Question 1

When Jake applied for a driver's license, he was embarrassed by a momentary inability to remember his address. Jake's memory difficulty most likely resulted from a(n) ________ failure.

Accepted Answer

Jake knew his address, but had difficulty retrieving it at that moment. This indicates a retrieval failure, rather than a storage or encoding failure. Semantic processing may be involved in the encoding and storage of information, but it is not directly related to Jake's memory difficulty in this specific situation.

Question 2

The inability to form new memories is called

Accepted Answer

Anterograde amnesia is the loss of the ability to create new memories after the event that caused the amnesia. Repression is a defense mechanism in which unpleasant memories are pushed out of conscious awareness. Shallow processing refers to the superficial encoding of information, while retroactive interference occurs when new information interferes with the ability to recall old information.

Question 3

The occasional tip-of-the-tongue forgetting experienced by older adults can be best explained in terms of the greater difficulty older people have with

Accepted Answer

The tip-of-the-tongue forgetting experienced by older adults is due to the difficulty they have with retrieval of information from long-term memory.

Question 4

On the phone, 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

Accepted Answer

The answer of On the phone, Dominic rattles off a...

Question 5

Information learned while a person is ________ is best recalled when that person is ________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Information learned while a person is ________...

Question 6

Some patients with anterograde amnesia have learned how to spot hard-to-find figures in the Where's Waldo? series without any conscious awareness that they can do so. This best illustrates their retention of ________ memories.

Accepted Answer

The fact that the patients can recognize the figures in the Where's Waldo? series without any conscious awareness indicates that they have retained implicit memories, which are unconscious memories that are often acquired through repetition or experience.

Question 7

Nancy was daydreaming about her college plans during a boring lecture on the history of computers. She doesn't remember that ENIAC was the first functioning digital computer because she wasn't paying attention. Nancy's poor memory is best explained in terms of

Accepted Answer

Nancy's poor memory can be attributed to encoding failure as she was not paying attention during the lecture, and therefore did not properly encode the information about ENIAC being the first functioning digital computer.

Question 8

Mood-congruent memory refers to the effect of emotional states on the process of

Accepted Answer

Mood-congruent memory refers to the phenomenon where an individual is more likely to remember information that is congruent with their current emotional state during retrieval. Therefore, the emotional state affects the retrieval process, but not necessarily encoding or storage. Relearning is not directly affected by emotional states.

Question 9

The serial position effect refers to the tendency to recall best the ________ items in a list.

Accepted Answer

The serial position effect states that we tend to remember the items at the beginning (primacy effect) and the end (recency effect) of a list better than those in the middle. Therefore, the best choice is B, as it encapsulates both the first and last items being recalled best.

Question 10

Using nonsense syllables to study memory, Hermann Ebbinghaus found that

Accepted Answer

Ebbinghaus discovered the "forgetting curve," which shows that memory loss occurs rapidly after learning new information, with the most significant decline happening shortly after the initial learning.

Question 11

Compared with formerly depressed people, those who are currently depressed are more likely to recall their parents as rejecting and punitive. This best illustrates

Accepted Answer

This question refers to the phenomenon known as mood-congruent memory, where our ability to retrieve memories is influenced by our current mood. In this case, currently depressed individuals are more likely to retrieve memories that are congruent with their negative mood, such as recalling their parents as rejecting and punitive. The other answer choices do not directly relate to this phenomenon.

Question 12

Although Maria can encode and consciously recall new information, she is unable to consciously recall events that happened prior to the brain damage that she suffered as an adolescent. Maria's memory difficulty most clearly illustrates

Accepted Answer

The answer of Although Maria can encode and consciously recall...

Question 13

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

Accepted Answer

Harry Bahrick's observation indicates that the information (i.e. Spanish vocabulary) was stored in memory but was lost over time, indicating that the loss occurred during the storage phase.

Question 14

What we learn under the influence of a drug may be more easily recalled when we are once again under the influence of that very same drug. This best illustrates

Accepted Answer

State-dependent memory refers to the phenomenon in which information learned in a particular state (e.g., under the influence of a drug) is best remembered when one is returned to that same state. This is consistent with research on the effects of drugs and alcohol on memory.

Question 15

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

Accepted Answer

Austin's poor memory can be explained by encoding failure, or the failure to effectively put new information into long-term memory. As he wasn't paying attention when Jack was introduced, the information wasn't properly encoded and therefore not stored in his memory for later retrieval.

Question 16

Your relative success in recalling a dozen different names a week after you heard them listed in order is likely to illustrate

Accepted Answer

The primacy effect refers to the tendency to remember information that was presented first. In this scenario, the individual was able to recall a dozen names a week after hearing them listed in order, indicating that the first names on the list were more memorable to them (primacy effect) than the latter names.

Question 17

Lars was feeling depressed at the time of his high school graduation. Lars is especially likely to recall his high school graduation when he is

Accepted Answer

The question states that Lars was feeling depressed at the time of his high school graduation. According to research on mood congruence, individuals are more likely to recall memories that match their current emotional state. Therefore, when Lars is feeling depressed, he is more likely to recall his graduation, which was a significant event that occurred during a time when he was also experiencing depression.

Question 18

Although Arturo has looked at his watch thousands of times, he is unable to recall whether the watch features Arabic or Roman numerals. This is most likely because of a failure in

Accepted Answer

Encoding is the process of transforming information into a form that can be stored in memory. In Arturo's case, the failure to recall whether his watch features Arabic or Roman numerals suggests that the information was not effectively encoded in the first place.

Question 19

After hearing a list of items, peoples' immediate recall of the items is more likely to show a _____ effect than is their later recall of the items.

Accepted Answer

The recency effect refers to the tendency for people to remember the items at the end of a list better than those in the middle or beginning immediately after hearing the list. However, over time, the spacing effect may also come into play, as people are more likely to remember items that are spaced apart in time compared to those that were presented all at once. Misinformation and self-reference are not relevant to this phenomenon.

Question 20

Jimmy was a patient with anterograde amnesia triggered by brain damage in 1945. Jimmy lost his ability to form new ________ memories but his ability for ________ remained intact.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Jimmy was a patient with anterograde amnesia...

Quiz 8: Memory