1. You try to remember the name of a movie you watched last year, but you are struggling. When you do finally remember it was Lincoln, which memory process were you using?

d. retrieval

2. According to the levels of processing framework, there is a __________ that corresponds to the depth at which information is processed, as well as reflecting how durable and retrievable a memory may be.

a. hierarchy of processing

3. Using the partial report method, Sperling (1960) showed that participants could recall 76% of the letters briefly flashed on a screen. The findings from this study indicate the capabilities of:

c. iconic memory.

4. Miller (1956) reviewed findings on the Digit Span test and found that short-term memory capacity is limited to between 5 and 9 numbers, that is, the “magical number seven, plus or minus two.” However, through the use of __________, we can improve the span of our short-term memory.

d. chunking

5. Baddeley and colleagues proposed that the purpose of __________ is to actively maintain information while the mind is performing complex tasks. The phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, and episodic buffer all play a role in this process.

b. working memory

6. In a classic study, Godden and Baddeley (1975) asked participants to learn lists of words under two conditions: while underwater and on dry land. Participants were better able to recall the information in the same context in which it was encoded. This finding supports:

a. the encoding specificity principle.

7. Your friend tells you she prefers multiple-choice tests because she is able to identify an answer when she sees it listed as one of the choices for a question. She is describing her __________, which is the process of matching incoming data to information stored in long-term memory.

c. recognition

8. __________ causes problems with the retrieval of memories because of information you learned in the past and __________ causes problems with retrieval due to recently learned information.

c. Proactive interference; retroactive interference

9. According to __________, memories can fade over time, becoming more vulnerable to new information. Thus, your memory of an event might include revisions of what really happened.

d. a reconstructionist model of memory

10. In studies by Loftus and colleagues, around 25% of participants are able to “remember” an event that never happened. This type of __________ shows us how the malleability of memory can influence recall.

b. rich false memory

11. In one study, Loftus and Palmer (1974) found that when they told participants two cars had “smashed” into each other, these same participants were more likely to report they had seen broken glass in a previously viewed film than participants who were told the cars had “hit” each other. This tendency for new and possibly deceptive information to distort one’s memory of a past incident is known as:

a. the misinformation effect.

12. Traumatic experiences that are thought to be pushed out of consciousness are often referred to as __________ memories.

c. repressed

13. Retrograde amnesia is generally caused by some sort of trauma to the brain. People with retrograde amnesia generally cannot:

b. access memories of events created before the trauma.

14. __________ refers to the increased efficiency of neural communication over time, resulting in learning and the formation of memories.

b. Long-term potentiation

15. The __________ is essential for creating new explicit memories, but not implicit memories.

d. hippocampus

16. A friend says, “My grandmother has terrible short-term memory. She can’t remember anything from a couple of hours ago.” This statement represents a very common mistake people make when discussing memory. How would you explain this confusion about short-term memory versus long-term memory?

Information enters sensory memory, which includes an overwhelming array of sensory stimuli. If it is not lost in sensory memory, it enters the short-term memory stage. The amount of time information is maintained and processed in short-term memory can be about 30 seconds. And short-term memory has a limited capacity. Because short-term memories cannot last for a couple of hours, it is more likely his grandmother is having difficulty encoding, storing, and/or recalling information that should be held in long-term memory.

17. How are iconic memory and echoic memory different from each other?

Iconic memories are visual impressions that are photograph-like in their accuracy but dissolve in less than a second. Echoic memories are exact copies of the sounds we hear, lasting about 1–10 seconds. Iconic memory uses our visual system, whereas echoic memory uses our auditory system.

18. How does working memory differ from short-term memory?

Short-term memory is a stage of memory that temporarily maintains and processes a limited amount of information. Working memory is the active processing of information in short-term memory. Working memory refers to what is going on in short-term memory.

19. Provide two examples of mnemonics you’ve used.

Answers will vary. Examples may include Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally to help remember the order of operations in a mathematical expression (parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction); Roy G. Biv to help remember the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet); Every Good Boy Does Fine for remembering the notes of the treble clef in music (E, G, B, D, F).

20. Imagine you are a teacher creating a list of classroom rules in case of an emergency. If you were expecting your students to remember these rules after only reading through them once, where in the list would you position the most important rules? Why?

The teacher should list the most important rules first and last in the list. The serial position effect suggests items at the beginning and at the end of a list are more likely to be recalled. The primacy effect suggests we are more likely to remember items at the beginning of a list, because they have a better chance of moving into long-term memory. The recency effect suggests we are more likely to remember items at the end of a list because they linger in short-term memory.