Question 1

You look up a friend's address for the envelope of a letter you're writing.Suddenly,the phone rings.You abandon your address research to answer the phone,but it is a wrong number.When you get back to writing down the address,you have forgotten it because _____ memory has failed you.
A)long-term
B)short-term
C)sensory
D)iconic

Accepted Answer

Short-term memory refers to the storage of information that is currently being processed or used, such as the friend's address. Interruptions like answering a phone call can disrupt short-term memory and cause information to be forgotten. Long-term memory is responsible for retaining information for extended periods of time, sensory memory relates to information gained through the senses, and iconic memory pertains specifically to visual memory.

Question 2

Sensory information is kept for a few seconds or less in:
A)the rehearsal memory store.
B)the short-term memory store.
C)the sensory memory store.
D)working memory.

Accepted Answer

Sensory information is kept briefly in the sensory memory store, which holds visual information in iconic memory and auditory information in echoic memory. This information is then transferred to the short-term memory store through attention and rehearsal processes.

Question 3

Iconic memory is a fast-decaying store of:
A)memory of peoples' names.
B)visual memory.
C)echoic memory.
D)auditory memory.

Accepted Answer

Iconic memory refers to the extremely brief storage of visual information that lasts for less than a second. It allows a person to quickly perceive and process visual stimuli, such as recognizing a letter or a picture, before it disappears from view. Therefore, the correct choice is visual memory.

Question 4

Scenarios that involve planning to effectively encode information lead to superior recall in:
A)semantic encoding only.
B)survival-related information encoding only.
C)organizational encoding only.
D)semantic,survival-related,and organizational encoding.

Accepted Answer

Planning to effectively encode information using a combination of semantic, survival-related, and organizational encoding techniques leads to superior recall. Semantic encoding involves understanding the meaning of the information, survival-related encoding involves linking the information to survival or relevance, and organizational encoding involves creating a structure or framework for the information. By using all three techniques together, the information is more deeply processed and more likely to be remembered.

Question 5

Jessica Li held up three rows of four letters on a poster board to her high school class for a fraction of a second.She then removed it and immediately asked the class to name the letters in the top,middle,or bottom row.Based on previous research,about how many letters in the row would you expect individual students to recall?
A)none
B)one
C)two
D)three or four

Accepted Answer

The capacity of visual short-term memory, which is used in this task, is about 3-4 items. Therefore, individual students would likely recall three or four letters in the row.

Question 6

The store of auditory information that decays very rapidly is called _____ memory.
A)iconic
B)echoic
C)short-term
D)working

Accepted Answer

Echoic memory is auditory information that lasts for a few seconds before decaying rapidly. Short-term memory refers to information that is retained for several seconds to a minute or so, while working memory is the active processing of information in the short term. Iconic memory, on the other hand, refers to visual sensory memory that lasts for only a fraction of a second.

Question 7

Sensory storage holds information for a maximum of:
A)a few seconds.
B)a few minutes.
C)hours to days.
D)days to years.

Accepted Answer

Sensory storage holds information for a maximum of a few seconds. Its purpose is to briefly hold sensory information until it is processed or lost.

Question 8

Echoic memories usually decay in about _____ second(s).
A)1
B)5
C)30
D)60

Accepted Answer

Echoic memories, which are a type of sensory memory specifically for auditory information, typically last for about 3-4 seconds, making 5 seconds the closest and most accurate choice provided.

Question 9

The fast-decaying store of visual information that is forgotten in seconds if not attended to is known as _____ memory.
A)iconic
B)echoic
C)anterograde
D)retrograde

Accepted Answer

The fast-decaying store of visual information that is forgotten in seconds if not attended to is known as iconic memory.

Question 10

Jessica Li held up three rows of four letters on a poster board to her high school class for a fraction of a second.She then removed it and immediately asked the class to name the 12 letters they had just been shown.Which memory store is being tested?
A)echoic
B)iconic
C)working
D)limited capacity

Accepted Answer

Iconic memory is being tested, which refers to the visual sensory memory register pertaining to the visual domain and a fast-decaying store of visual information.

Question 11

Echoic memories last _____ iconic memories.
A)slightly longer than
B)approximately the same length of time as
C)slightly shorter than
D)much longer than

Accepted Answer

Echoic memories, which are auditory sensory memories, last slightly longer than iconic memories, which are visual sensory memories. Echoic memories can last for several seconds, while iconic memories typically last for less than a second.

Question 12

Iconic memories usually decay in about _____ or less.
A)1 second
B)7 seconds
C)1 minute
D)2 minutes

Accepted Answer

Iconic memories, which are part of the visual memory system, typically decay in about 1 second or less, making them very brief and fleeting.

Question 13

A son is not paying attention to his father.His father asks sternly,"What did I just say?" and the son can only meekly respond,"You just asked me,'What did I just say?'" What memory store was encoding this information,despite the son not paying attention?
A)auditory memory
B)working memory
C)iconic memory
D)echoic memory

Accepted Answer

Echoic memory is the sensory memory for auditory information. Even though the son was not paying attention, the father's question was registered in the son's auditory memory store and he was able to retrieve it when asked again by his father.

Question 14

Charlotte looks up a phone number on the Internet and says the number three times to herself.As she reaches for her phone to dial the number,she is distracted by noise coming from outside her office.When the noise ceases after about 30 seconds,she picks up the phone but finds that she cannot remember the number.This is due to the limits of _____ memory.
A)short-term
B)long-term
C)sensory
D)iconic

Accepted Answer

Short-term memory refers to the memory system that holds a small amount of information for a brief period of time, typically around 30 seconds. In this scenario, Charlotte was repeating the phone number to herself in her short-term memory. However, after being distracted by noise for 30 seconds, she likely exceeded the capacity of her short-term memory and was unable to recall the phone number. The other options (long-term, sensory, and iconic memory) are not relevant to this scenario.

Question 15

Brittany is daydreaming in class when her instructor asks her a question.Brittany finds that,even though she was not paying attention,she can replay in her "mind's ear" the instructor's last words,taking advantage of a process called:
A)auditory memory.
B)visual imagery encoding.
C)iconic memory.
D)echoic memory.

Accepted Answer

Echoic memory is a type of sensory memory that is responsible for processing auditory information and storing it for a short period of time, usually a few seconds. It allows us to replay auditory information in our minds even after the sound has disappeared. This process is what allows Brittany to replay her instructor's last words even though she was not paying attention initially.

Question 16

Jessica Li held up three rows of four letters on a poster board to her high school class for a fraction of a second.She then removed it and immediately asked the class to name the 12 letters they had just been shown.Based on previous research,about how many letters would you expect individual students to recall?
A)0
B)5
C)8
D)10

Accepted Answer

Research in psychology suggests that the average person can hold about 7 items (plus or minus 2) in their short-term memory. Given the brief exposure and immediate recall required, it's reasonable to expect students to recall around 5 letters, aligning with the lower end of the short-term memory capacity.

Question 17

Superior recall of a scenario is often observed when the scenario:
A)is pleasant.
B)is mildly annoying.
C)involves planning.
D)involves rhyming.

Accepted Answer

Involving planning activates the frontal lobe of the brain, which is responsible for memory consolidation and retrieval. Planning also involves creating a mental script, which can better aid in recalling the scenario later on. Therefore, scenarios that involve planning are more likely to be recalled accurately.

Question 18

Sperling flashed a matrix of 12 letters for 1/20th of a second to participants.When asked to recall the letters immediately after,Sperling found that MOST participants recalled:
A)none of the letters given the short presentation time.
B)fewer than three letters.
C)fewer than half of the letters.
D)more than half of the letters.

Accepted Answer

Sperling's experiment demonstrated that participants could recall fewer than half of the letters immediately after they were flashed, indicating that while people briefly hold a large amount of visual information in sensory memory, they can only report a fraction of it before it fades.

Question 19

In a classic memory study by Peterson and Peterson (1959),participants were given consonant strings to remember-such as DBX and HLM-and then were instructed to count backward from 100 by 3.After a variable amount of time,the participants were asked to recall the consonant strings.Asking participants to count backward effectively prevents:
A)sensory storage.
B)iconic memory.
C)short-term storage.
D)rehearsal.

Accepted Answer

Asking participants to count backward from 100 by 3 in the Peterson and Peterson (1959) study was designed to prevent rehearsal of the consonant strings, thereby testing the duration of short-term memory when rehearsal is not possible.

Question 20

Sperling flashed a matrix of letters for 1/20th of a second to participants.Sperling found that the participants:
A)attempted to encode the letters from left to right.
B)attempted to encode the letters from top to bottom.
C)automatically stored the entire matrix of letters but for only a brief moment.
D)automatically stored the entire matrix of letters for up to a minute after the presentation.

Accepted Answer

Sperling's experiment revealed that participants were able to automatically store the entire matrix of letters, but only for a brief moment. This is known as sensory memory, which has a large capacity but a very short duration. Participants were not able to encode the letters from left to right or top to bottom, indicating that the information was stored as a whole image rather than as individual letters. The information was also not stored for up to a minute after the presentation, as this would fall under the category of long-term memory.

Quiz 6: Memory-Part A

You look up a friend's address for the envelope of a letter you're writing.Suddenly,the phone rings.You abandon your address research to answer the phone,but it is a wrong number.When you get back to writing down the address,you have forgotten it because _____ memory has failed you.

Sensory information is kept for a few seconds or less in:

Iconic memory is a fast-decaying store of:

Scenarios that involve planning to effectively encode information lead to superior recall in:

The store of auditory information that decays very rapidly is called _____ memory.

Sensory storage holds information for a maximum of:

Echoic memories usually decay in about _____ second(s) .

The fast-decaying store of visual information that is forgotten in seconds if not attended to is known as _____ memory.

Jessica Li held up three rows of four letters on a poster board to her high school class for a fraction of a second.She then removed it and immediately asked the class to name the 12 letters they had just been shown.Which memory store is being tested?

Echoic memories last _____ iconic memories.

Iconic memories usually decay in about _____ or less.

A son is not paying attention to his father.His father asks sternly,"What did I just say?" and the son can only meekly respond,"You just asked me,'What did I just say?'" What memory store was encoding this information,despite the son not paying attention?

Brittany is daydreaming in class when her instructor asks her a question.Brittany finds that,even though she was not paying attention,she can replay in her "mind's ear" the instructor's last words,taking advantage of a process called:

Superior recall of a scenario is often observed when the scenario:

Sperling flashed a matrix of 12 letters for 1/20th of a second to participants.When asked to recall the letters immediately after,Sperling found that MOST participants recalled:

Sperling flashed a matrix of letters for 1/20th of a second to participants.Sperling found that the participants: