Memory, Psych Exam 3

What is memory?

The retention of information or experiences over time.

What are the three main memory processes?

Encoding gets information in. Storage retains it. Retrieval brings it back out.

What is selective attention?

Focusing on one part of your experience while filtering out competing information.

You miss a moonwalking bear while counting basketball passes. What is this?

Inattentional blindness. You missed a visible stimulus because you were focused elsewhere.

Why can switching between demanding tasks hurt memory?

Switching takes attention away from each task and can interfere with encoding.

You hear your name across a crowded room while talking with someone else. What is this?

The cocktail party effect. Personally relevant information draws your attention.

What are the levels of processing from shallowest to deepest?

Physical features, recognition or labeling, and meaning.

Which helps you remember a word better, judging its font or thinking about its meaning?

Thinking about the meaning. This is deeper processing.

You remember that maison means house by picturing a mason building a house. What is this?

Elaboration. You connect new information to something you already know.

What is rote memorization?

Repeating information without adding meaningful connections.

You picture each grocery item on a different chair in your house. What is this?

The method of loci. It connects items to familiar locations through mental imagery.

What does the dual-code hypothesis say?

Information can be represented in verbal and visual forms. Both codes can support memory.

What is synesthesia?

An automatic additional experience, such as seeing colors when hearing sounds or viewing numbers.

What are the three stores in the Atkinson–Shiffrin box model?

Sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

What moves selected information from sensory memory into short-term memory?

Attention. Most sensory information quickly fades or is replaced.

What is iconic memory?

Visual sensory memory. The lecture gives about a quarter of a second.

What is echoic memory?

Auditory sensory memory. It can last up to several seconds.

What capacity and duration did the lecture give for short-term memory?

About 7 ± 2 items or chunks on a traditional digit-span task and about 30 seconds without rehearsal.

Why is FBI–CIA–NSA easier to remember than nine unrelated letters?

Chunking turns nine letters into three meaningful units.

You repeat a phone number until you can type it. What is this?

Maintenance rehearsal. Repetition keeps the number active in short-term memory.

Why might an interruption make you forget the number you were repeating?

Distraction interrupts rehearsal, so the information can fade or be replaced.

What helps information reach long-term memory?

Rehearsal and meaningful encoding, such as connecting it to something you already know.

A person with Alzheimer’s disease still recalls events from their teen years. Which broad memory store does this show?

Long-term memory.

How do explicit and implicit memory differ?

Explicit memory is conscious recall of facts and events. Implicit memory influences behavior without conscious recollection.

What kind of memory is knowing George Washington was the first U.S. president?

Semantic memory. It is memory for a fact.

What kind of memory is remembering your first day at Kent State?

Episodic memory. It is memory for a personal event.

What kind of memory lets you ride a bike without thinking through each movement?

Procedural memory, a type of implicit memory.

Which brain structure helps form new long-term explicit memories?

The hippocampus.

Which brain structure supports motor learning and coordination?

The cerebellum.

H. M. improved at a motor task without remembering practice. What does this show?

Implicit skill learning can still occur when the ability to form new explicit memories is severely impaired.

What does Clive Wearing’s ability to perform music despite severe amnesia show?

Previously learned skills can remain accessible despite severe problems with explicit memory.

What is a retrieval cue?

A prompt that helps bring a memory into awareness. Effective cues often come from associations formed during encoding.

Scuba divers learned a word list underwater or on a beach. When was recall best?

When learning and testing happened in the same setting. This is context-dependent memory.

What is retrieval failure?

Difficulty accessing a memory that may still be stored.

What is the serial position effect?

Remembering the beginning and end of a list better than the middle.

Why are the first items in a list often remembered better?

The primacy effect. First items get more attention and rehearsal, helping them enter long-term memory.

Why are the last items in a list often remembered better during immediate recall?

The recency effect. Last items are still active in short-term memory.

What happens to the recency effect after about 30 seconds of distraction?

It weakens or disappears because the last items are no longer readily available in short-term memory.

What is a flashbulb memory?

A vivid memory of the circumstances surrounding an emotional or significant event.

Which brain structures help explain the vividness of flashbulb memories?

The amygdala and hippocampus work together during emotional experiences.

Does a flashbulb memory’s vividness guarantee accuracy?

No. Later information can still distort it.

Why did Ebbinghaus use nonsense syllables?

To reduce the influence of meaning and prior knowledge.

According to the lecture, when is forgetting steepest on Ebbinghaus’s curve?

In the first 20 minutes. The curve levels off as forgetting slows.

How can relearning show that some memory survived?

The material takes less time or effort to learn again than it did originally.

Why does spaced practice help memory?

Spreading review across sessions makes information more resistant to forgetting.

Your new phone number makes your old one hard to remember. What is this?

Retroactive interference. New information disrupts old information.

You keep entering your old password after changing it. What is this?

Proactive interference. Old information disrupts new information.

What does it mean that memory is reconstructive?

You rebuild a memory from available details and associations, so errors can enter during recall.

After seeing a photo, someone remembers a water bottle that was absent from the original event. What is this?

The misinformation effect. Later information changes the memory of an event.

What is infantile amnesia?

Difficulty recalling personal events from the first few years of life. Brain development and language acquisition may contribute.

After a concussion, a player cannot remember the school day or the part of the game before the injury. What is this?

Retrograde amnesia. It affects memories from before the injury.

After an injury, someone can follow a conversation but cannot remember it later. What is this?

Anterograde amnesia. It impairs formation of new long-term explicit memories. Short-term processing and some skill learning may still work.