chap 5

Question 1

Articulatory rehearsal process

Answer 1

Rehearsal process involved in working memory that keeps items in the phonological store from decaying.

Question 2

Articulatory suppression

Answer 2

Interference with operation of the phonological loop that occurs when a person repeats an irrelevant word such as “the” while carrying out a task that requires the phonological loop.

Question 3

Auditory coding

Answer 3

Representation of the sound of a stimulus in the mind.

Question 4

Chunk

Answer 4

Used in connection with the idea of chunking in memory. This is a collection of elements that are strongly associated with each other, but are weakly associated with elements in others.

Question 5

Chunking

Answer 5

Combining small units into larger ones, such as when individual words are combined into a meaningful sentence. This can be used to increase the capacity of memory.

Question 6

Central executive

Answer 6

The part of working memory that coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketch pad.

Question 7

Control processes

Answer 7

In Atkinson and Shiffrin’s modal model of memory, active processes that can be controlled by the person and may differ from one task to another. Rehearsal is an example of this.

Question 8

Decay

Answer 8

Process by which information is lost from memory due to the passage of time.

Question 9

Coding

Answer 9

The form in which stimuli are represented in the mind. For example, information can be represented in visual, semantic, and phonological forms. See also Neural code, which refers to how stimuli are represented in the firing of neurons.

Question 10

Digit span

Answer 10

The number of digits a person can remember. This is used as a measure of the capacity of short-term memory.

Question 11

Delayed partial report method

Answer 11

Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report only some of the stimuli in a briefly presented display. A cue tone that was delayed for a fraction of a second after the display was extinguished indicated which part of the display to report.

Question 12

Delayed-response task

Answer 12

A task in which information is provided, a delay is imposed, and then memory is tested. This task has been used to study short-term memory by testing monkeys’ ability to hold information about the location of a food reward during a delay.

Question 13

Echoic memory

Answer 13

Brief sensory memory for auditory stimuli that lasts for a few seconds after a stimulus is extinguished.

Question 14

Episodic buffer

Answer 14

A component added to Baddeley’s original working memory model that serves as a “backup” store that communicates with both LTM and the components of working memory. It holds information longer and has greater capacity than the phonological loop or visuospatial sketch pad.

Question 15

Encoding

Answer 15

The process of acquiring information and transferring it into memory.

Question 16

Iconic memory

Answer 16

Brief sensory memory for visual stimuli that lasts for a fraction of a second after a stimulus is extinguished. This corresponds to the sensory memory stage of the modal model of memory.

Question 17

Mental approach to coding

Answer 17

Determining how a stimulus or experience is represented in the mind.

Question 18

Memory

Answer 18

The processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills, after the original information is no longer present.

Question 19

Modal model of memory

Answer 19

The model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin that describes memory as a mechanism that involves processing information through a series of stages, including short-term memory and long-term memory. It is called this because of the great influence it has had on memory research.

Question 20

Persistence of vision

Answer 20

The continued perception of light for a fraction of a second after the original light stimulus has been extinguished. Perceiving a trail of light from a moving sparkler is caused by the persistence of vision.

Question 21

Partial report method

Answer 21

Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report only some of the stimuli in a briefly presented display. A cue tone immediately after the display was extinguished indicated which part of the display to report.

Question 22

Perseveration

Answer 22

Difficulty in switching from one behavior to another, which can hinder a person’s ability to solve problems that require flexible thinking. This is observed in cases in which the prefrontal cortex has been damaged.

Question 23

Phonological loop

Answer 23

The part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information

Question 24

Phonological similarity effect

Answer 24

An effect that occurs when letters or words that sound similar are confused. For example, T and P are two similar-sounding letters that could be confused.

Question 25

Phonological store

Answer 25

Component of the phonological loop of working memory that holds a limited amount of verbal and auditory information for a few seconds.

Question 26

Physiological approach to coding

Answer 26

Determining how a stimulus or experience is represented by the firing of neurons.

Question 27

Proactive interference (PI)

Answer 27

When information learned previously interferes with learning new information.

Question 28

Reading span

Answer 28

The maximum number of sentences that a person can read while simultaneously holding the last word of each sentence in memory. Reading span has been used to measure both the storage and processing functions of working memory.

Question 29

Recall test

Answer 29

A test in which participants are presented with stimuli and then, after a delay, are asked to remember as many of the stimuli as possible.

Question 30

Rehearsal

Answer 30

The process of repeating a stimulus over and over, usually for the purpose of remembering it, that keeps the stimulus active in short-term memory.

Question 31

Release from proactive interference

Answer 31

A situation in which conditions occur that eliminate or reduce the decrease in performance caused by proactive interference. See Wickens’ experiment described in Chapter 5

Question 32

Retrieval

Answer 32

The process of remembering information that has been stored in long-term memory.

Question 33

Semantic coding

Answer 33

Coding in the mind in the form of meaning. An example of this would be remembering the meaning of something you have read, as opposed to what the letters or words looked like (visual coding) or sounded like (auditory coding).

Question 34

Sensory memory

Answer 34

A brief stage of memory that holds information for seconds or fractions of a second. It is the first stage in the modal model of memory.

Question 35

Short-term memory (STM)

Answer 35

A memory mechanism that can hold a limited amount of information for a brief period of time, usually around 30 seconds, unless there is rehearsal (such as repeating a telephone number) that can maintain information in long-term memory. This is one of the stages in the modal model of memory.

Question 36

Structural features (modal model)

Answer 36

Stages in the modal model of memory. These stages are sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Question 37

Visual coding

Answer 37

Coding in the mind in the form of a visual image. An example of this would be remembering something by conjuring up an image of it in your mind.

Question 38

Visual icon

Answer 38

Brief sensory memory for visual stimuli that lasts for a fraction of a second after a stimulus is extinguished. This corresponds to the sensory memory stage of the modal model of memory.

Question 39

Visual imagery

Answer 39

A type of mental imagery involving vision, in which an image is experienced in the absence of a visual stimulus.

Question 40

Visuospatial sketch pad

Answer 40

The part of working memory that holds and processes visual and spatial information.

Question 41

Whole report method

Answer 41

Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report all of the stimuli they saw in a brief presentation.

Question 42

Word length effect

Answer 42

The notion that it is more difficult to remember a list of long words than a list of short words.

Question 43

Working memory

Answer 43

A limited-capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning