ch 9

Question 1

The Manufacture of Memory

Answer 1

Refers to the capacity to retain and retrieve
information, and to the changes in the
structures that account for this capacity.

Question 2

Reconstructive Process

Answer 2

Reconstructive Process
Memory is an active process.
Remember simple information by rote.
Complex information is often altered to make
sense of the material, based on what we already
know.

Question 3

Source amnesia

Answer 3

The inability to distinguish what you originally
experienced from what you heard or were told about
an event.

Question 4

H.M. & Reconstructing Memories

Answer 4

Initial Event:
H.M. ate a chocolate Valentine’s Day heart
Stuck the shiny, red wrapper in his pocket
Reconstruction #1:
“Well, it could have been wrapped around a big chocolate heart. It must be
Valentine’s Day”.
Reconstruction #2:
“Well, it could have been wrapped around a big chocolate rabbit. It must be
Easter.”

Question 5

The Fading Flashbulb

Answer 5

Flashbulb Memories
Vivid recollections of shocking or emotional
events.
Example: tsunamis, explosions, or a violent
shootout.
Reconstructive Process
Remember the central aspects of flashbulb
memories.
Errors affect the details of these memories.

Question 6

Talarico & Rubin (2003)

Answer 6

Compared ordinary memories with flashbulb
memories.
Initial Questioning:
54 students asked to report the details they
remember about 9/11 and a mundane event
that occurred prior to 9/11.
1, 6, or 32 weeks later:
Questioned about the details.
Completed a questionnaire that measured the
vividness of their memories, and their.
Confidence in the accuracy of these memories.

Question 7

Talarico & Rubin (2003)

Answer 7

The students reported that flashbulb memories
were more vivid than mundane memories.
They also felt more confident in the accuracy of
flashbulb memories compared to mundane
memories.
Students confidence in flashbulb memories was
misplaced.
Details reported by students became less and
less consistent for both types of memories.

Question 8

Confabulation

Answer 8

Confusion of an event that happened to someone
else with one that happened to you or
remembering an event when it never actually
happened.

Question 9

The Conditions of Confabulation

Answer 9

1. Imagination Inflation
 The more you imagine an event, the
more likely you are to believe that
you were actually there.
2. Numerous Details
 Real events tend to produce more
details than imagined events.
 However, the longer you imagine an
event, the more details you are likely
to add.
3. Easy to imagine
 If forming an image of an event takes
little effort, we tend to think the memory
is real.
4. Focus on Emotional Reactions
 Strong emotional reactions to an imagined
event, often convince us that the events
really happened.

Question 10

Eyewitness Testimony

Answer 10

Eyewitness testimony is not always reliable, even when
the witness is confident about the accuracy of their
report.
Mistaken identification increases when:
Suspect and witness differ in ethnicity.
Interviewer employs leading questions, suggestive
comments, and misleading information.

Question 11

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Answer 11

Showed participants short films depicting car collisions.
Afterward, researchers asked some participants: “About
how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?”
Other participants were asked the same question, but
with the verb changed to: smashed, collided, bumped,
or contacted
Smashed= 657.7 km/h
Collided= 63.3 km/h
Bumped= 61.3 km/h
Hit= 54.7 km/h
Contacted= 51.2 km/h

Question 12

Loftus and Zanni (1975)
Showed participants short films depicting car collisions.
Afterward, participants were asked questions about
events that had occurred on film.
Questions contained either:
1. An indefinite article. For example: Did you see a broken
headlight?
2. A definite article: Did you see the broken headlight?

Answer 12

Leading questions influenced participant recall.
Participants who were asked leading questions:
Produced fewer uncertain responses: For Example
“I don’t know”.
More “recognition” of events that never occurred.
For Example: “Yes, I saw the broken headlight.”

Question 13

Children’s Testimony

Answer 13

Should children’s testimony of traumatic experiences
(e.g., sexual abuse) be trusted?
Children do recollect most events accurately.
Children’s recollections are influenced by
leading questions, suggestive comments, and
misleading information.

Question 14

Probability of false memories increases when the interviewer:

Answer 14

Seeks confirming evidence and ignores other explanations.
Uses techniques that encourage imagination inflation.
Pressures or encourages the child to agree with them.
Uses bribes or threats to encourage the child to agree with them.

Question 15

Garven (1998)

Answer 15

Initial Event
Young man visits children at their preschool, reads a story,
and hands out treats.
No inappropriate or aggressive actions occurred.
Interview Period
Experimenter questions the children about the man’s visit.
Group 1= leading questions
Group 2= leading questions influence techniques

Question 16

Implicit Memory

Answer 16

Unconscious retention in memory, that affects our

current thoughts and actions.

Question 17

Priming

Answer 17

Read or listen to information.
Later tested to see whether the previously learned
information affects performance on the same or another
type of task.

Question 18

Implicit Memory

Relearning method

Answer 18

First Exposure: Presented with new information.
Second Exposure: Relearn information.
Master the information more quickly during second exposure.

Question 19

Models of Memory

Wax Tablet

Answer 19

Memory traces left my experiences.
Library
Storing specific events and facts in an organized fashion
for later retrieval.
Video Camera
Every moment in our lives automatically recorded.

Question 20

Models of Memory

Answer 20

Memory traces left my experiences.
Library
Storing specific events and facts in an organized fashion
for later retrieval.
Video Camera
Every moment in our lives automatically recorded.

Question 21

Information Processing Model

Answer 21

Encode
Acquiring information and converting it to a memory record.
Store
Maintaining the record over time.
Represented as concepts, images, or cognitive schemas.
Retrieve
Recovering the information for use.

Question 22

Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP)

Answer 22

Represents the contents of memory as connections
among a huge number of interacting processing units,
distributed in a vast network and all operating in parallel.
Similar to the parallel activity of neurons in the human
brain.

Question 23

The Three-Box Model Of Memory

Information Processing Model

Answer 23

Sensory Memory
1. Large capacity
2. Contains sensory
information
3. Very brief retention
of images: Up to ½
sec for visual and 2 sec
for auditory

Short Term Memory
(STM)
1. Limited capacity
2. Brief storage of
items: Up to 30 sec if
no rehearsal
3. Involved in conscious
processing of
information

Long Term Memory
1. Unlimited Capacity
2. Storage thought
by some to be
permanent
3. Information
thought to be
organized and
indexed

Question 24

Sensory Memory

Answer 24

Momentarily preserves accurate images of sensory
information.
Provides a brief time to select specific items for
attention.
Includes a memory subsystem for each sense.

Question 25

Pattern Recognition

Answer 25

Identification of a stimulus on the basis of information
already contained in LTM.
Occurs during the transfer of information from sensory
memory to STM.

Question 26

Short-term memory (STM)

Answer 26

Limited-capacity memory system.
Maximum of 7 +/- 2 items may be stored.
Holds information for up to 30 seconds without
rehearsal.
Information is either transferred to LTM or it is
lost forever.

Question 27

Chunking

Answer 27

Grouping small units of information into
larger, meaningful units or chunks.
 Chunks may be a word, phrase, sentence, or
visual image.
 Chunks depends on previous experience.

Question 28

1. Phonological Rehearsal Loop

Answer 28

STM as previously defined in the Information Processing Model.
At work when information is held in STM through rehearsal.
Capacity of about two seconds of material.

Question 29

2. Visuospatical Sketch Pad

Answer 29

Temporarily holds and manipulates visual images.

Example: Mentally rearrange furniture in your living room.

Question 30

3. Executive Control System

Answer 30

Handles the information that people can juggle at one time as they
engage in reasoning and decision making.
Example: Mentally weighing the pros and cons of studying versus going
out with friends.

Question 31

Long-term memory (LTM)

Answer 31

Memory system involved in the long-term
storage of information.
No limit on the LTM’s holding capacity.

Organization
 Semantic categories
 Phonetic categories
 Word structure
 Familiarity
 Relevance
 Association with other information

Question 32

Bousfield (1953): Semantic Categories

Answer 32

Participants memorized 60 randomly
presented words.
 Words came from 4 semantic categories
 animals
 vegetables
 names
 Professions
 Participants recalled the words in clusters
according to the semantic categories

Question 33

Phonetic Categories and Word Structure

Answer 33

Information in LTM is often organized in terms of the way
words sound or look.
Tip-of-the Tongue Phenomenon
Refers to the experience of feeling that one knows an answer,
yet is unable to produce the word.
Incorrect guesses tend to be similar in meaning, and with the
correct number of syllables, stress pattern, first letter, and
prefix or suffix.

Question 34

Changes in Neurons and Synapses

Answer 34

Short-term Memory
Neuron’s ability to release.
neurotransmitters is altered temporarily.
Eric Kandel’s Research
Studied sea snails, and sea slugs.
Specific forms of learning in the sea slug
result in a temporary increase or decrease
in the readiness to release
neurotransmitters.

Question 35

Changes in Neurons and Synapses

Answer 35

Long-term Memory
Involves lasting structural changes in the brain.
Memories may create unique, stable pathways in the brain along which
signals flow.
Long-term Potentiation (LTP)
Long-lasting increase in neural excitability at synapses along a specific
neural pathway.
May be the means by which learning and memory occur in the brain.
Exact biochemical and molecular changes involved are still debated.

Question 36

Consolidation

Answer 36

The process by which a long-term memory
becomes durable and stable.
Continue for several years in human beings.
May not be a once-and-for all process

Question 37

Location of Memories

Answer 37

Frontal lobes Short-term memory

Prefrontal
cortex, parts of
temporal lobes
Efficient encoding of
words and pictures

Hippocampus Formation of
Long-term Declarative
Memories

Cerebellum Formation and
retention of simple
classically conditioned
responses

Cerebral cortex Storage of Long-term
memories

Question 38

Hormones and Memory

Answer 38

Certain hormones enhance memory.
Epinephrine released by the adrenal glands during
stress and emotional arousal enhances memory:
Epinephrine causes the level of glucose to rise
in the bloodstream.
Glucose may enhance memory directly or by
altering the effects of neurotransmitters.

Question 39

Effective Encoding

AUTOMATIC AND EFFORTFUL

Answer 39

Automatic Encoding
Acquiring information and converting it to a memory
record without conscious effort
Effortful Encoding
Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or
events.
Select main points, label concepts, or associate.
information with personal experiences or material you
already know.

Question 40

Basic Rehearsal

Answer 40

The review or practice of material while you are learning it.
Preventing rehearsal causes the contents of STM to fade.

Question 41

Maintenance Rehearsal

Answer 41

Rote repetition of material in order to maintain its availability in memory.

Question 42

Elaborative Rehearsal

Answer 42

Association of new information with already stored knowledge or new facts.
Analysis of the physical, sensory, or semantic features of an item.

Question 43

Peterson & Peterson (1959)

Distraction Task

Answer 43

Memorize meaningless groups of letters.
Distraction Task
Immediately afterwards start to count backwards.
Within 18 seconds, participants forget most of the letter groups.
No Distraction Task
Allowed to rehearse items.
Recall performance improved.

Question 44

Levels of Processing

Answer 44

1. Shallow Processing
   Structural encoding.
   Emphasizes the physical or sensory features of a stimulus.
   Example: How many letters are in the word mitten?
2. Intermediate Processing
   Phonemic encoding.
   Emphasizes what a word sounds like.
   Example: Does the word rhyme with kitten?
3. Deep Processing
   Semantic encoding.
   Emphasizes the meaning of verbal stimuli.
   Example: What function does a mitten serve?

Question 45

Verbal Mnemonics

Answer 45

3. Narrative Methods - Remembering a list of words by creating a story that
   includes the words in the appropriate order. For example:
   The wind and rain in combination nearly LOCKED out the rescue
   efforts. CAP the flying ace, TOWELed the soap from his eyes,
   pulled his GOGGLES from his SUIT pocket, and COMBed the
   BRUSH for survivors (Weiten, 2001).
4. Rhymes - Remembering a list of words by creating a short poem in which
   identical or similar sounds are replicated throughout. Example:
   30 days has September, April, June, and November.
   All the rest have 31 except for February, the shortest one.

Question 46

Why We Forget

Answer 46

1. Forgetting is adaptive
   Need to forget to remember efficiently.
   Forgetting contributes to our survival, happiness, and
   sanity.
2. Decay Theory
   Information in memory eventually disappears if it is not accessed.
   Applies to sensory and STM.
   Can not entirely explain lapses in LTM.
3. Replacement Theory
   New information entering memory wipes out old information.
   Example: Misleading information may replace accurate memories.

Question 47

4. Cue-dependent Forgetting

Answer 47

The inability to retrieve information stored in memory because of
insufficient retrieval cues.
Common in LTM.
State-dependent memory
The tendency to remember something when you are in the same physical
or mental state as during the original learning experience.

Question 48

5. Repression Theory

Answer 48

Psychogenic amnesia
The partial or complete loss of memory (due to
nonorganic causes) for threatening information or
traumatic experiences.
Usually ends after just a few weeks
Traumatic amnesia
Forgetting specific traumatic events, sometimes for
many years.
Memory is recalled with perfect accuracy.

Question 49

Freud’s Repression

Answer 49

The selective, involuntary pushing of threatening or upsetting information
into the unconscious.
Critiques of Repression Theory
Hard to distinguish repression from normal forgetting.
Reluctance to think about an upsetting experience is not the same as an
inability to remember it.
Recovered memories often surface after therapists suggestive therapy
sessions.

Question 50

Autobiographical Memories

Answer 50

Memories about our own experiences
Childhood Amnesia
The inability to remember events and experiences
that occurred during the first two or three years of
life. For example: Episodic memory is forgotten.

Question 51

Explanations of Childhood Amnesia

Answer 51

1. Brain areas for memory are not well developed.
2. Lack of a sense of self.
3. Impoverished encoding.- lack of words to explain something
4. Focus on the Routine.
5. Children’s ways of thinking about the world.

Question 52

Autobiographical Narratives

Answer 52

Stories we compose to simplify and make
sense of our lives.
 Have a profound impact on our plans,
ambitions, and dreams.
 Works of interpretation and imagination.
Reminiscence Bump
 People in old age tend to remember more
from adolescence and early adulthood than
from midlife.

Question 53

Influence of Sex

Answer 53

Both sexes engage in elaborative
encoding and deep processing to retain
memories.
Sex
 Females encode more details of events
as they occur.
 These details provide retrieval cues that
enhance later recall.
 Women remember more childhood
events.

Question 54

Influence of Culture

Answer 54

Affects how you encode and how you tell your story.
Individualistic cultures
Lengthy, emotionally elaborate memories of events
that focus on themselves.
Collectivist Cultures
Memories of family or neighbourhood activities,
general routines, and emotionally neutral events.