Deck 9: Working Memory and Cognitive Control Integrative Topics Module

Question 1

The ability to hold information in short-term memory is limited by:

A) the capacity of STM.
B) what one can pay attention to.
C) how one encodes the information.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

When George Sperling (1960) used the partial report procedure, he found that participants could report _____ of the letters in the array.

A) all
B) none
C) about 30 percent
D) about 75 percent

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The active maintenance and manipulation of short-term memory is known as:

A) cognitive control.
B) working memory.
C) sensory memory.
D) short-term memory.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Compared with long-term memory, short-term memory is:

A) slower to access.
B) forgotten more quickly.
C) larger in capacity.
D) outside of conscious awareness.

Question 5

Suppose one's roommate asks him to pick up five items at the grocery store, but he has no place to write the items down. He keeps repeating the items over and over in his mind until he can get a pencil and piece of paper to write them down. In this example, he would be relying primarily on his _____ memory.

A) sensory
B) long-term
C) short-term
D) iconic

Question 6

Which memory system maintains information temporarily using active rehearsal?

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

Question 7

In Baddeley's working memory model which system holds visual and spatial images for manipulation?

A) the visuospatial sketchpad
B) the phonological loop
C) the central executive
D) the iconic memory

Question 8

How many independent short-term memory buffers are included in Baddeley's working-memory model?

A) 2
B) 3
C) 5
D) 10

Question 9

According to the findings of George Miller, the capacity of short-term memory is about _____ items.

A) three
B) seven
C) fifteen
D) five

Question 10

In Atkinson and Shiffrin's model of memory, information flows from:

A) sensory memory, to short-term memory, to long-term memory.
B) short-term memory, to sensory memory, to long-term memory.
C) long-term memory, to sensory memory, to short-term memory.
D) sensory memory, to long-term memory, to short-term memory.

Question 11

When short-term memory is used as a buffer for maintaining information briefly before it is manipulated, it is referred to as _____ memory.

A) long-term
B) sensory
C) working
D) transient

Question 12

Which memory system stores brief sensations of what one has just perceived?

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

Question 13

George Sperling's (1960) experiments on visual sensory memory demonstrated that:

A) briefly presented information cannot be recalled.
B) iconic memory lasts for a very long time.
C) people could not learn to associate a tone with a visual stimulus.
D) people have a very brief visual memory that decays rapidly.

Question 14

Which type of memory is NOT considered to be a transient memory?

A) sensory
B) iconic
C) long-term
D) short-term

Question 15

In Baddeley's working-memory model which system maintains auditory memories through subvocal rehearsal?

A) the visuospatial sketchpad
B) the phonological loop
C) the central executive
D) the iconic memory

Question 16

The initial temporary storage for information perceived by the visual system is known as _____ memory.

A) visual sensory
B) iconic.
C) transient
D) short-term

Question 17

Permanent or near permanent storage of memory that last beyond a period of conscious attention is known as:

A) sensory memory.
B) long-term memory.
C) cognitive control.
D) short-term memory.

Question 18

The manipulation and application of working memory for planning, task switching, attention, stimulus selection, and the inhibition of inappropriate reflexive behaviors is known as:

A) sensory memory.
B) iconic memory.
C) cognitive control.
D) short-term memory.

Question 19

Where does information automatically and rapidly decay?

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

Question 20

In Baddeley's working-memory model which system monitors and manipulates the working-memory buffers?

A) the visuospatial sketchpad
B) the phonological loop
C) the central executive
D) the iconic memory

Question 21

In Brooks's task involving visualizing a block letter F, the participants who performed the worst were those who responded by:

A) saying "yes" or "no" out loud.
B) saying "yes" or "no" silently to themselves.
C) tapping their "yes" or "no" response with their fingers.
D) pointing to "yes" or "no" on a screen.

Question 22

All of the functions of the central executive involve:

A) maintaining verbal information.
B) maintaining visuospatial information.
C) manipulation of information in sensory memory.
D) manipulation of information in short-term memory.

Question 23

Which task is used to study task shifting in working memory?

A) an N-back task
B) the Tower of Hanoi
C) the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
D) the Stroop task

Question 24

Which aspect of memory is often conceptualized as the mind's active workplace?

A) transient
B) working
C) sensory
D) iconic

Question 25

Suppose one is performing a 2-back test where the target is the number 9. What number would one have to report if presented with the sequence
2 8 5 4 7 9 1 6 3?

A) 4
B) 6
C) 7
D) 9

Question 26

Suppose one's boss catches him in the hallway and asks him to attend a meeting the next day. In order to remember the time and location of the meeting, he repeats it over and over to himself until he gets back to his office and can write it down in his schedule. In his rehearsal, he is using the:

A) visuospatial sketchpad.
B) phonological loop.
C) long-term memory.
D) iconic memory.

Question 27

On short-term verbal memory tasks, people with slow rates of speech but normal intelligence perform:

A) better than people of normal intelligence who speak at a normal rate.
B) worse than people of normal intelligence who speak at a normal rate.
C) about the same as people of normal intelligence who speak at a normal rate.
D) worse than people of normal intelligence who speak at a normal rate, but only if rehearsal is disrupted.

Question 28

Charles must study for two exams and write a term paper. He needs to decide how to distribute his work during the day, including how much time to spend studying each subject, when to work on the term paper, how much he needs to accomplish before taking a break, and so forth. The task his central executive is MOST concerned with in this example is:

A) controlled updating of short-term memory buffers.
B) setting goals and planning.
C) task switching.
D) stimulus selection and response inhibition.

Question 29

What does the word-length effect demonstrate about working memory?

A) The central executive is required for storing long words.
B) The visuospatial sketchpad is used when long words are remembered.
C) The phonological loop can only store short words.
D) The phonological loop holds verbal information for only a short time.

Question 30

Which statement is TRUE regarding the phonological loop?

A) If the material is rehearsed, it can be held in the phonological loop for about 2 seconds.
B) If the material is not rehearsed, it disappears from the phonological loop after about 2 seconds.
C) If the material is rehearsed, it can be held in the phonological loop for about 10 seconds.
D) If the material is not rehearsed, it disappears from the phonological loop after about 10 seconds.

Question 31

The metaphor of memory as a computer compares RAM with _____ memory and a hard drive with _____ memory.

A) long-term; working
B) working; long-term
C) sensory; iconic
D) short-term; long-term

Question 32

Place models of memory are known as:

A) executive control.
B) cognitive control.
C) multi-store.
D) unitary-store.

Question 33

In Brooks's task involving visualizing a block letter F, it was reasoned that:

A) remembering the F used the visuospatial sketchpad, while making the response used the phonological loop.
B) remembering the F used the phonological loop, while making the response used the visuospatial sketchpad.
C) remembering the F and making the response both used the phonological loop.
D) remembering the F and making the response both used the visuospatial sketchpad.

Question 34

The Tower of Hanoi puzzle is often used to examine the:

A) controlled updating of the memory buffers.
B) ability to plan and set goals.
C) ability to switch tasks.
D) ability to select stimuli and inhibit responses.

Question 35

State-based models of memory are known as:

A) executive control.
B) cognitive control.
C) multi-store.
D) unitary-store.

Question 36

Larissa is visiting an amusement park. She moves from ride to ride skipping the ones with very long lines with the intent of returning later on. To make sure she gets on all the rides she wants to go on, she needs to keep track of which rides she's already been on and which ones she hasn't. The task her central executive is most concerned with in this example is:

A) controlled updating of short-term memory buffers.
B) setting goals and planning.
C) task switching.
D) stimulus selection and response inhibition.

Question 37

The word-length effect is when one can remember more _____ words than _____ words.

A) short; long
B) long; short
C) medium-length; short
D) long; medium-length

Question 38

Which task is used to study the controlled updating of working memory?

A) an N-back task
B) the Tower of Hanoi
C) the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
D) the Stroop task

Question 39

In the delayed nonmatch-to-sample task, the subjects must select the stimulus that is:

A) the same color and shape as the one they remember.
B) different from the one they remember.
C) the most similar to the one they remember.
D) the same size as the one they remember.

Question 40

The children's game Concentration involves finding pairs of cards that match by turning over two at a time, and replacing them if they do not match. The game requires memory for the locations of the cards. This game makes particular use of the:

A) visuospatial sketchpad.
B) phonological loop.
C) long-term memory.
D) sensory memory.

Question 41

Which is a characteristic of someone with dysexecutive syndrome?

A) disrupted ability to think and plan
B) impaired language abilities
C) below-average intelligence scores
D) disrupted ability to remember facts and events

Question 42

The existence of perseveration in patients with frontal-lobe damage provides evidence for the involvement of executive-control processes in:

A) the updating of working memory.
B) setting goals and planning.
C) stimulus selection and response inhibition.
D) task switching.

Question 43

Cats and many other mammals get through life with a frontal lobe that occupies less than _____ percent of their cerebral cortex.

A) 2
B) 4
C) 6
D) 8

Question 44

In what way does the involvement of the prefrontal cortex during delays differ from the involvement of sensory and motor cortices?

A) Only neurons in the prefrontal cortex show sustained activity during delay periods.
B) Only neurons in the sensory and motor cortexes show sustained activity during delay periods.
C) Only neurons in the prefrontal cortex maintain their activity despite distractions.
D) Only neurons in the sensory and motor cortexes maintain their activity despite distractions.

Question 45

Which task is used to study stimulus selection and response inhibition in working memory?

A) an N-back task
B) the Tower of Hanoi
C) the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
D) the Stroop task

Question 46

Automatic processes:

A) determine what cues should be attended to.
B) occur with minimal conscious awareness.
C) inhibit reflexive behaviors.
D) require focused attention.

Question 47

Which area of the brain seems to play an especially important role in working memory?

A) the prefrontal cortex
B) the cerebellum
C) the sensory cortices
D) the basal ganglia

Question 48

One noted characteristic of frontal-lobe damage is:

A) loss of ability to plan and organize.
B) loss of conceptual understanding.
C) decrease in speed.
D) decrease in interconnections.

Question 49

Jackie is trying to balance her checkbook while at the same time helping her son with his homework. She works on her checkbook when she can, while also watching for signals that her son has finished a particular assignment; then she can stop working on her checkbook for a moment and help her son. The task her central executive is MOST concerned with in this example is:

A) controlled updating of short-term memory buffers.
B) setting goals and planning.
C) stimulus selection and response inhibition.
D) task switching.

Question 50

Which part of the prefrontal cortex seems to be particularly involved in working memory functions?

A) orbital
B) medial
C) lateral
D) posterior

Question 51

The research relating working memory to intelligence has shown that:

A) speed of processing is an important determinant of one's score on an intelligence test.
B) general intelligence is associated with a strong working memory.
C) people with low scores on working memory tests tend to achieve high verbal SAT scores.
D) the ability to use the phonological loop is an important determinant of intelligence level.

Question 52

In a task requiring monkeys to move their gaze to the former position of a visual cue, it was found that neurons in the prefrontal cortex fired during:

A) presentation of the visual cue.
B) the monkey's response.
C) the delay between presentation of the cue and the response.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 53

Rebecca takes a dance class in which the first exercise the class does is always the same. But one day, the dance instructor changed the first exercise. Out of habit, Rebecca persisted in doing the exercise she was used to, until she realized everyone else was doing something different. The task her central executive is MOST concerned with in this example is:

A) controlled updating of short-term memory buffers.
B) setting goals and planning.
C) task switching.
D) stimulus selection and response inhibition.

Question 54

In a delayed-response task, Fuster found that monkey prefrontal neurons fired only:

A) when a particular object was initially displayed.
B) during a delay period when the monkey had to remember the location of an object.
C) during a delay period when the monkey had to remember an object but not its location.
D) after the monkey had chosen an object in the correct location.

Question 55

People with damage to the frontal lobes are impaired on:

A) the N-back task.
B) self-ordered tasks.
C) short-term memory for objects.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 56

Which system modifies behavior when the automatic responses are inappropriate and inhibit automatic routines in favor of more appropriate behaviors?

A) supervisory attentional
B) stimulus selection
C) response inhibition
D) prioritization model

Question 57

Prefrontal neurons that fire during a delay period seem to encode:

A) the prior location of a target.
B) both the prior location of a target and the motor movements needed to make a response.
C) the identity of a target.
D) both the identity of a target and the motor movements needed to make a response.

Question 58

The Stroop task demonstrates that:

A) working memory is enhanced when information is in conflict.
B) working memory is impaired when information is in conflict.
C) reading is an attentional process.
D) reading is an automatic process.

Question 59

Elliot is a successful and happily married accountant who had always been viewed by others as reliable and responsible. He developed a large tumor that surgeons were able to remove. However, soon after the surgery, he divorced his wife, remarried and divorced again, lost touch with most of his friends and family, got involved in corrupt business deals, and was soon bankrupt. It's logical to say that Elliot's _____ was damaged by the tumor.

A) cerebellum
B) frontal lobe
C) occipital lobe
D) parietal lobe

Question 60

Wilder Penfield described the changes in his sister after she had a brain tumor removed. She went from being an accomplished cook to losing all ability to organize her cooking, moving from one dish to another leaving some uncooked. The removal of the tumor caused damage to what area of her brain?

A) the cerebellum
B) the frontal lobe
C) the occipital lobe
D) the parietal lobe

Question 61

Which part of the brain is activated when a person tries to remember past events?

A) the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
B) the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex
C) the orbital prefrontal cortex
D) the medial prefrontal cortex

Question 62

Which memory task is likely to be the MOST difficult following damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex?

A) remembering the name of someone one recently met
B) recognizing one's third grade teacher after many years
C) remembering to send a card on one's mother's birthday
D) remembering which friends one already invited to a party

Question 63

Which statement is TRUE regarding goal abstraction in the frontal lobes?

A) Activation of the frontal lobes during abstract goal-directed tasks that proceeds from the posterior to the anterior regions.
B) Posterior regions are involved mainly in processing the most abstract goals.
C) Frontal lobe development throughout childhood proceeds from the posterior regions to the anterior regions.
D) Activation of the frontal lobes during highly-specific goal-directed tasks proceeds from the posterior to the anterior regions.

Question 64

The _____ prefrontal cortex seems to be active during _____ encoding.

A) dorsolateral; incidental
B) dorsolateral; intentional
C) ventrolateral; incidental
D) ventrolateral; intentional

Question 65

Patients with damage to the _____ side of the frontal lobe are MOST likely to show specialized deficits in _____ tasks.

A) left; visuospatial
B) left; verbal
C) right; verbal
D) right; analytical

Question 66

Which statement suggests that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is dysfunctional in people with schizophrenia?

A) People with schizophrenia are impaired on phonological memory tasks.
B) People with schizophrenia show increased blood flow to this area when they perform the Wisconsin Card Sort task.
C) People with schizophrenia display disturbance in both cognition and memory.
D) People with schizophrenia are impaired on tasks requiring memory for a small number of items after a short delay.

Question 67

Functional imaging studies have shown that the _____ ventrolateral prefrontal cortex is activated during tasks that involve semantic processing, while the _____ ventrolateral prefrontal cortex is activated during tasks that involve phonological processing.

A) right posterior; left anterior
B) left anterior; right posterior
C) left posterior; left anterior
D) left anterior; left posterior

Question 68

The results of functional brain imaging studies suggest that the:

A) left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is specialized for processing verbal material.
B) right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is specialized for processing verbal material.
C) left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has a dominant role in all monitoring processes.
D) right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is specialized for processing visual material.

Question 69

Research suggests that phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad processes take place in the _____ prefrontal cortex, while central executive functions take place in the _____ prefrontal cortex.

A) ventrolateral; dorsolateral
B) dorsolateral; ventrolateral
C) orbital; ventrolateral
D) ventrolateral; orbital

Question 70

The area of the brain that is active during rehearsal is the:

A) posterior parietal region.
B) occipital area.
C) ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.
D) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Question 71

Which working-memory process occurs in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex?

A) the central executive
B) the phonological loop
C) the visuospatial sketchpad
D) both the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad

Question 72

When one consciously tries to remember a fact or event for later retrieval, one is storing the information:

A) executively.
B) iconically.
C) intentionally.
D) incidentally.

Question 73

Which task is an example of one that would activate the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex?

A) rehearsing a phone number one just looked up
B) memorizing the definition of a new word by repeating it to oneself
C) remembering who told one about a major news event
D) remembering where one parked their car

Question 74

The _____ is involved in manipulation of information, while the _____ is involved in maintenance/rehearsal of information.

A) ventrolateral PFC; dorsolateral PFC
B) dorsolateral PFC; ventrolateral PFC
C) dorsolateral PFC; posterior cortical areas
D) posterior cortical areas; ventrolateral PFC

Question 75

The most abstract plans depend on the _____ areas of the frontal lobes, and the most concrete plans depend on the _____ areas of the frontal lobes.

A) posterior; lateral
B) anterior; posterior
C) lateral; anterior
D) posterior; anterior

Question 76

If one wants to use one's working memory MOST effectively, one should:

A) try to multitask as much as possible.
B) keep one's stress levels relatively high.
C) focus on one task at a time.
D) try to use just one's verbal memory store.

Question 77

Disruption of performance on domain-specific motor learning tasks is seen with damage to the _____ regions of the frontal lobes.

A) posterior
B) anterior
C) anterior and posterior
D) anterior and medial

Question 78

The year is 2016 and one is listening to a newscast about September 11, and a friend is trying to remember who told him about the event since he wasn't near a television to see it. What area of the brain would be activated as the friend attempts to remember?

A) the orbital prefrontal cortex
B) the medial prefrontal cortex
C) the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex
D) the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Question 79

It is often easier to remember words if one can also picture them in their minds. This is because one is using one's:

A) verbal memory store.
B) visuospatial memory store.
C) central executive.
D) verbal and visuospatial memory stores.

Question 80

If one is driving to a friend's house, one's specific goal of turning the steering wheel at a given moment is mainly relying on the _____ areas of the frontal lobes.

A) medial
B) anterior
C) lateral
D) posterior