PSC 130 Midterm review

Which of the following best describes the difference between the “long-term store” and “short-term store” in the Modal Model (e.g., Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968)

The long-term store is responsible for storing information permanently, while the short-term store is responsible for temporarily holding information for immediate use.

Cortical Areas in the Dorsal Stream are more involved with ___ Working Memory, whereas the Areas in the Ventral Stream are more involved with____ Working Memory

Spatial, Object

Which of the following is NOT a function of the Central Executive, as described by Braddeley?

Phonological storage or rehearsing syllables

Based on Ebbinghaus’ studies of forgetting, you would expect to show the most forgetting (i.e., the biggest difference in memory performance) between:

A test given 20 minutes after study vs. a test given 1 hour after studying

Heyer & Barrett (1971) found that verbal distraction disrupts recall of letters (verbal recall), and visual distraction disrupts recall of position (visual recall). This suggests that

There are separate working memory systems for verbal versus visual information

According to a study on working memory in aphantasia (people without conscious visual imagery) and working memory presented in class:

Aphantasics appear to be nearly normal in their visual working memory capacity

Which of the following is NOT a feature of the Episodic Buffer, as described by Baddeley?

Coordinating tasks that are happening concurrently

The book Why We Remember talks about how focusing too much on taking pictures or videos can make people focus less on the present moment, and this actually remember less from the experience later on. Connecting to concepts from lecture, the book suggests that:

People who are focused on taking photos constantly are not doing deep encoding, and thus not encoding the experience as well. Instead, taking pictures for a few select, distinct moments could help, as it allows for better encoding and those select, distinct photos can act as better retrieval cues

Alex is trying to memorize a list of words by sorting them into different categories. This is an example of:

Relational Encoding

Morris, Bransford, and Franks (1977) had subjects encode a list of words either by deciding whether each word had a certain sound in it, or by processing the meaning of the words. Next, subjects in one group were given an item recognition test on the words they studied, whereas subjects in another group were given a rhyme recognition test (i.e., “Did you see a word that rhymes with ‘eagle’?”). Based on the levels of processing framework, once would predict that:

Subjects who did meaning-based encoding would show better memory performance, regardless of the test condition

Morris, Bransford, and Franks (1977) had subjects encode a list of words either by deciding whether each word had a certain sound in it, or by processing the meaning of the words. Next, subjects in one group were given an item recognition test on the words they studied, whereas subjects in another group were given a rhyme recognition test (i.e., “Did you see a word that rhymes with ‘eagle’?”). Based on the Transfer Appropriate Processing Framework, one would predict that:

Subjects who did meaning-based encoding would show better performance on the item recognition test, but subjects who did sound-based encoding would show better performance on the rhyme recogintion test

According to Tulving’s Encoding Specificity Principle, successful memory performance depends on:

the interaction between a retrieval cue and the type of trace that was formed at encoding

Craik and Lockhart’s Levels of Processing framework proposed that

Elaborative rehearsal should result in better learning than maintenance rehearsal

Research on memory experts (such as people who trained to remember the order of a deck of cards, or the location of all pieces on a chessboard) has shown that:

Memory experts use skills and strategies that help them learn specific kinds of information, but they don’t do much better than the average person when they can’t use their expert skills

Alejandra needs to study some Swahili vocabulary words and asks you for some advice. Normally, she likes to study while sitting at a Boba tea shop, but she will be quizzed on these words, using a free recall test, in her classroom. She is wondering if she should study the words in the same room where she will take the test, even though she'd rather study in the boba shop.

Based on what we have learned in class, how would you advise her:

She can study in the Boba shop, as long as she takes a moment to imagine herself in the boba shop right before she starts the quiz in the classroom

Why We Remember describes neural plasticity as

changing connections between neurons in the brain, which help us learn new information

Older adults with extensive white matter hyperintensities (WMH) on MRI scans have

Reduced prefrontal cortex activation and worse working memory

In order to test the Levels of Processing Framework it was necessary to:

use incidental encoding tasks, so that experimenters could manipulate how information was processed

A healthy subject studies a list of 30 words and then immediately takes a free recall memory test. You would expect the subject to have _________ memory for the first few items compared to the middle items, and ___________ memory for the last few items compared to the middle items.

Increased, Increased

Chuyue runs a memory experiment in which two groups of subjects are asked to learn and recall a list of words. Group A studies the items 1 second apart and they are asked to recall the words 5 minutes after the study phase has ended. Group B studies the items 5 seconds apart and they are asked to recall the words immediately after the study phase has ended. Based on what we know about serial position effects and the ratio rule, we would expect that:

Group B would show a larger recency effect than Group A

On a recognition memory test, when a subject incorrectly says “old” for an unstudied item, we would call that a:

False Alarm

After mastering Spanish, Alyssa decides to take Introductory German. After completing her German class, she now finds it more difficult to remember the Spanish words she finally learned the quarter before. This can be described as:

Retroactive Interference

Based on the Von Restorff effect, we can expect that:

“Apple” would be better remembered if it was in a study list of furniture items than if it was in a study list of fruit.

Which of the following is an example of the Von Restorff effect:

Subjects show better memory performance for “couch” if the rest of the words on the study list are fruits, compared to if it were studied in a list with other furniture items.

Suppose you are learning a foreign language and must learn 10 food words. The next day, you must learn 10 more food words. Relative to the first list, we can expect that:

You will find it harder to learn the second list of food words due to proactive interference

You are studying for an upcoming exam. Which study strategy would be the best one to use?

Create a document where you summarize each topic you need to know. Then, take the concepts you are struggling with the most, and turn them into flashcards to test yourself on them.

According to Why We Remember, Endel Tulving said that a key characteristic of human consciousness is that we are “capable of mental time travel, roaming at will over what has happened as readily as over what might happen, independently of the physical laws that govern the universe.” Tulving is describing the experience of retrieving:

Episodic Memories

Chapter 2 of Why We Remember describes a limitation of artificial intelligence called "catastrophic interference". For instance, a neural network can be trained to identify birds using their characteristics such as having feathers, wings, a beak and being able to fly. Given such information about eagles, crows and hawks, the machine can use what it knows to identify a seagull as a bird as well. In order to learn that a penguin is a bird with feathers, wings and a beak that can’t fly but instead swims, the network must forget much of what it previously learned about birds. Using this example, as well as the concepts we discussed in lecture, which of the following most closely resembles what artificial intelligence uses to learn?

Semantic memory

Why we Remember suggests that deja vu:

Could be a result of activity in the perirhinal cortex leading to an intense familiarity signal

Why We Remember suggests that companies will spend large amounts of money to advertise well-known products to

Capitalize on the mere exposure effect, which says that people are drawn to the familiar, so being exposed to a product will make people more likely to buy it

Why We Remember suggests that

Both people and facial recognition technology are often biased, and can better recognize faces from races that are more familiar

Imagine you’re testing a patient with 20 novel items and 20 items they’ve seen before. You ask for each word whether they’ve seen that word during study. If they truly have a recognition memory deficit, you might expect that

Overall performance is poor, but some of their answers are hits or correct rejections by chance

The "mirror effect" in recognition memory refers to the fact that:

low frequency words are associated with more hits and fewer false alarms than are high frequency words

In the Hintzman and Curran study discussed in class, subjects studied words like “apple”, “chair”, etc. At test, they were presented old items (“apple”), similar items (“chairs”), and new items (“hammer”). If a subject made a false alarm to a similar item like “chairs”, that means the item was:

Familiar but not recollected

Studies using the response deadline procedure showed that:

Familiarity-based recognition is faster than recollection

Generate-Recognize models state that:

Recall involves two processing stages, but recognition only requires one

Imagine that you run an experiment in which participants study the words “AARDVARK” (a low frequency word) and “DOG” (a high frequency word). Based on what was learned in class on the word frequency effect, you should expect that:

DOG is more likely than AARDVARK to be generated on a free recall test.

Brain imaging (fMRI) studies of recognition memory presented in class suggest that

the hippocampus is more important for recollection and the perirhinal cortex is more important for familiarity

Long-term Store

Part of the memory system that can hold information for an extended period. It is the final stage of memory processing, where information is stored permanently after being encoded for sensory memory and short-term memory. Primarily semantic (by meaning) rather than acoustic; deep processing strengthens storage.

Short-term store

Part of the memory system that temporarily holds a small amount of information for a brief period, typically up to about 30 seconds, and is essential for tasks like following instructions. Limited to 7 ± 2 items, 15-30 seconds unless rehearsed on processed. Stored mainly through auditory encoding.

Working memory

Is a limited capacity cognitive system that temporarily holds and manipulates information for task such as reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. Form of short-term memory.

Episodic Memory

Type of long-term memory. Explicit memory that allows you to recall personal experiences, including the time, place, and emotions associated with them.

Procedural memory

Is a type of long-term implicit memory that stores information about how to perform actions and motor skills, such as riding a bike or typing. Formed through repetition and practice. Operates largely below the level of conscious awareness.

Interfering Memory

Forgetting process where one memory disrupts the retrieval of another, often because the memories are similar or closely related. Competition between memories; when two memories share features, they can interfere with each other during retrieval.

Semantic Memory

Is a form of long-term declarative memory that stores general world knowledge (facts, concepts, word meanings). Includes vocabulary, historical facts, category knowledge.

False Alarm

Signal absent, response “yes”

Miss

Signal Present, response “no”

Hit

Signal Present, Response “yes”

Correct rejection

Signal absent, response “no”

Retroactive Interference

Newly learned information disrupts the recall of previously learned information

Proactive interference

Older information disrupts your ability to learn or recall newer information

Release from proactive interference

The sudden improvement in recall that occurs when the category or type of material changes, removing the buildup of interference from earlier similar items. (the incline after the decline)

Central Executive

Manages and regulates cognitive processes within working memory. The supervisory attentional-control component of Baddeley and Hitch’s working memory model, responsible for directing attention, coordinating the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, switching tasks, and integrating information with long-term memory

Aphantasia

The inability to voluntarily create images

Episodic Buffer

A temporary, multimodal component of working memory that integrates information from different sources in a coherent, consciously accessible experience. Primary function is to bind information from multiple sources such as visual, auditory, spatial, and long-term memory into a single representation that can be consciously accessed and manipulated.

Relational Encoding

Cognitive process in which information is stored by linking items to each other through their relationships, rather than encoding them in isolation.

Level of Processing framework

Proposes that memory retention depends on the death of cognitive processing, ranging from shallow structural analysis to deep semantic analysis with deeper, meaning-based processing producing stronger, longer-lasting memories.

Transfer Appropriate Processing framework

Memory performance is best when the mental processes used to encode information match those required for retrieval. Encoding and retrieval are more effective when they are “appropriately matched”

Free recall

When a person retrieves information without any cues, typically recalling items from a list in any order

Neural Plasticity

The brain’s ability to change its structure and function by forming, strengthening, or weakening neural connections in response to learning, experience, or injury

White matter hyperintensities

Are bright spots seen on MRI scans that indicate changes in the brain’s white matter, often related to aging, small vessel disease, or other vascular and neurological conditions

Serial position effect

The tendency to recall the first and last items in a list better than those in the middle

Ratio Rule

The measurement precision of ratio scales

mere-exposure effect

Repeated exposure to a stimulus increases a person’s preference for it, even without conscious recognition or inherit value

mirror effect

The tendency to unconsciously imitate other’s body language, gestures, speech patterns, and emotional expressions, often without awareness, through mechanisms linked to mirror neurons and empathy circuits

Response deadline procedure

A pre-set time limit within which a participant must answer a stimulus used to control the speed-accuracy trade-off and measure how decision quality changes over time

Generate-recognize model

Two-process theory of memory retrieval proposing that recall involves 1) generating a potential answer from memory and 2) recognizing whether that answer matched the target information

Word frequency effect

Phenomenon in which high-frequency words are processed faster, while low-frequency words are often recognized more accurately, especially in memory task.