Deck 26: A: Forgetting, Memory Construction

Question 1

Some patients with anterograde amnesia have learned how to spot hard-to-find figures in the Where's Waldo? series without any conscious awareness that they can do so. This best illustrates their retention of ________ memories.

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

Answer 1

implicit

Question 2

The inability to form new memories is called

A) repression.
B) anterograde amnesia.
C) shallow processing.
D) retroactive interference.

Answer 2

anterograde amnesia.

Question 3

When Jake applied for a driver's license, he was embarrassed by a momentary inability to remember his address. Jake's memory difficulty most likely resulted from a(n) ________ failure.

A) storage
B) encoding
C) retrieval
D) semantic processing

Answer 3

retrieval

Question 4

Professor Maslova has so many memories of former students that she has difficulty remembering the names of new students. The professor's difficulty best illustrates

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

Question 5

The inability to remember whose face appears on a five-dollar bill is most likely due to a failure in

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

Question 6

After studying biology all afternoon, Alonzo is having difficulty remembering details of the organic chemistry material he memorized that morning. Alonzo's difficulty best illustrates

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

Question 7

Harry Bahrick observed that three years after people completed a Spanish course, they had forgotten much of the vocabulary they had learned. This finding indicates that information is lost while it is

A) encoded.
B) rehearsed.
C) retrieved.
D) in storage.

Question 8

Austin can't remember Jack Smith's name because he wasn't paying attention when Jack was formally introduced. Austin's poor memory is best explained in terms of

A) proactive interference.
B) encoding failure.
C) retroactive interference.
D) source amnesia.

Question 9

Learning a new online banking password may block the recall of a familiar old password. This illustrates

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

Question 10

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

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

Question 11

An inability to access information in long-term memory is known as

A) long-term potentiation.
B) flashbulb memory.
C) the spacing effect.
D) retrieval failure.

Question 12

Ebbinghaus found the task of learning new lists of nonsense syllables increasingly difficult as his research career progressed. Which of the following best explains his problem?

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

Question 13

Two people learned nonsense syllables and then tried to recall them after up to eight hours had elapsed. Jenkins and Dallenbach observed that forgetting occurred least rapidly when the individuals spent their time

A) physically exercising.
B) playing a card game.
C) watching television.
D) sleeping.

Question 14

Knowledge of Latin can help people to learn French. This illustrates

A) proactive interference.
B) the serial position effect.
C) the peg-word system.
D) positive transfer.

Question 15

Nancy was daydreaming about her college plans during a boring lecture on the history of computers. She doesn't remember that ENIAC was the first functioning digital computer because she wasn't paying attention. Nancy's poor memory is best explained in terms of

A) interference.
B) encoding failure.
C) storage decay.
D) source amnesia.

Question 16

Jimmy was a patient with anterograde amnesia triggered by brain damage in 1945. Jimmy lost his ability to form new ________ memories, but his ability for ________ remained intact.

A) implicit; effortful processing
B) explicit; effortful processing
C) implicit; automatic processing
D) explicit; automatic processing

Question 17

Although Arturo has looked at his watch thousands of times, he is unable to recall whether the watch features Arabic or Roman numerals. This is most likely because of a failure in

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

Question 18

Using nonsense syllables to study memory, Ebbinghaus found that

A) our sensory memory capacity is essentially unlimited.
B) short-term memory fades more rapidly than sensory memory.
C) what is learned in one mood is most easily retrieved while in that same mood.
D) the most rapid memory loss for new information occurs shortly after it is learned.

Question 19

Although Yusef was having difficulty recalling the capital of Spain, he quickly and correctly identified it after being given a list of cities in Spain. Yusef's initial inability to recall the answer was due to a failure in

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

Question 20

Retroactive interference refers to the

A) decay of physical memory traces.
B) disruptive effect of previously learned material on the recall of new information.
C) disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of previously learned material.
D) blocking of painful memories from conscious awareness.

Question 21

Authors and songwriters sometimes think an idea came from their own creative imagination, when in fact they are unintentionally plagiarizing something they earlier read or heard. This best illustrates

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

Question 22

Repression most clearly involves a failure in

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

Question 23

Jackie frequently experiences intrusive memories of an emotionally traumatic experience, which she has been trying to forget. Her intrusive memories provide evidence of unsuccessful

A) semantic processing.
B) long-term potentiation.
C) repression.
D) rehearsal.

Question 24

Researchers asked university students to imagine certain childhood events, including a false event such as breaking a window with their hand. They discovered that

A) events from the distant past are less vulnerable to memory distortion than more recent events.
B) people can easily distinguish between their own true and false memories.
C) hypnotic suggestion is an effective technique for accurate memory retrieval.
D) it is surprisingly easy to lead people to construct false memories.

Question 25

The eerie sense of having previously experienced a current situation is known as

A) long-term potentiation.
B) the serial position effect.
C) mood-congruent memory.
D) déjà vu.

Question 26

It's evening and we're mentally replaying the day's events. We picture our facial expressions as we listened to a friend's tale of woe. Because we were unable to see these expressions at the time, our recall illustrates

A) flashbulb memory.
B) implicit memory.
C) memory construction.
D) the spacing effect.

Question 27

Research participants who were exposed to very convincing arguments about the desirability of frequent toothbrushing misrecalled how frequently they had brushed their teeth in the preceding two weeks. This best illustrates

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

Question 28

After having seen many pictures of the Lincoln Monument during his lifetime, Mr. Adams mistakenly recalled that he had actually visited the site. This best illustrates

A) source amnesia.
B) proactive interference.
C) implicit memory.
D) the self-reference effect.

Question 29

Every time we "replay" a memory, we replace the original memory with a slightly modified version. Researchers call this

A) repression.
B) the spacing effect.
C) memory reconsolidation.
D) the serial position effect.

Question 30

Who emphasized that we repress anxiety-arousing memories?

A) Hermann Ebbinghaus
B) Elizabeth Loftus
C) George Sperling
D) Sigmund Freud

Question 31

An attorney uses misleading questions to distort a court witness' recall of a previously observed crime. This best illustrates

A) state-dependent memory.
B) the misinformation effect.
C) proactive interference.
D) the serial position effect.

Question 32

As we retrieve memories from our memory bank, we often alter them based on past experiences and our current expectations. This best illustrates

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

Question 33

The misinformation effect refers to the

A) tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.
B) disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
C) the eerie sense that "I've been in this exact situation before."
D) incorporation of misleading information into one's memory of an event.

Question 34

Briefly glancing at a visual scene without consciously processing it may lead us to experience ________ when we subsequently focus conscious attention on the scene.

A) déjà vu
B) proactive interference
C) flashbulb memory
D) the serial position effect

Question 35

Philippe has just completed medical school. In reflecting on his years of formal education, he is able to recall the names of all his instructors except the fifth-grade teacher who flunked him. According to Freud, his forgetting illustrates

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

Question 36

After hearing stories of things they both had and had not actually experienced with "Mr. Science," preschool children spontaneously recalled him doing things that were only mentioned in the stories. This best illustrates

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

Question 37

When Loftus and Palmer asked observers of a filmed car accident how fast the vehicles were going when they "smashed" into each other, the observers developed memories of the accident that

A) omitted some of the most painful aspects of the event.
B) were more accurate than the memories of observers who had not been immediately questioned about what they saw.
C) were influenced by whether the researchers identified themselves as police officers.
D) portrayed the event as more serious than it had actually been.

Question 38

When Hailey told her roommate about the chemistry exam she had just completed, she knowingly exaggerated its difficulty. Subsequently, her memory of the exam was that it was as difficult as she had reported it to be. This best illustrates

A) the misinformation effect.
B) mood-congruent memory.
C) the self-reference effect.
D) proactive interference.

Question 39

When asked misleading questions after observing an accident, eyewitnesses often reconstruct their initial memories of the event. This best illustrates

A) repression.
B) the spacing effect.
C) implicit memory.
D) the misinformation effect.

Question 40

Familiarity with an ongoing situation without any idea of where you experienced it before contributes to

A) shallow processing.
B) imagination inflation.
C) the spacing effect.
D) déjà vu.

Question 41

Answering practice test questions about text material you have studied is a useful strategy for

A) automatically processing complex information.
B) facilitating the development of implicit memory.
C) activating your state-dependent memory.
D) becoming aware of what you do not yet know.

Question 42

Repeating someone's name several times shortly after being introduced to that person is an effective strategy for

A) chunking.
B) rehearsal.
C) implicit memory.
D) automatic processing.

Question 43

Compared with adults, children are more susceptible to

A) long-term potentiation.
B) automatic processing.
C) the misinformation effect.
D) proactive interference.

Question 44

In one study, children were periodically asked whether they remembered going to the hospital with a mousetrap on their finger. This experiment best illustrated the dynamics of

A) memory construction.
B) flashbulb memory.
C) sensory memory.
D) mood-congruent memory.

Question 45

Psychologists on both sides of the controversy regarding reports of repressed and recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse agree that

A) repression is the most common mechanism underlying the failure to recall early childhood sexual abuse.
B) we commonly recover memories of long-forgotten negative as well as positive events.
C) the more stressful an experience is, the more quickly it will be consciously forgotten.
D) professional therapists can reliably distinguish between their clients' true and false childhood memories.

Question 46

When we fall in love, we tend to overestimate how much we liked our partner when we first began dating. This best illustrates the dynamics of

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

Question 47

Mentally re-creating the mood that accompanied your original learning of course material is an effective way to activate

A) iconic memory.
B) the spacing effect.
C) retrieval cues.
D) acoustic encoding.

Question 48

By incorporation errors originating from a hypnotist's leading questions, "hyponotically refreshed" memories often illustrate

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

Question 49

Adults who have trouble remembering incidents of childhood sexual abuse have been led by therapists to believe that their memory difficulties result from

A) memory storage failure.
B) the misinformation effect.
C) proactive interference.
D) repression.

Question 50

Stressful life experiences such as being raped are not likely to be

A) encoded.
B) repressed.
C) stored.
D) retrieved.

Question 51

Memory experts who express skepticism regarding reports of repressed and recovered memories emphasize that

A) there is very little people can do to relieve the distress resulting from traumatic memories.
B) most extremely traumatic life experiences are never encoded into long-term memory.
C) therapeutic techniques such as guided imagery and dream analysis encourage the construction of false memories.
D) people rarely recall memories of long-forgotten unpleasant events.

Question 52

Mrs. Ramos claims to remember being sexually abused by her father when she was less than a year old. Her memory is not likely to be reliable because of

A) implicit memory.
B) long-term potentiation.
C) infantile amnesia.
D) the spacing effect.

Question 53

The reports of children who are interviewed by officials regarding an alleged incident of sexual abuse are most likely to be unreliable if

A) no one has discussed the incident with them before.
B) they are interviewed shortly after the incident occurred.
C) they were emotionally stressed by the incident.
D) they are questioned about things that didn't happen during the incident.