Chapter 10

Question 1

source misattribution

Answer 1

The inability to distinguish an actual memory of an event from information you learned about the event elsewhere.

Question 2

confabulation

Answer 2

Confusion of an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you, or a belief that you remember something when it never actually happened.

Question 3

explicit memory

Answer 3

Conscious, intentional recollection of an event or of an item of information.

Question 4

recall

Answer 4

The ability to retrieve and reproduce from memory previously encountered material.

Question 5

recognition

Answer 5

The ability to identify previously encountered material.

Question 6

implicit memory

Answer 6

Unconscious retention in memory, as evidenced by the effect of a previous experience or previously encountered information on current thoughts or actions.

Question 7

priming

Answer 7

A method for measuring implicit memory in which a person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see whether the information affects performance on another type of task.

Question 8

relearning method

Answer 8

A method for measuring retention that compares the time required to relearn material with the time used in the initial learning of the material.

Question 9

parallel distributed processing (PDP) model

Answer 9

A model of memory in which knowledge is represented as connections among thousands of interacting processing units, distributed in a vast network, and all operating in parallel.

Question 10

sensory register

Answer 10

A memory that momentarily preserves extremely accurate images of sensory information.

Question 11

short-term memory (STM)

Answer 11

In the three-box model of memory, a limited capacity memory system involved in the retention of information for brief periods it is also used to hold information retrieved from long-term memory for temporary use.

Question 12

chunk

Answer 12

A meaningful unit of information; it may be composed of smaller units.

Question 13

working memory

Answer 13

In many models of memory, a cognitively complex form of short-term memory; it involves active mental processes that control retrieval of information from long-term memory and interpret that information appropriately for a given task.

Question 14

long-term memory (LTM)

Answer 14

In the three-box model of memory, the memory system involved in the long term storage of information.

Question 15

procedural memories

Answer 15

Memories for the performance of actions or skills (“knowing how”).

Question 16

declarative memories

Answer 16

Memories of facts, rules, concepts, and events (“knowing that”); they include semantic and episodic memories.

Question 17

semantic memories

Answer 17

Memories of general knowledge, including facts, rules, concepts, and propositions.

Question 18

episodic memories

Answer 18

Memories of personally experienced events and the contexts in which they occurred.

Question 19

serial-position effect

Answer 19

The tendency for recall of the first and last items on a list to surpass recall of items in the middle of the list

Question 20

long-term potentiation

Answer 20

A long-lasting increase in the strength of synaptic responsiveness, thought to be a biological mechanism of long-term memory.

Question 21

consolidation

Answer 21

The process by which a long-term memory becomes durable and relatively stable.

Question 22

mnemonics

Answer 22

Strategies and tricks for improving memory, such as the use of a verse or a formula.

Question 23

maintenance rehearsal

Answer 23

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

Question 24

elaborative rehearsal

Answer 24

Association of new information with already stored knowledge and analysis of the new information to make it memorable.

Question 25

deep processing

Answer 25

In the encoding of information, the processing of meaning rather than simply the physical or sensory features of a stimulus.

Question 26

decay theory

Answer 26

The theory that information in memory eventually disappears if it is not accessed; it applies better to short-term than to long-term memory.

Question 27

retroactive interference

Answer 27

Forgetting that occurs when recently learned material interferes with the ability to remember similar material stored previously.

Question 28

proactive interference

Answer 28

Forgetting that occurs when previously stored material interferes with the ability to remember similar more recently learned material.

Question 29

cue-dependent forgetting

Answer 29

The inability to retrieve information stored in memory because of insufficient cues for recall.

Question 30

state-dependent memory

Answer 30

The tendency to remember something when the rememberer is in the same physical or mental state as during the original learning or experience

Question 31

mood-congruent memory

Answer 31

The tendency to remember experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood and overlook or forget experiences that are not.

Question 32

amnesia

Answer 32

The partial or complete loss of memory for important personal information.

Question 33

repression

Answer 33

In psychoanalytic theory; the selective, involuntary pushing of threatening or upsetting information into the unconscious.

Question 34

childhood amnesia

Answer 34

The inability to remember events and experiences that occurred during the first 2 or 3 years of life.