Question 1

According to Chapter 4, working memory is especially important because

Accepted Answer

A)  it provides a perfect copy of the physical stimulus, for example, a visual image that accurately represents the words on a page. 
B)  it demonstrates that there is a clear-cut limit to the number of items we can store for a short time. 
C)  it is the first process that occurs after the stimulus has entered long-term memory. 
D)  it keeps some items active, so that we can use these items when we are working on a relevant task.

Question 2

What is the current status of the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory?

Accepted Answer

A)  Almost all of the recent research supports the model. 
B)  Only the concept of sensory memory is still of interest to researchers. 
C)  The theory has been completely abandoned, because there is no research support for the distinction between short-term memory and long-term memory. 
D)  Some studies support the distinction between short-term memory and long-term memory, but other studies suggest that these two forms of memory are actually similar

Question 3

A friend has just told you his cell phone number, and you repeat it to yourself several times as you search for a pen to record it. The technique you are using to remember the number is called

Accepted Answer

A)  rehearsal. 
B)  the serial position effect. 
C)  release from proactive interference. 
D)  the working-memory approach.

Question 4

According to the discussion of working memory, the phonological loop

Accepted Answer

A)  is useful when you learn a foreign language. 
B)  primarily activates the right hemisphere of the brain. 
C)  primarily receives information from the episodic buffer. 
D)  has a large capacity when you are learning new vocabulary words.

Question 5

Baddeley proposed that his approach to working memory differed from earlier approaches because

Accepted Answer

A)  it emphasizes the differences between working memory and long-term memory. 
B)  it emphasizes that working memory is an essential component for numerous cognitive tasks. 
C)  it focuses on hearing, rather than vision. 
D)  it focuses on the differences between human memory and the memory of other primates.

Question 6

Solange is trying to recall her friend's new zip code, which is 14454. She remembers it by saying, "My birthday is September 14th; my father is 45 years old, and my nephew is 4 years old." Apparently, Solange

Accepted Answer

A)  has arranged her friend's zip code so that it can best be stored in the phonological loop. 
B)  has arranged her friend's zip code so that it can best be stored in the visuospatial sketchpad. 
C)  has created chunks out of the zip code. 
D)  is trying to avoid acoustic confusions.

Question 7

Your textbook discusses research about the relationship between depression and performance on tasks involving the phonological loop. This research showed that

Accepted Answer

A)  people with depression performed significantly worse than people without depression. 
B)  people with depression actually performed significantly better than people with depression. 
C)  there was no difference in the performance of the two groups, once the researchers corrected for the fact that the depressed group had lower vocabulary skills. 
D)  people with depression tended to transform the stimuli into visual patterns that activated the visuospatial sketchpad

Question 8

According to the Baddeley's revised model of working memory, one major purpose of the episodic buffer is to

Accepted Answer

A)  store musical information (such as pitch and tones) for brief periods of time. 
B)  manage the decisions that are too complicated for the central executive. 
C)  coordinate the meaning and the visual appearance of written text. 
D)  provide temporary storage for information from long-term memory, the phonological loop, and the visuospatial sketchpad.

Question 9

Christopher and MacDonald compared the working memory capacities of people with and without major depression. They found that, in general, depressed people performed

Accepted Answer

A)  better on tasks involving the phonological loop. 
B)  better on tasks involving the visuospatial sketchpad. 
C)  worse on tasks involving the phonological loop, but better on tasks involving the central executive. 
D)  worse on tasks involving either the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, or central executive.

Question 10

According to the research about factors that affect the capacity of working memory,

Accepted Answer

A)  the fact that people tend to substitute acoustically similar items during recall illustrates that acoustic factors are more important than semantic factors. 
B)  there is no evidence for the influence of semantic information on working memory. 
C)  the studies on release from proactive interference demonstrate that semantic factors can influence working memory. 
D)  many studies have demonstrated that the information in working memory does not have acoustic properties.

Question 11

You are trying to retain-in your working memory-a mental picture of a stranger's face. According to Baddeley, you are using your

Accepted Answer

A)  visuospatial sketchpad. 
B)  episodic buffer. 
C)  phonological loop. 
D)  central executive.

Question 12

Based on Chapter 4's discussion of depression and working memory, a clinical psychologist should know that people with depression

Accepted Answer

A)  have trouble on a wide variety of tasks involving the central executive. 
B)  seldom report any cognitive problems. 
C)  have much more trouble on tasks involving the visuospatial sketchpad than on tasks involving the phonological loop. 
D)  have trouble when the phonological loop is involved in two simultaneous tasks.

Question 13

Working memory is useful in our daily lives because

Accepted Answer

A)  it is flexible, so that you can work on a variety of tasks within a short time period. 
B)  it has a strict limit; you, therefore, cannot confuse one task with another task. 
C)  it accurately stores items for up to 10 minutes, even when you are working on another task. 
D)  it has no upper limit.

Question 14

Suppose that your professor makes a graph that shows the relationship between the order in which a topic was covered in the course and the class's accuracy on test items for that topic. This graph would be called as a

Accepted Answer

A)  serial position curve. 
B)  free recall curve. 
C)  memory span curve. 
D)  Brown/Peterson & Peterson curve.

Question 15

Amy recently saw a Broadway musical. As she listens to the soundtrack in her car a few days later, she forms clear visual images of the scenes from the show. The part of the brain that is most activated while she does this is the

Accepted Answer

A)  left cerebral hemisphere, especially the frontal and occipital lobes. 
B)  right cerebral hemisphere, especially the frontal and parietal lobes. 
C)  cerebellum. 
D)  lateral hypothalamus.

Question 16

In a study on working memory, one group of participants repeated a sound, thereby blocking acoustic coding for other material. This research showed that

Accepted Answer

A)  working memory disappeared completely. 
B)  when acoustic coding was blocked, people often used visual coding. 
C)  acoustic coding was even more likely in long-term memory than in working memory. 
D)  semantic coding was the dominant mode in working memory, whereas acoustic coding was more likely in long-term memory.

Question 17

Suppose that you are having trouble recalling the information for a question about Baddeley's theory because the information about Atkinson and Shiffrin's theory (which you learned earlier) keeps interfering. This phenomenon is called

Accepted Answer

A)  proactive interference. 
B)  the recency effect. 
C)  the primacy effect. 
D)  chunking.

Question 18

According to the discussion at the beginning of the chapter on working memory (Chapter 4),

Accepted Answer

A)  most psychologists now believe that working memory has an unlimited capacity. 
B)  working memory allows you to keep information accessible so that you can use it on a variety of current tasks. 
C)  psychologists now agree that working memory and long-term memory have very different functions. 
D)  working memory is the brief storage period prior to short-term memory in the classical information-processing models.

Question 19

Suppose that you have been studying your French vocabulary words for several hours, and you are making an increasing number of mistakes. Then you switch to reviewing the new terms for your upcoming biology test, and your performance is noticeably better. You are experiencing

Accepted Answer

A)  the serial-position effect 
B)  thought suppression. 
C)  release from proactive interference. 
D)  the recency effect.

Question 20

Which of the following students has the best understanding of the concept "release from proactive interference"?

Accepted Answer

A)  Maura: "Students are likely to use simple repetition when learning new material; if you teach them a memory strategy, their memory improves." 
B)  Ilya: "The phrase refers to the strategy people use to move a particular stimulus from working memory to long-term memory." 
C)  Alessandro: "People are typically not conscious of their learning strategies; however, if they can focus their attention on their memory, they can avoid interference from other stimuli." 
D)  Tara: "As you learn a series of stimuli from the same category, memory will become less accurate; if you switch to a new category, memory will improve."

Exam 4: Working Memory