Chapter 6 - Learning, Memory and forgetting

Question 1

Encoding

Answer 1

The process by which information contained in external stimuli is transformed into a representation that can be stored within the memory system.

Question 2

Iconic memory

Answer 2

A sensory store that holds visual information for between 250-1,000 milliseconds following the offset of a visual stimulus.

Question 3

Echoic memory

Answer 3

A sensory store that holds auditory information for approximately 2-3 seconds.

Question 4

Chunks

Answer 4

Stored units formed from integrating smaller pieces of information.

Question 5

Articulatory suppression

Answer 5

Rapid repetition of a simple sound (e.g., “the the the”), which uses the articulatory control process of the phonological loop.

Question 6

Working memory

Answer 6

A limited-capacity system used in the processing and brief holding of information.

Question 7

Central executive

Answer 7

A modality-free, limited-capacity, component of working memory.

Question 8

Phonological loop

Answer 8

A component of working memory in which speech-based information is processed and stored briefly and subvocal articulation occurs.

Question 9

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 9

A component of working memory used to process visual and spatial information and to store this information briefly.

Question 10

Episodic buffer

Answer 10

A component of working memory; it is essentially passive and stores integrated information briefly.

Question 11

Phonological similarity effect

Answer 11

The finding that immediate serial recall of verbal material is reduced when the items sound similar.

Question 12

Word-length effect

Answer 12

The finding that verbal memory span decreases when longer words are presented.

Question 13

Orthographic neighbours

Answer 13

With reference to a target word, the number of words that can be formed by changing one of its letters.

Question 14

Visual cache

Answer 14

According to Logie, the part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad that stores information about visual form and colour.

Question 15

Inner scribe

Answer 15

According to Logie, the part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad dealing with spatial and movement information.

Question 16

Executive processes

Answer 16

Processes that organise and coordinate the functioning of the cognitive system to achieve current goals.

Question 17

Dysexecutive Syndrome

Answer 17

A condition in which damage to the frontal lobes causes impairments to the central executive component of working memory.

Question 18

Working memory capacity

Answer 18

An assessment of how much information can be processed and stored at the same time; individuals with high capacity have higher intelligence and more attentional control.

Question 19

Reading span

Answer 19

The largest number of sentences read for comprehension from which an individual can recall all the final words over 50% of the time.

Question 20

Operation span

Answer 20

The maximum number of items (arithmetical questions + words) for which an individual can recall all the words more than 50% of the time.

Question 21

Crystallised intelligence

Answer 21

A form of intelligence that involves the ability to use one’s knowledge and experience effectively.

Question 22

Executive functions

Answer 22

Processes that organise and coordinate the workings of the cognitive system to achieve current goals; key executive functions include inhibiting dominant responses, shifting attention and updating information in working memory.

Question 23

Stroop task

Answer 23

A task in which participants have to name the ink colours in which colour words are printed; performance is slowed when the to-be-named colour (green) conflicts with the colour word (red).

Question 24

Explicit memory

Answer 24

Memory that involves conscious recollection of information.

Question 25

Implicit memory

Answer 25

Memory that does not depend on conscious recollection.

Question 26

Distinctiveness

Answer 26

This characterises memory traces that are distinct or different from other memory traces stored in long-term memory.

Question 27

Testing effect

Answer 27

The finding that long-term memory is enhanced when some of the learning period is devoted to retrieving to-be-learned information rather than simply studying it.

Question 28

Implicit learning

Answer 28

Learning complex information without conscious awareness of what has been learned.

Question 29

Process-dissociation procedure

Answer 29

On learning tasks, participants try to guess the next stimulus (inclusion condition) or avoid guessing the next stimulus accurately (exclusion condition); the difference between the two conditions indicates the amount of explicit learning.

Question 30

Serial reaction time task

Answer 30

Participants on this task respond as rapidly as possible to stimuli typically presented in a repeating sequence; it is used to assess implicit learning.

Question 31

Striatum

Answer 31

It forms part of the basal ganglia and is located in the upper part of the brainstem and the inferior hemisphere.

Question 32

Parkinson’s disease

Answer 32

A progressive disorder involving damage to the basal ganglia (including the striatum); the symptoms include muscle rigidity, limb tremor and mask-like facial expressions.

Question 33

Savings method

Answer 33

A measure of forgetting introduced by Ebbinghaus in which the number of trials for relearning is compared against the number for original learning.

Question 34

Synaesthesia

Answer 34

The tendency for one sense modality to evoke another.

Question 35

Proactive interference

Answer 35

Disruption of memory by previous learning (often of similar material).

Question 36

Retroactive interference

Answer 36

Disruption of memory for previously learned information by other learning or processing occurring during the retention interval.

Question 37

Repression

Answer 37

Motivated forgetting of traumatic or other threatening events (especially from childhood).

Question 38

Recovered memories

Answer 38

Childhood traumatic memories forgotten for several years and then remembered in adult life.

Question 39

Directed forgetting

Answer 39

Reduced long-term memory caused by instructions to forget information that had been presented for learning.

Question 40

Encoding specificity principle

Answer 40

The notion that retrieval depends on the overlap between the information available at retrieval and the information in the memory trace.

Question 41

Consolidation

Answer 41

A basic process within the brain involved in establishing long-term memories; this process lasts several hours or more and newly formed memories are fragile.

Question 42

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 42

Impaired ability of amnesic patients to remember information and events from the time period prior to the onset of amnesia.

Question 43

Reconsolidation

Answer 43

This is a new process of consolidation occurring when a previously formed memory trace is reactivated; it allows that memory trace to be updated.