Question 1

Drew is unable to recall whether Lincoln's head faces left or right on the penny. Which of the following is the BEST explanation for Drew's memory failure? 
A)The information is difficult to retrieve, because it is stored along with so many other pieces of information in Drew's long-term memory.
B)The information was learned so long ago that it is no longer stored in Drew's long-term memory.
C)The information was not encoded, because Drew never really paid attention to Lincoln's head on the penny.
D)The information was immediately displaced from Drew's working memory after it was encoded.

Accepted Answer

Drew's memory failure is most likely due to the fact that he never paid attention to Lincoln's head on the penny in the first place. This suggests that the information was never encoded in his long-term memory, making it difficult to retrieve.

Question 2

In ____ interference, information learned earlier disrupts the recall of information learned more recently; in ____ interference, recently learned information disrupts the recall of information learned earlier.
A)retroactive; proactive
B)proactive; retroactive
C)regressive; progressive
D)progressive; regressive

Accepted Answer

Proactive interference occurs when older memories interfere with the recall of newer memories, while retroactive interference happens when new information interferes with the recall of older information.

Question 3

"Have you ever noticed that when people reminisce, they generally remember the good times, not the bad ones?" Sharon remarks. "That's because people are generally in a good mood when they start reminiscing," Portia explains. Portia's mood congruence theory is MOST directly consistent with the:
A)encoding specificity principle.
B)levels of processing framework.
C)False memory effect.
D)spacing effect.

Accepted Answer

Portia's explanation aligns with the encoding specificity principle, which suggests that memory is improved when information available at encoding is also available at retrieval. In this context, the mood or emotional state during the encoding of memories (reminiscing) matches the mood when those memories are retrieved, thus facilitating better recall of positive memories.

Question 4

The first attempts to scientifically study forgetting were made by the psychologist named:
A)Ebbinghaus.
B)Wundt.
C)Weber.
D)Muller.

Accepted Answer

Hermann Ebbinghaus was the first psychologist to systematically study forgetting in the late 1800s. He was known for his work on memory and forgetting, and he developed the concept of the "forgetting curve" which suggests that memory rapidly deteriorates over time.

Question 5

Bruce watches a new television program with enthusiasm. He then watches a second, similar program. Bruce later finds it difficult to remember the details of the first program; he finds that details about the second program keep intruding. What has probably occurred?
A)retroactive interference
B)decay
C)encoding failure
D)proactive interference

Accepted Answer

Retroactive interference occurs when new information interferes with the recall of old information. In this case, details of the second program are interfering with the recall of details of the first program.

Question 6

Which statement BEST describes the forgetting function that Ebbinghaus discovered?
A)Material is forgotten at a relatively constant rate once it has been learned.
B)Nothing is ever really forgotten.
C)Material is forgotten at a relatively slow rate at first, and then the rate of forgetting speeds up.
D)Material is forgotten relatively rapidly at first, and then the rate of forgetting slows down.

Accepted Answer

Ebbinghaus discovered that material is forgotten relatively rapidly at first, and then the rate of forgetting slows down, which is represented by his forgetting curve. This curve demonstrates that memory retention drops sharply after initial learning, but the rate of loss decreases over time.

Question 7

Mood-congruent memory is BEST seen as a specific instance of the:
A)depth of processing effect.
B)spacing effect.
C)encoding specificity principle.
D)serial position effect.

Accepted Answer

Mood-congruent memory involves the idea that we are more likely to remember information that is consistent with our current emotional state. This phenomenon is best explained by the encoding specificity principle, which suggests that memory is enhanced when the conditions present at encoding match the conditions present at retrieval. In this case, the emotional state serves as the contextual cue that can help facilitate memory retrieval for congruent information. The other options (depth of processing effect, spacing effect, serial position effect) are not directly related to the mood-congruent memory phenomenon.

Question 8

Owen has trouble remembering a friend's new phone number; he keeps recalling the old number instead. Completing a rental application, Pippa finds she can't recall one of her previous addresses, as she's had several addresses since. Owen is experiencing _____interference. Pippa is experiencing ____ interference.
A)retrograde; anterograde
B)proactive; retroactive
C)anterograde; retrograde
D)retroactive; proactive

Accepted Answer

Owen is experiencing proactive interference, where old information interferes with the recall of new information. Pippa is experiencing retroactive interference, where new information interferes with the recall of old information.

Question 9

One of Ebbinghaus's key _____ variables was a _____ score.
A)dependent; recall
B)dependent; savings
C)independent; recall
D)independent; savings

Accepted Answer

Ebbinghaus's independent variable was the time between learning and recalling information, while his dependent variable was the amount of savings in relearning the information. Therefore, the correct answer is B, dependent variable (savings) and savings score.

Question 10

Jerome cannot open his term paper on his computer because the file has become corrupt. Kaci cannot find her term paper on her computer because of all the other documents she has stored on the hard drive. Jerome's failure to retrieve his paper is analogous to the _____ theory of forgetting, whereas Kaci's failure better resembles the _____ theory.
A)interference; decay
B)encoding failure; interference
C)decay; interference
D)decay; encoding failure

Accepted Answer

Jerome's issue is similar to the decay theory, where information is lost over time or becomes inaccessible. Kaci's problem resembles interference theory, where other information makes it difficult to retrieve the desired information.

Question 11

Which statement BEST describes the results of Ebbinghaus's work on forgetting?
A)Beginning immediately, a person will slowly forget what he has learned at a relatively constant rate.
B)The person will remember what he learned pretty well for a day or two, but then he'll begin rapidly forgetting the material.
C)The person will forget most of it right away, and he'll keep on forgetting more of it, although at a slower rate.
D)Forgetting starts out slowly and then speeds up as time passes.

Accepted Answer

Ebbinghaus's research on memory and forgetting demonstrated that forgetting occurs quickly within the first few hours or days after learning, but the rate of forgetting slows down over time. This is often represented by the forgetting curve, which shows a steep decline in memory retention initially, followed by a gradual leveling off.

Question 12

Why does a woman have trouble remembering the license plate number of a car that she just saw ten minutes ago?
A)Working memory lasts only a minute or so.
B)License plate numbers are too difficult to remember easily.
C)The number was probably never encoded in the first place.
D)The memory, though present, is too difficult to retrieve.

Accepted Answer

The most likely reason that the woman has trouble remembering the license plate number is because it was never encoded in her memory in the first place. This could happen if she was not paying close attention to the number, or if she was distracted at the time she saw it.

Question 13

Mickey is about to take his psychology final, for which he has studied very hard. Just before the exam, the person sitting next to Mickey asks him the name of the physiologist who worked on classical conditioning. Mickey suddenly realizes that he cannot quite remember the name, but he knows that it starts with a P and is two syllables long. Mickey is experiencing:
A)hyperthymestic syndrome.
B)memory decay.
C)retrograde amnesia.
D)the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.

Accepted Answer

The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon occurs when a person is unable to retrieve a word or piece of knowledge from memory, despite knowing that they know the information. It is often accompanied by a feeling of frustration and a sense that the answer is just out of reach. In this scenario, Mickey knows that he knows the name of the physiologist, but is unable to retrieve it from memory.

Question 14

The theories of forgetting described in the text may be likened to the difficulties people might face in trying to find an old file on the computer. Which theory is correctly likened to a corresponding file-finding difficulty?
A)decay - The desired file was never saved in the first place.
B)interference - There are so many files crowding the hard drive that one can't find the desired file.
C)encoding failure - The desired file is so old that it has become corrupted and irretrievable.
D)priming - The file was saved in an inaccessible location.

Accepted Answer

Interference theory suggests that forgetting occurs because other information competes with what we are trying to recall, similar to how a crowded hard drive can make it difficult to find a specific file.

Question 15

Jerry is at a party. He is introduced to three different people in the span of a moment. Later, he is approached by the first person he met and cannot remember her name. Which explanation is MOST likely the source of Jerry's difficulty?
A)Jerry failed to encode the woman's name.
B)Jerry's working memory capacity was exceeded by the number of people he met.
C)Jerry experienced interference in retrieving the woman's name.
D)Jerry failed to rehearse the woman's name sufficiently.

Accepted Answer

Jerry's inability to recall the woman's name suggests that he did not properly encode it in his memory. This means that the name did not make a lasting impression on him, making it difficult to retrieve later.

Question 16

The similarity between the learning and retrieval contexts influences how well information will be remembered. This is known as the:
A)levels-of-processing theory.
B)encoding specificity principle.
C)serial position effect.
D)spacing effect.

Accepted Answer

The encoding specificity principle states that the similarity between the learning context and the retrieval context influences memory performance. This means that the more similar the context is, the higher the chances of successfully retrieving the learned information. Therefore, option B is the correct answer to this question. The levels-of-processing theory and the serial position effect refer to other memory phenomena, while the spacing effect relates to the influence of distributed practice on memory performance.

Question 17

The first person to quantify relearning was the psychologist named:
A)Weber.
B)Ebbinghaus.
C)von Helmholtz.
D)Wundt.

Accepted Answer

The psychologist who first quantified relearning was Hermann Ebbinghaus, who used himself as a subject in his study on memory. He found that it took less time to relearn previously studied material, indicating that forgetting is not a simple loss of information but rather an interference with retrieval.

Question 18

Which explanation of forgetting is correctly described?
A)decay - Information is lost over time as a result of nonuse.
B)interference - Information never entered memory to begin with.
C)encoding failure - Forgetting occurs because other information in memory disrupts the retrieval of the information one is trying to remember.
D)All of these explanations are correctly described.

Accepted Answer

Decay - Information is lost over time as a result of nonuse.

Question 19

Nana is taking a Spanish final at the end of the spring semester. The problem is, the French vocabulary she learned the semester before keeps getting in the way, causing her to forget Spanish words. Nana is experiencing _____ interference.
A)retroactive
B)anterograde
C)proactive
D)retrograde

Accepted Answer

Nana is experiencing proactive interference, where old information (French vocabulary) interferes with the ability to remember new information (Spanish vocabulary).

Question 20

What does Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve demonstrate about the way people forget material over time?
A)People forget information at a constant rate.
B)At first, people forget very little of what they have learned, but as time passes, the rate of forgetting accelerates.
C)Most forgetting happens immediately after people learn material; the rate of forgetting slows down as time goes by.
D)People forget information at a variable and unpredictable rate as time passes.

Accepted Answer

Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve shows that most forgetting occurs soon after learning, and the rate of forgetting decreases over time. This indicates that information is lost rapidly at first, but the amount of material forgotten at any subsequent period becomes less and less.

Quiz 6: Learning

Drew is unable to recall whether Lincoln's head faces left or right on the penny. Which of the following is the BEST explanation for Drew's memory failure?

In interference, information learned earlier disrupts the recall of information learned more recently; in interference, recently learned information disrupts the recall of information learned earlier.

"Have you ever noticed that when people reminisce, they generally remember the good times, not the bad ones?" Sharon remarks. "That's because people are generally in a good mood when they start reminiscing," Portia explains. Portia's mood congruence theory is MOST directly consistent with the:

The first attempts to scientifically study forgetting were made by the psychologist named:

Bruce watches a new television program with enthusiasm. He then watches a second, similar program. Bruce later finds it difficult to remember the details of the first program; he finds that details about the second program keep intruding. What has probably occurred?

Which statement BEST describes the forgetting function that Ebbinghaus discovered?

Mood-congruent memory is BEST seen as a specific instance of the:

One of Ebbinghaus's key _ variables was a _ score.

Which statement BEST describes the results of Ebbinghaus's work on forgetting?

Why does a woman have trouble remembering the license plate number of a car that she just saw ten minutes ago?

The theories of forgetting described in the text may be likened to the difficulties people might face in trying to find an old file on the computer. Which theory is correctly likened to a corresponding file-finding difficulty?

Jerry is at a party. He is introduced to three different people in the span of a moment. Later, he is approached by the first person he met and cannot remember her name. Which explanation is MOST likely the source of Jerry's difficulty?

The similarity between the learning and retrieval contexts influences how well information will be remembered. This is known as the:

The first person to quantify relearning was the psychologist named:

Which explanation of forgetting is correctly described?

Nana is taking a Spanish final at the end of the spring semester. The problem is, the French vocabulary she learned the semester before keeps getting in the way, causing her to forget Spanish words. Nana is experiencing _____ interference.

What does Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve demonstrate about the way people forget material over time?