Chapter 7

Question 1

What is one major difference between procedural (habit) and declarative memory?

Answer 1

Procedural memory develops gradually and is sensitive to information that is usually but not always correct.

Question 2

When police ask a witness to identify a suspect from a lineup, which of the following procedures do psychologists recommend?

Answer 2

Ask for a percent confidence answer instead of a yes/no answer.

Question 3

To investigate a possible case of sexual abuse of a young child, what is the best way to ask the child?

Answer 3

Ask, “tell me what happened,” as soon as possible.

Question 4

Which of the following is an example of an episodic memory?

Answer 4

“Let me tell you about my trip to Japan …”

Question 5

Which of the following is an example of source amnesia?

Answer 5

“I don’t remember where I heard this, but I heard that apricot pits can cure cancer.”

Question 6

Theorists today believe that short-term memory can hold only four items at most. Why can you nevertheless repeat a list of seven or more items?

Answer 6

Chunking

Question 7

The “central executive” aspect of working memory is responsible for what?

Answer 7

Shifting attention between one task and another

Question 8

Emotional arousal enhances memory storage by increasing the release of which hormones?

Answer 8

Cortisol and epinephrine

Question 9

Other things being equal, you remember a list of words best if you think about them in what way?

Answer 9

How well the items could aid you in a survival situation

Question 10

According to the depth-of-processing principle, what should you do to improve your chances of remembering something later?

Answer 10

Associate the information with your own interests and experiences.

Question 11

According to the encoding specificity principle, how should you study if you want to remember something for a lifetime?

Answer 11

Study something in a variety of times and place.

Question 12

If you want to do well on the final exam in this course, what should you do now?

Answer 12

After you finish this chapter, review some of the earlier chapters in the book.

Question 13

Old people remember events from young adulthood better than those from middle adulthood. One explanation is that memories continue to consolidate, year after year. What is another explanation?

Answer 13

Memories of young adulthood formed more strongly at the time.

Question 14

If you studied a list such as “candy, sour, sugar, dessert, salty, taste,…” thoroughly instead of hearing it just once, would you be more likely or less likely to include “sweet,” which isn’t on the list?

Answer 14

Less likely

Question 15

As discussed in Chapter 5, children who fail to display “theory of mind” seem to assume that if they know something, everyone else would know it too. Which of the following phenomena is similar to that assumption?

Answer 15

Hindsight bias

Question 16

Last week you read a magazine article and discussed it. Since then you have read several additional articles. When you try to discuss the article you read last week, you find that you cannot remember it clearly. Why?

Answer 16

Retroactive interference

Question 17

One explanation of the primacy effect is that the first item on a list is not blocked by ______ interference. One explanation of the recency effect is that the last item on the list is not blocked by ______ interference.

Answer 17

proactive … retroactive

Question 18

In which of these ways does a memory recovered by therapy differ, on average, from traumatic memories that people recover spontaneously?

Answer 18

Recovered memories are seldom supported by evidence.

Question 19

Based on studies of children known to have experienced highly traumatic experiences, what are the implications for the concept of repression?

Answer 19

If repression occurs at all, it occurs under rare and unknown circumstances.

Question 20

If someone is trying to remember an event that may have happened long ago, what is the probable consequence of showing a photograph from that period of time?

Answer 20

The person becomes more susceptible to suggestion of something that didn’t happen.

Question 21

Which kind of memory was most impaired in patient H. M.?

Answer 21

Declarative memory, especially episodic memory

Question 22

Which of the following is most characteristic of people with Korsakoff’s syndrome?

Answer 22

Confabulations

Question 23

Most adults remember very few events from early childhood. Studies on mice support which explanation for this infantile amnesia?

Answer 23

Infants form many new neurons that not only facilitate new learning but also forgetting.

Question 24

What can we infer from comparing several methods of testing memory?

Answer 24

How well you remember something depends on how someone tests you.

Question 25

Suppose your final exam is just one essay question: “Describe everything you learned in this course!” What type of memory test is that?

Answer 25

Free recall

Question 26

Which kind of memory test are you taking right now?

Answer 26

Recognition

Question 27

Your memory of how to define some word is an example of what?

Answer 27

Semantic memory

Question 28

Remembering your most recent visit to your cousins is what type of memory?

Answer 28

Episodic memory

Question 29

An experimenter reads many series of letters, such as TGWNR, and you try to recall each one later, without rehearsing during the delay. About how long would each memory probably last?

Answer 29

A few seconds but less than 20

Question 30

Suppose you watch the news on TV every night. According to the recency effect in memory, which of the following are you likely to remember?

Answer 30

The news that you watched last night

Question 31

You read a list of all the 74 state parks in Ohio and try to recall them. Which will you be LEAST likely to remember?

Answer 31

One with a common name, such as East Harbor

Question 32

What does the depth-of-processing principle relate to?

Answer 32

How to study to make something easy to remember

Question 33

You read a list of terms including “blind date.” Later someone asks you which word on the list was the name of a fruit, and you fail to think of “date.” Why?

Answer 33

Encoding specificity

Question 34

To remember something long term, how should you study?

Answer 34

Break up your study into many short sessions

Question 35

Suppose you have one hour to study an assignment. What will happen if you repeatedly interrupt your reading to try to answer questions about it, compared to someone who spent the whole time reading?

Answer 35

Your long-term retention will be better than that of the other person.

Question 36

Which of these statements is an example of hindsight bias?

Answer 36

“It was obvious from the start that we were going to win this game.”

Question 37

Which of the following is an example of proactive interference?

Answer 37

After staying in eight motel rooms in the last month, you can’t remember your room number in your current motel.

Question 38

Which of these general points did we learn from studies of patient H.M.?

Answer 38

Different types of memory depend on different brain areas.