Memory is best defined as
C) the persistence of learning through the storage and retrieval of information.
After looking up his friend's phone number, Alex was able to remember it only long enough to dial it correctly. In this
case, the telephone number was clearly stored in his ________ memory.
Encoding that occurs with no effort or a minimal level of conscious attention is known as
B) automatic processing.
While reading a novel at a rate of nearly 500 words per minute, Megan effortlessly understands almost every word. This
ability highlights the importance of
B) automatic processing.
8. The tendency for distributed study to yield better long-term retention than massed study is known as
C) the spacing effect.
On the telephone, Dominic rattles off a list of 10 grocery items for Kyoko to bring home from the store. Immediately
after hearing the list, Kyoko attempts to write down the items. She is most likely to forget the items
C) in the middle of the list.
Ebbinghaus found that memorizing familiar words required much less effort than memorizing nonsense syllables. This
best illustrates the advantage of
D) encoding meaning.
One reason adults typically recall little of their first three years of life is that during infancy they were unable to verbally
label their experiences. This best illustrates that the formation of long-term memories often requires
D) semantic encoding.
The use of acronyms to improve one's memory of unfamiliar material best illustrates the value of
Tim, a third-grader, learns the sentence "George Eats Old Gray Rats And Paints Houses Yellow" to help him remember
the spelling of "geography." Tim is using
A) a mnemonic device.
By presenting research participants with three rows of three letters each for only a fraction of a second, Sperling
demonstrated that people have ________ memory
Iconic memory refers to
B) photographic, or picture-image, memory that lasts for only a few tenths of a second.
Sounds and words that are not immediately attended to can still be recalled a couple of seconds later because of our
Peterson and Peterson asked people to count aloud backward after they were presented with three consonants. This
study finds that ________ memories will quickly disappear without active processing and rehearsal.
The human capacity for storing long-term memories isExceptionally clear memories of emotionally significant events are called
A) essentially unlimited.
Damage to the hippocampus would most likely interfere with a person's ability to learn
D) the names of the 50 states in the United States.
The discovery that words heard underwater are later better recalled underwater than on land best illustrates the value of
D) retrieval cues.
Information learned while a person is ________ is best recalled when that person is ________.
D) drunk; drunk
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
B) encoding failure.
Using nonsense syllables to study memory, Ebbinghaus found that
D) the most rapid memory loss for new information occurs shortly after it is learned.
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
D) in storage.
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
Learning a new ATM password may block the recall of a familiar old password. This illustrates
B) retroactive interference.
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 fifthgrade teacher who flunked him. According to Freud, his forgetting illustrates
The misinformation effect refers to the
D) incorporation of misleading information into one's memory of an event.
When asked misleading questions after observing an accident, eyewitnesses often reconstruct their initial memories of
the event. This best illustrates
D) the misinformation effect.
Researchers asked university students to imagine certain childhood events, including a false event such as breaking a
window with their hand. They discovered that
D) it is surprisingly easy to lead people to construct false memories.
Those who are eager to use hypnosis to facilitate eyewitness recollections of the details of a crime should first be
warned of the dangers of
A) the misinformation effect.
Adults who have trouble remembering incidences of childhood sexual abuse have often been led by therapists to believe
that their memory difficulties are due to
Memory experts who express skepticism regarding reports of repressed and recovered memories emphasize that
C) therapeutic techniques such as guided imagery and dream analysis encourage the construction of false memories.
Participants in one experiment were given false accounts of their being lost in a shopping mall during their childhood.
Many of these participants later falsely recalled vivid details of such an experience. This experiment best illustrated
B) the misinformation effect.
Mentally re-creating the mood that accompanied your original learning of course material is an effective way to activate
C) retrieval cues.