Chapter 4-6 Review

Question 1

amnesia

Answer 1

Inability to store and retrieve information; loss of memory

Question 2

articulatory control process

Answer 2

a component of the phonologica loop that automatically refreshes and maintains the elements in the phonological store as if they were being rehearsed through a subvocal process (no sound is actually made)

Question 3

autism spectrum disorder

Answer 3

a congenital disorder involving deficits in social and communication skills that covers a wide range and intensity of symtoms. Children with this disorder do not appear to attend to faces in early childhood as much as children typically do. Tend to focus more in the mouth than the eyes.

Question 4

autobiographical memory

Answer 4

Memory for personal past experiences; retrospective memory of events in your life
Depends on: 1. Capacity for self-reflection. 2. A sense of personal ownership. 3. The ability to think about time as an unfolding of personal happenings centered around yourself

Question 5

bottom-up processing

Answer 5

Extracting primitive or basic elements from a stimulus and creating a higher-level understanding of it

Question 6

central executive

Answer 6

A component of working memory that coordinates the activities of the visuospatial sketchpad, phonological loop, and episodic buffer; it also communicates with long-term memory via the episodic buffer. It is not a memory store, but rather a control system that guides attention and allocates resources to maximize performance.

Question 7

chunk

Answer 7

Single units of information

Question 8

chunking

Answer 8

relating items to what you already know increases the capacity of short-term memory by storing items in grouops; the average adult can hold 5-9 items/chunks in short-term memory

Question 9

cognitive interview

Answer 9

a method used to enhance recall of an observed or experienced event

1. Ask observer to imagine he is at the crime scene witnessing the event and recount the event in as much detail
2. Recall everything, event things that are incomplete or don’t understand, but if they remember it report it
3. Recount event in different order, to have them think of all of what happened and not have them skip anything

Question 10

cross-race effect

Answer 10

Difficulty recognizing faces of people from a different race

Question 11

declarative memories

Answer 11

memory that can be described to others if you are asked to recall it

Question 12

distinctive features theory

Answer 12

this theory assumes that all complex perceptual stimuli are composed of distinctive and separable attibutes that allow observers to distinguish one object from another. It focuses on how humans and other animals recognize patterns by attending to low-level features of objects such as lines, angles, and dots

Question 13

ecological validity

Answer 13

the degree to which experiments are based on how people operate in the real world, and are more realistic

Question 14

elaborative rehearsal

Answer 14

Thinking about meaningful relationships among items to be learned and focusing on how they connect to other things you know. This type of strategy often results in long-term recall and recognition of the items learned

Question 15

encoding specificity

Answer 15

the way in which information stored in memory will be recalled better (or worse) depending on the retrieval cue used to elicit the stored information

Question 16

episodic buffer

Answer 16

A component of working memory that acts as an integrative system that places events occurring in the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop into a coherent sequence, along with the memory of the goals that initiated those events

Question 17

episodic memory

Answer 17

the portion of long-term memory that stores and connects specific times, places, and events in a person’s life, and is therefore autobiographical in nature.

Question 18

explicit memory

Answer 18

All information that we consciously seek to store and retrieve, such as personal history and general knowledge

Question 19

feeling of knowing

Answer 19

The inability to recall something that you believe is stored somewehre in your memory

Question 20

flashbulb memories

Answer 20

Memories of distinctive, surprising, or significant events thatseem to be stored in memory with photograph-like details; research has shown that such memories are not always completely accurate

Question 21

geons

Answer 21

Any of 36 primitive shapes (geometric ions) that are the building blocks for indentifying 3-D objects. Such shapes are critical to appertn recognition because objects can be rotated in three dimensions and create an unlimited number of impressions on the retina

Question 22

gestalt

Answer 22

The idea that we perceive the form or configuration of things before we understand their parts

Question 23

implicit memory

Answer 23

A semiautonomous memory system that frees up cognitive resources so that you can concentrate on more demanding tasks; it allows you to put important mental functions that can be performed automatically in the background

Question 24

infantile amnesia

Answer 24

Difficulty in retrieving autobiographical information of early childhood

Question 25

inner scribe

Answer 25

A component of the visouspatial sketchpad that performs at least two functions. First, it refreshes all the information in the visouspatial sketchpad; and second, it briefly stores spatial relationships associated with bodily movements.

Question 26

irrelevant speech effect

Answer 26

the ability of inconsequential background speech to interfere with silent verbal rehearsal

Question 27

Korsakoff’s syndrome

Answer 27

Amnesia that usually results from malnutration due to excessive alcholol consuption; it is associated with damage to the mamillothalmic tract of the temporal lobes

Question 28

law of closure

Answer 28

The experience of seeing a figure as a closed unit, even when the observer knows that there are open spaces

Question 29

law of common fate

Answer 29

if two or more objects are moving in the same direction at the same speed, they will tend to be perceived as a group and share the same destiny

Question 30

law of good continuation

Answer 30

the tendency to connect elements in a way that makes the elements eem continous or flowing in a particular direction; this can exert a powerful affect on what is perceived

Question 31

Law of proximity

Answer 31

elements that are close together will be perceived as a coherent group and be differentiated from items that are far from them

Question 32

law of similarity

Answer 32

Elements that look similar will be perceived as part of the same form or group; similarity can be based on size, brightiness, color, shape, or even orientation

Question 33

law of symmetry

Answer 33

First, images that are perceived as symmetrical are experienced as belonging together; second, people tend to find symmetry in a figure even if it is otherwise disorganized

Question 34

learning

Answer 34

the permanent change in behavior that results from experience

Question 35

long-term memory

Answer 35

The aspect of memory that consists of all the knowledge and experience acquired throughout life

Question 36

maintenance rehearsal

Answer 36

saying something repeatedly to keep it in mind. This sort of rote learning keeps items in short-term memory, but does not guarantee permanent ability to recall them

Question 37

memory

Answer 37

the menta operations that store information as well as recover and retrive it at appropriate times

Question 38

metamemory

Answer 38

the awareness of your memory system and what resides there. Metamemory is helpful in deciding whether a fact that isn’t immediately recalled is worht retrieving or not

Question 39

modality effect

Answer 39

The different recall pattern of list items when they are visually or auditorily presented

Question 40

negative recency

Answer 40

A tendency to recall items from the beginning of list (because they have been rehearsed) better than items from the end of a list

Question 41

Pattern Recognition

Answer 41

The use of framentary pieces of sensory information to create a higher-level identification of what has been experienced. Although it often seems instantaneous, it can take years of experience to develop the ability to recognize patterns effortlessly

Question 42

Perception

Answer 42

Becoming aware of something through the senses

Question 43

perceptual memory

Answer 43

Awareness of physically based patterns that are difficult to describe, but are effortlessly recalled (E.G., the scent of roses, the taste of licorice, or the sights and sounds of your childhood neighborhood).

Question 44

permastore

Answer 44

The phenomenon that once facts are stored in long-term memory they endure for nearly a lifetime

Question 45

phological confusion

Answer 45

Memory that is worse for words or sentences that sound alike than for those that sound different; it can occur when wrods or sentences are presented visually or auditorily

Question 46

phological store

Answer 46

a component of the phonological loop that acts as a reservoir to store acoustic representations of a stimulus

Question 47

phonological loop

Answer 47

A subsytem in working memory dedicated to the temporary storage of sound-based information and representations

Question 48

Pollyanna principle

Answer 48

a tendency for people to recall more pleasant than unpleasant life experiences

Question 49

prevaricating

Answer 49

The tendency of people with Korsakoff’s syndrome to make up answers to questions rather than indicate that they do not remember; t heir feeling of knowing is usually incorrect

Question 50

primacy effect

Answer 50

Better recall of the first items of a list

Question 51

principle of Pragnanz

Answer 51

the mental steps that must be used to answer a question: encoding the question, comparing the encoded question with encoded facts stored in memory, and if the encoding of the question and facts match, answer the question

Question 52

proactive interference

Answer 52

interference that occurs when previously learned information inhibits the ability to remember new information

Question 53

procedural memory

Answer 53

stored knowledge that allows the skillful performance of taks even though individual parts of the task cannot be recalled or explained to others

Question 54

prosopagnosia

Answer 54

a condition usually caused by brain disease or injury in which people are unable to recognize familiar faces; it is not the result of visual, intellectual, or memory deficits

Question 55

prospective memory

Answer 55

a theory that explains the relationship between framing effects (presented as gains or losses) and the choices people make. Fenerally, people are more effected by the fear of loss than the prospect of equivalent gain.

Question 56

prototype

Answer 56

An average, or typical instance of many different views of an object

Question 57

prototype theory

Answer 57

a theory that pattern recognition occurs when the features of the object to be recognized overlap in some way with the features of the prototype

Question 58

pure word deafness

Answer 58

individuals with this condition can hear sounds, read, write, and speak, but are unable to understand spoken language

Question 59

recency effect

Answer 59

better recall of the last items of a list

Question 60

recognition by components theory

Answer 60

the pattern recognition process that identifies features of 3-D objects

Question 61

rehearsal

Answer 61

Paying attention to items in short-term memory

Question 62

reminiscence bump

Answer 62

Heightened retrospective recall for autobiographical events that occurred between the ages of 10 to 25

Question 63

retroactive interference

Answer 63

hindrance that occurs when new information makes it difficult to remember previously learned information

Question 64

retrospective memory

Answer 64

an aspect of episodic memory that allows a person to travel back mentally in time to retrieve a fact, or to relieve an experience (e.g., remembering the first time you drove a car, or what you wore to the senior prom).

Question 65

schizophrenia

Answer 65

a disorder in which people suffer difficulties with abnormal perception, moods, actions, and the ability to express themselves in a logical manner. An additional symtom of this disorder is difficulty recognizing faces.

Question 66

semantic features

Answer 66

Words or gestures that convey packets of meaning to a listener; all systems of communication, no matter how primitive, have a cemantic component

Question 67

semantic memory

Answer 67

A buffer memory system that hosts an incoming stream of information long enough for us to pay attention to it and sperates incming information from everything else occuring in our cognitive system. We are rarely conscious of its actions in everyday life. SOmetimes referred to as sensory information storage.

Question 68

serial exhaustive search

Answer 68

examining every itme in short-term memory in tis entirety and continuing to search even after the item has been found

Question 69

serial position effect

Answer 69

the probability of recalling items that the beginning and end of a list is higher than the probability of recalling items in the middle of a list.

Question 70

short-term memory

Answer 70

Memory that contains our moment-to-moment conscious thoughts and perception; its contents endure only as long as we are paying attention to them.

Question 71

source monitoring

Answer 71

Identifying where knowledge comes from; the ability to distinguish between new information about an event that was actually observed or experienced and information that was heard about the event. Inaccuracy of source monitoring can lead to false recollections

Question 72

state-dependent learning

Answer 72

the ability to recall information is superior when a person is in the same physical state as when he or she learned the information (e.g., sober or intoxicated)

Question 73

subjective organization

Answer 73

A unique way of encoding events specific to each person

Question 74

template-matching theory

Answer 74

this theory assumes that we have stored away an unlimited number of patterns, literal copies corresponding to every object that we have experienced. These patterns are labeled with the name of the object and can be instantly matched to a new instance of the object.

Question 75

tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Answer 75

Temporary inaccessibility of word or fact in memory

Question 76

top-down processing

Answer 76

After a preliminary guess is made about a stimulus (by using bottom-up processing), the pattern recognition process reduces the set of possibilities by selecting only low-level features that merit furhter analysis in order to complete the identification

Question 77

visual cache

Answer 77

A component of the visuospatial sketchpad that temporarily stores visual information from perceptual experience and contains color, form, and some spatial inforamation of what is perceived.

Question 78

visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 78

a component of working memory responsivle for storing visually presented information, such as drawings, or remembering kinesthetic (motor) movements, such as dance steps

Question 79

word-length effect

Answer 79

Short-term memory span decreases when the length of words to be memorized increases

Question 80

word-superiority effect

Answer 80

the ability recognize letters embedded in words more easily than when they are in random strings of letters or when they appear alone.

Question 81

working memory

Answer 81

the set of mechanisms that underlies short term memory; a semipermanent memory store that endures for a lifetime and aids in learning new information

Question 82

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 82

Where people cannot recall events or facts in their lives that occurred prior to some critical event that affected their brain.

Question 83

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 83

Failure to add to memory after a critical event

Question 84

Mnemonics

Answer 84

Strategy used to condense info, such as acronyms