Chapter 7

Question 1

Define memory

Answer 1

The retention of information or experience over time as the result of three key processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Question 2

How does memory work?

Answer 2

Take in information (encoding)
Store it or represent it in some manner (storage)
Retrieve it for a later purposes (retrieval)

Question 3

Define divided attention and sustained attention

Answer 3

Divided: Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time
Sustained: The ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time.

Question 4

Define levels of processing

Answer 4

A continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory.

Question 5

What happens at each level of processing?

Answer 5

Shallow: Physical and perceptual features are analyzed (lines and angles make up the appearance of a car)
Intermediate: Stimulus is recognized and labelled (Object recognized as a car)
Deep: Meaningful and symbolic characteristics are associated with the car

Question 6

Define elaboration

Answer 6

The formation of a number of different connections around a stimulus at any given level of memory encoding.

Question 7

Dual code hypothesis

Answer 7

Memory for pictures is better than memory for words

Question 8

Atkinson–Shiffrin theory

Answer 8

Theory stating that memory storage involves three separate systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

Question 9

What is sensory memory

Answer 9

Memory system that involves holding information from the world in its original sensory form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses.

Question 10

Echoic memory

Answer 10

Auditory sensory memory

Question 11

Iconic memory

Answer 11

Visual sensory memory

Question 12

short-term memory

Answer 12

Limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 seconds unless the individual uses strategies to retain it longer

Question 13

Two ways to improve short term memory

Answer 13

Chunking: Grouping or “packing” information into higher order units that can be remembered as single units
Rehearsal: Conscious repetition of information

Question 14

working memory

Answer 14

A combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow individuals to hold information temporarily as they perform cognitive tasks; a kind of mental workbench on which the brain manipulates and assembles information to guide understanding, decision making, and problem solving

Question 15

Three components of Baddeley’s model

Answer 15

Phonological loop: Specialized to store speech based information about the sounds of language - contains two separate components (Acoustic cord and rehearsal)
Visuo-spatial sketchpad: Stores visual and spatial information including visual imagery
Central executive: Integrates information not only from the other 2 components but from long term memory

Question 16

Define long term memory

Answer 16

A relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for a long time.

Question 17

What is long term memory divided into?

Answer 17

Explicit memory and implicit memory

Question 18

What is explicit memory (declarative memory) and what is it divided into?

Answer 18

The conscious recollection of information, such as specific facts or events and, at least in humans, information that can be verbally communicated.
Divided into Episodic and semantic memory

Question 19

What is episodic memory?

Answer 19

The retention of information about the where, when, and what of life’s happenings—that is, how individuals remember life’s episodes

Question 20

What is semantic memory?

Answer 20

A person’s knowledge about the world, including their areas of expertise; general knowledge, such as of things learned in school, and everyday knowledge.

Question 21

What is implicit memory and what is it divided into?

Answer 21

Memory in which behaviour is affected by prior experience without a conscious recollection of that experience.
Divided into procedural memory, priming and classical conditioning

Question 22

What is procedural memory?

Answer 22

Memory for skills

Question 23

What is priming?

Answer 23

The activation of information that people already have in storage to help them remember new information better and faster.

Question 24

What is a schema?

Answer 24

A pre-existing mental concept or framework that helps people to organize and interpret information. Schemas from prior encounters with the environment influence the way individuals encode, make inferences about, and retrieve information

Question 25

connectionism, or parallel distributed processing (PDP)

Answer 25

The theory that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections among neurons, several of which may work together to process a single memory

Question 26

Parts of the cerebral cortex and what type of memory it functions for?

Answer 26

Frontal lobes: Episodic memory
Amygdala: Emotional memory
Temporal lobes: Explicit memory and priming
Hippocampus: Explicit memory and priming
Cerebellum: Implicit memory

Question 27

represents that portion of original learning that appears destined to stay with the person virtually forever, even without rehearsal

Answer 27

Permastore memory

Question 28

Memory retrieval

Answer 28

The memory process that occurs when information that was retained in memory comes out of storage

Question 29

serial position effect

Answer 29

The tendency to recall the items at the beginning and end of a list more readily than those in the middle.

Question 30

autobiographical memory

Answer 30

A special form of episodic memory, consisting of a person’s recollections of their life experiences

Question 31

flashbulb memory

Answer 31

The memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery than everyday events.

Question 32

motivated forgetting

Answer 32

Forgetting that occurs when something is so painful or anxiety-laden that remembering it is intolerable.

Question 33

Encoding specificity principle

Answer 33

Information present at the time of encoding or learning tends to be effective

Question 34

Context dependent memory

Answer 34

People attempt to recall information in the same context in which they learned it

Question 35

Encoding failure

Answer 35

Occurs when information never enters long term memory

Question 36

interference theory

Answer 36

The theory that people forget not because memories are lost from storage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember.

Question 37

proactive interference

Answer 37

Situation in which material that was learned earlier disrupts the recall of material that was learned later.

Question 38

retroactive interference

Answer 38

Situation in which material that was learned later disrupts the retrieval of information that was learned earlier

Question 39

decay theory

Answer 39

States that when an individual learns something new a neurochemical memory trace forms, but over time this trace disintegrates; suggests that the passage of time always increases forgetting

Question 40

tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon

Answer 40

A type of effortful retrieval associated with a person’s feeling that they know something (say, a word or a name) but cannot quite pull it out of memory

Question 41

retrospective memory

Answer 41

Remembering information from the past.

Question 42

prospective memory

Answer 42

Remembering information about doing something in the future; includes memory for intentions

Question 43

anterograde amnesia

Answer 43

A memory disorder that affects the retention of new information and events

Question 44

retrograde amnesia

Answer 44

Memory loss for a segment of the past but not for new events.