Without any effort to memorize it, you can remember that you ate breakfast before you showered this morning. This kind of encoding is called
Automatic processing
✓
Effortful processing
Elaborative rehearsal
Chunking
Correct Answer
Automatic processing
Automatic processing encodes details such as time, space, frequency and word meaning without conscious effort. Effortful processing is wrong because it requires attention and work, as when studying for an exam. Elaborative rehearsal is wrong because it is a deliberate strategy of linking new information to what you know. Chunking is wrong because it is deliberately grouping items into larger units.
Category: Encoding
Question 2
In research by Craik and Tulving, words were remembered best when participants had processed which feature of the words?
Their typeface
Their meaning
✓
Their sound
Their length
Correct Answer
Their meaning
Processing a word's meaning is semantic encoding, a deep level of processing that produced the best recall. Their typeface is wrong because judging how a word looks is shallow structural processing. Their sound is wrong because judging rhymes is acoustic processing, which is deeper than appearance but shallower than meaning. Their length is wrong because counting letters is also a shallow, surface-level judgment.
Category: Encoding
Question 3
According to the Atkinson-Shiffrin model, in what order does information pass through the memory stages?
The Atkinson-Shiffrin model proposes that information first enters sensory memory, attended information moves to short-term memory, and rehearsed information is transferred to long-term memory. Starting with short-term memory is wrong because sensory input must register first. Starting with long-term memory reverses the model. Placing long-term memory before short-term memory is wrong because information must pass through short-term memory to be stored.
Category: Memory Stages and Models
Question 4
George Miller's classic estimate of how many items short-term memory can hold at once is
About 3 items, plus or minus 1
About 20 items, plus or minus 5
An unlimited number of items
About 7 items, plus or minus 2
✓
Correct Answer
About 7 items, plus or minus 2
Miller proposed that short-term memory holds about seven items, plus or minus two; more recent work suggests working memory may hold closer to four items. About 3 items, plus or minus 1 is wrong because it is not Miller's estimate. About 20 items, plus or minus 5 is far beyond short-term memory's limits. An unlimited number of items describes long-term memory, not short-term memory.
Category: Memory Stages and Models
Question 5
In Baddeley and Hitch's model of working memory, which component briefly holds verbal and auditory information, such as a phone number you repeat to yourself?
Phonological loop
✓
Visuospatial sketchpad
Central executive
Episodic buffer
Correct Answer
Phonological loop
The phonological loop stores sounds and words and keeps them active through inner rehearsal. Visuospatial sketchpad is wrong because it holds visual and spatial information. Central executive is wrong because it directs attention and coordinates the other components rather than storing sounds. Episodic buffer is wrong because it links information across components and with long-term memory.
Category: Memory Stages and Models
Question 6
Recalling the people, place and events of your tenth birthday party relies on which type of memory?
Semantic memory
Episodic memory
✓
Procedural memory
Implicit memory
Correct Answer
Episodic memory
Episodic memory stores personal experiences tied to a particular time and place, the what, where and when of events. Semantic memory is wrong because it holds general facts and knowledge, not personal events. Procedural memory is wrong because it stores skills and how to do things. Implicit memory is wrong because the party is being consciously recalled, which makes it explicit.
Category: Types of Long-Term Memory
Question 7
Which of these is an example of implicit memory?
Naming the capital of Japan
Describing your first day of college
Tying your shoes without thinking
✓
Listing the three stages of memory
Correct Answer
Tying your shoes without thinking
Implicit memory is shown through performance without conscious recollection, and a well-practiced skill like tying shoes is a procedural memory. Naming the capital of Japan is wrong because it is a consciously recalled fact, a semantic memory. Describing your first day of college is wrong because it is a consciously recalled episode. Listing the three stages of memory is wrong because it is explicit, factual knowledge.
Category: Types of Long-Term Memory
Question 8
After reading the word "picnic," a participant recognizes the word "plate" faster than usual, without being aware of any connection. This effect is called
Chunking
Proactive interference
Elaborative rehearsal
Priming
✓
Correct Answer
Priming
Priming is a form of implicit memory in which exposure to one stimulus changes the response to a later, related stimulus. Chunking is wrong because it is grouping items into larger units. Proactive interference is wrong because it impairs rather than speeds memory. Elaborative rehearsal is wrong because it is a deliberate strategy, while priming happens without awareness.
Category: Types of Long-Term Memory
Question 9
Answering an essay question that gives no cues requires which form of retrieval?
Recall
✓
Recognition
Relearning
Priming
Correct Answer
Recall
Recall is accessing information without cues, which is what an essay question demands. Recognition is wrong because it involves identifying previously learned information when it is presented, as on a multiple choice test. Relearning is wrong because it means learning material again that was learned before. Priming is wrong because it is an unconscious influence of an earlier stimulus, not deliberate retrieval.
Category: Retrieval
Question 10
After surgery that removed much of the medial temporal lobe on both sides of his brain to control seizures, the patient H.M. was no longer able to
Remember events from his childhood
Form new long-term declarative memories
✓
Hold a brief conversation in the moment
Improve at a new motor skill with practice
Correct Answer
Form new long-term declarative memories
H.M. developed severe anterograde amnesia and could not form new explicit, declarative memories. Remembering childhood events is wrong because many memories from before his surgery remained. Holding a brief conversation is wrong because his short-term memory still worked. Improving at a new motor skill is wrong because his implicit, procedural learning remained possible.
Category: Memory and the Brain
Question 11
Rabbits with damage to this brain structure cannot learn a classically conditioned eye-blink response. Which structure is it?
Amygdala
Hippocampus
Cerebellum
✓
Prefrontal cortex
Correct Answer
Cerebellum
The cerebellum supports implicit memories, including procedural memory and classically conditioned responses such as the eye-blink. Amygdala is wrong because it is involved mainly in emotional memories such as fear. Hippocampus is wrong because it is central to forming new explicit memories and spatial memory. Prefrontal cortex is wrong because it is linked to semantic processing and working memory rather than the conditioned eye-blink.
Category: Memory and the Brain
Question 12
Karl Lashley trained rats to run a maze and then damaged different parts of their cerebral cortex. What did he find?
The rats forgot the maze entirely
Only frontal lobe damage caused forgetting
Memory loss matched the exact lesion site
The rats could still run the maze
✓
Correct Answer
The rats could still run the maze
Lashley found that rats with lesions in many different cortical areas could still navigate the maze, so he never located a single site for the memory trace. The rats forgetting the maze entirely is the opposite of his result. Only frontal lobe damage causing forgetting is wrong because no single area produced the loss. Memory loss matching the exact lesion site is wrong because no specific location held the memory.
Category: Memory and the Brain
Question 13
Years later, Dana can describe exactly where she was, who she was with and what she was wearing when she learned of a shocking national tragedy. This vivid memory is a
Flashbulb memory
✓
Procedural memory
Priming effect
Sensory memory
Correct Answer
Flashbulb memory
A flashbulb memory is an exceptionally clear and vivid memory of the circumstances in which a person learned of an important, emotional event. Procedural memory is wrong because it stores skills, not events. Priming effect is wrong because priming is an unconscious influence of one stimulus on a later response. Sensory memory is wrong because it lasts only a few seconds.
Category: Memory and the Brain
Question 14
After a car accident causes a brain injury, Mark can remember his life before the accident but cannot form new lasting memories of people he meets. Mark has
Retrograde amnesia
Anterograde amnesia
✓
Hyperthymesia
Blocking
Correct Answer
Anterograde amnesia
Anterograde amnesia is the inability to form new long-term memories after an injury or illness, often involving the hippocampus. Retrograde amnesia is wrong because it is the loss of memories from before the injury, which Mark still has. Hyperthymesia is wrong because it is extraordinarily detailed autobiographical memory. Blocking is wrong because it is a temporary failure to retrieve something that is stored.
Category: Forgetting and Distortion
Question 15
A witness to a robbery hears a news report wrongly describing the robber's jacket as red. Later, she remembers seeing a red jacket. This illustrates the
Encoding failure
Flashbulb memory
Misinformation effect
✓
Self-reference effect
Correct Answer
Misinformation effect
The misinformation effect occurs when misleading information received after an event alters a person's memory of it, a phenomenon studied extensively by Elizabeth Loftus. Encoding failure is wrong because the problem is new false information, not information that was never stored. Flashbulb memory is wrong because it is a vivid memory of learning about an important event. Self-reference effect is wrong because it is better memory for information related to oneself.
Category: Forgetting and Distortion
Question 16
After changing phone numbers, Ana keeps dialing her old number when she tries to dial the new one. This is
Retroactive interference
Anterograde amnesia
Priming
Proactive interference
✓
Correct Answer
Proactive interference
Proactive interference occurs when older information disrupts the recall of newer information, so the old number intrudes on the new one. Retroactive interference is wrong because it runs in the opposite direction, with new learning disrupting old memories. Anterograde amnesia is wrong because Ana can form new memories. Priming is wrong because it is an unconscious influence that eases later processing rather than a conflict between memories.
Category: Forgetting and Distortion
Question 17
You are sure you know an actor's name and can even name its first letter, but you cannot bring it to mind. In Schacter's seven sins of memory, this is
Blocking
✓
Transience
Absentmindedness
Persistence
Correct Answer
Blocking
Blocking is the temporary inability to retrieve information that is stored, as in the tip-of-the-tongue experience. Transience is wrong because it is the loss of memories over time. Absentmindedness is wrong because it is forgetting due to a lapse of attention, such as misplacing keys. Persistence is wrong because it is the unwanted, intrusive recall of memories one would rather forget.
Category: Forgetting and Distortion
Question 18
Most people cannot pick out the correct design of a U.S. penny from several similar drawings, even though they have handled thousands of pennies. This is best explained by
Retroactive interference
Encoding failure
✓
Blocking
Suggestibility
Correct Answer
Encoding failure
Encoding failure means the details were never stored in long-term memory, because people do not pay attention to a penny's design. Retroactive interference is wrong because no newer learning is overwriting the memory. Blocking is wrong because it is a retrieval failure for information that was stored. Suggestibility is wrong because no one supplied misleading information.
Category: Forgetting and Distortion
Question 19
To remember the phone number 5205550467, a student groups it as 520-555-0467. This strategy is
Priming
Acoustic encoding
Chunking
✓
Consolidation
Correct Answer
Chunking
Chunking organizes information into a few meaningful groups, which helps it fit within the limited capacity of short-term memory. Priming is wrong because it is an unconscious influence of an earlier stimulus. Acoustic encoding is wrong because it is encoding the sounds of words rather than grouping them. Consolidation is wrong because it is the biological stabilizing of a memory over time.
Category: Improving Memory
Question 20
A student remembers the order of operations with the sentence "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally." This mnemonic is a(n)
Acronym
Jingle
Chunk
Acrostic
✓
Correct Answer
Acrostic
An acrostic is a phrase or sentence in which the first letter of each word stands for an item to be remembered. Acronym is wrong because an acronym is a single word formed from first letters, such as HOMES. Jingle is wrong because a jingle is a rhyme or tune. Chunk is wrong because a chunk is a meaningful group of items, not a cue sentence.
Category: Improving Memory