keys as he types
information into the computer. In the context of memory storage, which part of Jack's brain is active in the memory
required to perform these skills?
A. the temporal lobes
B. the hippocampus
C. the cerebellum
D. the amygdala
84. Margaret fell down her basement stairs and suffered serious injury to her amygdala. What memory problems is she
most likely to have now?
A. Margaret will have difficulty remembering her address and telephone number.
B. Margaret will have difficulty adding numbers.
C. Margaret will have difficulty with emotional memories.
D. Margaret will have difficulty with short-term memories.
86. Which of the following statements about the retrieval of memory is true?
A. Retrieval precedes the process of information rehearsal.
B. Retrieval takes place after the information is encoded and before it is stored.
C. Retrieval of memory is a complex and sometimes imperfect process.
D. Retrieval is unaffected by how a memory was encodeD. Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
APA Learning Outcome: 1.2 Develop a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains.
Bloom's: Understand
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Summarize how memories are retrieved.
Topic: Memory Retrieval
87. The _____ is the tendency to recall the items at the beginning and end of a list more readily than those in the
middle.
A. halo effect
B. ambiguity effect
C. serial position effect
D. framing effect
88. Kate is on the phone talking to her friend Paul, who is referring her for a job interview. Paul gives Kate a phone
number, but before Kate can write it down, the call is disconnected. Kate can only recall the last three digits of the
number that Paul gave her. This scenario best illustrates the _____ effect.
A. primacy
B. placebo
C. recency
D. echo
89. Having a better memory for items at the beginning of a list demonstrates the _____, whereas having a better
memory for items at the end of a list demonstrates the _____.
A. recency effect/primacy effect
B. primacy effect/recency effect
C. flashbulb memory effect/metamemory effect
D. metamemory effect/flashbulb memory effect
90. George has just graduated from college and is going on his first big job interview. He has learned that there are 10
other applicants for the job. On account of information on the serial position effect that he learned in his psychology
class, George prefers to be either the first or the last candidate interviewed. Why does he want to be interviewed as the
first or last candidate?
A. The serial position effect predicts that either the first or the last job applicant interviewed will be remembered better
than the applicant interviewed second.
B. The serial position effect predicts that the candidate interviewed in the "middle" position will be viewed less
favorably than the other two applicants.
C. Research has shown that the serial position effect is used often by management to arbitrarily hire job applicants.
D. Research has shown that people interviewed either early or late in the day are evaluated most positively.
91. According to the serial position effect, if you are a waiter trying to remember all the orders for a table of seven, you
should pay particular attention to the _____ orders, because these are the ones you are most likely to forget.
A. first and second
B. sixth and seventh
C. third, fourth, and fifth
D. first, third, and seventh
92. Multiple choice exams involve testing a student's _____ abilities, whereas essay exams involve testing _____
abilities.
A. episodic memory/semantic memory
B. semantic memory/episodic memory
C. recall/recognition
D. recognition/recall
93. Asking an eyewitness to describe a suspect's physical appearance to a sketch artist would be an example of a _____
task, whereas asking an eyewitness to identify a suspect on the basis of a lineup of five possible assailants is an
example of a _____ task.
A. recognition/recall
B. recall/recognition
C. rehearsal/elaboration
D. chunking/rehearsal
94. Jennifer and Stacey go to different schools but study the same text books. Jennifer’s end-of-semester tests include
only essay questions, whereas Stacey’s end-of-semester tests include only multiple-choice questions. In the context of
memory retrieval, which of the following statements is accurate?
A. Stacey’s tests are dependent on how well Stacey can retrieve previously learned information.
B. Jennifer’s tests have poorer retrieval cues than Stacey’s tests.
C. Jennifer’s tests are based on recognition.
D. Stacey’s tests are based on recall.
95. In the context of memory retrieval, which of the following is true of recognition?
A. Recognition tests such as essay tests have poor retrieval cues.
B. In the task of recognition, an individual has to retrieve previously learned information.
C. In the task of recognition, an individual is typically confined to identify learned items.
D. Recognition of a stimulus is far more difficult than recall of a stimulus.
96. Samantha prides herself on "never forgetting a face," although she frequently cannot put the correct name with a
specific "face." This shows that Samantha is
A. better at recognition than at recall.
B. better at recall than at recognition.
C. better at memory retrieval than at memory reconstruction.
D. better at memory reconstruction than at memory recall.
98. Ashton is forty-five years old. He has vivid memories of the significant events that took place in his youth.
However, he finds it difficult to recollect the events that took place during the first few years of his life. In the context
of memory retrieval, this ability to recall events from certain phases of his life is known as
A. the reminiscence bump.
B. the serial position effect.
C. absentmindedness.
D. interference.
99. The memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery than
everyday events is known as
A. precognition.
B. working memory.
C. procedural memory.
D. flashbulb memory.
100. Elaine is writing a paper about reactions to the tragedy that occurred at the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.
She interviews ten of her classmates and asks them to remember that day. She is surprised to learn that nearly all of the
students she interviewed offer very detailed, vivid accounts of where they were and what they were doing when they
first learned of the terrorist attacks. Elaine has discovered that most of her classmates have _____ of September 11,
2001.
A. a repressed memory
B. a flashbulb memory
C. implicit but not explicit memories
D. extrasensory perception
101. Motivated forgetting and repressed memories are usually associated with what type of memories?
A. procedural memories
B. traumatic memories
C. sensory memories
D. flashbulb memories
102. Janel was sexually abused by her uncle when she was five years old. This experience was so devastating and
traumatic that she removed the memory from her conscious awareness. This is an example of a(n)
A. implicit memory.
B. schema.
C. repressed memory.
D. elaboration.
103. Which of the following advocates that repression's main function is to protect the individual from threatening
information?
A. the psychodynamic theory
B. the Atkinson-Shiffrin theory
C. connectionism
D. the interference theory
104. Why did cognitive psychologist Jonathan Schooler suggest that the term recovered memories be replaced with the
term discovered memories?
A. Individuals with "discovered" memories experience them as real, whether or not the memories are accurate.
B. "Discovered" memories are more accurate and detailed than "recovered" memories.
C. The term discovered memories avoids the negative connotations of the term recovered memories.
D. Individuals with "discovered" memories realize that the memories may be inaccurate.
108. Which of the following occurs when material that was learned earlier disrupts the recall of material learned later?
A. elaboration
B. proactive interference
C. transference
D. motivated forgetting
109. Belinda and John were best friends through their school years. Belinda now works in a café and has become good
friends with her colleague, Jim. However, Belinda often finds herself referring to Jim as John, even though she has not
spoken to John for at least four years. Belinda’s confusion with these names may be attributed to the occurrence of
A. proactive interference.
B. retroactive interference.
C. retrograde amnesia.
D. anterograde amnesia.
110. _____ is a situation in which material that was learned later disrupts the retrieval of information that was learned
earlier.
A. Retroactive interference
B. Motivated forgetting
C. Transience
D. Transference
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
APA Learning Outcome: 1.1 Describe key concepts, principles, and overarching themes in psychology.
Bloom's: Remember
Difficulty: Low
Learning Objective: Describe causes of forgetting, including decay, interference, and failure of encoding.
Topic: Interference
111. You are taking both a Spanish and a French course this semester. As you study the vocabulary words for your
French test, you realize that the French words are disrupting the memory of the Spanish vocabulary words you studied
last week. This is an example of
A. retroactive interference.
B. proactive interference.
C. transience.
D. transference.
112. According to _____, when we learn something new, a neurochemical memory trace forms, but over time this trace
disintegrates.
A. tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
B. decay theory
C. interference theory
D. psychodynamic theory
114. Rachel remembers that she has an important meeting with her advisor right after her English class on Tuesday.
This is an example of _____ memory.
A. retrospective
B. prospective
C. procedural
D. autobiographical
115. The type of effortful retrieval associated with a person's feeling that he or she knows something (say, a word or a
name) but cannot quite pull it out of memory is known as
A. decay phenomenon.
B. tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.
C. retroactive interference.
D. proactive interference.
116. Lucy sustained a brain injury in a car accident. Although Lucy's memories of her life before the accident are
intact, she is no longer able to form new, long-term memories. Every night when she goes to bed, her memories of what
she had done that day are lost. Lucy suffers from
A. retrograde amnesia.
B. anterograde amnesia.
C. infantile amnesia.
D. displacement.
117. Ryan, a high-school football player, received a head injury during a game. Following recovery, Ryan was unable
to remember anything that happened before the injury. However, he was able to form new relationships and new
memories. In the context of forgetting, Ryan’s condition best exemplifies
A. anterograde amnesia.
B. retrograde amnesia.
C. the primacy effect.
D. the recency effect.
119. Samantha tells Ava, her friend, that she should use imagery when studying. In the context of the science of
memory, this tip will be most useful to Ava when she is _____ information.
A. retrieving
B. encoding
C. organizing
D. rehearsing
Feedback: Tips from the Science of Memory—for Studying and for Life, 235
Feedback: Tips from the Science of Memory—for Studying and for Life, 236
Essay Questions
Feedback: Tips from the Science of Memory—for Studying and for Life, 237
122. Your friend Jane is having difficulty "taking in" the information in her history class so she asks you to use your
expertise in psychology to offer some suggestions on how to improve her memory performance. Discuss how attention,
deep processing, elaboration, and the use of mental imagery can affect the encoding process.
Answer: Being able to engage in selective perception and focus on the subject matter improves encoding. Deep-level
processing, or thinking about the meaning of the stimulus as opposed to merely noticing the physical features of the
stimulus, also improves memory. Elaboration involves making a number of different connections between new
information and information we already know. Typically, higher levels of elaboration are linked with better memory
performance. Finally, using visual imagery is one of the most powerful ways to make memories distinctive. Paivio's
dual-code hypothesis claims that memory for pictures is better than memory for words because pictures—at least those
that can be named—are stored as both image codes and verbal codes. Thus, when we use imagery to remember, we
have two potential avenues by which we can retrieve information. Given these results, you tell Jane that she should: (1)
not multitask or divide her attention when studying, (2) engage in deep-level processing by going above and beyond the
rote memorization of historical names and dates, (3) elaborate about how the historical figures and events she's learning
about relate to her own life, and (4) create a visual picture of every historical figure or event she needs to remember.
APA Learning Outcome: 1.2 Develop a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains.
Bloom's: Understand
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how memories are stored.
Topic: Memory Storage
Answer: The Atkinson-Shiffrin theory states that memory storage involves three separate systems: Sensory memory:
time frames of a fraction of a second to several seconds; Short-term memory: time frames up to 30 seconds; Long-term
memory: time frames up to a lifetime. Sensory memory holds information from the world in its original sensory form
for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses. Compared
with sensory memory, short-term memory is limited in capacity, but it can store information for a longer time. Working
memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow us to hold
information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. Long-term memory is a relatively permanent type of memory
that stores huge amounts of information for a long time.
124. Compare and contrast the short-term memory system with the working memory system.
APA Learning Outcome: 1.2 Develop a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains.
Bloom's: Understand
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how memories are stored.
Topic: Working Memory
Answer: Short-term memory is passive, whereas working is an active memory system that allows us to hold
information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. Working memory is a kind of mental "workbench" on which
the brain manipulates and assembles information to help us understand, make decisions, and solve problems. Both
short-term and working memories have limited capacities.
APA Learning Outcome: 1.2 Develop a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains.
Bloom's: Understand
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how memories are stored.
Topic: Working Memory
Answer: The three components of the working memory are the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, and the
central executives. The phonological loop is specialized to briefly store speech-based information about the sounds
of language. The phonological loop contains two separate components: an acoustic code (the sounds we heard),
which decays in a few seconds, and rehearsal, which allows us to repeat the words in the phonological store. The visuo-
spatial sketchpad stores visual and spatial information, including visual imagery. As in the case of the phonological
loop, the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad is limited. If we try to put too many items in the visuo-spatial
sketchpad, we cannot represent them accurately enough to retrieve them successfully. The phonological loop and the
visuo-spatial sketchpad function independently. The central executive integrates information not only from the
phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad but also from long-term memory. In Baddeley's view, the central
executive plays important roles in attention, planning, and organizing. The central executive acts like a supervisor who
monitors which information deserves our attention and which we should ignore. It also selects which strategies to use
to process information and solve problems. Like the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad, the central
executive has a limited capacity.
126. What are schemas and how are they relevant to memory?
APA Learning Outcome: 1.2 Develop a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains.
Bloom's: Understand
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how memories are stored.
Topic: Memory Storage
Answer: A schema is a preexisting mental concept or framework that helps people to organize and interpret
information. Schemas from prior encounters with the environment influence the way we encode, make inferences
about, and retrieve information. Schemas can also be at work when we recall information. Schema theory holds that
long-term memory is not exact.
APA Learning Outcome: 1.2 Develop a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains.
Bloom's: Understand
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how memories are stored.
Topic: Memory Storage
Answer: Connectionism, or parallel distributed processing (PDP), is the theory that memory is stored throughout the
brain in connections among neurons, several of which may work together to process a single memory. A neural activity
involving memory, such as remembering your dog's name, is spread across a number of areas of the cerebral cortex.
The locations of neural activity, called nodes, are interconnected. When a node reaches a critical level of activation,
it can affect another node across synapses. We know that the human cerebral cortex contains millions of neurons
that are richly interconnected through hundreds of millions of synapses. Because of these synaptic connections, the
activity of one neuron can be influenced by many other neurons. Owing to these simple reactions, the connectionist
view argues that changes in the strength of synaptic connections are the fundamental bases of memory. From the
connectionist network perspective, memories are organized sets of neurons that are routinely activated together.
128. What is long-term potentiation and why is it important to the process of memory?
APA Learning Outcome: 1.2 Develop a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains.
Bloom's: Understand
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how memories are stored.
Topic: Memory Storage
Answer: Long-term potentiation explains how memory functions at the neuron level. In line with connectionist theory,
this concept states that if two neurons are activated at the same time, the connection between them—and thus the
memory—may be strengthened.
Feedback: Memory Storage, 217
129. Describe the distinction between recall and recognition, and give an example of each. Which process typically
yields better memory performance?
APA Learning Outcome: 1.2 Develop a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains.
Bloom's: Understand
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Summarize how memories are retrieved.
Topic: Retrieval Cues
Answer: Recall is a memory task in which the individual has to retrieve previously learned information. Recognition is
a memory task in which the individual only has to identify (recognize) learned items. Multiple-choice tests assess
recognition (the student only has to recognize the answer with a given set of possible options), whereas essay tests
assess recall (the student has to retrieve the information "from scratch"). Recognition typically yields better memory
performance. For example, a witness who has to identify a suspect in a police lineup (recognition task) may find it
easier to point out the correct suspect than a witness who has to describe the characteristics of the suspect to a
police-sketch artist (recall task).
APA Learning Outcome: 1.2 Develop a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains.
Bloom's: Understand
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Describe causes of forgetting, including decay, interference, and failure of encoding.
Topic: Interference
Answer: According to interference theory, people forget, not because memories are lost from storage, but because other
information gets in the way of what they want to remember. There are two kinds of interference: proactive and
retroactive. Proactive interference occurs when material that was learned earlier disrupts the recall of material
learned later. Retroactive interference occurs when material learned later disrupts the retrieval of information
learned earlier.
131. Emily and Samantha were in a boating accident and both now suffer from amnesia. Emily has been diagnosed
with retrograde amnesia, whereas Samantha has been diagnosed with anterograde amnesia. Describe what Emily and
Samantha will likely forget.
Answer: Amnesia involves a loss of memory. Anterograde amnesia is a memory disorder that affects the retention of
new information and events. Retrograde amnesia involves memory loss for a segment of the past but not for new
events. Emily will lose memories that were formed before the boating accident (e.g., her name or phone number), but
will still have the ability to remember things that occurred after the accident. Samantha's memories of her life before
the accident will remain intact. However, Samantha will not be able to remember things that happened after the
accident. Like H.M., Samantha will lose the ability to form new long-term memories.