Study Guide

Chapter Key Terms

You should know the definitions of the following key terms from the chapter. They are listed in the order in which they appear in the chapter. For those you do not know, return to the relevant section of the chapter to learn them. When you think that you know all of the terms, complete the matching exercise based on these key terms.

sensory memory (SM)

iconic memory

temporal integration procedure

Sperling's full-report procedure

Sperling's partial-report procedure

short-term memory (STM)

memory span task

memory span

chunk

distractor task

maintenance rehearsal

long-term memory (LTM)

explicit (declarative) memory

semantic memory

episodic memory

implicit (nondeclarative) memory

procedural memory

priming

amnesic

anterograde amnesia

retrograde amnesia

infantile/child amnesia

free recall task

primacy effect

recency effect

encoding

storage

retrieval

automatic processing

effortful processing

levels-of-processing theory

elaborative rehearsal

self-reference effect

encoding specificity principle

state-dependent memory

mood-dependent memory

mood-congruence effect

mnemonic

method of loci

peg-word system

spacing (distributed study) effect

recall

recognition

relearning

encoding failure theory

storage decay theory

interference theory

proactive interference

retroactive interference

cue-dependent theory

tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon

schemas

source misattribution

false memory

misinformation effect

Key Terms Exercise

Identify the correct key term for each of the following definitions.

Question 5.1

1. The principle that states that the cues (both internal and external) present at the time information is encoded into long-term memory serve as the best retrieval cues for the information.

________________________________

encoding specificity principle

Question 5.2

2. A measure of long-term memory retrieval that requires the reproduction of the information with essentially no retrieval cues.

________________________________

recall

Question 5.3

3. The disruptive effect of new learning on the retrieval of old information.

________________________________

retroactive interference

Question 5.4

4. The visual sensory register that holds an exact copy of the incoming visual input but only for a very brief period of time—less than a second.

________________________________

iconic memory

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Question 5.5

5. A meaningful unit in memory.

________________________________

chunk

Question 5.6

6. Long-term memory for factual knowledge and personal experiences that requires a conscious effort to remember and that entails making declarations about the information remembered.

________________________________

explicit memory

Question 5.7

7. The inability to form new explicit long-term memories for events following surgery or trauma to the brain.

________________________________

anterograde amnesia

Question 5.8

8. A type of rehearsal in short-term memory in which incoming information is related to information from long-term memory to encode it into long-term memory.

________________________________

elaborative rehearsal

Question 5.9

9. Superior long-term memory for spaced study versus massed study (cramming).

________________________________

spacing (distributed study) effect

Question 5.10

10. Frameworks of knowledge about people, objects, events, and actions that allow us to organize and interpret information about our world.

________________________________

schemas

Question 5.11

11. Explicit memory for personal experiences.

________________________________

episodic memory

Question 5.12

12. A theory of forgetting that proposes that forgetting is due to the unavailability of the retrieval cues necessary to locate the information in long-term memory.

________________________________

cue-dependent theory

Question 5.13

13. An experimental procedure in which, following the brief presentation of a matrix of unrelated consonants, the participant is given an auditory cue about which row of the matrix to recall.

________________________________

Sperling's partial-report procedure

Question 5.14

14. Our inability as adults to remember events that occurred in our lives before about 3 years of age.

________________________________

infantile/child amnesia

Question 5.15

15. A memory task in which the participant is given a series of items one at a time and then has to recall the items in the order in which they were presented.

________________________________

memory span task

Practice Test Questions

The following are practice multiple-choice test questions on some of the chapter content. If you guessed or incorrectly answered a question, restudy the relevant section of the chapter.

Question 5.16

1. Which of the following types of memory holds sensory input until we can attend to and recognize it?
  1. short-term memory
  2. sensory memory
  3. semantic memory
  4. episodic memory

b; sensory memory

Question 5.17

2. Our short-term memory capacity is ______ ± 2 chunks.
  1. 3
  2. 5
  3. 7
  4. 9

c; 7

Question 5.18

3. Which of the following types of memory has the shortest duration?
  1. sensory memory
  2. short-term memory
  3. semantic memory
  4. episodic memory

a; sensory memory

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Question 5.19

4. Procedural memories are ______ memories and thus are probably processed in the ______.
  1. explicit; hippocampus
  2. explicit; cerebellum
  3. implicit; hippocampus
  4. implicit; cerebellum

d; implicit; cerebellum

Question 5.20

5. Which of the following leads to the best long-term memory?
  1. maintenance rehearsal
  2. elaborative rehearsal
  3. physical processing
  4. acoustic processing

b; elaborative rehearsal

Question 5.21

6. The primacy and recency effects in free recall demonstrate that we have the greatest difficulty recalling the words ______ of a list.
  1. at the beginning
  2. at the end
  3. in the middle
  4. at the beginning and end

c; in the middle

Question 5.22

7. Which of the following is not a mnemonic aid?
  1. method of loci
  2. peg-word system
  3. temporal integration procedure
  4. first-letter technique

c; temporal integration procedure

Question 5.23

8. An essay test measures ______, and a multiple-choice test measures ______.
  1. recall; recall
  2. recall; recognition
  3. recognition; recall
  4. recognition; recognition

b; recall; recognition

Question 5.24

9. Which of the following theories of forgetting argues that the forgotten information was in long-term memory but is no longer available?
  1. encoding failure theory
  2. storage decay theory
  3. interference theory
  4. cue-dependent theory

b; storage decay theory

Question 5.25

10. Piaget’s false memory of a kidnapping attempt when he was a child was the result of ______.
  1. infantile amnesia
  2. source misattribution
  3. encoding failure
  4. storage decay

b; source misattribution

Question 5.26

11. After learning the phone number for Five Star Pizza, Bob cannot remember the phone number he learned last week for the Donut Connection. After living in Los Angeles for three years, Jim is unable to remember his way around his hometown in which he had lived the previous 10 years prior to moving to Los Angeles. Bob is experiencing the effects of ______ interference, and Jim is experiencing the effects of ______ interference.
  1. proactive; proactive
  2. proactive; retroactive
  3. retroactive; proactive
  4. retroactive; retroactive

d; retroactive; retroactive

Question 5.27

12. Per the levels-of-processing theory, which of the following questions about the word “depressed” would best prepare you to correctly remember tomorrow that you had seen the word in this practice test question today?
  1. How well does the word describe you?
  2. Does the word consist of 10 letters?
  3. Is the word typed in capital letters?
  4. Does the word rhyme with obsessed?

a; How well does the word describe you?

Question 5.28

The forgetting curve for long-term memory in Ebbinghaus’s relearning studies with nonsense syllables indicates that ______.
  1. the greatest amount of forgetting occurs rather quickly and then it levels off
  2. little forgetting occurs very quickly and the greatest amount occurs later after a lengthy period of memory storage
  3. forgetting occurs at a uniform rate after learning
  4. little forgetting ever occurs

a; the greatest amount of forgetting occurs rather quickly and then it levels off

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Question 5.29

14. In the Loftus and Palmer experiment, participants were shown a film of a traffic accident and then later tested for their memory of it. The finding that memory differed based upon the specific words used in the test questions illustrated ______.
  1. state-dependent memory
  2. source misattribution
  3. the self-reference effect
  4. the misinformation effect

d; the misinformation effect

Question 5.30

15. The results for the experiment in which word lists were studied either on land or underwater and then recalled either on land or underwater provide evidence for ______.
  1. source misattribution
  2. encoding specificity
  3. proactive interference
  4. retroactive interference

b; encoding specificity