Deck 7: Memory Errors

Question 1

Psychologists refer to normal forgetting of information over time as ______.

A) transience
B) absentmindedness
C) blocking
D) source misattribution

Answer 1

transience

Question 2

What is the difference between a schema and a script?

A) A script is more likely to lead to false memories than a schema is.
B) A schema follows a specific order, while a script is a general framework.
C) A script follows a specific order, while a schema is a general framework.
D) A schema is more likely to lead to false memories than a script is.

Answer 2

A script follows a specific order, while a schema is a general framework.

Question 3

Imagine you are watching a movie, and you recognize an actor. The person's name is "on the tip on your tongue." This is an example of ______.

A) source misattribution
B) absentmindedness
C) transience
D) blocking

Answer 3

blocking

Question 4

Sir Frederick C. Bartlett found that participants in his study tended to reconstruct memories based on ______ biases.

A) cultural
B) gender
C) transient
D) sustained

Question 5

Psychologists refer to a general knowledge structure for an event or situation as a ______.

A) script
B) memory
C) story
D) schema

Question 6

After breaking up with your partner, you are grateful to be out of a negative relationship. However, your next relationship turns out to be similarly negative, and you find yourself missing the "old days" of being happy with your ex. This is an example of ______.

A) bias
B) persistence
C) source misattribution
D) transience

Question 7

You are a criminal justice student studying the case of Ronald Cotton. Which of these conclusions is most logical to draw from that case?

A) Memory is like a video camera, recording almost all events perfectly.
B) Police interrogations of the suspect can lead to false memories.
C) Law enforcement officers can inadvertently influence an eyewitness.
D) Eyewitness testimony should be phased out of the justice system.

Question 8

Which of the following is an example of a condition associated with memory failure?

A) schizophrenia
B) post-traumatic stress disorder
C) dissociative identity disorder
D) attention deficit disorder

Question 9

Having a jingle from a commercial stuck in your head all day is an example of ______.

A) equanimity
B) transience
C) persistence
D) suggestibility

Question 10

What criticism have some experts made of the DRM procedure?

A) It induces false memories that can upset or disturb research subjects.
B) It does not accurately reflect the complexities of real-life situations.
C) The procedure is expensive and difficult to administer.
D) The procedure is so complex that researchers often end up with flawed data.

Question 11

A lack of attention during encoding or retrieval results in poor memory and is known as ______.

A) transience
B) absentmindedness
C) blocking
D) source misattribution

Question 12

The researcher who described "seven sins of memory" was ______.

A) Elizabeth Loftus
B) Daniel Schacter
C) Ronald Cotton
D) Sir Frederick C. Bartlett

Question 13

The DRM procedure assesses ______.

A) false memories
B) cultural bias
C) accurate memories
D) memory bias

Question 14

Your roommate often spends time frantically searching for her keys, phone, and other commonly used items. Sometimes her keys end up in unusual places, such as the freezer. Which of these pieces of advice would it be most sensible for you to give her?

A) "Memory is flawed, so you must learn to accept that you will lose your keys most days."
B) "Construct a memory palace so you will always know where your phone and keys are."
C) "Try putting your keys in the same place each time you come home."
D) "See a doctor to find out if you have undiagnosed anterograde amnesia."

Question 15

Based on what you have read in this chapter, which of these statements is most likely to reflect bias?

A) "Ever since he said that to me, I have been playing it over and over in my head, and each time I feel awful."
B) "I know I've seen that woman before, and her name is on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't come up with it."
C) "I have never forgotten the pain of childbirth. What a horrible experience."
D) "We were friends for three years, but thinking back now, I realized the day I met him that he wasn't trustworthy."

Question 16

You participate in a study where you must read a list of words (frigid, chilly, winter, freeze, shiver, frost, air, and wet) and write down all the words you remember. You include "snow" in the list of words you remember, even though "snow" wasn't on the list. Which memory error have you made?

A) persistence
B) blocking
C) transience
D) false memory

Question 17

Which of the following is an example of source misattribution?

A) Monique heard a song and immediately realized that she heard it often when she was a child.
B) Juan told his girlfriend that he lost his keys, but he actually only dreamed that he lost them.
C) Si Niang has few memories of events that took place before she was five.
D) Doug Bruce suddenly became conscious on a train in New York with no idea who or where he was.

Question 18

Altering memories or creating false memories for events we have never experienced is ______.

A) source misattribution
B) transience
C) suggestibility
D) bias

Question 19

This chapter contains a section called "The Reconstructive Nature of Memory." What does that phrase mean?

A) Each memory involves a labor-intensive process of conscious reconstruction.
B) Humans record memories and store them in one section of the brain. If a record is damaged, we can reconstruct it.
C) When something happens to us, we encode the experience into different senses and store those sense memories in different parts of the brain.
D) Memories are natural and therefore cannot be reconstructed unless we use the techniques of famous memory researchers and other scientists.

Question 20

You are attending a conference and want to remember as much of it as possible. Based on what you have read about blocking, which details should you give the most effort because they will likely be the hardest to remember?

A) people's names and company names during the networking period
B) multistep processes described during the lectures
C) sensory memories, such as the feel of sunlight on your skin
D) geographic and temporal details, such as where and when the keynote speech was

Question 21

Bundles of protein that develop in the space between neurons are called ______.

A) clusters
B) tangles
C) tau
D) plaques

Question 22

Most adults have childhood amnesia for most memories that took place before what age?

A) 3
B) 5
C) 7
D) 9

Question 23

Which of these is an example of implicit memory retrieval that many people are likely to experience in their own lives?

A) riding a bike
B) navigating a new route
C) giving a speech
D) memorizing a formula

Question 24

Jonathan cannot explicitly retrieve memories following a traumatic brain injury. Which area of his brain is likely damaged?

A) hippocampus
B) temporal lobe
C) occipital lobe
D) Broca's area

Question 25

Imagine that you are recalling a conversation you recently had with someone concerning an interesting event in your hometown. You cannot remember the details of the event, but you end up supplementing your memory based on the recollections of your friend. What are you potentially falling victim to?

A) memory persistence
B) the activation-monitoring theory
C) fuzzy trace theory
D) the misinformation effect

Question 26

Protein fibers that develop in a neuron's nucleus, decreasing its ability to function properly, are called ______.

A) plaques
B) beta
C) tangles
D) synapses

Question 27

Law enforcement officials have applied the findings of eyewitness memory research to ______.

A) suspect interrogations
B) police lineups
C) the chain of custody
D) criminal trials

Question 28

Clive Wearing was diagnosed with amnesia after suffering from a form of ______.

A) cellulitis
B) meningitis
C) encephalitis
D) traumatic brain injury

Question 29

You are a juror in a criminal trial. Based on what you have read in this chapter, which of these statements about eyewitness testimony is most accurate?

A) Eyewitness testimony cannot be taken seriously unless there is physical evidence to back it up.
B) Because human memory is so accurate, eyewitness testimony is some of the most reliable evidence available.
C) Because human memory is a reconstructive process, eyewitness testimony cannot be trusted.
D) Eyewitness testimony is most believable if authorities have taken steps to avoid inducing memory errors in witnesses.

Question 30

______ involves unintentional retrieval of memory.

A) Explicit memory
B) Implicit memory
C) Retrograde amnesia
D) Anterograde amnesia

Question 31

Which of the following is a way to decrease potential false eyewitness testimony?

A) double-blind lineups
B) single-blind lineups
C) presenting only six suspects at a time
D) presenting all suspects at once

Question 32

Childhood amnesia seems to be specific to ______ memories.

A) procedural
B) semantic
C) episodic
D) implicit

Question 33

Cases of temporary retrograde amnesia are often the result of ______.

A) brain lesions
B) brain swelling
C) encephalitis
D) persistent memories

Question 34

______ amnesia is to the events before the damage as ______ amnesia is to events after the damage.

A) Retrograde; anterograde
B) Anterograde; retrograde
C) Hippocampic; cortical
D) Cortical; hippocampic

Question 35

In Loftus and Palmer's study, participants were more likely to report seeing broken glass when they were presented with which word?

A) smashed
B) contacted
C) hit
D) collided

Question 36

Minh suffers from amnesia, and she cannot remember how to get from her bedroom to the living room. However, once she sits down, she is able to crochet easily. Minh has an intact ______ memory.

A) explicit
B) implicit
C) retrograde
D) anterograde

Question 37

Jodie is 45 years old and cannot remember any events from before the age of 4. This could be a diagnosis of ______.

A) anterograde amnesia
B) infantile amnesia
C) Alzheimer's disease
D) temporal amnesia

Question 38

Which type of amnesia are you most likely to experience in your lifetime?

A) anterograde
B) retrograde
C) aging-related
D) infantile

Question 39

Cognitive interviews ______ the accurate witness retrieval of event details as compared to typical police questioning.

A) increase
B) decrease
C) are comparable to
D) precisely match

Question 40

Which of the following is a way to improve memory in elderly people?

A) aerobic exercise
B) watching documentaries
C) eating acai fruit
D) eating meals more slowly

Question 41

Discuss potential methodology you could use to test the occurrence of false memory. Specifically, what kind of stimuli would you use?

Question 42

Ava tells her friend a joke, thinking that she invented it herself, when she actually had heard it about six weeks before. This is an example of source misattribution.

Question 43

The fact that cats are fuzzy, have tails, and walk on four legs is an example of a schema.

Question 44

The DRM procedure was adapted from the earlier methodology of Roediger.

Question 45

Define the two types of amnesia that are based on the type of information that is forgotten. Discuss how amnesia affects implicit and explicit memory. Then name the two major biological features associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Question 46

In the classic study by Loftus and Palmer, subjects were more likely to report a car as going faster if they were asked how fast the cars were going when they "hit" each other.

Question 47

Normal forgetting over time is known as absentmindedness.

Question 48

Explain how the memory "sin" of persistence can affect people in minor and major ways. Provide at least two examples of unwanted memory persistence.

Question 49

Bartlett's studies on the reconstructive nature of memory found that people tend to rely on their own experiences to supplement their memories of events in a story.

Question 50

If you hear about or read about an event several times, you may believe that you actually experienced it.

Question 51

The only people susceptible to memory errors are elderly people with varying diagnoses of dementia.

Question 52

A lack of attention during encoding or retrieval results in poor memory.

Question 53

List Daniel Schacter's seven "sins" of memory, and give an example of each. Which memory "sin" interests you most, and why?

Question 54

Having a new hit single stuck in your head all day is an example of memory bias.

Question 55

What does the statement "Memory is reconstructive" mean? Include information related to biology and psychology in your response.