3.2.9-12 reliability of memory

Question 1

methods of retention: recall

Answer 1

involves being asked to reproduce information with the fewest possible cues to assist retrieval

Question 2

free recall

Answer 2

remembering as much information as possible.

e.g. remembering words from a list

Question 3

serial recall

Answer 3

remembering the list of words in order

Question 4

cued recall

Answer 4

make use of specific cues to aid retrieval.

e.g. being given the first letters of words

Question 5

methods of retention: recognition

Answer 5

identifying the correct information among alternatives.

provides more cues

Question 6

methods of retention: relearning

Answer 6

learning information again that has been previously learned and stored in LTM.
learned quicker second time

Question 7

relearning savings score

Answer 7

original-relearning / original x 100

Question 8

memory reconstruction

Answer 8

combining stored information with other available information to form what is believed to be a more coherent, complete or accurate memory

Question 9

amnesia

Answer 9

loss of memory, partial or complete, temporary or permanent

Question 10

anterograde amnesia

Answer 10

less of memory only for information or events experienced after the person sustains brain damage

Question 11

process of anterograde amnesia

Answer 11

information enters sensory memory,
attended to and transferred to STM,
can be rehearsed in STM indefinitely,
brain structures involved in transferring STM to LTM are damaged so now new memories can be formed

Question 12

retrograde amnesia

Answer 12

loss of memory only for information or events experience before the person sustains the brain damage.
usually temporary.
typically memories preceding injury are lost permanently

Question 13

brain surgery: amygdala

Answer 13

may remember semantic and episodic details of a traumatic or joyful event stored in LTM but not emotional qualities.
impaired ability to recognise facial expressions of emotions

Question 14

brain surgery: cerebral cortex, frontal lobe loss

Answer 14

disrupt retrieval process.

memories remembered by problems with recalling

Question 15

brain surgery: cerebral cortex, parietal lobe

Answer 15

involved in attention.

massively impair STM but not necessarily our ability to maintain information in STM

Question 16

brain surgery: cerebral cortex, temporal lobe

Answer 16

impair explicit memory retrieval and aspects of spatial memory such as spatial awareness and navigation

Question 17

brain surgery: cerebellum

Answer 17

cannot acquire a classically conditioned reflex response but do remember the experiences during conditioning procedure

Question 18

brain trauma

Answer 18

any brain damage that imparts, or interferes with, the normal functioning of the brain, either temporarily or permanently

Question 19

neurodegenerative disease

Answer 19

disease characterised by a progressive decline in the structure, activity and function of brain tissue

Question 20

dementia

Answer 20

umbrella term used to describe a variety of symptoms of a large group of illnesses or neurodegenerative diseases that cause a progressive decline in a person’s mental functioning

Question 21

Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 21

neurodegenerative disease characterised by the gradual widespread degeneration of brain neurons, causing memory loss, decline in cognitive and social skills and personality changes

Question 22

causes of Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 22

damage to hippocampus which causes brain to shrink.
lower levels of important memory neurotransmitters.
high levels of abnormal structures that interfere neural communication

Question 23

forgetting

Answer 23

inability to access or recover information previously stored in memory

Question 24

encoding specificity principle

Answer 24

recreating the conditions under which the required information was originally learned

Question 25

context dependent cues

Answer 25

environmental cues in a specific context (setting) where a memory was formed, which act as retrieval cues to help access the memories formed in that context

Question 26

state dependent cues

Answer 26

associated with an individuals internal physiological and/or psychological state at the time the memory was formed, which act as retrieval cues to help access those memories

Question 27

serial position effect

Answer 27

fre recall is better in for items presented at the end and beginning of a list than for items in the middle of the list

Question 28

primacy effect

Answer 28

superior recall of items at the beginning of a list compared to items in the middle of a list.
stored in and retrieved from LTM

Question 29

recency effect

Answer 29

superior recall of items at the end of a list compared to items in the middle of a list.
retained in STM

Question 30

maintenance rehearsal

Answer 30

repeating the information being remembered over and over again so that it can be retained in STM

Question 31

limitation of maintenance rehearsal

Answer 31

amount of new info restricted because of limited storage capacity of STM

Question 32

elaborative rehearsal

Answer 32

process of linking new information in a meaningful way with other new info or info already stored in LTM to aid in its storage and future retrieval from LTM

Question 33

eyewitness testimony

Answer 33

any firsthand account given by an individual of an event they have seen.
unreliable because memory can be reconstructed with questioning

Question 34

leading question

Answer 34

has content or is phrased in such a way as to suggest what answer is desired or to lead to the desired answer