Deck 26: Forgetting, Memory Construction

Question 1

While taking the final exam in American history, Marie was surprised and frustrated by her momentary inability to remember the name of the current president of the United States. Her difficulty most clearly illustrates

A) implicit memory.
B) the serial position effect.
C) the misinformation effect.
D) retrieval failure.

Answer 1

retrieval failure.

Question 2

Anterograde amnesia is the inability to

A) retrieve old memories.
B) remember where information came from.
C) form new memories.
D) hold more than seven items in working memory.

Answer 2

form new memories.

Question 3

Several months after watching a science fiction movie about spaceship travel and alien abductions, Steve began to remember that he had been abducted by aliens and personally subjected to many of the horrors portrayed in the movie. His mistaken recall best illustrates

A) implicit memory.
B) the spacing effect.
C) source amnesia.
D) mood-congruent memory.

Answer 3

source amnesia.

Question 4

People should avoid back-to-back study times for learning Spanish and French vocabulary in order to minimize

A) the self-reference effect.
B) long-term potentiation.
C) mood-congruent memory.
D) interference.

Question 5

Hypnotically "refreshed" memories may prove inaccurate-especially if the hypnotist asks leading questions-because of

A) encoding failure.
B) state-dependent memory.
C) proactive interference.
D) memory construction.

Question 6

Mrs. McBride can't consciously recall how frequently she criticizes her children because it would be too anxiety-arousing to do so. Sigmund Freud would have suggested that her poor memory illustrates

A) source amnesia.
B) proactive interference.
C) shallow processing.
D) repression.

Question 7

The gradual fading of the physical memory trace contributes to

A) chunking.
B) storage decay.
C) anterograde amnesia.
D) long-term potentiation.

Question 8

Repression is an example of

A) encoding failure.
B) memory decay.
C) motivated forgetting.
D) all of these things.

Question 9

Which of the following was not recommended as a strategy for improving memory?

A) active rehearsal
B) distributed study
C) speed reading
D) encoding meaningful associations

Question 10

After Teresa was verbally threatened by someone in a passing car, she was asked whether she recognized the man who was driving the car. Several hours later, Teresa mistakenly recalled that the driver was a male rather than a female. Teresa's experience best illustrates

A) implicit memory.
B) proactive interference.
C) the misinformation effect.
D) the serial position effect.

Question 11

The eerie feeling of having been somewhere before is an example of

A) state dependency.
B) encoding failure.
C) priming.
D) déjà vu.

Question 12

Which of the following best describes the typical forgetting curve?

A) a steady, slow decline in retention over time
B) a steady, rapid decline in retention over time
C) a rapid initial decline in retention becoming stable thereafter
D) a slow initial decline in retention becoming rapid thereafter

Question 13

Although Ron typically smokes two packs of cigarettes a day, he recalls smoking little more than a pack a day. This poor memory best illustrates

A) the misinformation effect.
B) motivated forgetting.
C) the self-reference effect.
D) the serial position effect.

Question 14

Although Maria can encode and consciously recall new information, she is unable to consciously recall events that happened prior to the brain damage that she suffered as an adolescent. Maria's memory difficulty most clearly illustrates

A) retrograde amnesia.
B) proactive interference.
C) anterograde amnesia.
D) retroactive interference.

Question 15

Studies by Loftus and Palmer, in which people were quizzed about a film of an accident, indicate that

A) when quizzed immediately, people can recall very little, because of the stress of witnessing an accident.
B) when questioned as little as one day later, their memory was very inaccurate.
C) most people had very accurate memories as much as 6 months later.
D) people's recall may easily be affected by misleading information.

Question 16

Amnesia victims typically have experienced damage to the ________ of the brain.

A) frontal lobes
B) cerebellum
C) thalamus
D) hippocampus

Question 17

During her evening Spanish language exam, Janica so easily remembers the French vocabulary she studied that morning that she finds it difficult to recall the Spanish vocabulary she rehearsed that afternoon. Her difficulty best illustrates

A) the spacing effect.
B) proactive interference.
C) source amnesia.
D) retroactive interference.

Question 18

Research on memory construction reveals that memories

A) are stored as exact copies of experience.
B) reflect a person's biases and assumptions.
C) may be chemically transferred from one organism to another.
D) even if long term, usually decay within about five years.

Question 19

The inability to remember how the side with Lincoln's head appears on a penny is most likely due to a failure in

A) encoding.
B) storage.
C) retrieval.
D) implicit memory.

Question 20

Jenkins and Dallenbach found that memory was better in people who were

A) awake during the retention interval, presumably because decay was reduced.
B) asleep during the retention interval, presumably because decay was reduced.
C) awake during the retention interval, presumably because interference was reduced.
D) asleep during the retention interval, presumably because interference was reduced.

Question 21

The title of a song is on the tip of Gerard's tongue, but he cannot recall it until someone mentions the songwriter's name. Gerard's initial inability to recall the title was most likely caused by

A) encoding failure.
B) automatic processing.
C) retrieval failure.
D) repression.

Question 22

Arnold so easily remembers his old girlfriend's phone number that he finds it difficult to recall his new girlfriend's number. Arnold's difficulty best illustrates

A) retroactive interference.
B) retrograde amnesia.
C) source amnesia.
D) proactive interference.

Question 23

A loss of an encoded memory as a result of a gradual fading of the physical memory trace best illustrates

A) repression.
B) interference.
C) storage decay.
D) the misinformation effect.

Question 24

After learning the combination for his new locker at school, Milton is unable to remember the combination for his year-old bicycle lock. Milton is experiencing the effects of

A) source amnesia.
B) retroactive interference.
C) proactive interference.
D) automatic processing.

Question 25

The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of previously learned information is called

A) repression.
B) source amnesia.
C) retroactive interference.
D) anterograde amnesia.

Question 26

Our inability to remember information presented in the seconds just before we fall asleep is most likely due to

A) motivated forgetting.
B) the misinformation effect.
C) retroactive interference.
D) encoding failure.

Question 27

Following brain injury from a brutal knife attack, Mike is unable to consciously recall or recognize what a knife is. But he still shows a conditioned fear response to the sight of a knife. His conditioned reaction best indicates that he retains a(n) _____ memory.

A) echoic
B) flashbulb
C) working
D) implicit

Question 28

The occasional tip-of-the-tongue forgetting experienced by older adults can be best explained in terms of the greater difficulty older people have with

A) automatic processing.
B) iconic memory.
C) state-dependent memory.
D) retrieval.

Question 29

An inability to retrieve information learned in the past is called

A) shallow processing.
B) anterograde amnesia.
C) proactive interference.
D) retrograde amnesia.

Question 30

The ability of some Alzheimer's patients to learn how to do something despite the fact that they have no conscious recall of learning their new skill best illustrates the need to distinguish between

A) proactive interference and retroactive interference.
B) iconic memory and echoic memory.
C) infantile amnesia and source amnesia.
D) explicit memory and implicit memory.

Question 31

Proactive interference refers to the

A) blocking of painful memories from conscious awareness.
B) incorporation of misleading information into one's memory of an event.
C) disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of previously learned information.
D) disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

Question 32

The misinformation effect provides evidence that memory

A) is constructed during encoding.
B) is unchanging once established.
C) may be reconstructed during recall according to how questions are framed.
D) is highly resistant to misleading information.

Question 33

The famous Ebbinghaus forgetting curve indicates that how well we remember information depends on

A) how long ago we learned that information.
B) the nature of our mood during encoding and retrieval.
C) whether the information is part of our implicit or explicit memory.
D) whether the information was semantically processed.

Question 34

Judy is embarrassed because she momentarily fails to remember a good friend's name. Judy's poor memory most likely results from a failure in

A) storage.
B) encoding.
C) rehearsal.
D) retrieval.

Question 35

Ebbinghaus discovered that the rate at which we forget newly learned information is initially

A) slow and subsequently stays slow.
B) slow and subsequently speeds up.
C) rapid and subsequently stays rapid.
D) rapid and subsequently slows down.

Question 36

Amnesia patients typically experience disruption of

A) implicit memories.
B) explicit memories.
C) iconic memories.
D) echoic memories.

Question 37

Memory researchers are suspicious of long-repressed memories of traumatic events that are "recovered" with the aid of drugs or hypnosis because

A) such experiences usually are vividly remembered.
B) such memories are unreliable and easily influenced by misinformation.
C) memories of events happening before about age 3 are especially unreliable.
D) of all of these reasons.

Question 38

After having brain surgery to stop severe seizures, Henry Molaison could recall events he experienced prior to the surgery but was unable to form new conscious memories. Molaison's memory difficulty most clearly illustrates

A) retrograde amnesia.
B) proactive interference.
C) anterograde amnesia.
D) retroactive interference.

Question 39

An experiment demonstrated that people who were better at forgetting irrelevant word pairs were good at remembering relevant word pairs. Their forgetting was adaptive because it reduced

A) interference.
B) implicit memory.
C) the spacing effect.
D) semantic processing.

Question 40

The inability to recall which numbers on a dial are not accompanied by letters is most likely due to

A) encoding failure.
B) the spacing effect.
C) retroactive interference.
D) source amnesia.

Question 41

Memory reconsolidation involves the modification of stored memories during the process of

A) déjà vu.
B) repression.
C) retrieval.
D) source amnesia.

Question 42

Compulsive gamblers frequently recall losing less money than is actually the case. Their memory failure best illustrates

A) source amnesia.
B) the serial position effect.
C) motivated forgetting.
D) the spacing effect.

Question 43

Among contemporary memory researchers, increasing numbers think that ______ rarely, if ever, occurs.

A) anterograde amnesia
B) automatic processing
C) source amnesia
D) repression

Question 44

In the study led by Elizabeth Loftus, two groups of observers were asked how fast two cars had been going in a filmed traffic accident. Observers who heard the vividly descriptive word "smashed" in relation to the accident later recalled

A) broken glass at the scene of the accident.
B) that the drivers of the vehicles were intoxicated.
C) that the drivers of the vehicles were males.
D) the details of the accident with vivid accuracy.

Question 45

Our assumptions about the past often influence the manner in which information is retrieved from long-term memory. This fact is most relevant to appreciating the importance of

A) déjà vu.
B) automatic processing.
C) memory construction.
D) the spacing effect.

Question 46

Sigmund Freud emphasized that the forgetting of painful experiences is caused by a process that involves

A) retroactive interference.
B) memory decay.
C) retrieval failure.
D) source amnesia.

Question 47

Visualizing an object and actually seeing that object activate similar brain areas. This most clearly contributes to

A) the serial position effect.
B) proactive interference.
C) imagination inflation.
D) mood-congruent memory.

Question 48

A type of motivated forgetting in which anxiety-arousing memories are blocked from conscious awareness is known as

A) retroactive interference.
B) proactive interference.
C) repression.
D) priming.

Question 49

The misinformation effect best illustrates the dynamics of

A) memory construction.
B) repression.
C) proactive interference.
D) mood-congruent memory.

Question 50

Faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned is called

A) source amnesia.
B) the misinformation effect.
C) repression.
D) déjà vu.

Question 51

Retroactive interference involves the disruption of

A) automatic processing.
B) iconic memory.
C) memory retrieval.
D) semantic processing.

Question 52

The psychologist Jean Piaget constructed a vivid, detailed memory of a nursemaid's thwarting his kidnapping after hearing false reports of such an event. His experience best illustrates

A) implicit memory.
B) proactive interference.
C) source amnesia.
D) mood-congruent memory.

Question 53

After reading a newspaper report suggesting that drunken driving might have contributed to a recent auto accident, several people who actually witnessed the accident began to remember the driver involved as traveling more recklessly than was actually the case. This provides an example of

A) proactive interference.
B) state-dependent memory.
C) automatic processing.
D) the misinformation effect.

Question 54

Research on memory construction indicates that

A) recent events are more vulnerable to memory distortion than events from our more distant past.
B) false memories of imagined events are often recalled as something that really happened.
C) hypnotic suggestion is a particularly effective technique for accurate memory retrieval.
D) it is very difficult to lead people to construct memories of events that never happened.

Question 55

Previously learned information often facilitates our learning of new information. This phenomenon is called

A) overlearning.
B) positive transfer.
C) long-term potentiation.
D) the serial position effect.

Question 56

Researchers observed that people exposed to very convincing arguments about the value of frequent toothbrushing tended to

A) quickly forget the arguments if they were in the habit of brushing frequently.
B) quickly forget the arguments if they were not in the habit of brushing frequently.
C) exaggerate how frequently they had brushed their teeth in the past.
D) exaggerate how infrequently they had brushed their teeth in the past.

Question 57

The finding that people who sleep after learning a list of nonsense syllables forget less than people who stay awake provides evidence that forgetting may involve

A) encoding failure.
B) repression.
C) implicit memory loss.
D) interference.

Question 58

Research on memory construction indicates that memories of past experiences are likely to be

A) difficult to retrieve but never completely lost.
B) distorted by our current expectations.
C) much more vivid if they are seldom rehearsed.
D) retrieved in the very same form and detail as they were originally encoded.

Question 59

Many of the experimental participants who were asked how fast two cars in a filmed traffic accident were going when they smashed into each other subsequently recalled seeing broken glass at the scene of the accident. This experiment best illustrated

A) proactive interference.
B) the self-reference effect.
C) the spacing effect.
D) the misinformation effect.

Question 60

Memory of your familiar old e-mail password may block the recall of your new password. This illustrates

A) source amnesia.
B) retroactive interference.
C) the serial position effect.
D) proactive interference.

Question 61

Research on young children's false eyewitness recollections has indicated that

A) children are less susceptible to source amnesia than adults.
B) children are no more susceptible to the misinformation effect than adults.
C) it is surprisingly difficult for both children and professional interviewers to reliably separate the children's true memories from false memories.
D) all of these statements are true.

Question 62

Research on memory construction indicates that

A) recent events are more vulnerable to memory distortion than events from our more distant past.
B) false memories often feel as real as true memories.
C) hypnotic suggestion is a particularly effective technique for accurate memory retrieval.
D) it is very difficult to lead people to construct memories of events that never happened.

Question 63

To help resolve the controversy over reports of repressed memories of sexual abuse, the major psychological and psychiatric associations suggest that

A) all our experiences are preserved somewhere in our minds.
B) the more stressful an experience is, the more quickly it will be consciously forgotten.
C) repression is the most common mechanism underlying the failure to recall early childhood abuse.
D) adult memories of experiences happening before age 3 are unreliable.

Question 64

Déjà vu refers to the

A) emotional arousal produced by events that prime us to recall associated events.
B) tendency to remember experiences that are consistent with our current mood.
C) unconscious activation of particular associations in memory.
D) eerie sense of having previously experienced a situation or event.

Question 65

Karl and Dee had a joyful wedding ceremony. After their painful divorce, however, they began to remember the wedding as a somewhat hectic and unpleasant event. Their recollections best illustrate the nature of

A) proactive interference.
B) memory construction.
C) the spacing effect.
D) the serial position effect.

Question 66

Which of the following poses the greatest threat to the credibility of children's recollections of sexual abuse?

A) the serial position effect
B) the spacing effect
C) the misinformation effect
D) proactive interference

Question 67

Source amnesia helps to explain

A) déjà vu.
B) sensory memory.
C) the self-reference effect.
D) flashbulb memory.

Question 68

Incest survivors who lack conscious memories of their sexual abuse may be told they are repressing the memory. This explanation for their lack of abuse memories emphasizes

A) implicit memory.
B) encoding failure.
C) the spacing effect.
D) retrieval failure.

Question 69

Research reports of repression and recovered memories indicate that

A) people rarely recall memories of long-forgotten events.
B) most extremely traumatic life experiences are never encoded in long-term memory.
C) only those memories recovered with the help of a professional psychotherapist are likely to be reliable.
D) extremely stressful life experiences are especially likely to be well remembered.

Question 70

Forming many associations between new course material and what you already know is an effective way to build a network of

A) retrieval cues.
B) sensory memories.
C) state-dependent memories.
D) serial position effects.

Question 71

During the process of psychotherapy, Elaine recovered some long-forgotten and painful memories from her childhood. This experience led her to conclude that these memories must have been repressed for many years. Discuss the issues involved in assessing Elaine's claim.

Question 72

Which of the following techniques used by professional therapists is(are) likely to promote false memories in patients?

A) hypnosis
B) guided imagery
C) dream analysis
D) all of these techniques

Question 73

After attending group therapy sessions for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, Karen mistakenly remembered details from others' traumatic life stories as part of her own life history. This best illustrates the dangers of

A) proactive interference.
B) mood-congruent memory.
C) implicit memory.
D) source amnesia.

Question 74

As a child, Andre dreamed that he was chased and attacked by a ferocious dog. Many years later, he mistakenly recalled that this had actually happened to him. Andre's false recollection best illustrates

A) mood-congruent memory.
B) proactive interference.
C) implicit memory.
D) source amnesia.

Question 75

Dating partners who fall in love tend to ________ how much they liked each other when they first met. Dating partners who break-up tend to ________ how much they liked each other when they first met.

A) underestimate; underestimate
B) overestimate; overestimate
C) underestimate; overestimate
D) overestimate; underestimate

Question 76

Experimental participants viewed symbols on a computer screen without knowing that these symbols had earlier been subliminally flashed on the screen. Half the participants reported experiencing

A) the misinformation effect.
B) anterograde amnesia.
C) déjà vu.
D) the spacing effect.

Question 77

When asked how they felt 10 years ago regarding marijuana issues, people recalled attitudes closer to their current views than to those they actually reported a decade earlier. This best illustrates

A) memory construction.
B) proactive interference.
C) the spacing effect.
D) mood-congruent memory.

Question 78

By consciously rehearsing facts you need to learn in many separate study sessions occurring throughout the semester, you are most clearly taking advantage of

A) procedural memory.
B) the peg-word system.
C) the spacing effect.
D) automatic processing.

Question 79

When children are interviewed about their recollections of possible sexual abuse, their reports are especially credible if

A) they are asked specific, detailed questions about the issue rather than more general, open-ended questions.
B) after responding to an interviewer, they are repeatedly asked the same question they just answered.
C) they use anatomically correct dolls to indicate if and where they had been physically touched.
D) involved adults have not discussed the issue with them prior to the interview.

Question 80

Professor Markus is a brilliant mathematician who is 70 years old and still enjoys teaching. Over the past few years, she has found it increasingly difficult to remember the names of her students. Suggest several possible explanations for the professor's memory problems.