Chapter 7

Question 1

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 1

Loss of memories for events that occur after a head injury.

Question 2

Attention

Answer 2

Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events.

Question 3

Chunk

Answer 3

A group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit.

Question 4

Clustering

Answer 4

The tendency to remember similar or related items in groups.

Question 5

Conceptual hierarchy

Answer 5

A multilevel classification system based on common properties among items.

Question 6

Connectionist models.

Answer 6

Models of memory that assume cognitive processes depend on patterns of activation in highly interconnected computational networks that resemble neural networks. Also called connectionist models.

Question 7

Consolidation

Answer 7

A hypothetical process involving the gradual conversion of information into durable memory codes stored in long-term memory.

Question 8

Decay theory

Answer 8

The idea that forgetting occurs because memory traces fade with time.

Question 9

Declarative memory system

Answer 9

Memory for factual information.

Question 10

Dual-coding theory

Answer 10

Paivio’s theory that memory is enhanced by forming semantic and visual codes, since either can lead to recall.

Question 11

Elaboration

Answer 11

Linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding.

Question 12

Encoding

Answer 12

Forming a memory code.

Question 13

Encoding specificity principle

Answer 13

The idea that the value of a retrieval cue depends on how well it corresponds to the memory code.

Question 14

Episodic memory system

Answer 14

Chronological, or temporally dated, recollections of personal experiences.

Question 15

Explicit memory

Answer 15

Intentional recollection of previous experiences.

Question 16

Flashbulb memories

Answer 16

Unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events.

Question 17

Forgetting curve

Answer 17

A graph showing retention and forgetting over time.

Question 18

Hindsight bias

Answer 18

The tendency to mould one’s interpretation of the past to fit how events actually turned out.

Question 19

Implicit memory

Answer 19

Type of memory apparent when retention is exhibited on a task that does not require intentional remembering.

Question 20

Interference theory

Answer 20

The idea that people forget information because of competition from other material.

Question 21

Keyword method

Answer 21

A mnemonic technique in which one associates a concrete word with an abstract word and generates an image to represent the concrete word.

Question 22

Levels-of-processing theory

Answer 22

The theory holding that deeper levels of mental processing result in longer-lasting memory codes.

Question 23

Link method

Answer 23

Forming a mental image of items to be remembered in a way that links them together.

Question 24

Long-term memory (LTM)

Answer 24

An unlimited-capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time.
Audio definition

Question 25

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 25

A long-lasting increase in neural excitability in synapses along a specific neural pathway.

Question 26

Method of loci

Answer 26

A mnemonic device that involves taking an imaginary walk along a familiar path where images of items to be remembered are associated with certain locations.

Question 27

Mnemonic devices

Answer 27

Strategies for enhancing memory.

Question 28

Nondeclarative memory system

Answer 28

Memory for actions, skills, and operations.

Question 29

Overlearning `

Answer 29

Continued rehearsal of material after one first appears to have mastered it.

Question 30

Parallel distributed processing (PDP) models

Answer 30

Models of memory that assume cognitive processes depend on patterns of activation in highly interconnected computational networks that resemble neural networks. Also called connectionist models.

Question 31

Proactive interference

Answer 31

A memory problem that occurs when previously learned information interferes with the retention of new information

Question 32

Procedural memory system

Answer 32

The repository of memories for actions, skills, and operations.

Question 33

Prospective memory

Answer 33

The ability to remember to perform actions in the future.

Question 34

Reality monitoring

Answer 34

The process of deciding whether memories are based on external sources (our perceptions of actual events) or internal sources (our thoughts and imaginations).

Question 35

Recall

Answer 35

A memory test that requires subjects to reproduce information on their own without any cues.

Question 36

Recognition

Answer 36

A memory test that requires subjects to select previously learned information from an array of options.

Question 37

Rehearsal

Answer 37

The process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about information to be stored in memory.

Question 38

Relearning

Answer 38

A memory test that requires a subject to memorize information a second time to determine how much time or effort is saved by having learned it before.

Question 39

`Repression

Answer 39

Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.

Question 40

Retention

Answer 40

The proportion of material retained (remembered).

Question 41

Retrieval

Answer 41

Recovering information from memory stores.

Question 42

Retroactive interference

Answer 42

A memory problem that occurs when new information impairs the retention of previously learned information.

Question 43

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 43

Loss of memories for events that occurred prior to a head injury.

Question 44

Retrospective memory

Answer 44

The ability to remember events from the past or previously learned information.

Question 45

Schema

Answer 45

An organized cluster of knowledge about a particular object or sequence of events.

Question 46

Self-referent encoding

Answer 46

Deciding how or whether information is personally relevant.

Question 47

Semantic memory system

Answer 47

General knowledge that is not tied to the time when the information was learned.

Question 48

Semantic network

Answer 48

Concepts joined together by links that show how the concepts are related.

Question 49

Sensory memory

Answer 49

The preservation of information in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a fraction of a second.

Question 50

Serial-position effect

Answer 50

In memory tests, the fact that subjects show better recall for items at the beginning and end of a list than for items in the middle.

Question 51

Short-term memory (STM)

Answer 51

A limited-capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for about 20 to 30 seconds.

Question 52

Source monitoring

Answer 52

The process of making attributions about the origins of memories.

Question 53

Source-monitoring error

Answer 53

An error that occurs when a memory derived from one source is misattributed to another source.

Question 54

Storage

Answer 54

Maintaining encoded information in memory over time.

Question 55

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Answer 55

A temporary inability to remember something accompanied by a feeling that it’s just out of reach.

Question 56

Transfer-appropriate processing

Answer 56

The situation that occurs when the initial processing of information is similar to the type of processing required by the subsequent measures of attention.