Deck 5: Short-Term Working Memory

Question 1

Which of the following can aid in using short-term memory?

A)span of apprehension
B)digit span
C)span of immediate memory
D)chunking

Answer 1

D

Question 2

More recently,memory researchers such as Cowan have taken the view that the capacity of short-term memory is more like __________ units of information.

A)seven
B)one
C)four
D)nine

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Being given a set of 3 letters to memorize (e.g.,BEL)and then being asked to count backwards from some number (e.g.,274)likely means that you are performing which test?

A)digit span
B)probe-digit
C)Brown-Peterson
D)Sternberg

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Short-term memory span is often correlated with __________.

A)creativity
B)aptitude
C)intelligence
D)motivation

Question 5

Which is NOT true?

A)There is a subgrouping effect in memory span,with the first half enjoying an advantage over the second half.
B)A mnemonic is a recording strategy (especially when LTM is involved).
C)Forgetting simply due to the passage of time is called decay.
D)The span of apprehension is the same size for auditory and visual materials.

Question 6

The initial interpretation of the results from the Brown-Peterson task was that short-term memory forgetting was caused by a(n)__________ process.

A)decay
B)interference
C)suppression
D)articulatory

Question 7

People are presented with 16 digits,read one at a time.The last digit is a repetition of a previous digit.A person is to report the number that followed the repeated digit when it was presented for the first time.The name for this task is the __________ task.

A)digit span
B)Brown-Peterson
C)probe-digit
D)Sternberg

Question 8

Traditionally,according to Miller,the capacity of short-term memory is thought to be __________.

A)seven plus or minus two units of information
B)whatever is in the primacy effect
C)about 30 seconds
D)whatever can be managed by a serial exhaustive search

Question 9

The initial "Peterson & Peterson" interpretation of the Brown-Peterson task result was that the performance decrement was due to memory decay across time.This interpretation was later challenged by __________.

A)Triesman & Gelade
B)Cooper & Shepard
C)Waugh & Norman
D)Johnston & Heinz

Question 10

Seven plus or minus two units of information describes __________.

A)the duration of short-term memory
B)the capacity of short-term memory
C)the forgetting rate of short-term memory
D)an experimental construct for constructing memory lists

Question 11

At this point,it seems that the most likely explanation for forgetting in short-term memory is __________.

A)decay
B)interference
C)suppression
D)failure

Question 12

The cost to memory because of previously encountered information is called __________.

A)proactive interference
B)retroactive interference
C)mnemonic failure
D)interference theory

Question 13

"Seven plus or minus two" is NOT associated with __________.

A)Miller
B)chunk
C)capacity of STM
D)capacity of the sensory register

Question 14

Performance on the Brown-Peterson task is generally very good on the first few trials,but then begins to rapidly decay across the continued trials.This illustrates __________.

A)proactive interference
B)decay
C)mnemonic failure
D)interference theory

Question 15

In remembering the letter sequence {BYGROUPINGITEMSQUICKLY},which is NOT true?

A)We use recoding.
B)We use larger-than-letter chunks.
C)We use an automatic mnemonic strategy.
D)We use Process I to help learn the material.

Question 16

Another was to think of chunking in short-term memory is as __________.

A)expanding
B)recoding
C)synthesizing
D)analyzing

Question 17

A chunk is __________.

A)a richer,more complex,unit of information
B)the information-processing bottleneck
C)related to the single-channel hypothesis
D)semantic bifurcation

Question 18

Short-term memory is also called __________.

A)primary memory
B)sensory memory
C)daily memory
D)experience memory

Question 19

First,people are to attend to a to-be-remembered three-letter stimulus,and then they are shown a number.They are to count backwards by threes from the number.At the end of the variable length period of counting,the people were asked to report the original three-letter stimulus.Which test is this?

A)paired associate learning
B)Brown-Peterson task
C)mental rotation
D)Sternberg task

Question 20

Which refers to a completely different thing than short-term memory?

A)primary memory
B)Baddeley's "mental workbench"
C)supervisory attentional system
D)implicit memory

Question 21

Recency effects are most associated with __________.

A)long-term memory storage
B)short-term memory storage
C)the dual-coding hypothesis
D)cued recall

Question 22

The cost to memory because of more recently encountered information is called __________.

A)proactive interference
B)retroactive interference
C)mnemonic failure
D)interference theory

Question 23

What is the best way to describe Donders' chronometric method?

A)multiplicative factors
B)divisive factors
C)subtractive factors
D)additive factors

Question 24

The X-axis on a serial position curve holds which of the following?

A)RT
B)accuracy
C)serial position
D)set size

Question 25

In recall performance,the elevated recall of the first few items in a list (presumably because the items have the greatest chance of being transferred to LTM)is referred to as the __________.

A)primacy effect
B)word superiority effect
C)recency effect
D)salience effect

Question 26

"Recall the items in their original order." This best describes which type of recall?

A)serial
B)parallel
C)implicit
D)proactive

Question 27

The decrease in performance for items at end of a list when a person encountered extra-list material after the list has been presented is referred to as the __________.

A)primacy effect
B)suffix effect
C)rehearsal effect
D)recency effect

Question 28

Retroactive interference is __________.

A)a cost in the ability to remember due to memories of prior events
B)a cost in the ability to remember due to memories of more recent events
C)trouble a person has in recalling items as they get further along in a list
D)trouble a person has in recalling items for items early on in a list

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT true?

A)Serial position is an important determinant of RT in the Sternberg task.
B)A process model is a flowchart of the separate mental processes that occur during each trial.
C)There is a linear increase in RT with memory set size in the Sternberg task.
D)In serial self-terminating search,the search process halts when a target is found.

Question 30

Proactive interference is __________.

A)a cost in the ability to remember due to memories of prior events
B)A cost in the ability to remember due to memories of more recent events
C)trouble a person has in recalling items as they get further along in a list
D)trouble a person has in recalling items for items early on in a list

Question 31

Which is NOT a criticism of Sternberg's conclusions about memory search?

A)Processes may cascade.
B)Processes may slow down if performed in parallel.
C)With practice,automaticity develops and may free up otherwise required resources.
D)The difference measure should only measure the process of interest,but it is virtually impossible to devise two tasks that differ on the presence or absence of only one process (thus there is no appropriate comparison).

Question 32

Better memory for items at the beginning and end of a list is called the __________.

A)Sternberg effect
B)proactive interference phenomenon
C)retroactive interference bias
D)serial position curve

Question 33

Serial recall is __________.

A)a recall task in which people must recall the list items in their original order of presentation
B)the elevation of recall at the early positions of the list in a recall task
C)the memory task in which the list items may be recalled in any order,regardless of their order of presentation
D)the component of short-term memory that holds information currently being rehearsed

Question 34

Who is the cognitive psychologist best known for his work on studying the search for information in short-term memory?

A)Sperling
B)Sternberg
C)Donders
D)Triesman

Question 35

Newer information interferes with older information in __________.

A)a new theory of decay
B)release from PI
C)proactive interference
D)retroactive interference

Question 36

Adding 30 seconds of backwards counting between the study and test phases of a free recall list learning task __________.

A)will increase the recency effect
B)will reduce the primacy effect
C)will increase the primacy effect
D)will reduce the recency effect

Question 37

Release from PI is __________.

A)improvement in memory with a switch in context
B)improvement in memory with a switch in content
C)decline in memory with a switch in context
D)decline in memory with a switch in content

Question 38

Donders' method of subtraction __________.

A)is principally used to determine the time required for numeric processing
B)uses the time difference between tasks that only differ at one processing stage
C)reveals that memory loss is principally due to interference rather than decay
D)is a recognition task

Question 39

Speeding up the rate of presentation in a list learning task will most likely __________.

A)increase recency effects
B)decrease recency effects
C)increase primacy effects
D)decrease primacy effects

Question 40

Presenting a list of words at a faster rate on a list learning task __________.

A)will increase the recency effect
B)will reduce the primacy effect
C)will increase the primacy effect
D)will reduce the recency effect

Question 41

The Sternberg task produces __________.

A)identical set size functions for yes and no trials
B)approximately a 2:1 ratio in the slopes for "no" and "yes" trials
C)a flat function
D)a serial position curve

Question 42

Baddeley & Hitch (1974)report an experiment in which participants were to perform a reasoning task of various difficulty ("A precedes B" T/F? "B does not precede A" T/F? etc.).In addition to this primary task they were to repeat "the the the," repeatedly count from 1 to 6,or repeat a set of random digits.Performance was compared against single-task performance.

A)The dual-task demands affected each difficulty condition equally.
B)The dual-task demands of the verbal task did not affect reasoning performance.
C)The dual-task demands were particularly pronounced for the negative passive condition.
D)The dual-task demands were particularly pronounced when the second task was the random digit task,especially in the negative passive condition.

Question 43

What sort of secondary task in a dual-task study would most likely disrupt the central executive?

A)random number generation
B)articulatory suppression
C)counting backward
D)pursuit rotor tracking

Question 44

The region known as DLPFC (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)is associated with __________.

A)memory encoding
B)executive control
C)release from PI
D)serial position effects

Question 45

According to Baddeley's model,working memory is __________.

A)a unitary structure
B)not much different from long-term memory
C)a collection of different processes
D)almost exactly the same thing as short-term memory

Question 46

According to Sternberg,short-term memory is search using what kind of process?

A)a serial exhaustive search
B)a parallel search
C)a serial self-terminating search
D)a bi-metric search

Question 47

Processing in the visuospatial sketchpad is least likely to be disrupted by __________.

A)tapping out a pattern with your fingers
B)visual noise in a display (such as a series of random patterns)
C)articulatory suppression
D)the passage of time

Question 48

During each trial,the set is scanned one item at a time until the entire set is processed.This describes which kind of search?

A)serial self-terminating
B)serial controlled
C)serial position
D)serial exhaustive

Question 49

Information that is stored and processed in the phonological loop is most likely __________.

A)temporal
B)in a verbal/acoustic memory code
C)kinematic in nature
D)exempt from any influences of information in the episodic buffer

Question 50

Which part of the working memory system is responsible for regulating the flow of information?

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

Question 51

The central executive depends most critically on what part of the brain?

A)the hindbrain
B)the corpus callosum
C)the hypothalamus
D)the prefrontal cortex

Question 52

Which of the following effects is NOT a hallmark of the phonological loop?

A)articulatory suppression
B)verbal coding
C)phonological similarity effect
D)boundary extension

Question 53

DLPFC is __________.(Choose the best answer.)

A)active in tests involving executive control
B)active in tests involving visuospatial processing
C)active in tests involving articulatory planning
D)active in tests involving episodic recall

Question 54

Which is of the following does DLPFC mean?

A)dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
B)Donder's limitation on processing for functional content
C)Dumke's lateralized posterior frontal cortex
D)Drake's language-processing function center

Question 55

Which of the following is NOT a component of Baddeley's working memory model?

A)long-term memory
B)episodic buffer
C)central executive
D)visuospatial sketchpad

Question 56

Warrington & Shallice report a patient with a grossly defective STS (a digit span of two).This patient __________.

A)had normal performance on the Brown-Peterson task
B)had reasonable learning,memory,and comprehension
C)had profound retrograde amnesia
D)had no ability to store new long-term memories

Question 57

The success of the Sternberg task illustrates the usefulness of __________.

A)free recall
B)serial position curves
C)chunking
D)chronometric methods

Question 58

Which is NOT true?

A)PET scans (or fMRI or other neuro-investigative brain imagining techniques)essentially use Donder's subtractive method to narrow down which cognitive activities involve which neural mechanisms.
B)Spatial working memory typically relies on extrastriate occipital processing of the prefrontal cortex.
C)Articulatory rehearsal typically relies on left hemispheric processing.
D)When spatial information is required for responding,the premotor region of the brain is active.

Question 59

What are the two components of the phonological loop?

A)visuospatial sketchpad and episodic buffer
B)articulatory store and phonological loop
C)phonological store and articulatory loop
D)fast and slow tracking

Question 60

Working memory differs from short-term memory in that __________.

A)more information can be retained
B)they are exactly the same concept
C)STM is serial and WM is parallel
D)WM involves actively manipulating information

Question 61

What component of working memory is involved in binding information from different modalities and from long-term memory?

A)central executive
B)peripheral binder
C)episodic buffer
D)all of the subsystems

Question 62

Under what circumstances do people with smaller working memory spans outperform people with larger working memory spans?

A)in finding simpler solutions to problems,rather than persisting with more complex solutions
B)in the size of their Stroop effects
C)in the ability to divide their attention across a broad range of tasks
D)in just about every way possible

Question 63

Mental manipulation of a visual short-term memory code that reorients the imagined object in space is __________.

A)channel capacity
B)the visuospatial sketchpad
C)the acoustic-articulatory store
D)mental rotation

Question 64

Which describes how Engle investigated working memory span?

A)1 9 7 6 4 3 - "What were the numbers?"
B)1 9 7 6 4 3 2 1 5 8 3 2 7 5 4 8 - "The answer is 'four.'"
C)Brooks F dual-task procedure
D)My family worked on the farm.CUP I was tired so I went to sleep.BLUE - "CUP BLUE"

Question 65

Which of the following is NOT affected by working memory span size?

A)long-term memory retrieval
B)sensation
C)reasoning
D)attention

Question 66

Which of the following effect s is NOT a hallmark of the visuospatial sketchpad?

A)dual-task effects
B)boundary extension
C)representational momentum
D)mental rotation

Question 67

"WM = STM + controlled attention" Whose equation is this?

A)Baddeley
B)Sternberg
C)Engle
D)Jonides

Question 68

The episodic buffer of working memory __________.

A)integrates information to create new episodic memories
B)is most strongly analogous to short-term memory
C)has an extremely small capacity
D)is independent of any information in long-term memory

Question 69

In mental rotation,response speed is a function of __________.

A)the plane of rotation
B)the angle of rotation
C)psychophysical principles
D)exogenous cues

Question 70

In a dual-task procedure,Logie had participants do mental addition or an imaging task as one task and a letter span or visual span task as the other task.The results __________.

A)proved Sternberg wrong
B)were inconsistent with the notion of memory decay due to forgetting
C)were inconsistent with the predictions of resource accounts
D)were consistent with domain-specific resource accounts

Question 71

The reason for doing a dual-task study is to assess __________.

A)the speed of working memory retrieval
B)what happens when working memory resources are drained
C)the operation of the episodic buffer
D)the mind

Question 72

Compared to people with smaller working memory spans,people with higher working memory spans show a(n)-

A)inverted fan effect
B)similar fan effect
C)larger fan effect
D)smaller fan effect

Question 73

What is the boundary extension effect?

A)retaining information beyond the bounds of the experiment
B)remembering more of a picture than was actually seen
C)extending memory beyond the boundary of 7 +/- 2 items
D)cognition that is not defined by cultural boundaries

Question 74

People with larger working memory spans are more likely to make __________ choices.

A)sustainable
B)subtle
C)moral
D)obscure

Question 75

Which is NOT true?

A)High-span people are more able to flexibly allocate their attention across the visual display.
B)High-span people can "resist" orienting towards the onset of a visual cue more successfully than can low-span subjects.
C)High-span people have less difficulty switching from the anti-saccade task to the pro-saccade task.
D)Working memory span is not related to the suppression or inhibition of attention.

Question 76

On a working memory span test,people are asked to _________ some items,while ___________ others.

A)encode; retrieving
B)store; articulating
C)transpose; sequencing
D)retain; processing

Question 77

When do high and low memory span subjects NOT show equivalent amounts of Stroop interference?

A)when the word color and word spelling are 100 percent incongruent
B)when the word color and word spelling are 50 percent incongruent
C)when the word color and word spelling are 20 percent incongruent
D)In all of the above conditions,high-span subjects show less interference.

Question 78

Rosen & Engle examined high- and low-span people performing an animal name generation task.Which did they demonstrate?

A)High-span people performed the same as the low-span people (even at the one minute mark).
B)In a dual-task condition,the high-span people performed better than the low-span people.
C)High-span people showed more proactive interference in the task than the low-span people.
D)It is hypothesized that the high-span people's performance under standard conditions reflects both "normal" retrieval as well as an additional process of guided strategic retrieval.

Question 79

Daneman & Carpenter found that people with a working memory span of 2 got ____ percent correct in the "7 ago" condition of their pronoun test,but people with a memory span of 5 got ___ percent correct on the same test under the same conditions.

A)0; 100
B)20; 80
C)40; 60
D)60; 40

Question 80

When reading a text that is accompanied by pictures,people with __________ are more likely to be led astray and distracted by irrelevant pictures.

A)low memory spans
B)high memory spans
C)unbalanced working memories
D)more cylindrical