Chapter 5 Chapter Summary

Question 1

Memory is the process involved in…

Answer 1

Retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present

Question 2

Five different types of memory

Answer 2

Sensory, short-term, episodic, semantic, and procedural

Question 3

Three structural features of modal model of memory

Answer 3

Sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

Question 4

Additional feature of the modal model

Answer 4

Control processes, such as rehearsal and attentional strategies

Question 5

What methods did Sperling use?

Answer 5

Whole report and partial report

Question 6

What did Sperling aim to measure?

Answer 6

The capacity and time course of visual sensory memory

Question 7

Visual sensory memory is also known as

Answer 7

Iconic memory

Question 8

What is the duration of iconic memory?

Answer 8

Less than 1 second

Question 9

Auditory sensory memory is also known as

Answer 9

Echoic memory

Question 10

What is the duration of echoic memory?

Answer 10

About 2-4 seconds

Question 11

STM is our window on the…

Answer 11

Present

Question 12

Duration of STM

Answer 12

About 15-20 seconds

Question 13

Digit span

Answer 13

A measure of the capacity of STM

Question 14

The capacity of STM according to Miller

Answer 14

5-9 items

Question 15

What have recent experiments determined about STM capacity?

Answer 15

Closer to 4 items

Question 16

How can we expand the amount of information held in STM?

Answer 16

Chunking

Question 17

Chunking

Answer 17

Small units are combined into larger, more meaningful units

Question 18

Rather than describing STM capacity in terms of number of items, it has been suggested to describe STM in terms of…

Answer 18

Amount of information

Question 19

Experiment by Alvarez and Cavanagh

Answer 19

Includes stimuli ranging from simple to complex, and findings support the idea that STM should be described in terms of amount of information rather than number of items

Question 20

Why did Baddeley revise the STM component of the modal model?

Answer 20

To deal with dynamic processes that unfold over time and can’t be explained by a single short-term process

Question 21

What is the main difference in Baddeley’s revision of the modal model?

Answer 21

Working memory replaces STM

Question 22

Working memory

Answer 22

A limited-capacity system for storage and manipulation of information in complex tasks

Question 23

What are the three components of working memory?

Answer 23

The phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the central executive

Question 24

Phonological loop

Answer 24

Holds auditory or verbal information

Question 25

Visuospatial sketch pad

Answer 25

Holds visual and spatial information

Question 26

Central executive

Answer 26

Coordinates the action of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad

Question 27

The following effects can be explained in terms of operation of the phonological loop

Answer 27

• Phonological similarity effect
• Word-length effect
• Articulatory suppression

Question 28

Mental rotation experiment

Answer 28

Illustrates visual imagery, which is one of the functions of the visuospatial sketch pad

Question 29

Sala’s visual recall task

Answer 29

Used visual imagery to estimate the capacity for working memory

Question 30

Brooks’ “F” experiment

Answer 30

Showed that two tasks can be handled simultaneously if one involves the visuospatial sketchpad and the other involves the phonological loop, but performance decreases if one component of working memory is called on to deal with two tasks simultaneously

Question 31

Central executive

Answer 31

Coordinates how information is used by the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad; it can be thought of as an attention controller

Question 32

Patients with frontal lobe damage

Answer 32

Have trouble controlling their attention, as illustrated by the phenomenon of preservation

Question 33

The working memory model has been updated to include an additional component called the…

Answer 33

Episodic buffer

Question 34

Episodic buffer

Answer 34

Helps connect working memory with LTM and which has a greater capacity and can hold information longer than the phonological loop or the visuospatial sketch pad

Question 35

Delayed-response task

Answer 35

Demonstrated that behaviors that depend on working memory can be disrupted by damage to the prefrontal cortex

Question 36

Current research on the physiology of working memory has introduced two big ideas:

Answer 36

• Information can be contained in patterns of neural connectivity
• Working memory involves many areas of the brain

Question 37

Reading span test

Answer 37

Developed to measure working memory capacity; found that high-capacity working memory is associated with better reading comprehension and higher SAT scores

Question 38

Vogel’s ERP experiments demonstrate differences in how…

Answer 38

The central executive operates for participants with high and low-capacity working memory and concluded that there are differences in people’s ability to allocate attention

Question 39

People with _________ are better at “tuning out” distractors than people with ________

Answer 39

High-capacity working memory; low-capacity working memory

Question 40

There is a relation between ____________ and ____________, which is involved in dealing with ____________

Answer 40

Working memory capacity; cognitive control; temptation