Question 1

Current research finds that younger adults can hold between ________ items in short-term (working) memory if they do not use any type of retention strategy.
A) 3 to 5 
B) 5 to 7
C) 5 to 9 
D) 9 to 12

Accepted Answer

Research indicates that younger adults can typically hold between 3 to 5 items in short-term memory without using any retention strategies.

Question 2

Bethany is trying to focus on a conversation across the room during a party she is attending. This is because she thinks she heard her name above the din of the conversation. Her ability to hear her name is due to the mechanism of ________.
A) Broadbent's forgetting theory 
B) the homecoming queen party phenomenon
C) selective attention 
D) intimacy

Accepted Answer

The ability of Bethany to focus on a specific conversation across the room despite the noise is an example of selective attention. She is selectively attending to the conversation that caught her attention because she perceived her name being mentioned.

Question 3

In the 1950s, George Miller estimated the number of items that could be stored in short-term memory to be the magic number ________.
A) 5, plus or minus 4
B) 7, plus or minus 2 
C) 9, plus or minus 3 
D) 11, plus or minus 1

Accepted Answer

In the 1950s, George Miller estimated the number of items that could be stored in short-term memory to be 7, plus or minus 2. This is often referred to as the "magic number" and has since been supported by other research studies.

Question 4

Bits of information are combined into meaningful units so that more information can be held in short-term memory through the process of ________.
A) chunking 
B) categorizing
C) rote rehearsal
D) cueing

Accepted Answer

Chunking is the process of organizing information into meaningful units or chunks. This helps to increase the amount of information that can be held in short-term memory. Categorizing and cueing may also aid memory, but they do not specifically involve combining bits of information into larger units. Rote rehearsal involves repeating information over and over again, which can help store it in long-term memory, but does not directly increase the capacity of short-term memory.

Question 5

Which memory system is the one that is a working, active system that processes the information within it?
A) long-term memory
B) short-term memory 
C) secondary memory 
D) cognitive dissonance

Accepted Answer

Short-term memory is the working memory system that actively processes information. It is responsible for holding and manipulating information for a short period of time, typically around 20-30 seconds, before either being forgotten or transferred to long-term memory.

Question 6

Jamal is trying to buy something over the phone. He asks his partner to read him his credit card number. However, when he tries to repeat it to the salesclerk on the other end of the line, he can't remember all the numbers. Jamal is coming up against ________.
A) the decay of numerical memory 
B) the extinction of auditory traces
C) George Miller's magic number 7, plus or minus 2 
D) the limits of procedural memory

Accepted Answer

George Miller's theory suggests that the average person can hold about 7 items in their working memory, plus or minus 2, which explains Jamal's difficulty in remembering the entire credit card number.

Question 7

Suzy looks up from her lunch, realizing that Jacques has just said something to her. What was it? Oh, yes, he has just asked her if she wants to go to the movies. Suzy's ability to retrieve what Jacques said is due to her ________.
A) iconic sensory memory
B) echoic sensory memory 
C) short-term memory 
D) tactile sensory memory

Accepted Answer

Echoic sensory memory is responsible for auditory memory, such as remembering a question that was just asked. Iconic sensory memory is for visual memory, while tactile sensory memory is for touch. Short-term memory would only hold the information briefly before either being forgotten or transferred to long-term memory.

Question 8

According to Baddeley, which memory system is BEST conceived of as three interrelated systems: central executive, visual sketchpad, and auditory action recorder?
A) sensory memory
B) working memory 
C) long-term memory
D) procedural memory

Accepted Answer

Baddeley's memory model refers to working memory, which is comprised of three interrelated systems: the central executive, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the phonological loop. Therefore, the correct choice is B, working memory.

Question 9

Which type of memory allows us to have meaningful conversations?
A) iconic memory 
B) echoic memory 
C) distributed memory
D) procedural memory

Accepted Answer

Echoic memory is a type of sensory memory that retains auditory information, allowing us to process and understand spoken language during conversations.

Question 10

Information gets from sensory memory to short-term memory through the process of ________.
A) elaborative rehearsal
B) maintenance rehearsal 
C) automatic encoding
D) selective attention

Accepted Answer

Sensory memory holds information briefly and is continuously receiving information from the environment. However, not all of this information is important enough to be transferred to short-term memory. Selective attention is the process by which information is selected from sensory memory based on its relevance and importance, and then transferred to short-term memory.

Question 11

Sitting in a very noisy restaurant, you are able to screen out all the other conversations around you so you can listen to the friend with whom you are conversing. This is an example of ________.
A) Broadbent's forgetting theory 
B) the homecoming queen party phenomenon
C) selective attention 
D) intimacy

Accepted Answer

Selective attention refers to the ability to focus on a particular stimulus while filtering out other distracting stimuli. In this scenario, the individual is able to selectively attend to the conversation with their friend while ignoring the other conversations in the noisy restaurant.

Question 12

The duration of iconic memory is ________ than echoic memory, but iconic's capacity is probably ________.
A) shorter; larger 
B) longer; larger
C) longer; about the same 
D) shorter; about the same

Accepted Answer

Iconic memory, which is visual, lasts for a shorter duration than echoic memory, which is auditory. However, iconic memory has a larger capacity for information.

Question 13

Someone a short distance away, to whom you have been paying no attention, quietly speaks your name, and suddenly you attend to that person. This is an example of ________.
A) Broadbent's process of selective memory 
B) the phi phenomenon
C) the cocktail party effect 
D) cue-controlled inhibition

Accepted Answer

The cocktail party effect is the ability to selectively attend to one voice or conversation in a noisy environment while filtering out other distractions. When someone speaks your name, it acts as a salient stimulus that causes you to shift your attention to that person, even if you have not been actively listening to them before. This is an example of the cocktail party effect. Broadbent's process of selective memory refers to the idea that attention acts as a filter that selects which sensory information is processed and encoded into memory. The phi phenomenon is a perceptual illusion where two adjacent flashing lights appear to merge and move smoothly across the space between them. Cue-controlled inhibition is a mechanism by which irrelevant information is suppressed, allowing a person to focus on relevant information.

Question 14

Which theorist is associated with the idea that information moves from sensory memory to short-term memory through the processes of selective attention?
A) Thorndike
B) Atkinson
C) Sperling 
D) Broadbent

Accepted Answer

Broadbent is associated with the filter model of attention, which suggests that information moves from sensory memory to short-term memory through selective attention.

Question 15

Chunking is a means of ________.
A) immediately forgetting irrelevant details
B) combining information into meaningful units 
C) arranging details into a hierarchy from most to least important 
D) storing long-term memories

Accepted Answer

Chunking is the process of organizing information into smaller, meaningful units, such as groupings of letters or numbers, to make them easier to remember and recall.

Question 16

What "magic number" did Miller find to be the capacity of short-term memory?
A) 11
B) 9
C) 7 
D) 5

Accepted Answer

Miller found the "magic number" to be 7±2, meaning the capacity of short-term memory is between 5 and 9 items. Therefore, the correct answer is C, 7.

Question 17

Micah is trying to remember the specific route he took to the library the night before. What part of working (or short-term) memory is he accessing?
A) the articulatory loop 
B) the visuospatial sketchpad 
C) the internal executive
D) the control sequence

Accepted Answer

Micah is likely accessing the visuospatial sketchpad, which is responsible for holding and manipulating visual and spatial information.

Question 18

Suppose you're pitching in a softball game and facing a good hitter. You remember that you struck her out with a fastball the last time she was up. You also remember that your coach told you to always try to be unpredictable, so you decide to throw a curve ball this time. In making this decision, you are primarily using your ________.
A) central executive 
B) fight-or-flight response 
C) modality-specific memory
D) long-term potentiation

Accepted Answer

The decision-making process in this scenario involves considering past experiences (having struck the batter out with a fastball), coaching advice (to be unpredictable), and weighing the potential outcomes of different options. These are all aspects of executive functioning, which is primarily controlled by the central executive network in the brain.

Question 19

Loni is asked to memorize the letters I K T E A L N in no particular order. She memorizes them by reorganizing them into the words INK and LATE. This tactic is called ________.
A) cueing 
B) shadowing
C) rote rehearsal
D) chunking

Accepted Answer

Chunking is a memory technique in which information is grouped or organized into smaller, more manageable units, which can make it easier to remember. In this case, Loni has grouped the letters into the familiar words INK and LATE.

Question 20

If one wants to increase the capacity of short-term memory, more items can be held through the process of ________.
A) chunking 
B) decoding
C) rote rehearsal
D) data compression

Accepted Answer

Chunking is the process of organizing information into smaller, more meaningful units, which allows more information to be stored in short-term memory. This technique can be used to increase the capacity of short-term memory. Decoding and data compression are not relevant to increasing short-term memory capacity. Rote rehearsal refers to repeating information over and over, which can help move information from short-term to long-term memory, but it does not necessarily increase the capacity of short-term memory.

Quiz 6: Memory

Current research finds that younger adults can hold between ________ items in short-term (working) memory if they do not use any type of retention strategy.

Bethany is trying to focus on a conversation across the room during a party she is attending. This is because she thinks she heard her name above the din of the conversation. Her ability to hear her name is due to the mechanism of ________.

In the 1950s, George Miller estimated the number of items that could be stored in short-term memory to be the magic number ________.

Bits of information are combined into meaningful units so that more information can be held in short-term memory through the process of ________.

Which memory system is the one that is a working, active system that processes the information within it?

Jamal is trying to buy something over the phone. He asks his partner to read him his credit card number. However, when he tries to repeat it to the salesclerk on the other end of the line, he can't remember all the numbers. Jamal is coming up against ________.

Suzy looks up from her lunch, realizing that Jacques has just said something to her. What was it? Oh, yes, he has just asked her if she wants to go to the movies. Suzy's ability to retrieve what Jacques said is due to her ________.

According to Baddeley, which memory system is BEST conceived of as three interrelated systems: central executive, visual sketchpad, and auditory action recorder?

Which type of memory allows us to have meaningful conversations?

Information gets from sensory memory to short-term memory through the process of ________.

Sitting in a very noisy restaurant, you are able to screen out all the other conversations around you so you can listen to the friend with whom you are conversing. This is an example of ________.

The duration of iconic memory is than echoic memory, but iconic's capacity is probably .

Someone a short distance away, to whom you have been paying no attention, quietly speaks your name, and suddenly you attend to that person. This is an example of ________.

Which theorist is associated with the idea that information moves from sensory memory to short-term memory through the processes of selective attention?

Chunking is a means of ________.

What "magic number" did Miller find to be the capacity of short-term memory?

Micah is trying to remember the specific route he took to the library the night before. What part of working (or short-term) memory is he accessing?

Loni is asked to memorize the letters I K T E A L N in no particular order. She memorizes them by reorganizing them into the words INK and LATE. This tactic is called ________.

If one wants to increase the capacity of short-term memory, more items can be held through the process of ________.