If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences. The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control! We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out. 
Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), Mansfield Park

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Note: These questions are part of a larger data base of questions on Module 12 & are selected to represent the type of question you should expect on unit exam three. You can, in fact, expect to see many of these very same questions on that exam. Exam questions, however, may deal with topics not covered in the self tests or in lectures but are discussed in your textbook. You are responsible for the content of your text book plus the content of lectures, interactive activities, & material on the web site.

Use these sample questions to test yourself & to practice for the test.

1. Which of the following best demonstrates the difference between recognition and recall?

a multiple-choice exams versus true-false questions
b speaking lines in a play versus playing the piano without sheet music
c picking the assailant out of a lineup versus describing the face of an assailant
d reporting the color of your socks (eyes closed) versus reciting a poem

2. A professor is writing a test for his introductory psychology class. He decides that he is going to assess his students’ recall. What kind of test should he write?

a essay
b matching
c true-false
d multiple choice

3. The best analogy of the network theory of memory organization is:

a a map with cities (nodes) interconnected by roads (associations)
b a refrigerator that has food (nodes) stacked on shelves (associations)
c a circle that has no starting point (nodes) and no ending point (associations)
d a fabric (associations) made of thousands of threads (nodes) lined up in the same direction

4. The network theory proposes that we are capable of “traveling” from node to node because:

a action potentials propel us
b nodes are connected to each other alphabetically
c the nodes have been linked together through associations
d nodes physically touch other nodes in the hippocampus

5. Factual information appears to be organized in:

a random ways
b groups of nodes that are connected by personal associations
c a linear way from most used information to least used information
d hierarchies with abstract information at the top & concrete information at the bottom

6. The two primary reasons why our memory is limited in early life is:

a limited motor skills and language skills
b limited visual system and limited language skills
c limited language skills and not having a sense of self
d limited visual system development and underdeveloped auditory cortex

7. The classic forgetting curve that Ebbinghaus described for nonsense syllables has a:

a slight decline
b series of alternating upward and downward slopes
c slight upward slope followed by a rapid downward slope
d rapid downward slope, then levels out, & declines gradually

8. When the mind pushes some traumatic memory into the unconscious only to stay there until it is released, ________ is said to have taken place.

a regression
b repression
c sublimation
d rationalization

9. Studying by cramming or rote memory tends to:

a facilitate encoding
b create poor retrieval cues
c create adequate retrieval cues
d create temporary retrieval cues

10. When old information interferes with information we are trying to learn, ___________ is occurring.

a repression
b selective attention
c proactive interference
d retroactive interference

11. Proactive interference is to ________ as retroactive interference is to _______.

a encode; retrieval
b primary; secondary
c forward; backward
d backward; forward

12. Mental reminders that are created when you form vivid mental images of information are called:

a pegword cue
b retrieval cue
c echoic device
d processing distraction

13. It appears that the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon results from:

a amnesia
b nodes that are misaligned
c inadequate retrieval cues or interference
d misfiring in the nerves that make up the hippocampus

14. You should be in the same physiological state during retrieval of information as you were when learning the information. This is called:

a law of cues
b state-dependent learning
c latent-dependent learning
d encoding-retrieval similarity

15. Our short-term memory abilities are a function of activity in the:

a cortex
b amygdala
c hippocampus
d occipital lobe

16. Our memories can evoke emotional experiences due, in part, to the activity of the:

a cortex
b frontal lobe
c amygdala
d hippocampus

17. Damage to the _______ area of the brain appears to prevent the transfer of information from short-term into long-term memory.

a hippocampus
b consolidation
c amygdala
d cortex

18. Long-term potentiation (LTP) works by:

a stimulating the amygdala
b adding short-term memories together
c not repeating new information too many times
d changing the structure and function of neurons

19. Methods that help encode and recall information through associations and images are called:

a storage cues
b semantic cues
c mnemonics
d proactive devices

20. A technique for creating visual associations between memorized places and items to be memorized is called:

a eidetic imagery
b the peg theory
c the method of loci
d proactive rehearsal

21. What is the mnemonic called that used associations between number-word rhymes and the items to be memorized?

a peg method
b method of loci
c chunking method
d selective encoding

22. Poor ______ results in poor ______ cues which make recall difficult.

a chunking; visual
b encoding; retrieval
c visualization; loci
d mnemonics; source

23. There are at least three problems with eyewitness testimony. Which one of the following statements is not one of the problems?

a Testimony is assumed to be accurate & is thought to be reliable evidence.
b Law enforcement officials may influence testimony through misleading questions.
c The confidence of eyewitnesses regarding their testimony typically declines over time.
d There is a weak correlation between the confidence of the eyewitness and the testimony given.

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General Psychology
Robert C. Gates
 
Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity.  -- Freud

New Ah, my Belovéd, fill the Cup that clears
To-day of past Regret and future Fears:
Tomorrow!---Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
 
New from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam