Chapter 7 Key Terms, Summary & Review Questions

Question 1

chunking

Answer 1

grouping items into meaningful sequences or clusters

Question 2

consolidation

Answer 2

converting a short-term memory into a long-term memory

Question 3

cued recall

Answer 3

method to test memory by providing significant hints about the material

Question 4

declarative memory

Answer 4

memory we can readily state in words

Question 5

episodic memory

Answer 5

memory for specific events in your life

Question 6

executive functioning

Answer 6

cognitive process that governs shifts of attention

Question 7

explicit memory (or direct memory)

Answer 7

a memory that someone can state, recognizing it as a memory

Question 8

free recall

Answer 8

describing what you remember, as you do on essay tests

Question 9

implicit memory (or indirect memory)

Answer 9

an influence of some experience on what you say or do even though you might not be aware of the influence

Question 10

information-processing model

Answer 10

concept that information enters a system that in turn processes, codes, and stores it

Question 11

long-term memory

Answer 11

relatively permanent store

Question 12

memory

Answer 12

retention of Information

Question 13

priming

Answer 13

exposing someone to an experience that facilitates thinking of or recognizing something else

Question 14

procedural memory

Answer 14

knowledge of how to do something

Question 15

recognition

Answer 15

method of testing memory by asking someone to choose the correct item among options

Question 16

savings method (or relearning method)

Answer 16

method of testing memory by comparing the speed of original learning to the speed of relearning

Question 17

semantic memory

Answer 17

knowledge of principles and fact

Question 18

short-term memory

Answer 18

temporary storage of recent events

Question 19

source amnesia

Answer 19

forgetting where or how you learned something

Question 20

working memor

Answer 20

system for working with current information

Question 21

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

A-Insulin and glucagon

B-Testosterone and estradiol

C-Cortisol and epinephrine

D-Thyroid hormone and parathyroid hormone

Answer 21

C-Cortisol and epinephrine

Question 22

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

A-How the items might relate to important events in history

B-How hard it would be to manufacture each item

C-Which store you would have to visit to purchase each item

D-How well the items could aid you in a survival situation

Answer 22

D-How well the items could aid you in a survival situation

Question 23

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

A-Repeat the information to be remembered as many times as possible.

B-Strengthen synapses near the center of your brain.

C-Associate the information with your own interests and experiences.

D-First memorize a list of places and then associate each item on a list with one of those places.

Answer 23

C-Associate the information with your own interests and experiences.

Question 24

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

A-Do all your studying in the same location, such as one place in the library.

B-Study something over and over, all at one time, until you master it.

C-Study something in a variety of times and place.

Answer 24

C-Study something in a variety of times and place.

Question 25

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

A-Continue reviewing this chapter over and over again.

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

Answer 25

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

Question 26

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?

A-Old people don’t want to remember their middle adult years.

B-Memories from middle adulthood are stored in a different part of the brain.

C-Memories of young adulthood formed more strongly at the time.

Answer 26

C-Memories of young adulthood formed more strongly at the time.

Question 27

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?

A-More likely

B-Less likely

C-About equally likely

Answer 27

B-Less likely

Question 28

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?

A-Encoding specificity principle

B-Hypermnesia

C-Hindsight bias

D-Depth-of-processing principle

Answer 28

C-Hindsight bias

Question 29

Interference.

Answer 29

When someone learns several similar sets of material, the earlier ones interfere with retrieval of later ones by proactive interference. The later ones interfere with earlier ones by retroactive interference. Interference is a major cause of forgetting.

Question 30

The “recovered memory” versus “false memory” debate.

Answer 30

Some therapists have used hypnosis or suggestions to try to help people remember painful experiences. Many researchers doubt the accuracy of those recovered memories. Suggestions can induce people to distort memories or report events that did not happen.

Question 31

Amnesia after damage to the hippocampus.

Answer 31

H. M. and other patients with damage to the hippocampus have great difficulty storing new long-term declarative memories, especially episodic memories, although they form normal short-term, procedural, and implicit memories.

Question 32

Role of the hippocampus.

Answer 32

The hippocampus serves many functions in memory. One is to bind together all the details and context of an event. In the absence of a healthy hippocampus or after the information in the hippocampus weakens, one is left with only the “gist” of the event.

Question 33

Damage to the prefrontal cortex.

Answer 33

Patients with damage to the prefrontal cortex give confident wrong answers, known as confabulations. Most confabulations were correct information earlier in the person’s life.

Question 34

Alzheimer’s disease.

Answer 34

People with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that occurs mostly after age 60 to 65, have a variety of memory problems, although procedural memory is more intact than explicit, declarative memory. Their problems stem largely from impairments of arousal and attention.

Question 35

Infant amnesia.

Answer 35

Most people remember little from early childhood, even though preschoolers have clear recollections of experiences that happened months or even years ago. The apparent explanation is that infants rapidly form new neurons in the hippocampus, facilitating rapid learning. However, the turnover of neurons means that many old ones are replaced, leading to forgetting.