PSC 130 Final

1. 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 

2. 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. 

3.  Which of the following is NOT a function of the Central Executive, as described by Baddeley?

> Phonological storage or Rehearsing syllables 

4. 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 

5. 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 

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

> Reduced prefrontal cortex activation and worse working memory 

7. Craik and Lockhart's Levels of Processing Framework proposed that

> Elaborative rehearsal should result in better learning than maintenance rehearsal 

8. 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 

QUIZ 2

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

> Relational Encoding 

2. 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 word. 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 rhymed with ‘eagle’?”). Based on the Levels of Processing Framework, one would predict that:

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

3. 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 word. 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 rhymed 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 recognition test 

4. 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 

5. 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 

6. If you want to recall a specific piece of information, which type of memory test would benefit most from remembering the context in which the information was learned?

> Free Recall 

7. In a study by Goodwin et al. (1969), participants learned a list of items in two different states (either while sober or after drinking 10 oz of 80-proof vodka). They were then asked to recall the list either while sober or drunk. These results suggest that:

> While drinking was not overall beneficial for memory, participants who drank alcohol before study did better if they had alcohol before the test phase than those who were sober at test. This is an example of state-dependent memory. 

8. 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 thus 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 of a few select, distinct moments could help, as it allows for better encoding and those select, distinct photos can act as better retrieval cues.

9. Nora masters a list of Spanish words by using memory tips learned in her Human Memory class. She then uses the same strategies to learn the same words in Mandarin. Based on lecture material, what is the most likely outcome?

> Due to proactive interference, the Mandarin words will be harder to learn than the Spanish words. 

10. 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.

QUIZ 3

1. 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 

2. 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 

3. The lag-recency effect provides evidence to support the idea that Episodic Memories are

> Temporally Organized 

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

> False Alarm 

5. Generate-Recognize models state that:

> Recall involves two processing stages, but recognition only requires one 

6. In Tulving’s Remember/Know procedure, “Know” responses are thought to be based on:

> Familiarity 

7. 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 

8. Research on word frequency effects suggests that:

> an infrequent word like “armadillo” is less likely to be recalled, but more likely to be recognized on a memory test, relative to a more frequent word like “horse”. 

9. 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 

10. 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 

QUIZ 4

1. The “False Fame Effect”, studied by Jacoby et al., 1989, demonstrated that subjects can be tricked into thinking that a regular person is famous if:

> the name is not recollected from the study phase but seems familiar 

2. The “Own Race Bias” in cross-race face recognition can be partially explained by:

> Differences in past experience at recognizing faces of people from one’s own race vs. those from different racial categories 

3. Wang, Yonelinas, & Ranganath (2014) studied brain activity associated with priming and recognition memory tasks. They found that activity in the perirhinal cortex:

> Was decreased during processing of primed items relative to unprimed items, and also decreased with recognition confidence for familiar items 

4. The False Fame effect, Illusory Truth effect, and Mere Exposure effect are examples of:

> How familiarity can inadvertently influence decisions, opinions, and preferences 

5. Why We Remember discusses how studies found that when participants were focusing their attention on some arbitrary task, such as pushing a button when they saw an X flash on the screen, brain activity in the Default Mode Network decreased. We now think that:

> The Default Mode Network is involved in complex thought processes, such as retrieving episodic memories, spatial navigation, and making sense of stories 

6. Why do researchers think that you might have trouble remembering something after you walk through a doorway?

> Because people often form new event models after a change in spatial context 

7. According to Event Segmentation Theory, event boundaries impact episodic memory. Which of the following statements is true:

> People are better able to retrieve information from within an event than across event boundaries. Also, people have better memory for actions that occurred at an event boundary 

8. According to event segmentation theory, an event boundary is triggered by:

> a prediction error 

9. Why We Remember suggests that during the retrieval of episodic memories:

> Instead of replaying past events exactly as they were, we use what we remember to imagine how the past could have been