Question 1

Mia is trying to recall an important phone number long enough for her to get to a pay phone and dial it. Mia repeats the number to herself to aid in her recall. This is an example of__________
A) displacement.
B) chunking.
C) rehearsal.
D) practical recall.

Accepted Answer

Repeating the phone number to oneself is known as rehearsal, which is a memory strategy used to improve recall. This allows the information to be transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory. Displacement deals with forgetting old information due to the replacement of new information. Chunking refers to grouping information together to make it easier to remember. Practical recall is not a recognized term in psychology.

Question 2

Using the partial report method, Sperling found the capacity of sensory memory to be around ____________
A) three or four items.
B) nine or ten items.
C) all the letters present.
D) one to two items.

Accepted Answer

Sperling's partial report method demonstrated that the capacity of sensory memory is quite large, encompassing all the letters present in the brief display, but that this information fades quickly.

Question 3

In the partial report method of Sperling's study of sensory memory, the participants were to report ___________
A) one of three lines of letters as indicated by the sound of a tone immediately presented after the letters had disappeared.
B) only one or two of the letters in the cued line.
C) the first letter of each line only.
D) the middle letter of each line.

Accepted Answer

Sperling's partial report method involved participants being asked to report one of three lines of letters based on the pitch of a tone played immediately after the letters disappeared, demonstrating the existence and characteristics of sensory memory.

Question 4

This researcher demonstrated that sensory memory fades too quickly to accurately recall 12 items flashed for 15/1000 to 1/2 second.
A) Shiffrin
B) Sperling
C) Atkinson
D) Miller

Accepted Answer

George Sperling conducted experiments in the 1960s that showed how quickly sensory memory fades. Sperling flashed a grid of letters for just 15/1000 to 1/2 second and then asked participants to recall as many letters as possible. He found that participants could recall about 4-5 letters on average, suggesting that sensory memory is only able to hold on to a limited amount of information for a very brief amount of time.

Question 5

Why did research participants in Sperling's experiment recall so few letters stored in sensory memory?
A) They stopped paying attention after a few stimuli.
B) Proactive interference reduced the effectiveness of recall.
C) The stress of participating in this research became excessive.
D) The remaining stimuli quickly faded from sensory memory.

Accepted Answer

Sensory memory has a very brief duration, typically lasting only a fraction of a second. The remaining stimuli from the experiment quickly faded from sensory memory, resulting in low recall.

Question 6

A display of 12 letters is flashed on a screen in front of you followed by a tone. You attempt to recall a portion of the display based on the specific tone you heard. What aspect of your memory is this experiment designed to assess?
A) primary memory
B) sensory memory
C) long-term memory
D) short-term memory

Accepted Answer

This experiment is designed to assess sensory memory, which is the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli have ended. The use of a tone to trigger recall of the letters flashed on the screen targets the sensory memory related to visual stimuli.

Question 7

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 involves breaking down information into meaningful units or chunks, which can be more easily remembered and processed by the brain. It is a strategy for improving short-term memory and processing efficiency.

Question 8

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 grouping information into larger units or chunks, which allows more information to be held in short-term memory. This is a useful strategy for increasing short-term memory capacity and has been shown to be effective in various experimental settings. Decoding, rote rehearsal, and data compression are not related to increasing short-term memory capacity through chunking.

Question 9

It has been estimated that 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

The magic number is 7, plus or minus 2. This means that the average person can store approximately 5 to 9 items in their short-term memory. This has been supported by research studies such as the classic "chunking" experiment by George Miller.

Question 10

Which of the following pioneered the process of chunking separate bits of information into larger units?
A) Shiffrin
B) Sperling
C) Atkinson
D) Miller

Accepted Answer

Miller's research on the limits of memory capacity led him to discover that people can remember 7 +/- 2 chunks of information, rather than individual bits. He proposed that people automatically group individual bits of information into larger units, known as chunking.

Question 11

Pam's strategy for mastering her new phone number was to group the numbers into meaningful units based on historic dates. This is an example of__________
A) displacement.
B) chunking.
C) rehearsal.
D) elaborative rehearsal.

Accepted Answer

Chunking is a memory technique in which information is grouped together in smaller units to make it easier to remember. In this example, Pam is grouping her phone number into meaningful units based on historic dates, which is a form of chunking. The other options, displacement, rehearsal, and elaborative rehearsal, do not accurately describe Pam's specific memory strategy in this scenario.

Question 12

This process can result in items being pushed out of short-term memory and forgotten.
A) decoding
B) consolidation
C) retrieval
D) displacement

Accepted Answer

Displacement is when new information pushes out older information from short-term memory, leading to forgetting. Decoding is the process of interpreting incoming sensory information, consolidation is the process of strengthening memories for long-term storage, and retrieval is the process of accessing and recalling stored memories.

Question 13

The key to the partial report method of Sperling's study of sensory memory was to ______________
A) have the participants report the entire matrix of letters they saw as fast as they could.
B) have the participants report the entire matrix of letters but mask the letters after presentation with a very bright light.
C) cue the participants, using a tone, as to which line of the matrix they were to report.
D) test the use of chunking.

Accepted Answer

The key to the partial report method was to cue the participants, using a tone, as to which line of the matrix they were to report, allowing researchers to measure the participant's ability to briefly hold a specific line of information in their sensory memory.

Question 14

It is very difficult to remember 194117761812, however, dividing this information up into 1941-1776-1812 allows a person to use memorable dates in the process of reducing 12 digits to 3. This memory-enhancing process is called__________
A) blocking.
B) rehearsal.
C) chunking.
D) compiling.

Accepted Answer

The memory-enhancing process described is called chunking, which involves breaking up large amounts of information into smaller, more manageable chunks. This can help improve memory retention and recall by making the information easier to process and remember.

Question 15

Short-term memory usually codes information according to__________
A) the exact sensory stimulus.
B) visual cues.
C) contextual code.
D) sound.

Accepted Answer

Short-term memory often codes information acoustically, meaning it tends to store information according to how it sounds. This is why we can remember a piece of information better when we say it out loud or hear it spoken.

Question 16

For years, Aja prided herself in being able to recall zip codes quite well. However, in recent years, Aja has found herself unable to recall the new, extended postal codes. What is a likely explanation?
A) Aja's inability to change or adapt
B) the new nine-digit zip codes go beyond short-term memory capacity
C) because of Aja's limited intellectual capacity, simplicity works best for her
D) Aja's memory is changing as she grows older

Accepted Answer

The new nine-digit zip codes exceed the typical capacity of short-term memory, which is usually around 7±2 items.

Question 17

From sensory memory, information moves to__________
A) consolidated memory.
B) short-term memory.
C) long-term memory.
D) episodic memory.

Accepted Answer

From sensory memory, information moves to short-term memory, also known as working memory, where it is held temporarily and either forgotten or transferred to long-term memory through an encoding process. Consolidated memory and episodic memory are types of long-term memory, not the immediate next step after sensory memory.

Question 18

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

This tactic is called chunking, which is a memory strategy in which information is organized into smaller, manageable units or "chunks" to facilitate memorization. In this case, Loni organized the letters into two chunks: INK and LATE, which made it easier for her to remember the information. Cueing involves using a specific trigger to help recall information, shadowing is a technique used in language learning, and rote rehearsal is simply repeating information over and over to commit it to memory.

Question 19

Short-term memory has a very limited capacity of about ________ different items.
A) three
B) six
C) seven
D) ten

Accepted Answer

The well-known Miller's Law states that the capacity of short-term memory is about seven items, plus or minus two. Therefore, the correct answer is (C) seven.

Question 20

According to research, approximately how many items can be stored in short-term memory?
A) 11
B) 9
C) 7
D) 5

Accepted Answer

The research by George Miller suggests that the capacity of short-term memory is around 7 items (plus or minus 2).

Quiz 6: Memory

Mia is trying to recall an important phone number long enough for her to get to a pay phone and dial it. Mia repeats the number to herself to aid in her recall. This is an example of__________

Using the partial report method, Sperling found the capacity of sensory memory to be around ____________

In the partial report method of Sperling's study of sensory memory, the participants were to report ___________

This researcher demonstrated that sensory memory fades too quickly to accurately recall 12 items flashed for 15/1000 to 1/2 second.

Why did research participants in Sperling's experiment recall so few letters stored in sensory memory?

A display of 12 letters is flashed on a screen in front of you followed by a tone. You attempt to recall a portion of the display based on the specific tone you heard. What aspect of your memory is this experiment designed to assess?

Chunking is a means of _________

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

It has been estimated that the number of items that could be stored in short-term memory to be the magic number __________

Which of the following pioneered the process of chunking separate bits of information into larger units?

Pam's strategy for mastering her new phone number was to group the numbers into meaningful units based on historic dates. This is an example of__________

This process can result in items being pushed out of short-term memory and forgotten.

The key to the partial report method of Sperling's study of sensory memory was to ______________

It is very difficult to remember 194117761812, however, dividing this information up into 1941-1776-1812 allows a person to use memorable dates in the process of reducing 12 digits to 3. This memory-enhancing process is called__________

Short-term memory usually codes information according to__________

For years, Aja prided herself in being able to recall zip codes quite well. However, in recent years, Aja has found herself unable to recall the new, extended postal codes. What is a likely explanation?

From sensory memory, information moves to__________

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 __________

Short-term memory has a very limited capacity of about ________ different items.

According to research, approximately how many items can be stored in short-term memory?