Download Unit 7A Study Guide

AP Psychology
Dr. J. Dishowitz
Unit 7 A Study Guide
Learning Objectives
1. Define and give an example of encoding, acoustic encoding, semantic encoding, visual encoding, storage, and
retrieval. Discuss the importance of encoding, storage, and retrieval in memory processes.
2. Define and give an example of episodic, semantic, and procedural memories.
3. Define and give an example of explicit and implicit memories. Discuss the series of experiments on explicit and
implicit memory.
4. Define the levels-of-processing model of memory. Describe the role of rehearsal in this memory model. Define
maintenance and elaborative rehearsal.
5. Define transfer-appropriate processing. Describe the role of encoding and retrieval processes in this memory
model.
6. Define the parallel distributed processing (PDP) model of memory. Describe the role of association networks in
drawing inferences and making generalizations.
7. Define the information-processing model of memory. Name the three stages of processing.
8. Define sensory memory and sensory registers. Discuss the amount of information and the length of time it stays in
sensory memory.
9. Explain why selective attention is important in determining which information is transferred to short-term
memory from sensory memory.
10. Define short-term memory (STM). Explain why some psychologists refer to this as working memory.
11. Describe short-term memory encoding.
12. Define immediate memory span and chunking. Discuss the role of long-term memory in the chunking process.
13. Define the Brown-Peterson procedure. Describe the importance of rehearsal in maintaining information in shortterm memory.
14. Define long-term memory (L TM) and discuss the importance of semantic encoding in long-term memory.
Describe the storage capacity of L TM.
15. Describe the controversy over the differences between short-term and long-term memory. Define primacy and
recency effects.
16. Define retrieval cue and explain why its use can increase memory efficiency. Define the encoding specificity
principle.
17. Define context dependence and state dependence and give examples of each. Explain the mood congruency
effect.
18. Describe the semantic network theory of memory. Explain the process of spreading activation in memory.
19. Define the tip-of-the-tongue and the feeling-of-knowing phenomena. Explain how these are related to the
semantic network theory of memory.
20. Define constructive memory. Describe how PDP memory models explain the integration of semantic and
episodic memories in memory construction.
21. Explain how PDP models produce spontaneous generalization and why they help explain the operation of
schemas.
22. Discuss the controversy surrounding repressed memories. Describe motivated forgetting, false memories, and
flashbulb memories.
23. Define Ebbinghaus's method of savings. Explain his discoveries and why they are important to memory
research.
24. Compare and contrast the decay and interference theories regarding forgetting information stored in long-term
memory. Define retroactive interference and proactive interference.
25. Discuss the use of eyewitness testimony in the courtroom.
26. Describe the synaptic activity associated with forming new memories. Describe the role of the hippocampus in
episodic and procedural memory formation.
27. Define anterograde and retrograde amnesia and discuss their relevance to the STM/LTM difference controversy.
28. Define mnemonics and explain why they improve memory. Give an example of the method of loci.
29. Explain why distributed practice is more effective than massed practice. Describe the SQ3R method and its use.
Describe the best method of taking notes in a lecture.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Memory is best defined as
A) the conscious encoding of information.
B) stored knowledge that has been semantically encoded.
C) the persistence of learning through the storage and retrieval of information.
D) the retrieval of stored information in precisely the same form in which it was encoded.
E) recalling and retrieving information stored in the cerebral cortex.
2. The process of getting information into memory is called
A) priming.
B) chunking.
C) encoding.
D) registering.
E) storing.
3. The process of getting information out of memory is called
A) priming.
B) encoding.
C) relearning.
D) retrieval.
E) rehearsal.
4. Some information in our fleeting ________ is encoded into short-term memory.
A) repressed memory
B) sensory memory
C) flashbulb memory
D) long-term memory
E) semantic memory
5. The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system is called ________ memory.
A) sensory
B) state-dependent
C) long-term
D) flashbulb
E) implicit
6. You are most likely to automatically encode information about
A) politicians' names.
B) friends' birthdays.
C) new phone numbers.
D) the sequence of your day's events.
E) dates in a history book.
7. When first introduced to someone, Marcel effectively remembers the person's name by repeating it to himself
several times. Marcel makes use of a strategy called
A) chunking.
B) automatic processing.
C) mnemonics.
D) the serial position effect.
E) rehearsal.
8. Hermann Ebbinghaus' use of nonsense syllables to study memory led to the discovery that
A) the amount remembered depends on the time spent learning.
B) what is learned in one mood is most easily retrieved in that same mood.
C) information that is automatically processed is rarely forgotten.
D) our sensory memory capacity is essentially unlimited.
E) hypnosis can increase recall of meaningless information.
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9. On the telephone, Dominic rattles off a list of 10 grocery items for Kyoko to bring home from the store.
Immediately after hearing the list, Kyoko attempts to write down the items. She is most likely to forget the
items
A) at the beginning of the list.
B) at the end of the list.
C) in the middle of the list.
D) at the beginning and in the middle of the list.
E) at the middle and the end of the list.
10. The process by which information is encoded by its meaning is called
A) long-term potentiation.
B) automatic processing.
C) rehearsal.
D) mnemonic encoding.
E) semantic encoding.
11. We are more likely to remember the words “typewriter, cigarette, and fire” than the words “void, process, and
inherent.” This best illustrates the value of
A) long-term potentiation.
B) flashbulb memory.
C) imagery.
D) iconic memory.
E) priming.
12. A mnemonic device is a
A) sensory memory.
B) test or measure of memory.
C) technique for automatic processing.
D) memory aid.
E) word, event, or place that triggers a memory of the past.
13. Chunking refers to
A) getting information into memory through the use of visual imagery.
B) the organization of information into meaningful units.
C) the unconscious encoding of incidental information.
D) the tendency to recall best the first item in a list.
E) the combined use of automatic and effortful processing to ensure the retention of unfamiliar information.
14. For a fraction of a second after the lightning flash disappeared, Ileana retained a vivid mental image of its
ragged edges. Her experience most clearly illustrates the nature of _______ memory.
A) iconic
B) flashbulb
C) recall
D) explicit
E) implicit
15. Peterson and Peterson demonstrated that unrehearsed short-term memories for three consonants almost
completely decay in as short a time as
A) 1 second.
B) 12 seconds.
C) 1 minute.
D) 12 minutes.
E) 1 hour.
16. The human capacity for storing long-term memories is
A) essentially unlimited.
B) roughly equal to seven units of information.
C) typically much greater in young children than in adults.
D) greatly reduced after people reach the age of 65.
E) enhanced through hypnosis.
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17. Karl Lashley trained rats to solve a maze and then removed pieces of their cortexes. He observed that storage of
their maze memories
A) was restricted to their right cerebral hemispheres.
B) was restricted to their left and right frontal lobes.
C) was restricted to their left and right occipital lobes.
D) was not restricted to specific regions of the cortex.
E) was not restricted to the association areas.
18. Research by Kandel and Schwartz on sea slugs indicates that memory formation is associated with the
A) structure of DNA molecules.
B) release of certain neurotransmitters.
C) activity level of the hippocampus.
D) development of the cerebellum.
E) transformation of neurons in the medulla.
19. Most Americans still have accurate flashbulb memories of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. This best illustrates
that memory formation is facilitated by
A) retrieval cues.
B) the serial position effect.
C) source amnesia.
D) the body's release of stress hormones.
E) long-term potentiation.
20. By shrinking the hippocampus, prolonged stress is most likely to inhibit the process of
A) source misattribution.
B) proactive interference.
C) long-term memory formation.
D) repression.
E) mood-congruent memory.
21. Although Mr. Yanagita has recently learned to play poker quite well, he cannot consciously remember ever
having played poker. It is likely that he has suffered damage to his
A) brainstem.
B) cerebellum.
C) hypothalamus.
D) hippocampus.
E) motor cortex.
22. Which test of memory typically provides the fewest retrieval cues?
A) recognition
B) recall
C) relearning
D) rehearsal
E) imagery
23. In describing what he calls the seven sins of memory, Daniel Schacter suggests that encoding failure results
from the sin of
A) absent-mindedness.
B) transience.
C) blocking.
D) repression.
E) chunking.
24. Using nonsense syllables to study memory, Hermann Ebbinghaus found that
A) our sensory memory capacity is essentially unlimited.
B) iconic memory fades more rapidly than echoic memory.
C) what is learned in one mood is most easily retrieved while in that same mood.
D) the most rapid memory loss for new information occurs shortly after it is learned.
E) syllables that were meaningful to the participants were recalled best.
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25. The finding that people who sleep after learning a list of nonsense syllables forget less than people who stay
awake provides evidence that forgetting may involve
A) encoding failure.
B) repression.
C) implicit memory loss.
D) the hippocampus.
E) interference.
26. Learning a new ATM password may block the recall of a familiar old password. This illustrates
A) the spacing effect.
B) retroactive interference.
C) source amnesia.
D) proactive interference.
E) the serial position effect.
27. Memory of your familiar old e-mail password may block the recall of your new password. This illustrates
A) source amnesia.
B) retroactive interference.
C) the serial position effect.
D) proactive interference.
E) chunking.
28. Many of the experimental participants who were asked how fast two cars in a filmed traffic accident were going
when they smashed into each other subsequently recalled seeing broken glass at the scene of the accident. This
experiment best illustrated
A) proactive interference.
B) the self-reference effect.
C) the spacing effect.
D) the misinformation effect.
E) state-dependent memory.
29. Compared with adults, children are more susceptible to
A) long-term potentiation.
B) automatic processing.
C) the misinformation effect.
D) proactive interference.
E) the self-reference effect.
30. Forming many associations between new course material and what you already know is an effective way to
build a network of
A) retrieval cues.
B) sensory memories.
C) state-dependent memories.
D) serial position effects.
E) iconic memories.
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