Deck 6: Section 1: Memory

Question 1

An adult patient has a severe case of anterograde amnesia due to a hippocampal injury suffered at age 25. State if (and why) the person can (a) remember childhood events, (b) remember the names of high school classmates by looking at yearbook pictures, (c) remember a story she read in a magazine 30 minutes ago, (d) learn to surf-something that she had never done before-and get better at it each time she goes to the beach, (e) remember learning to surf, (f) state "topcoat" when asked to complete the word fragment "top-" after being primed with that word "topcoat" 30 minutes before the test.

Answer 1

The answer should indicate that (a) Yes; anterograde amnesia involves the inability to form new memories. Existing memories before the hippocampal damage remain intact; (b) Yes; for the same reason as (a); (c) No; new explicit memories cannot be formed; (d) Yes, this is a procedural memory that is not processed in the hippocampus. There is no reason to believe that she could not become an expert surfer; (e) No. Although she will become better and better at surfing, she will perceive that each surfing trip is her first. As she gets better at surfing, she might say things like "I'm a natural surfer, dude. I'm so good at it, and it's only my first time!" even though it is her 100th time surfing; (f) Yes. Priming is an implicit memory not processed in the hippocampus. Interesting, she won't remember seeing the word "topcoat," but she will be primed to report it nonetheless.

Question 2

People who are old enough most likely remember September 11, 2001, the fateful day that over two thousand people died in the terrorist attacks on New York City's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington, and in the flight that aborted in Pennsylvania. Describe the memory effect that explains why people are likely to remember this day.

Answer 2

The answer should indicate that for most Americans, the mere mention of 9/11 triggers flashbulb memories. People remember when they first learned of the attacks, where they were, what they did for the rest of the day (probably watching TV news), etc. Enhanced recall of flashbulb memories is partially attributed to their high emotional content. We tend to remember emotional content better than information without emotional content. This is, in part, the result of the activity of the amygdala. There is also a cognitive behavioral component to flashbulb memories. Because they are of emotional content, they tend to be of some importance to our life. Therefore, they tend to be discussed. The events of 9/11 were the lead stories on the news for months after the attacks. Therefore, there was much opportunity to encode (elaborative and visual imagery), consolidate, and reconsolidate these events as they were discussed.

Question 3

You are a defense attorney in a murder case involving a carjacking. An eyewitness identifies the accused as the murderer. However, there is solid evidence that the eyewitness filled his gas tank at the same gas station at the same time as the accused, two weeks earlier. What arguments might you make to the jury to discredit the eyewitness's account and help your client?

Answer 3

The answer should provide the following information: (1) Memory misattributions often cause eyewitness misidentifications; (2) Source memory: It is common to recognize a person but misattribute the source of this knowledge. In other words, the eyewitness may have seen the defendant at the gas station, not at the scene of the crime; (3) False recognition: A feeling of familiarity about something that hasn't been encountered before. The eyewitness may feel confident of his identification because he recognized the suspect from an earlier time.

Question 4

Define implicit memory, explicit memory, and procedural memory, and give an example of each.

Question 5

Describe Sperling's (1960) experiment on sensory storage, and discuss how the findings suggest that sensory memory is much like an afterimage that quickly disappears.

Question 6

Janet is doing well in all of her other classes, but is struggling in her World Cultures class. Janet doesn't find the material terribly difficult, but she gets incredibly distracted during the exams. The reason for this is that the teacher does not maintain a good learning environment; students are constantly chatting and using their cell phones during class. Janet tried discussing the problem with her teacher, but he told Janet that he was retiring at the end of the semester and didn't want to deal with paperwork associated with sending students to detention. Using your knowledge of state-dependent retrieval, discuss an intervention to help Janet bring up her grades in this dysfunctional class.

Question 7

After a fierce tackle on the line of scrimmage, a football player briefly loses consciousness. When he regains it, the team doctor begins asking him questions. The player knows his name, the date, his team name, and how he got to the game. He also remembers where he lives and events that happened during his childhood. When given a list of seven digits to remember for 15 seconds, he has no trouble doing so. So far, the doctor is relieved. Exerting caution, the doctor tells the player to go sit at the end of the bench. Fifteen minutes later, she approaches him again and says, "Let's run through that battery of memory tests again." The player replies, "What memory tests? This is the first time I've seen you today, doc." Which parts of the memory and brain systems are working, and which are not?

Question 8

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of collaborative recall. What is collaborative inhibition and why does it occur?

Question 9

Most people believe that information stored in memory slowly fades away over time, like an old picture fading with age. Why is this commonsense view of long-term memory not entirely accurate?

Question 10

In 2008, Jan was exhilarated with the results of the presidential election. Now, however, she is disillusioned with the stagnant economy and the lack of accomplishments from the Obama White House. If asked today to say how she felt when Barack Obama was elected President, how might Jan respond? Would she be likely to remember her earlier views accurately? If not, why not?

Question 11

Just as you get into your car, your friend calls you and asks you to pick up seven other friends and bring them to the party. You don't have anything to write with, and you don't want to leave anyone behind. The names are Layla, Tony, Ben, Mark, Brent, Amber, and Jody. Discuss two methods you might use to remember the seven names.

Question 12

Having read this chapter, you now should know enough about memory to develop a number of study strategies for improving your performance on the next exam. Discuss at least three strategies, providing technical terms where appropriate.

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