8 - Memory - Chapter summaries plus Practice Quiz Questions PDF

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Chapter summaries plus Practice Quiz Questions...

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Chapter 8 - Memory Section 1: Sensory and Short-Term Memory The role of memory is invaluable to all daily functioning and processes such as encoding, storage, and retrieval are essential to successful memory operation Sensory Memory  

Sensory Memory represents brief, transient perceptual and physical information about immediate experiences and is not limited by attention. Representations exist for each of the senses, such as iconic memory for visual information and echoic memory for auditory information, and decay after approximately 50 ms. Short-Term Memory

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Information selected for further processing in sensory memory is held in conscious awareness for short periods of time, but not permanently. Rehearsal of information increases the amount of time it can be held online. Short-term store can be increased by chunking. Working Memory

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Working Memory represents a refined version of short-term memory and consists of 3 buffers. Phonological Loop: storage of information through verbal rehearsal. Visuospatial sketchpad: represents and manipulates visual information. Episodic Buffer: uses other buffers and long term memory to remember and hold online past episodes. The central executive is responsible for managing and manipulating the buffers.

Section 2: Long Term Memory Long term memory (LTM) is a complex network marked by semantic organization; retrieval is aided by cues and general knowledge based on years of experience guides much of what we do and how we function. LTM & Its Systems 

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Schemas are knowledge structures and expectations built through experiences and memories and aid in navigation—memory is reconstructive though and we often let schemas take control even if they lead to false judgments. Declarative Memory: memory for specific facts or episodes, general knowledge or semantic memories. Nondeclarative Memory: implicit and procedural memories, not overtly recalled but apparent in functioning LTM Storage

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Patients with amnesia have revealed much of what is known about LTM. The hippocampus has been shown to be vital for STM memory formation and trace formation but LTM processes are apparent throughout the cortex. The hippocampus is still thought to be important for the coordination of memories for activation in consciousness Rehearsal

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The multi-store model suggests we have 3 stores for memory: sensory memory perceives sensory information which is selectively held online by STM and with rehearsal through STM components may be transferred and stored in LTM. Evidence for this comes from the free recall paradigm through primacy and recency effects.

Section 3: Levels of Processing Recent work has questioned the explanatory power of the multi store model and alternatives such as the Levels of Processing framework have been presented suggesting memory is based on how information is processed Encoding 

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Mnemonic Strategies are tricks used to make to-be-remembered information more relevant and easier to remember i.e. self-referent effect, especially if it takes advantage of deep processing. Encoding Specificity points out how memories are not encoded in isolation but along with the context they are a part of and thus context can act as a retrieval cue. Transfer Appropriate Processing suggests memory is enhanced when encoding and retrieval utilize the same or similar processes. Forgetting

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Forgetting can be helpful in reducing interference from irrelevant memories. Decay theory suggests forgetting is based on the passage of time, but can only account for STM loss. Forgetting is often attributed to interference—cues are no longer associated with a certain memory but with other memories. Interference & Repression

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Proactive Interference occurs when knowledge learned prior to a memory prevents its retrieval. Retroactive Interference occurs when new knowledge prevents the retrieval of old memories. Tip of the Tongue experiences display how memories can be temporarily forgotten. Repression of negative memories is a controversial topic due to the fact that it is difficult to determine whether repressed memories remembered are true or not.

Section 4: Memory Errors Our memory system is actually quite prone to errors and false memories can be easily implemented and believed to be true with conviction Misinformation Effects  

The misinformation effect occurs when new information is thought to be part of an old memory and false memories are in turn formed. This can occur simply by introducing associations between new information and old memories. Source Confusion

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Source monitoring errors occur when we fail to recall the true origins of memories and often occur when we attribute familiarity and ease of processing to the source of memories.

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Reality monitoring is our ability to discriminate false memories from true memories.

Memory Pre-Quiz Question

1. Four friends got lost in the wilderness while out on a hike. They had each learned about wilderness survival individually but through different means. Which friend will be able to best recall all the strategies they learned to survive this ordeal? A) Peter read two survival guides prior to their hiking trip. B) Frank watches a lot of discovery channel and one of his favourite shows is Survivor Man. C) Mark's dad taught him about survival during their annual father-son hiking trips. D) Charles spent 3-hours in an indoors-only survival guide class.

2. Which of the following most accurately describes the serial position curve in terms of the multi-store model of memory? A) The items in the middle section of the serial position curve are not in short-term or long-term memory, resulting in a low percentage of words recalled. B) The items at the end of the list of words are retained in sensory memory, and are often chunked to allow for more than 7 +/- 2 letters. C) The items in the middle section curve are always forgotten following their encoding into long-term memory during presentation, resulting in a very low percentage of words recalled. D) The items at the beginning of the list of words are rehearsed several times, resulting in the words being retained in short term memory, leading to a high percentage of words recalled.

3. Which of the following is most likely to aid memory retrieval? A) Mika reads her notes until they feel very familiar, thereby increasing her fluency with the material. B) Kiana thinks about how the concepts she is studying relate to each other. C) Tracey breaks down the names of the capitals into pairs of letters so that retrieval involves multiple, smaller pieces of information. D) Joseph studies in a completely empty room with no other objects or people around.

4. Which of the following is true regarding levels of processing? A) The levels of processing model stresses the importance of effortful processing for better memory performance while the multi-store model does not.

B) According to levels of processing, memory is typically better for physical rather than acoustic level items. C) Increased memory for information encoded at a deeper level can be explained because it requires less effort. D) Copying notes word for word is an example of an acoustic level of processing, leading to poor memory.

5. Which of the following options is consistent with the levels of processing framework? A) Deep levels of processing require more effort to process and, as such, can result in poor memory performance. B) Deep levels of processing require more effort and, as such, can result in better memory performance. C) Deep levels of processing requires little effort to encode semantic information. D) Shallow levels of processing require little effort to encode semantic information.

6. Which of the following represents a semantic memory? A) Brandon is able to play several songs on the piano without error, but is not able to sing at the correct pitch. B) Tyler and Maria ordered a pepperoni pizza, and are aware that it also comes with pizza sauce and cheese. C) Brittany recalls going camping with her family over the long weekend, and was not expecting to find large turtles with shells by the creek. D) Erin and Aneesh recall celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary on a cruise ship, where they enjoyed the gourmet food that was served for dinner.

7. Which of the following would provide the best evidence for pro-active interference? A) Individuals who were required to memorize a list of words and answer arithmetic questions had worse memory performance for the list in comparison to individuals who only had to memorize the list. B) You were trying to remember the name of a song that your friend was talking about but all you could think about was the song stuck in your head from the previous evening. C) Throughout your whole childhood you imagined what Disneyland was like. However, once you finally went there, you could no longer recall what you used to think it was like. D) Juan was in an experiment involving the memorization of a number of different novel object names. By the end of the day, however, he could not recall much of what he had learnt.

8. Which of the following correctly describes sensory memory? A) Sensory memory encompasses iconic and echoic memory. Information held in sensory memory is then filtered into short term memory based on the amount of decay. B) Any physical or sensory characteristics of stimuli in the environment are encoded in sensory memory, which has a large capacity to store information for a several minutes. C) The physical or sensory characteristics of stimuli are briefly stored in sensory memory, which has a large capacity because it does not require attention. D) The physical or sensory characteristics of attended stimuli are stored in sensory memory, which has a large capacity to detect a large number of details of the sensory characteristics.

9. Which of the following statements about the "becoming famous overnight" experiment is most correct? A) Participants asked to complete a distractor task before the second phase misattributed their sense of fluency to the names being famous. B) Participants that immediately proceeded to the second phase misattributed their sense of fluency to the names being famous. C) Participants who were sent home before the second phase had a sense of fluency that they attributed to having seen the names on the list earlier. D) Participants that immediately proceeded to the second phase more accurately attributed the feeling of fluency to having seen the names on the list earlier.

10. Which of the following is true regarding false memories? A) False memories are not consistent with the theory that memory is a reconstructive process. B) False memories can be implanted for recent events only, so we are not able to change events from our past. C) False memories can be implanted through imagining the event, even ones that seem bizarre and unlikely. D) False memories are typically implanted by accident and cannot be implanted through suggestion.

11. Liam reads a list of nonsense words and then has a conversation. Which of the following best describes Liam's memory of the list? A) Liam will have a hard time recalling any of the words because he was distracted after reading the list. B) Liam will have a reduced recency effect because he was distracted by the conversation. C) Liam will remember all the words equally because some of them may have been used in the conversation.

D) Liam will only remember words from the end of the list because they have been rehearsed.

12. Which of the following study techniques would most likely result in remembering more information during a final exam? A) Re-reading the notes from the semester B) Re-wording the semesters' notes from memory C) Re-wording the notes from the semester D) Re-copying down notes word for word

13. You see a missing persons poster at the train station with the name Daniel Winston on it. Three days later, you see the name Daniel Winston in a newspaper headline and remember him to be a well-known writer. What best explains this discrepancy? A) As you only saw the poster in passing, you encoded its information at a shallow level of processing. Memory performance tends to be better if information is encoded at a deeper level of processing, which is why you misremembered the identity of Daniel Winston. B) When you saw the newspaper headline, you were at home; whereas when you saw the poster, you were at the train station. The different environments led to fewer context cues available to aid in memory retrieval, which is why you misremembered the identity of Daniel Winston. C) Seeing the poster gave you increased processing fluency for the name Daniel Winston; later, after forgetting the source of the name, you misattributed the increased fluency by assuming the name belonged to somebody famous. D) Seeing the poster implanted a false memory of reading one of Daniel Winston's books, which led to the conclusion that he must be a famous writer.

14. What does encoding specificity suggest about memory? A) Encoding and recall of information is not a pure or isolated experience. B) The particular processes used to encode information dictate how well memories will be recalled. C) The presence of contextual cues is the most important factor in the recall of information. D) Location of encoding is the most important factor in the encoding of information.

15. How are recognition tests used to assess memory? A) By judging items as "new" or "old" in response to presentation cues B) By judging items as "new" or "old", in the absence of presentation cues C) By freely generating items from memory in response to presentation cues

D) By freely generating items from memory, in the absence of presentation cues

16. Which of the following is correct regarding the serial position curve? A) The recency effect is diminished by increasing the presentation time during encoding. B) The primacy effect is diminished by decreasing the presentation time during encoding. C) The recency effect is diminished by decreasing the presentation time during encoding. D) The primacy effect is diminished by increasing the presentation time during encoding.

17. Which of the following is the correct description of diminishing recency effect? A) Performance of an unrelated task after memorizing an item list will decrease the number of items recalled toward the end of the list. B) After memorizing a list of 9 words, additional items cannot be stored in short-term memory because it is full. C) Rehearsal of a list of items causes transfer to long-term memory, which frees up space in the shortterm memory store. D) Distractors encountered after memorizing a list of items will lessen the chances of recalling items toward the beginning of the list.

18. Which of the following is true regarding the serial position curve? A) The primacy effect occurs because the items at the beginning of the list have the most rehearsal time. B) The recency effect occurs because the last 3 items on the list remain in short term memory, replacing previous items. C) Memory for items in the middle of the serial position curve suffers because they are lost from long term memory. D) Introducing a task before recall slightly diminishes the entire serial position curve, with the largest change to the recency effect.

19. What do false memories imply about human memory in general? A) That we are unable to identify a fake experience from a real one, but only if they have the same amount of detail B) That memory is a reconstructive process, rather than simple storage and retrieval C) That memory can be simplified to a storage and retrieval model, rather than a reconstructive process D) That we can always identify a fake experience from a real one if they have the same amount of detail

20. Which of the following is true regarding recall and recognition? A) Subjects perform better on a recall test when they are told to learn a list, but show no difference on recognition. B) In the "Becoming Famous Overnight" experiment, a recognition test was used rather than a recall test. C) External cues can be used when completing a recall task but not a recognition task. D) Internal cues can be used when completing a recognition task but not a recall task.

21. Jeff is walking to McMaster when he sees a man wearing a hard hat and a bright orange vest walking towards him. For some reason Jeff cannot look away. Which of the following conclusions could Jeff draw that follows the attributional view of memory? A) Jeff thinks that he knows this man from somewhere, even though they have never actually met before. B) Jeff believes his attention was just caught by the bright orange vest. C) Jeff thinks that since the person is wearing a hard hat, an orange vest, and jeans, he must be a construction worker. D) Jeff thinks his orange vest must be difficult to process, and so he must look longer to figure out if this man is a stranger.

22. Fatima's parents requested that she run several errands for them. She quickly rushed out of the house without writing a list of all her tasks. While on her drive, she realized she could only remember the first two tasks and last two. Which of the following does NOT explain Fatima's memory of her errands? A) Primer effect where the previous errand acts as a stimulus to remember the following errand. B) Recency effect where the last couple tasks are in short term memory. C) Primacy effect where earlier errands had more time to be rehearsed. D) She did not experience any major distractions that would occupy her thoughts.

23. Perry is asked to remember a long list of random words, and is then required to recall them after several hours. Which of the following best predicts Perry's performance? A) Perry's forgetting curve will be a negatively accelerating increasing curve. B) Perry is more likely to recall the earlier words because they were rehearsed more. C) Perry is more likely to recall the middle of the list because they have more cues.

D) Perry's serial position curve will be a negatively accelerating decreasing curve.

24. Which of the following memory phenomena is correctly described? A) Memories are not always exactly the same as the actual event, except for in the case where we correctly attribute the memory. B) Encoding specificity allows for our memory to selectively encode only important surrounding information along with a memory. C) False memories are easily implanted, regardless of their plausibility or the extent to which they are imagined. D) Misattributions can occur when we experience an unexplained fluency upon encountering a stimulus.

25. What is the difference between shallow and deep levels of processing? A) Shallow processing requires little effort and leads to better memory performance, whereas deep processing requires significant effort and leads to poor memory performance. B) Shallow processing requires significant effort and leads to better memory performance, whereas deep processing requires little effort and leads to poor memory performance. C) Shallow processing requires significant effort and leads to poor memory performance, whereas deep processing requires little effort and leads to better memory performance. D) Shallow processing requires little effort and leads to poor memory performance, whereas deep processing requires significant effort and leads to better memory performance.

26. Which of the following is true of the serial position curve? A) Items near the end of a list are better recalled due to the recency effect, as these items have most recently entered long term storage. B) If a subject completes a distracting task between learning and recall, the primacy effect will be diminished. C) Items near the be...