Test 2

Question 1

Describe processes of storage, encoding, and retrieval

Answer 1

Storage: the process of “putting” new information in memory

Encoding: process of modification of information in memory; helps to store information more easily

Retrieval: process by which people “find” information they’ve previously stored so they can use it again

Question 2

What is a major claim of the dual-store model?

Answer 2

Working memory and long-term memory are distinctly different entities

Question 3

Explain capacity

Answer 3

Characteristic of sensory register (hold incoming information long enough for it to undergo very preliminary cognitive processing); sensory register has a very large capacity

Question 4

Forms of storage

Answer 4

Declarative, procedural, conceptual, conditional knowledge

Question 5

Explain duration of the sensor register

Answer 5

Information remains in the sensory register for only a very brief time

Question 6

Define working memory (3 components)

Answer 6

3 components:

• storing and working with auditory information
• storing and working with visual information
• how long information in working memory might last

Question 7

Define long term memory

Answer 7

Further processing – often by relating the new information to prior knowledge

Question 8

Explain the role of attention within the dual-store model

Answer 8

Information that is important enough to retain in memory

Question 9

What do we mentally do when we want to pay attention to something?

Answer 9

Cocktail party phenomenon

Question 10

List the 8 factors that influence attention. Examples for each?

Answer 10

Motion: wave one or both arms wildly when see friend
Size: notice larger letter first
Intensity: bright colors and loud noises
Novelty: gal with two heads and three legs
Incongruity: I took a walk with a rabbit this morning.
Social cues: follow line of sight to discover why gasping
Emotion: naked person running through crowded room
Personal significance: textbook vs. TV when have test next day

Question 11

Describe the cocktail party phenomenon

Answer 11

Ability to attend to one spoken message while ignoring others; listeners use physical characteristics to select one message and screen out others (done through shadowing)

Question 12

What is the job of the central executive? Provide example!

Answer 12

The central executive is “the boss” in Baddley’s version of the dual-store memory model. That term is often used interchangeably with the term control processes.

It controls and monitors the flow and use of information throughout the memory system.

Tasks involving planning or decision making/dangerous or difficult situations

Question 13

List 3 control processes/strategies that influence working memory functioning

Answer 13

Organization, retrieval, and rehearsal

Question 14

Differences between declarative and procedural knowledge

Answer 14

Declarative knowledge: knowing ‘that’

Procedural knowledge: knowing ‘how’

Question 15

Differences between explicit and implicit knowledge

Answer 15

Explicit: knowledge that we can easily recall and explain

Implicit: that which we can’t articulate or necessarily remember specifically

Question 16

Examples of two different levels-of-processing model of memory (?)

Answer 16

No processing: Leaves only a very brief impression
Superficial processing: Attention only to surface characteristics
Deep processing: Far more likely to remember for long haul and relate to pervious knowledge

Question 17

Describe activation model of memory

Answer 17

A single-store for memory, and each piece of information is either active or inactive. Almost all information is inactive at any given point, and it becomes active when you pay attention to it (and thus can process it).

Individual pieces of information stored in memory are connected to other items stored in memory. When you are thinking about something, the activation of that topic spreads to other topics related to it.

Question 18

Define 6 cognitive processes that affect long-term storage. Provide example for each!

Answer 18

1. Selection: process of selecting which information to process
2. Internal organization: relating new information to knowledge already stored in long-term memory
3. Rehearsal: repeating something over and over in a short time period to keep it in working memory
4. Meaningful learning: Connecting various pieces of information into a coherent whole; important to you
5. Elaboration: Using prior knowledge to embellish on new information and storing this “embellished” version
6. Visual imagery: Forming mental pictures of new information

Question 19

What is meaningful learning and what does it facilitate? Why does meaningful learning work?

Answer 19

Connecting various pieces of information into a coherent whole; it is personally connected to you

Question 20

Define self-reference effect (type of meaningful learning)

Answer 20

Relating new information to oneself can have a particularly dramatic effect on learning

Question 21

Example of internal organization

Answer 21

Relating new information to knowledge already stored in long-term memory; i.e. arrangement of four hierarchies similar in nature to one for consequences of behavior

Question 22

Compare learning in organized vs. unorganized manner. Which is most effective?

Answer 22

Material presented in an ORGANIZED manner is easier to learn than unorganized material

i.e. impose rhythm or melody on numbers

Question 23

Define elaboration and think of concrete examples of process. When does elaboration not work?

Answer 23

Using prior knowledge to embellish on new information and storing this “embellished” version

Elaborated information: is less likely to be confused with other, similar information; provides additional means through which a piece of information can later be retrieved; may help in making inferences about what information was likely to have been if information itself can’t be accurately recalled.

One consequence is that people often have difficulty distinguishing between the original information and their elaborations of it

Question 24

3 final remarks on long-term memory storage?

Answer 24

1. Long term memory storage is idiosyncratic: any two people store different information from same situation
2. Storage of new information sometimes affects previously learned information as well
3. The ways in which new information affect both nature of the knowledge they possess and the ease with which they can retrieve that knowledge later on

Question 25

Compare and contrast different kinds of knowledge: declarative, procedural, conditional, conceptual, explicit, and implicit

Answer 25

Declarative: knowing ‘that’; personal life experiences and general knowledge - information about how things are, were, or will be

Procedural: knowing ‘how’ do to something; math, science, and sense making in reading/writing

Conceptual: knowing ‘why’; general understandings of things and situations

Conditional: how to respond under certain circumstances (knowing “when” and “why/where”)

Explicit: knowledge that we can easily recall and explain

Implicit: that which we can’t articulate or necessarily remember specifically

Question 26

Describe different models or ways long-term memory can be organized: hierarchy, network parallel distributed processing, and connectionism (?)

Answer 26

The hierarchical model

• Component that are farther apart have weaker associations
• Not the only form of storage in long-term memory
• Hierarchy is not mimicked in brain—not talking about location in brain at all
• Some things can be stored twice

The network model

• Information is interconnected through ha wide range of associations
• Commonalities or connections of any type among propositions allow them to be linked in a network
• Propositional network models highlight the TYPE of relationships (having, owning, adoring, etc) between the different terms (nodes) in the network

Parallel Distributed processing model (PDP)
- Referred to as connectionist models
• Pieces of information are spread out across the long term memory (i.e. they are distributed)
• Many nodes are processed at the same time (i.e. in parallel)

Question 27

Explain how hierarchical organization influences reaction times

Answer 27

• Component that are farther apart have weaker associations
• Not the only form of storage in long-term memory
• Hierarchy is not mimicked in brain—not talking about location in brain at all
• Some things can be stored twice

Question 28

Identify concepts, concrete concepts, and abstract concepts

Answer 28

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Question 29

Describe how retrieval works and when it is easier.

Answer 29

•Similar principles to storage
o Propositions and spreading activation

•Effectiveness of retrieval is influenced by effectiveness of storage
o Encoding specificity

Question 30

Define retrieval cues and contextual cues. Examples! (?)

Answer 30

Contextual cues: physical environment in which something has been learned also facilitates retrieval

Question 31

Why are recognition tasks easier than recall tasks?

Answer 31

You engage in a(n) recognition task in a multiple choice question while you engage in a recall task in a fill-in-the-blank question.

**Fill-in-the-blank vs. multiple choice

Question 32

Describe explanations why we may forget what we learn

Answer 32

Decay: information can gradually fade away and eventually disappear from memory all together

Interference and inhibition: theory of confusion - person has learned numerous responses and gets them mixed up

Repression: an experience that was so painful or emotionally distressing that we tend either to not remember at all or remember only isolated fragments

Failure to retrieve: when people neglect to ‘look’ in part of long term memory that holds desired information

Construction error: holes possibly due to deca, interference, or unsuccessful retrieval

Failure to store or consolidate: some information may never have been completely stored in first place

Infantile amnesia: people remember little or nothing about specific events in their lives that occurred before age 3

Question 33

Recommend ways teachers can facilitate retrieval of information (?)

Answer 33

1. Identity cues: identical to information you were trying to retrieve
2. Associate cues: related to words you were searching for; should direct your search toward relevant parts of your long-term memory
3. Frames: organizational structure that systematically guides the search of long-term memory (ie. acronyms)
4. Contextual cues: physical environment in which something has been learned also facilitates retrieval

Question 34

How can classroom assessments enhance students’ learning and memory?

Answer 34

1. By promoting effective storage processes
2. By encouraging review before the assessment
3. By requiring review during the assessment itself
4. By providing feedback
5. Long term memory can probably never a totally reliable record of infomration

Question 35

Differentiate between central nervous system and peripheral nervous system

Answer 35

Central nervous system: the coordination center: compromising the brain and spinal cord; connects what we sense with what we do

Peripheral nervous system: the messenger system: carries the information from receptor cells (cells specialized to detect particular kinds of stimulation from the environment) to the central nervous system and it carries direction back to various body parts about how to respond to that stimulation

Question 36

Name and describe different parts of neuron.

Answer 36

• Cell body (soma): contains nucleus and is responsible for cell’s health
• Dendrites (branchlike structures) that receive messages from other neurons
• Axons (long, armlike structure) that transmits information to additional neurons
• Terminal buttons (end of axon branches) that contain certain chemical substances
• Some are covered in fatty substance known as myelin sheath
• When charges reach certain level = threshold of excitation

Question 37

How are messages transmitted between neurons?

Answer 37

By sending chemical messages to their neighbors across tiny spaces known as synapses

Question 38

Recognize some of the common methodologies in brain research

Answer 38

1. Studies with animals
2. Postmortem studies
3. Case studies of people with brain injuries and other pathological conditions
4. Electrical recording
5. Neuroimaging

Question 39

Identify different parts of the brain (4) and their associated functions

Answer 39

Hindbrain: involved in many basic physiological processes that keep us alive (breathing, swallowing, sleeping, regulating heart rate, etc.)
• Includes cerebellum

Midbrain: plays supporting roles in vision and hearing
• Most essential part of midbrain is reticular formation: alerts us to potentially important stimuli that the body’s receptors are encountering

Forebrain: most complex mental activities take place in primate species, especially humans
• Limbic system: essential to learning, memory, emotion, and motivation
• Hippocampus: involved in attention and learning
• Amygdala: figures prominently in (unpleasant) emotions and automatic emotional responses; enables us to associate particular emotions with particular stimuli or memories
• Thalamus: receives incoming information from various sensory neurons and sends it on to appropriate areas of the cortex; role in arousal, attention, and fear
• Hypothalamus: regulates many activities related to survival (breathing, regulating body temperature, mating, fighting, fleeing from harm)

Cerebral cortex: four major parts/lobes
• Frontal lobes: where much of our conscious thinking seems to occur
• Parietal lobes: receive and interpret somatosensory information (i.e. temperature, pressure, texture, pain)
• Occipital lobes: major responsibility for interpreting and remembering visual information
• Temporal lobes: interpret and remember complex auditory information (i.e. speech, music); important for memory over long run for concepts and general knowledge

Question 40

Describe relative specialities of right and left hemispheres of brain

Answer 40

** Left is largely responsible for controlling right side and vise versa

• Left = in charge of language, reading, mathematical skills; detailed based
• Right = dominant in visual and spatial processing; looking at and synthesizing an overall whole
• Constant communication between the two
  • Left = basics as syntax and word meanings
  • Right = able to consider multiple meanings and take context into account

Question 41

Example of how brain may collaborate on everyday tasks

Answer 41

Language comprehension:

• left handles syntax and word meanings
• right is able to consider multiple meanings and take context into account; more likely to detect sarcasm, irony, metaphors, and puns

Question 42

How is the brain interconnected? (?)

Answer 42

Two hemispheres work together to understand and respond to the world

Question 43

Explain the development of the brain before birth and during infancy and early childhood.

Answer 43

Prenatal/before birth:
•Most rapid brain development occurs btwn 10-20 weeks after conception
•Brain “overproduces” neurons to ensure there will be enough later one
•At birth, rain contains majority of its cells

Infancy and early childhood: Birth to ~ age 3
•Brain triples in size
•Many “sensitive periods”—i.e. learning a language
•Key neuronal process occurring (synaptogenesis, differentiation, pruning)
•Significant development of the cerebral cortex

Question 44

What is synaptic pruning and how can it be beneficial?

Answer 44

As children encounter a wide variety of stimuli and experiences in their daily lives, some synapses come in quite handy and are used repeatedly and elimination of synapses that aren’t being used

Continues into middle childhood and adolescent years (therefore, brain develops continuously throughout life)

Question 45

List some factors that influence or play a role in prenatal and child brain development.

Answer 45

Heredity, environmental factors (i.e. nutrition, high levels of toxins, consumption of alcohol), and experiences (i.e. environment child lives in, regular exercise, opportunities to learn new skills)

Question 46

Examples of critical periods of brain development

Answer 46

o Critical periods in development of visual perception
o Critical periods in learning language
o Critical periods in language development—from people who learn a second language

Question 47

Compare and contrast the differences between experience-expectant and experience-dependent plasticity.

Answer 47

Experience-expectant: changes in the brain during early sensitive periods that we are biologically predisposed for
• Visual perception, language, etc.
• i.e. learning a language, learning to control motor movements
• Skills that human beings have possessed for many millennia

Experience-dependent: changes in the brain over the lifespan due to exposure to environmental factors
• Reading, driving a car, psychology, racquetball
• i.e. expert violinists have enhanced cortical representation of the fingers on the left hand
• Domains and skills that are unique to particular cultures and social groups

Question 48

What are some myths about the brain? Why are they myths?

Answer 48

.

Question 49

What are some of Piaget beliefs about how children acquire knowledge?

Answer 49

o Children are active and motived learners

o Children organize what they learn from their experiences

Question 50

Illustrate example of scheme (and define)

Answer 50

Groups of similar actions or thoughts that are used repeatedly in response to the environment

i.e. conceptual framework or developed a schema that all homeless people are rude; cats vs. dogs

Question 51

Define assimilation and accommodation. Examples!

Answer 51

•Assimilation: responding to and possibly interpreting an object or event in a way that’s consistent with an existing scheme (SAME)
i.e. like adding air into balloon

•Accommodation: children will either (1) modify an existing scheme to account for the new object or even or else (2) form an entirely new scheme to deal with it (CHANGE)
i.e. differentiating between cat and dog

Question 52

How are assimilation and accommodation complementary processes?

Answer 52

Although one may predominate at any one moment, they are inseparable and exist in a dialectical relationship

Question 53

Compare and contrast equilibrium and disequilibrium.

Answer 53

• equilibrium: they can comfortably interpret and respond to new events using existing themes
• disequilibrium: sort of mental discomfort that spurs them to try to make sense of what they observe; adopting new way of thinking

Question 54

Describe the process of equilibration.

Answer 54

Process of moving from equilibrium to disequilibrium and aback to equilibrium again

The process of equilibrium promotes progression toward increasingly complex forms of thought -> integrating particular pieces of knowledge of the world into an unified whole

Question 55

Describe Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Answer 55

1. Sensorimotor stage (birth - 2 years)
2. Preoperational stage (2 - 7 years)
3. Concrete operations stage (7 - 12 years)
4. Formal operations stage (12 years - adulthood)

Question 56

According to Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development, how do children learn about the world? How can they accomplish more difficult tasks?

Answer 56

Often examined kinds of tasks children who could complete only with adult assistance

Question 57

How does self talk and inner speech play a role in cognitive development?

Answer 57

• Self talk (private speech): by talking to themselves, children learn to guide and direct their own behaviors through difficult tasks and complete maneuvers in much the same way that adults have previously guided them
• Inner speech: children talk to themselves mentally than out loud

Question 58

Describe the zone of proximal development and provide an example.

Answer 58

Range of tasks children can’t yet perform independently but can perform with the help and guidance of others;

i.e. 16 year old is able to effectively drive forward and backward but cannot parallel park. Through targeted guidance from a teacher, the child is able to learn how to park.

Question 59

What kind of learning does pretend play provide for children?

Answer 59

Play allows children to cognitively “stretch” themselves

Question 60

Compare and contrast Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories. Why is challenge important for cognitive development?

Answer 60

4 common themes:

1. Qualitative changes in the nature of thought
2. Challenge
3. Readiness: will be ready for some events, but not others
4. Importance of social interaction

4 theoretical differences:

1. Language is essential for learning and cognitive development
2. What kinds of experiences promote learning and development?
3. What kinds of social interactions are most valuable?
4. How influential is culture?

Question 61

Describe scaffolding and what purpose does it serve in instruction? Provide examples of how teachers can scaffold their students’ learning.

Answer 61

• Variety of supportive techniques that can help students accomplish challenging tasks in instructional contexts
• Can be highly effective in helping learners acquire complex reasoning, metacognitive, and problem solving skills
• i.e. model correct performance of a task, divide complex task into smaller/simpler tasks, ask questions that get learner thinking about task in productive ways, etc.

Question 62

Define social referencing and provide an example of how infants may use it.

Answer 62

Looking at someone else for clues about how to respond to or feel about a particular object or event; looked at mother and chose actions consistent with her resposnse

Question 63

What is reciprocal teaching and how can it benefit students, specifically in regards to reading?

Answer 63

Classroom teacher and several students meet in a group to read a section of text, stopping periodically to discuss what they are reading; eventually students can read and discuss text almost independently of teacher

Question 64

Peer-interactive instructional strategies are defined as what?

Answer 64

To explore, explain, discuss, and debate certain topics either in small groups or as an entire class

Question 65

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 65

Birth - 2 years:

Experiences and biology combine; concepts of object permanence habits

Question 66

Preoperational stage

Answer 66

2 - 7 years:

Symbolic thinking reflective use of words/images

Question 67

Concrete operations stage

Answer 67

7 - 12 years:

Logical reasoning about concrete events; concepts of conservation, classification, serial ordering

Question 68

Formal operations stage

Answer 68

12 years - adulthood:

Abstract thinking, logical, hypothetical reasoning, idealistic