Deck 6: Memory

Question 1

Our auditory sensation of someone's voice would be initially stored in ________.

A) long-term memory
B) the temporal lobe
C) the sensory registers
D) short-term memory

Answer 1

the sensory registers

Question 2

Ebbinghaus used ________ to study memory processes.

A) random number sequences
B) sequences of musical notes
C) nonsense syllables
D) word lists

Answer 2

nonsense syllables

Question 3

The sensory registers ________.

A) are measures of retention
B) control our attention span
C) receive raw information from the sensory systems
D) retain past information

Answer 3

receive raw information from the sensory systems

Question 4

A visual image held in the sensory register is a(n) ________.

A) icon
B) symbol
C) pictograph
D) trace

Question 5

The sensory registers have a(n) ________ capacity.

A) moderate
B) large, but finite
C) virtually unlimited
D) extremely limited

Question 6

Research on memory began in the middle of the ________ century.

A) 20^th
B) 17^th
C) 18^th
D) 19^th

Question 7

Ebbinghaus found that ________.

A) the rate of forgetting increased after the first few hours
B) forgetting occurred at a fairly steady pace
C) the rate of forgetting was slow during the first few hours, increased during the period of 6 to 12 hours after learning, then decreased again after 12 hours
D) the longer he waited to relearn a list of words, the more time it took for the relearning to occur.

Question 8

The first truly scientific memory experiments were conducted by ________, who used himself as a subject.

A) Phillipe Charcot
B) Hermann Ebbinghaus
C) Hermann Helmholtz
D) Sigmund Freud

Question 9

The entry point for raw information from the senses are the ________.

A) basal ganglia
B) sensory filters
C) sensory registers
D) thalamus and hypothalamus

Question 10

You look up a telephone number in the directory. You find the name and the number: 3531416. For a split second, the image of the number resides in ________. The image fades quickly, yet you manage to keep the number in ________ through ________.

A) the sensory register; LTM; mnemonics
B) the sensory register; STM; rote rehearsal
C) STM; LTM; rote rehearsal
D) the sensory register; the sensory register; rote rehearsal

Question 11

Our visual sensation of a passing automobile would be initially stored in ________.

A) the sensory registers
B) long-term memory
C) short-term memory
D) the hippocampus

Question 12

A possible limitation of Ebbinghaus's studies was that he ________.

A) used only subjects who were already in mental institutions for other mental health problems
B) used only one subject -- himself
C) did not clearly define his independent and dependent variables
D) used no experimental controls

Question 13

In Sperling's experiments, people were able to remember about ________ of 12 letters presented to them if he waited a full second between presenting the letters and asking people to recall them.

A) 11 - 12
B) 4 - 5
C) 0 - 1
D) 8 - 9

Question 14

Which of the following sensory registers have been studied more extensively than any others?

A) auditory and visual
B) gustatory and visual
C) olfactory and auditory
D) olfactory and visual

Question 15

The icon and the echo refer to images in ________.

A) LTM
B) working memory
C) STM
D) the sensory registers

Question 16

The computer-like model used to describe the way humans encode, store, and retrieve information is the ________ model.

A) psychodynamic
B) heuristic model
C) information-processing
D) holistic

Question 17

In Sperling's experiments, people were able to remember about ________ of the 12 letters presented to them if he had them recall the letters immediately after presenting them.

A) 9
B) 12
C) 6
D) 3

Question 18

The first stage of information processing involves ________.

A) storing information in your memory banks
B) encoding information in memory
C) converting information from short-term to long-term memory
D) selecting some of the material bombarding our senses to think about and remember

Question 19

The sensory registers have a ________ capacity and hold information for a ________ time.

A) vast, very short
B) very limited, long
C) vast, long
D) very limited, very short

Question 20

The ability to remember the things that we have experienced, imagined, and learned is known as ________.

A) memory
B) acquisition
C) self-efficacy
D) intelligence

Question 21

According to Treisman's modified filter theory, which of the following is not true?

A) Many signals are passed on from the sensory registers at the same time.
B) The cognitive filter works with a variable control like a volume control knob.
C) The cognitive filter works even when we are asleep.
D) Many signals in the sensory registers are able to receive our concentrated attention at a time.

Question 22

The selection of some incoming information for further processing is called ________.

A) cognition
B) attention
C) recognition
D) retention

Question 23

Sitting in a very noisy restaurant, you are able to screen out all the other conversations around you so you can listen to the friend with whom you are conversing. This is an example of ________.

A) Broadbent's filter theory
B) the cocktail party phenomenon
C) intimacy
D) the Phi phenomenon

Question 24

Someone a short distance away, to whom you have been paying no attention, quietly speaks your name, and suddenly you are attending to that conversation. This is an example of ________.

A) the Phi phenomenon
B) cue-controlled inhibition
C) Broadbent's filter theory
D) the cocktail-party phenomenon

Question 25

Which of the following theorists proposed that we pay attention to information that in some way stands out because of its physical properties, while we filter out other information completely?

A) Selfridge
B) Treisman
C) Broadbent
D) Marquez

Question 26

The process in which new visual information constantly replaces old visual information in the sensory registers almost immediately is called ________.

A) the recency effect
B) proactive inhibition
C) circumlocation
D) masking

Question 27

Information disappears most quickly from ________.

A) working memory
B) LTM
C) the sensory registers
D) STM

Question 28

According to Treisman's modified filter theory, ________.

A) the filter works like an on-off switch
B) the filter works with a variable control like a volume control knob
C) the sensory registers process one signal at a time
D) many signals in the sensory registers are able to receive our concentrated attention at a time

Question 29

The auditory equivalent of the icon is the ________.

A) vibration
B) sound wave
C) echo
D) neural trace

Question 30

An echo usually stays in the sensory registers for ________.

A) one second
B) several seconds
C) 40 seconds
D) 1/4 of a second

Question 31

The process of selectively looking, listening, smelling, tasting, and feeling is called ________.

A) retention
B) attention
C) recognition
D) cognition

Question 32

We give meaning to the raw information entering our sensory registers during the process of ________.

A) attention
B) retention
C) recall
D) role rehearsal

Question 33

Visual information in the sensory registers is gone when it ________.

A) contradicts STM information
B) is not rehearsed
C) is replaced by new information
D) becomes scrambled with auditory information

Question 34

Which of the following statements about the sensory registers is true?

A) All of the information taken in by the sensory registers is retained in short-term memory for a few seconds.
B) 60-70 percent of the information taken in by the sensory registers is retained in long- term memory.
C) Auditory information fades more rapidly than visual information from the sensory registers.
D) Far more information is taken in by the sensory registers than we are able to retain.

Question 35

Students in a psychology experiment were exposed to three notes of music for a very short period of time and then asked to recall them. If the instructions to recall the notes came immediately, the students usually succeeded. If the instructions came more than three seconds after the notes were played, the students were much less successful. The most plausible explanation for this phenomenon is that in the latter case the echo ________.

A) faded after being stored in short-term memory
B) was already stored in long-term memory
C) never made it to the sensory registers
D) faded before being stored in short-term memory

Question 36

According to the modified filter theory, information will draw our attention if it stands out because of its ________.

A) physical properties
B) incongruity
C) meaningfulness
D) commonality

Question 37

Students in a psychology experiment were exposed to three nonsense syllables for a very short period of time and then asked to recall them. If the instructions to recall the syllables came immediately, the students were usually successful. If the instructions came even one second after the syllables were shown, the students were much less successful. The most plausible explanation for this phenomenon is that in the latter case the icon ________.

A) never made it to the sensory registers
B) faded after being stored in short-term memory
C) was already stored in short-term memory
D) faded before being stored in short-term memory

Question 38

The person who first proposed a filtering process at the entrance to the nervous system was ________.

A) Broadbent
B) Treisman
C) Marquez
D) Selfridge

Question 39

Auditory information ________.

A) fades more rapidly than visual information
B) does not normally fade at all
C) fades more slowly than visual information
D) fades at about the same rate as visual information

Question 40

Visual information is generally erased from the sensory registers in ________.

A) 4 seconds
B) one second
C) less than one second
D) 40 seconds

Question 41

The owner of a black Labrador can hear her dog when it barks in the night, although she sleeps through the sounds of other loud barking dogs. Whose theory of sensory register operation does this best support?

A) Broadbent
B) Treisman
C) Simon
D) Sperling

Question 42

When two memory tasks are presented in different sensory modalities (for instance visual and auditory) ________.

A) they are more likely to interfere with each other than if they are in the same modality
B) they are equally as likely to interfere with each other as if they are in the same modality
C) they are less likely to interfere with each other than if they are in the same modality
D) it becomes impossible to accomplish either task efficiently

Question 43

Different domain specific memory systems ________.

A) can operate at the same time, but moderately interfere with each other
B) cannot operate at the same time
C) can operate at the same time with very little interference
D) can operate at the same time, but greatly interfere with each other

Question 44

Short-term memory has ________ primary tasks.

A) six
B) four
C) eight
D) two

Question 45

Which statement is true of short-term memory?

A) It usually has to perform more than one task at a time.
B) It registers information missed by the sensory registers.
C) It has a very large capacity.
D) It is permanent.

Question 46

If the most recent theories regarding the capacity of short-term memory are correct, then ________.

A) five sentences should be easier to remember than five words
B) five sentences should be as difficult to remember as five words
C) five sentences and five words should both be easier to remember than five letters because the words and sentences have inherent meaning
D) five sentences should be more difficult to remember than five words

Question 47

Information is grouped for storage in short-term memory through the process of ________.

A) cueing
B) categorizing
C) rote rehearsal
D) chunking

Question 48

Loni is asked to memorize the letters I K T E A L N. She memorizes them by reorganizing them into the words "INK" and "LATE." This tactic is called ________.

A) cueing
B) chunking
C) rote rehearsal
D) shadowing

Question 49

What we are thinking about or are aware of at any given moment is in our ________.

A) secondary memory
B) sensory memory
C) long-term memory
D) short-term memory

Question 50

The two primary tasks of short-term memory are to ________.

A) store information permanently and to process how meaningful that information is
B) store information permanently and to work on that (and other) information
C) store information briefly and to work on that (and other) information
D) hold on to information just long enough to begin initial processing by the nervous system and to selectively filter out irrelevant information

Question 51

An old joke tells of an elephant who walks into a bar and tells the bartender, "Boy, have I got a problem. Elephants are supposed to have good memories and I can't remember a thing." "That's too bad," says the bartender, "Maybe I can help you with your problem." "What problem?" asks the elephant. The elephant in the story is demonstrating a deficiency in ________.

A) eidetic memory
B) sensory processing
C) short-term memory
D) long-term memory

Question 52

________ is another term that is often used to refer to short-term memory.

A) Working memory
B) Secondary memory
C) Sensory register
D) Shadow memory

Question 53

It is easier to remember the names of seven people you just met at a party than it is to remember their addresses (even if both pieces of information were given to you at the same time), because there is a(n)________.

A) inverse relationship between the size of the chunks in short-term memory and their retention
B) inverse relationship between the number of items in the sensory registers and their retention
C) direct relationship between the size of the chunks in short-term memory and their retention
D) direct relationship between the size of the chunks in the sensory registers and their retention

Question 54

Chunking is ________.

A) most useful for storing information in long-term memory
B) most useful for storing information in short-term memory
C) equally useful for storing information in the sensory registers, short-term memory, and long-term memory
D) most useful for storing information in the sensory registers

Question 55

When you listen to a conversation or song on the radio, or watch a television show, you are using ________ to hold onto and think about new information coming in from the sensory registers.

A) shadow memory
B) long-term memory
C) memory icons
D) short-term memory

Question 56

Many years ago, telephone numbers had only four or five digits. Even now, no more than seven digits (not counting area code) are used for phone numbers. The most reasonable psychological explanation for this is that there is a(n) ________.

A) direct relationship between the number of items in short-term memory and their retention
B) inverse relationship between the number of items in short-term memory and their retention
C) direct relationship between the number of items in the sensory registers and their retention
D) inverse relationship between the number of items in the sensory registers and their retention

Question 57

Chunking is a means of ________.

A) arranging details into a hierarchy from most to least important
B) immediately forgetting irrelevant details
C) storing long-term memories
D) organizing information into meaningful units

Question 58

The most accurate description of short-term memory's capacity is probably to say that it can hold ________.

A) as much information as can be rehearsed in 1.5 to 2 seconds
B) as much information as can be read in 3 to 5 seconds
C) between 5 and 10 bits of information
D) as much information as can be heard in 1 to 4 seconds

Question 59

Which of the following statements about short-term memory is not true?

A) The ability to work on information competes constantly with the ability to store new information for a short time.
B) Single words are harder to remember than phrases and sentences.
C) As the size of each chunk increases, the number of chunks that can be recalled declines.
D) The critical factor for recall in short-term memory is the number of meaningful units involved.

Question 60

It is now believed that short-term memory can hold as much information as can be repeated or rehearsed in ________ seconds.

A) 0.5 - 1.5
B) 1.5 - 2.0
C) 2.0 - 3.5
D) 3.5 - 5.0

Question 61

If you want to remember something for a couple of minutes, the most effective device is ________.

A) elaborative rehearsal
B) rote rehearsal
C) visual imagery
D) tactile imagery

Question 62

Research has shown that in short-term memory, memory for images ________.

A) is generally as good as memory for words
B) does not exist
C) is generally better than memory for words
D) is generally worse than memory for words

Question 63

We encode verbal information in short-term memory ________.

A) photographically
B) according to its meaning
C) abstractly
D) phonologically

Question 64

Rotating an M until it is recognized as a W is evidence that we can process information in ________.

A) long-term memory phonologically
B) short-term memory visually
C) long-term memory visually
D) short-term memory phonologically

Question 65

The fact that people recognize that M and M are the same letter faster than they recognize that M and m are the same letter is evidence that ________.

A) most verbal material in short-term memory is stored phonologically
B) rote rehearsal helps to store information in short-term memory
C) some verbal material in short-term memory is stored in visual form
D) only through elaborative rehearsal can material be committed to long-term memory

Question 66

In one study, adults who had graduated from high school more than 40 years earlier were able to recognize about ________ percent of their classmates.

A) 75
B) 100
C) 50
D) 25

Question 67

Material stored in short-term memory remains there for about ________ and then fades unless rehearsed or practiced.

A) 1/4 of a second
B) a few seconds
C) several minutes
D) one second

Question 68

The portion of memory that is more or less permanent and that corresponds with everything we "know" is called ________ memory.

A) primary
B) working
C) eidetic
D) long-term

Question 69

Information in short-term memory is coded ________.

A) phonologically and visually
B) visually only
C) abstractly
D) phonologically only

Question 70

Which kinds of items are most likely to be confused in an experiment on short-term memory?

A) vowels
B) letters that sound alike
C) letters that look alike
D) consonants

Question 71

Retaining information in short-term memory simply by repeating it over and over again is called ________.

A) elaborative rehearsal
B) overlearning
C) rote rehearsal
D) deep processing

Question 72

Arnie finally got the telephone number of a girl he'd been wanting to ask out for a date. Unfortunately, he had nothing to write the number on when it was told to him. To keep from forgetting the number, he simply repeats it aloud until he can find a pen and some paper. His memory tactic is called ________.

A) deep processing
B) rote rehearsal
C) elaborative rehearsal
D) distractor inhibition

Question 73

When we are pricing items in a grocery store, and we attempt to remember the prices of three different brands of 7-ounce cans of tuna fish by repeating them again and again, the information is being held in ________.

A) secondary memory
B) the sensory registers
C) short-term memory
D) long-term memory

Question 74

The words "boat" and "goat" are most likely to become confused in short-term memory because ________.

A) they are spoken similarly
B) they both have one syllable
C) they sound alike
D) they look alike

Question 75

Which of the following memory systems can hold the most information?

A) short-term memory
B) they all hold equal amounts of information
C) the sensory registers
D) long-term memory

Question 76

In short-term memory, we usually store memories for images ________, and we usually store memory for words ________.

A) as images and phonologically; only phonologically
B) as images and phonologically; as images and phonologically
C) only as images; as images and phonologically
D) only as images; only phonologically

Question 77

Which of the following pairs of letters would most likely be confused in an experiment on short-term memory?

A) P and R
B) B and V
C) V and Y
D) O and Q

Question 78

Images are stored in short-term memory ________.

A) abstractly
B) phonologically and visually
C) visually only
D) phonologically only

Question 79

Rote rehearsal is also called ________.

A) deep processing
B) chunking
C) maintenance rehearsal
D) elaborative rehearsal

Question 80

The cashier at McDonald's says, "That will be $3.17 please." What kind of code would most people use to remember "$3.17" while they are reaching for their money?

A) a phonological code
B) a visual code
C) an iconic code
D) a semantic code