Week 5 - Short Term Memory

Question 1

The process involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present.

Answer 1

memory

Question 2

The model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin that describes memory as a mechanism that involves processing information through a series of stages, including short-term memory and long-term memory, _________ model of memory.

Answer 2

modal
( It is called the modal model because it contained features of many models that were being proposed in the 1960s)

Question 3

structural features of the model

Answer 3

• sensory memory,
• short-term memory,
• long-term memory.

Question 4

In Atkinson and Shiffrin’s modal model of memory, active processes that can be controlled by the person and that may differ from one task to another.

Answer 4

control processes

Question 5

Name a few examples of control processes that operate on short-term memory:

Answer 5

1. Rehearsal (repeating a stimulus over and over)
2. relating the digits in a phone number to a familiar date in history,
3. strategies of attention that help you focus on information that is particularly important or interesting.

Question 6

Answer 6

1. The process of storing the number in long-term memory is called encoding.
2. The process of remembering information that is stored in long-term memory is called retrieval

Question 7

A brief stage of memory that holds information for seconds or fractions of a second. It is the first stage in the modal model of memory

Answer 7

Sensory memory

Question 8

The continued perception of light for a fraction of a second after the original light stimulus has been extinguished.

Answer 8

Persistence of vision
(e.g. perceiving a trail of light from a moving sparkler is caused by the persistence of vision)

Question 9

Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report all of the stimuli they saw in a brief presentation.

Answer 9

whole report method

Question 10

Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report only some of the stimuli in a briefly presented display.

Answer 10

partial report method

(cue tone immediately after the display was extinguished indicated which part of the display to report)

Question 11

Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual icon, in which participants were instructed to report only some of the stimuli in a briefly presented display.

Answer 11

delayed partial report method

(cue tone that was delayed for a fraction of a second after the display was extinguished indicated which part of the display to report)

Question 12

Brief sensory memory for visual stimuli that lasts for a fraction of a second after a stimulus is extinguished.

Answer 12

iconic memory
(equals sensory memory stage of the modal model of memory)

or

visual icon
(sensory memory stage of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s modal model)

Question 13

Brief sensory memory for auditory stimuli that lasts for a few seconds after a stimulus is extinguished.

Answer 13

echoic memory
(e.g. when you hear someone say something, but you don’t understand at first and say “What?” But even before the person can repeat what was said, you “hear” it in your mind)

Question 14

A memory mechanism that can hold a limited amount of information for a brief period of time, usually around 30 seconds, unless there is rehearsal (such as repeating a telephone number) to maintain the information in _____-_______ _________.

Answer 14

short-term memory (STM)

Question 15

Subjects are asked to report stimuli they have previously seen or heard.

Answer 15

recall
(also involves factual knowledge and life events)

Question 16

The number of digits a person can remember used as a measure of the capacity of short-term memory.

Answer 16

digit span
(4-9 range, average 5-9 items)

Question 17

Combining small units into larger ones, such as when individual words are combined into a meaningful sentence.

Answer 17

chunking (Miller)
( can be used to increase the capacity of memory)

e.g.
- monkey, child, wildly, zoo, jumped, city, ringtail, young
- ringtail monkey, jumped wildly, young child, city zoo
- the ringtail monkey jumped wildly for the young child at the city zoo

Question 18

A collection of elements that are strongly associated with each other but weakly associated with elements in other chunks.

Answer 18

chunk
(used in connection with the idea of chunking in memory)

e.g. word ringtail is strongly associated with the word monkey but is not as strongly associated with the other words, such as child or city.

Question 19

Chunking in terms of meaning increases our ability to hold information in STM. We can recall a sequence of 5 to 8 unrelated words, but arranging the words to form a meaningful sentence so that the words become more strongly associated with one another increases the memory span to 20 words or more. True/False

Answer 19

True

(e.g.
B C I F C N C A S I B B vs.
C I A F B I N B C C B S)

C I A F B I N B C C B S (4 chunks)

Question 20

A limited-capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning.

Answer 20

Working memory
(involves both holding information in memory and processing information)

Question 21

Question 22

The part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information

Answer 22

phonological loop
(e.g. trying to remember a telephone number or a person’s name, or to understand what your cognitive psychology professor is talking about)

Question 23

The phonological loop consists of two components:

Answer 23

• phonological store
  (component of the phonological loop of working memory that holds a limited amount of verbal and auditory information for a few seconds)
• articulatory rehearsal process
  (rehearsal process involved in working memory that keeps items in the phonological store from decaying)

Question 24

The part of working memory that holds and processes visual and spatial information

Answer 24

visuospatial sketch pad
(e.g. forming a picture in your mind or doing tasks like solving a puzzle or finding your way around campus)

Question 25

The part of working memory that coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketch pad.

Answer 25

central executive
(=the “traffic cop” of the working memory system)

• the central executive pulls information from long-term memory and coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad by focusing on specific parts of a task and deciding how to divide attention between different tasks.

Question 26

An effect that occurs when letters or words that sound similar are confused. For example, T and P are two similar-sounding letters that could be confused, __________ similarity effect.

Answer 26

phonological

Question 27

The notion that it is more difficult to remember a list of long words than a list of short words, _______ lenght effect.

Answer 27

word
(easier to remember those that can be pronounced in 1.5-2 seconds)

Question 28

Interference with operation of the phonological loop that occurs when a person repeats an irrelevant word such as “the” while carrying out a task that requires the phonological loop (phonological loop overload).

Answer 28

articulatory suppression
(‘the’ eliminates word length effect)

Question 29

A type of mental imagery involving vision, in which an image is experienced in the absence of a visual stimulus.

Answer 29

visual imagery

Question 30

Rotating an image of an object in the mind.

Answer 30

mental rotation

Question 31

Difficulty in switching from one behavior to another, which can hinder a person’s ability to solve problems that require flexible thinking.

Answer 31

perseveration
(prefrontal cortex has been damaged.)

e.g. (“Pick the red object”). A person with frontal lobe damage might be responding correctly on each trial, as long as the rule stays the same. However, when the rule is switched (“Now pick the blue object”), the person continues following the old rule, even when given feedback that his or her responding is now incorrect.

Question 32

A component added to Baddeley’s original working memory model that serves as a “backup” store that communicates with both long-term memory and the components of working memory.

Answer 32

episodic buffer

(It holds information longer and has greater capacity than the phonological loop or visuospatial sketch pad)

Question 33

key structures involved in memory

Answer 33

(Phineas Gage rod accident)

Question 34

A task in which information is provided, a delay is imposed, and then memory is tested. This task has been used to study short-term memory by testing monkeys’ ability to hold information about the location of a food reward during a delay.

Answer 34

delayed-response
task

(PFC is important for holding information for brief periods of time)

Question 34

“out of sight, out of mind” (when an object that the infant can see is then hidden from view, the infant behaves as if the object no longer exists) due to frontal and prefrontal cortex not adequately developed until about 8 months of age. True/False

Answer 34

True

Question 35

Short-term changes in neural network connectivity that has been hypothesized as a mechanism for holding information in working memory.

Answer 35

activity-silent working memory

Question 36

not only that a number of areas are associated with working memory, but that they communicate with each other.

Question 37

The test used by Daneman and Carpenter to measure reading span.

Answer 37

reading span test
(the number of sentences they could read, and then correctly remember all of the last words.)

Question 38

An electrical potential, recorded with disc electrodes on a person’s scalp, that reflects the response of many thousands of neurons near the electrode that fire together.

Answer 38

event-related potential (ERP - consists of a number of waves that occur at different delays after a stimulus is presented and that can be linked to different functions.
(e.g. the N400 wave occurs in response to a sentence that contains a word that doesn’t fit the meaning of the sentence)

Question 39

The trail left by a moving sparkler is an example of the ___ at work.
a. short-term memory
b. long-term memory
c. sensory memory
d. visuospatial sketch pad

Answer 39

c. sensory memory

Question 39

Suppose someone has told you a phone number, and you’re repeating it over and over again to yourself with the hope that you’ll remember it before you dial the number. This example is a type of a ___ called ___.
a. report method; rehearsal
b. control process; rehearsal
c. control process; chunking
d. report method; chunking

Answer 39

b. control process; rehearsal

Question 40

Suppose you’re shown five rows containing five letters each. You’re then told to recall only one row of letters. In doing so, you’re utilizing ___.
a. persistence of vision
b. the whole report method
c. the delayed partial report method
d. the partial report method

Answer 40

d. the partial report method

Question 41

Iconic memory is to echoic memory as _____ is to _____.
a. sound; vision
b. vision; sound
c. short-term memory; long-term memory
d. long-term memory; short-term memory

Answer 41

b. vision; sound

Question 42

Remembering a fun family trip to the beach when you were six years old requires recalling a(n) ________ memory from ________ memory.
a. semantic; procedural
b. procedural; episodic
c. episodic; long-term
d. semantic; working

Answer 42

c. episodic; long-term

Question 43

While taking this quiz, you are relying on which of the following?
a. iconic memory
b. sensory memory
c. executive memory
d. semantic memory

Answer 43

d. semantic memory

Question 44

Currently, contrary to Miller’s earlier research, it is generally believed that the upper limit for short-term memory is ___.
a. limitless
b. 7 plus or minus 2 items
c. between 10 and14 items
d. about 4 items

Answer 44

d. about 4 items

Question 45

When you’re trying to understand what your professor is talking about in a lecture, which of the following is LEAST important to aid this process?
a. phonological loop
b. phonological store
c. articulatory rehearsal
d. visuospatial sketch pad

Answer 45

d. visuospatial sketch pad

Question 46

According to the phonological similarity effect, we’re more likely to confuse words or letters that ___ similar. For example, “F” is more likely to be misidentified as ___.
a. sound; “E”
b. sound; “S”
c. look; “E”
d. look; “P”

Answer 46

b. sound; “S”

Question 47

According to Broadbent, where does the process of rehearsal take place?
a. central executive
b. short-term memory
c. working memory
d. sensory memory

Answer 47

b. short-term memory

Question 48

What distinguishes working memory from short-term memory?
a. location
b. stimuli
c. speed
d. complexity

Answer 48

d. complexity

Question 49

If someone is showing perseveration, then they’ve likely had damage to the ___ lobe of the brain.
a. frontal
b. parietal
c. temporal
d. occipital

Answer 49

a. frontal

Question 50

Which of the following will likely NOT advance beyond sensory memory?
a. a song lyric
b. a shopping list
c. a firefly’s glow
d. a friend’s greeting

Answer 50

c. a firefly’s glow

Question 51

Check My Work
___ has helped to bolster the idea that the ___ is important for holding information for brief periods of time.
a. Episodic buffering; parietal lobe
b. Episodic buffering; prefrontal cortex
c. The delayed-response task; parietal lobe
d. The delayed-response task; prefrontal cortex

Answer 51

d. The delayed-response task; prefrontal cortex

Question 52

Which of the following likely led early telephone companies to create phone numbers using the format 213-555-1234 rather than a format such as 21776-551873-0633295?
a. phonological similarity
b. digit span
c. articulatory rehearsal
d. chunking

Answer 52

b. digit span

Question 52

When you go to the movies, how many distinct stimuli are being registered by your sensory memory each second?
a. 7
b. 12
c. 24
d. 96

Answer 52

c. 24

Question 52

Which of the following has the shortest rate of decay?
a. an exit sign
b. a finger snap
c. a trumpet note
d. an opera aria

Answer 52

a. an exit sign

Question 53

By listing numbers as (212) 555-1234, telephone companies use which technique to help people remember their own and others’ phone numbers?
a. mental rotation
b. chunking
c. digit span
d. phonological similarity

Answer 53

b. chunking

Question 54

Which of the following will present the greatest challenge for storing in short-term memory?
a. yellow cubes
b. colored circles
c. striped boxes
d. plaid polygons

Answer 54

d. plaid polygons

Question 55

Which of the following terms does NOT reflect Baddeley and Hitch’s concept of working memory?
a. visual
b. unlimited
c. temporary
d. proactive

Answer 55

b. unlimited

Question 56

What is a key function of the phonological loop?
a. to fire neurons
b. to increase capacity
c. to rotate images
d. to prevent decay

Answer 56

d. to prevent decay

Question 57

If memory can be seen as a crowded city, what is the central executive?
a. a main street
b. a bus dispatcher
c. a taxi driver
d. a subway car

Answer 57

b. a bus dispatcher

Question 58

Which of the following will most engage the visuospatial sketch pad?
a. painting a wall
b. doing a jigsaw puzzle
c. building a birdhouse
d. writing a sentence

Answer 58

c. building a birdhouse

Question 59

Which of the following student names is least likely to be remembered by a substitute teacher?
a. Prab Banerjee
b. Carlos Ortiz
c. James Fontana
d. Ekaterina Kornikova

Answer 59

d. Ekaterina Kornikova

Question 60

According to Baddeley, the central executive controls ________.
a. sensation
b. attention
c. rotation
d. perseveration

Answer 60

b. attention

Question 61

At this point in time, what is considered the primary function of the episodic buffer?
a. controlling processes
b. accelerating processes
c. storing information
d. sorting information

Answer 61

c. storing information

Question 62

According to Stokes’s model of activity-silent working memory, where is energy being directed during the silent state?
a. axons
b. synapses
c. dendrites
d. neurons

Answer 62

b. synapses

Question 63

According to the activity-silent working memory model, neurons fire ________.
a. at remembering and the synaptic state
b. only at stimulus input
c. at stimulus input and remembering
d. only at remembering

Answer 63

c. at stimulus input and remembering

Question 64

Funahashi and Stokes both focused on which concept relating to memory?
a. delay
b. rotation
c. decay
d. imagery

Answer 64

a. delay

Question 65

Daneman and Carpenter’s research on reading span looked at differences in memory ________ among individuals.
a. structure
b. capacity
c. buffering
d. rehearsal

Answer 65

b. capacity

Question 66

In a “free recall” task, the first few items in a list are remembered particularly well. This is known as the

Question 1Select one:

a. Recency effect.
b. Rehearsal effect.
c. Distractor effect.
d. Primacy effect.

Answer 66

d.
Primacy effect.

Question 67

In a “free recall” task, the last few items in a list are remembered particularly well. This is known as the
a.
Primacy effect.
b.
Recency effect.
c.
Rehearsal effect.
d.
Distractor effect.

Answer 67

b.
Recency effect.

Question 68

You’re at a friend’s party but you don’t know many people there. Your friend tries to introduce you to some people but you can only remember the names of the first couple of people she introduced you to. This is an example of the

a.
Introvert effect
b.
Recall effect
c.
Recency effect
d.
Primacy effect

Answer 68

d.
Primacy effect

Question 69

The Serial Position Coglab was a demonstration of

a.
Serial Recall
b.
Free Recall
c.
Recognition
d.
Total Recall (the original not the dodgy remake)

Answer 69

b.
Free Recall

Question 70

A search of memory in which all items are accessed simultaneously is called

a.
An exhaustive search.
b.
A parallel search.
c.
A self terminating search.
d.
A serial search.

Answer 70

b.
A parallel search.

Question 71

A search of memory in which all items are accessed one at a time is called

a.
An exhaustive search.
b.
A self terminating search.
c.
A parallel search.
d.
A serial search.

Answer 71

d.
A serial search.

Question 72

You are looking for an icon on your computer monitor. To find the icon you search each item on the monitor one by one. You have just completed what type of search?

a.
A serial search.
b.
An iconic search.
c.
A parallel search.
d.
Both a serial and a parallel search.

Answer 72

a.
A serial search.