Remembering and Judging

Question 1

memory

Answer 1

the ability to store and retrieve information over time

Question 2

cognition

Answer 2

the processes of acquiring and using knowledge

Question 3

types, stages and process of memory

Answer 3

explicit memory
Implicit memory

Sensory memory
Short-term memory
Long-term memory

Encoding
Storage
Retrieval

Question 4

Explicit memory (two types)

Answer 4

knowledge or experiences that can be consciously remembered

episodic

semantic

Question 5

episodic memory

Answer 5

the firsthand experiences that we have had (e.g., recollections of our high school graduation day or of the fantastic dinner we had in New York last year)

Question 6

semantic memory

Answer 6

our knowledge of facts and concepts about the world (e.g., that the absolute value of −90 is greater than the absolute value of 9 and that one definition of the word “affect” is “the experience of feeling or emotion”).

Question 7

recall memory test

Answer 7

a measure of explicit memory that involves bringing from memory information that has previously been remembered

eg essay test

Question 8

recognition memory test

Answer 8

measure of explicit memory that involves determining whether information has been seen or learned before

eg, multiple choice test

Question 9

measures of relearning (or savings)

Answer 9

assess how much more quickly information is processed or learned when it is studied again after it has already been learned but then forgotten

Question 10

implicit memory (three types)

Answer 10

the influence of experience on behavior, even if the individual is not aware of those influences

procedural memory, classical conditioning effects
priming

Question 11

Procedural memory

Answer 11

our often unexplainable knowledge of how to do things

walk from one place to another, speak to another person in English, dial a cell phone, or play a video game,

Question 12

classical conditioning effects

Answer 12

we learn, often without effort or awareness, to associate neutral stimuli (such as a sound or a light) with another stimulus (such as food), which creates a naturally occurring response, such as enjoyment or salivation

Question 13

priming

Answer 13

changes in behavior as a result of experiences that have happened frequently or recently

the activation of knowledge (e.g., we can prime the concept of “kindness” by presenting people with words related to kindness) and to the influence of that activation on behavior (people who are primed with the concept of kindness may act more kindly)

eg, word fragment test

Question 14

stages of memory

Answer 14

Sensory, Short-Term, and Long-Term Memory

stages that describe the length of time that information remains available to us, some not making it all the way through

Question 15

Sensory memory

Answer 15

the brief storage of sensory information

lasts only very briefly to give the brain time to process and is forgotten if no attention is given to it

Question 16

iconic memory

Answer 16

Visual sensory memory, these decay very rapidly

George Sperling

Question 17

echoic memory

Answer 17

Auditory sensory memory, these last longer than iconic memories, usually 4 seconds

Question 18

eidetic imagery (or “photographic memory”)

Answer 18

people who can report details of an image over long periods of time

Question 19

Short-term memory (STM)

Answer 19

the place where small amounts of information can be temporarily kept for more than a few seconds but usually for less than one minute

info that we turn our attention to and that becomes available to us for processing

it is actually a set of procedures or operations, not a store

Question 20

working memory

Answer 20

the processes that we use to make sense of, modify, interpret, and store information in STM

Question 21

central executive

Answer 21

the part of working memory that directs attention and processing

e.g., solving a math problem and then remembering a letter multiple times

central executive will make use of whatever strategies seem to be best for the given task (e.g., maintenance rehearsal, chunking)

Question 22

maintenance rehearsal

Answer 22

the process of repeating information mentally or out loud with the goal of keeping it in memory

Question 23

Chunking

Answer 23

the process of organizing information into smaller groupings (chunks), thereby increasing the number of items that can be held in STM

Question 24

long-term memory (LTM),

Answer 24

memory storage that can hold information for days, months, and years. The capacity of long-term memory is large, and there is no known limit to what we can remember

Question 25

Encoding

Answer 25

the process by which we place the things that we experience into memory. Unless information is encoded, it cannot be remembered.

Question 26

elaborative encoding

Answer 26

process new information in ways that make it more relevant or meaningful

elaborate on new information to encode it, eg by linking it to other information or contextualizing it, encode it in a way that relates to yourself

Question 27

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Answer 27

a pioneer of the study of memory

He discovered an important principle of memory: Memory decays rapidly at first, but the amount of decay levels off with time

Question 28

spacing effect

Answer 28

the fact that learning is better when the same amount of study is spread out over periods of time than it is when it occurs closer together or at the same time

Question 29

overlearning

Answer 29

continuing to practice and study even when we think that we have mastered the material

this is beneficial

Question 30

Retrieval

Answer 30

the process of reactivating information that has been stored in memory

Question 31

Context-dependent learning

Answer 31

an increase in retrieval when the external situation in which information is learned matches the situation in which it is remembered

Question 32

state-dependent learning

Answer 32

superior retrieval of memories when the individual is in the same physiological or psychological state as during encoding

Question 33

primacy effect

Answer 33

a tendency to better remember stimuli that are presented early in a list

Question 34

recency effect

Answer 34

the tendency to better remember stimuli that are presented later in a list

Question 35

serial position curve

Answer 35

results curve that results from the primacy and recency effect

Question 36

Retroactive interference

Answer 36

learning something new impairs our ability to retrieve information that was learned earlier

Question 37

Proactive interference

Answer 37

earlier learning impairs our ability to encode information that we try to learn later

Question 38

categories

Answer 38

memories in LTM are linked together into networks of associated memories that have features in common with each other

Question 39

spreading activation

Answer 39

occurs when activating one element of a category activates other associated elements.

Question 40

prototype

Answer 40

the member of the category that is most average or typical of the category

these are retrieved faster than others that are less prototypical

Question 41

schemas

Answer 41

patterns of knowledge in long-term memory that help us organize information

schemas about objects (that a triangle has three sides and may take on different angles), about people (that Sam is friendly, likes to golf, and always wears sandals), about events (the particular steps involved in ordering a meal at a restaurant), and about social groups (we call these group schemas stereotypes)

Question 42

LTM Retention

Answer 42

LTM involves a gradual strengthening of the connections among the neurons in the brain

Question 43

long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 43

the strengthening of the synaptic connections between neurons as result of frequent stimulation

Question 44

consolidation

Answer 44

period of time in which LTP occurs and in which memories are stored

Question 45

hippocampus in memory

Answer 45

serves as a preprocessor and elaborator of information

helps us encode information about spatial relationships, the context in which events were experienced, and the associations among memories

holds the memory for a short time and then directs the information to other parts of the brain, such as the cortex, to actually do the rehearsing, elaboration, and long-term storage

Question 46

cerebellum and the amygdala in memory

Answer 46

concentrating on implicit and emotional memories, respectively

Question 47

retrograde amnesia,

Answer 47

a memory disorder that produces an inability to retrieve events that occurred before a given time

Question 48

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 48

is the inability to transfer information from short-term into long-term memory, making it impossible to form new memories

Question 49

Glutamate

Answer 49

a neurotransmitter and a form of the amino acid glutamic acid, is perhaps the most important neurotransmitter in memory

When animals, including people, are under stress, more glutamate is secreted, and this glutamate can help them remember

also serotonin, estrogen and epinephrin

Question 50

Cognitive biases

Answer 50

errors in memory or judgment that are caused by the inappropriate use of cognitive processes

Question 51

Source monitoring

Answer 51

the ability to accurately identify the source of a memory.

ie, real or a dream

or source of the information

Question 52

sleeper effect

Answer 52

attitude change that occurs over time when we forget the source of information

Question 53

confirmation bias

Answer 53

the tendency to verify and confirm our existing memories rather than to challenge and disconfirm them

comes from an over-reliance on schemas

leads us to remember information that fits our schemas better than we remember information that disconfirms them

Question 54

Functional fixedness

Answer 54

occurs when people’s schemas prevent them from using an object in new and nontraditional ways

Question 55

misinformation effect

Answer 55

errors in memory that occur when new information influences existing memories

Question 56

overconfidence

Answer 56

the tendency for people to be too certain about their ability to accurately remember events and to make judgments

Question 57

flashbulb memory

Answer 57

a vivid and emotional memory of an unusual event that people believe they remember very well

Question 58

heuristics

Answer 58

information-processing strategies that are useful in many cases but may lead to errors when misapplied

Question 59

representativeness heuristic

Answer 59

we base our judgments on information that seems to represent, or match, what we expect will happen, while ignoring other potentially more relevant statistical information

eg, representative examples of our idea of what randomness should look like

Question 60

gambler’s fallacy

Answer 60

people who see a flipped coin come up “heads” five times in a row will frequently predict, and perhaps even wager money, that “tails” will be next

Question 61

availability heuristic

Answer 61

The tendency to make judgments of the frequency or likelihood that an event occurs on the basis of the ease with which it can be retrieved from memory

Question 62

salience bias

Answer 62

we are more likely to attend to, and thus make use of and remember, some information more than other information

we tend to attend to and remember things that are highly salient, meaning that they attract our attention

Things that are unique, colorful, bright, moving, and unexpected are more salient

Question 63

Cognitive accessibility

Answer 63

the extent to which knowledge is activated in memory, and thus likely to be used in cognition and behavior

people have highly accessible schemas about environmental issues, eating healthy food, or drinking really good coffee. When schemas are highly accessible, we are likely to use them to make judgments of ourselves and others, and this overuse may inappropriately color our judgments.

Question 64

counterfactual thinking

Answer 64

The tendency to think about and experience events according to “what might have been”