Chapter 7 Terms

Question 1

Context-Dependent Learning

Answer 1

A pattern of data in which materials learned in one setting are well remembered when the person returns to that setting, but are less well remembered in other settings.

Question 2

Encoding Specificity

Answer 2

The tendency, when memorizing, to place in memory both the materials to be learned and some amount of their context. As a result, these materials will be recognized as familiar, later on, only if the materials appear again in a similar context.

Question 3

Context Reinstatement

Answer 3

A procedure in which a person is led to the same mental and emotional state they were in during a previous event; context reinstatement can often promote accurate recollection of that event.

Question 4

Nodes

Answer 4

An individual unit within an associate network. In a scheme using local representations, nodes represent single ideas or concepts. In a scheme using distributed representations, ideas or concepts are represented by a pattern of activation across a wide number of nodes; the same nodes may also participate in other patterns and therefore in other representations.

Question 5

Association (Associative Links)

Answer 5

Functional connections that are hypothesized to link nodes within a mental network or detectors within a detector network; these associations are often hypothesized as the “carriers” of activation from one node or detector to the next.

Question 6

Summation

Answer 6

The addition of two or more separate inputs so that the effect of the combined inputs is greater than the effect of any one input.

Question 7

Subthreshold Activation

Answer 7

Activation levels below response threshold. Subthreshold activation, by definition, will not trigger a response; nonetheless, this activation is important because it can accumulate, leading eventually to an activation level that reaches (or exceeds) the response threshold.

Question 8

Spreading Activation

Answer 8

A process through which activation travels from one node to another, via associative links. As each node becomes activated, it serves as a source for further activation, spreading onward through the network.

Question 9

Lexical-Decision Task

Answer 9

A task in which participants are shown strings of letters and must indicate, as quickly as possible, whether or not each string of letters is a word in their language. It is proposed that people perform this task by “looking up” these strings in their “mental dictionary.”

Question 10

Semantic Priming

Answer 10

A process in which activation of an idea in memory causes activation to spread to other ideas related to the first meaning.

Question 11

Recall

Answer 11

A task of memory retrieval in which the remembered must come up with the desired materials, sometimes in response to a cue that names the context in which these materials were earlier encountered (e.g., “name the pictures you saw earlier”), and sometimes in response to a cue that broadly identifies the sought-after information (e.g., “name a fruit”). Often contrasted with recognition.

Question 12

Recognition

Answer 12

The task of memory retrieval in which the items to be remembered are presented and the person must decide whether or not the item was encountered in some earlier circumstance. For example, one might be asked, “Have you ever seen this person before?” or “Is this the poster you saw in the office yesterday?” Often contrasted with recall.

Question 13

Familiarity

Answer 13

In some circumstances, the subjective feeling that one has encountered a stimulus before and is now in some way influenced by that encounter, whether or not one recalls that encounter or feels that the stimulus is familiar.

Question 14

Source Memory

Answer 14

A form of memory that enables a person to recollect the episode in which learning took place or the time and place in which a particular stimulus was encountered.

Question 15

“Remember/Know” Distinction

Answer 15

A distinction between two experiences a person can have in recalling a past event. If you “remember” having encountered a stimulus before, then you usually can offer information about that encounter, including when, where, and how it occurred. If you merely “know” that you encountered a stimulus before, then you’re likely to have a sense of familiarity with the stimulus but may have no idea when or where it was last encountered.

Question 16

Word-Stem Completion

Answer 16

A task in which research participants are given the beginning of a word (e.g., “TOM”) and must provide a word that starts with the letters provided. In some versions of the task, only one solution is possible, so performance is measured by counting the number of words completed.

Question 17

Direct Memory Testing

Answer 17

A form of memory testing in which people are asked explicitly to remember some previous event. Recall and standard recognition testing are both forms of direct memory testing. Often contrasted with indirect memory testing.

Question 18

Indirect Memory Testing

Answer 18

A form of memory testing in which research participants are not told that their memories are being tested. Instead, they’re testing in such a way that previous experiences can influence current behavior. Examples of indirect tests include word-stem completion, the lexical-decision task, and tachistoscopic recognition. Often contrasted with direct memory testing.

Question 19

Explicit Memory

Answer 19

A memory revealed by direct memory testing, and usually accompanied by the conviction that one is, in fact, remembering - that is, drawing on some sort of knowledge (perhaps knowledge about a specific prior episode, or perhaps more general knowledge). Often contrasted with implicit memory.

Question 20

Implicit Memory

Answer 20

A memory revealed by indirect memory testing and often manifested as a priming effect in which current performance is guided or facilitated by previous experiences. Implicit memories are often accompanied by no conscious realization that one is, in fact, being influenced by specific past experiences. Often contrasted with explicit memory.

Question 21

Illusion of Truth

Answer 21

An effect of implicit memory in which claims that are familiar end up seeming more plausible.

Question 22

Source Confusion

Answer 22

A memory error in which one misremembers where a bit of information was learned or where a particular stimulus was last encountered.

Question 23

Processing Pathway

Answer 23

A sequence of nodes and connections between nodes through which activation flows when recognizing or thinking about a stimulus or idea.

Question 24

Processing Fluency

Answer 24

The speed or ease of processing involved in recognizing or thinking about a stimulus or idea; usually understood as a reflection of the speed or ease with which activation moves through a processing pathway.

Question 25

Amnesia

Answer 25

A disruption of memory, often due to brain damage.

Question 26

Retrograde Amnesia

Answer 26

An inability to remember experiences before the event that triggered the memory disruption. Often contrasted with anterograde amnesia.

Question 27

Anterograde Amnesia

Answer 27

An inability to remember experiences before the event that triggered the memory disruption. Often contrasted with anterograde amnesia.

Question 28

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Answer 28

A clinical syndrome characterized primarily by dense anterograde amnesia. Korsakoff’s syndrome is caused by damage to specific brain regions, and it is often precipitated by a form of malnutrition that is common along long-term alcoholics.

Question 29

Intrusion Error

Answer 29

A memory error in which a person recalls elements that were not part of the original episode.

Question 30

DRM Paradigm

Answer 30

A commonly used experimental design, named after its originators (Deese, Roediger, and McDermott), for eliciting and studying memory errors. In this procedure, a person sees or hears a list of words that are related to single theme; however, the word that names the theme is not itself included. Nonetheless, people are very likely to remember later that the theme word was presented.