Week 4 - STM, LTM, Working Memory

Question 1

What are the two broad divisions of LTM?

Answer 1

Declarative and non-declarative memory.

Question 2

What does amnesia reveal about memory systems?

Answer 2

Dissociation between declarative and non-declarative memory.

Question 3

What is declarative memory?

Answer 3

Memory of facts and events; conscious and hippocampus-dependent.

Question 4

What is non-declarative memory?

Answer 4

Memory for skills and behaviors; unconscious and not hippocampus-dependent.

Question 5

What is episodic memory?

Answer 5

Personal events situated in time and space.

Question 6

What is semantic memory?

Answer 6

General facts and knowledge about the world.

Question 7

How is non-declarative memory tested?

Answer 7

Implicit memory tests showing changes in behavior without conscious recall.

Question 8

What is procedural memory?

Answer 8

Memory for motor and cognitive skills.

Question 9

What is priming?

Answer 9

Faster response to a stimulus due to prior exposure.

Question 10

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 10

Learning associations between stimuli.

Question 11

What is habituation?

Answer 11

Ignoring trivial stimuli over time.

Question 12

What does amnesia tell us about memory?

Answer 12

Supports the distinction between declarative and non-declarative memory.

Question 13

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 13

Loss of past memories before brain damage.

Question 14

What is anterograde amnesia?

Answer 14

Inability to form new declarative memories.

Question 15

What part of H.M.’s brain was removed?

Answer 15

Medial temporal lobes, including both hippocampi.

Question 16

What kind of memory was preserved in H.M.?

Answer 16

STM and remote semantic memory.

Question 17

What does ‘temporally graded’ retrograde amnesia mean?

Answer 17

Recent memories are more affected than older ones.

Question 18

What type of memory was most impaired in H.M.?

Answer 18

New episodic and semantic memories (anterograde).

Question 19

Could H.M. learn new words or events after surgery?

Answer 19

No, he showed severe anterograde amnesia.

Question 20

What is the hippocampus’s role in memory?

Answer 20

Consolidating new declarative memories.

Question 21

Can amnesic patients learn new skills?

Answer 21

Yes, non-declarative memory (e.g., mirror tracing) is preserved.

Question 22

What non-declarative abilities remain intact in amnesia?

Answer 22

Priming, conditioning, habituation, and sensitization.

Question 23

What are the key characteristics of STM according to Atkinson and Shiffrin?

Answer 23

Capacity is 7±2 items, duration is 15–30 seconds, maintenance rehearsal aids transfer to LTM.

Question 24

What experimental methods estimate STM capacity and duration?

Answer 24

Digit-span tasks and the Brown-Peterson task.

Question 25

What do serial position effects suggest about memory stores?

Answer 25

They suggest separate STM and LTM stores via primacy (LTM) and recency (STM) effects.

Question 26

What did the "levels of processing" theory challenge?

Answer 26

The idea that rehearsal alone transfers information to LTM.

Question 27

What are the components of Baddeley’s working memory model?

Answer 27

Central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer.

Question 28

What is the role of STM in memory processing?

Answer 28

To integrate current sensory input with LTM based on attentional goals.

Question 29

How long does information last in STM?

Answer 29

15–30 seconds.

Question 30

What determines whether STM information transfers to LTM?

Answer 30

Attention and encoding processes like maintenance rehearsal.

Question 31

What task is used to measure STM capacity?

Answer 31

The digit-span task using immediate serial recall.

Question 32

What is the average adult digit span?

Answer 32

7 ± 2 items.

Question 33

What does the Brown-Peterson task measure?

Answer 33

Duration of STM by using a filled retention interval to prevent rehearsal.

Question 34

What does rapid forgetting in the Brown-Peterson task indicate?

Answer 34

Trace decay or interference in STM.

Question 35

What is maintenance rehearsal?

Answer 35

Repeating information in STM to keep it active and increase transfer to LTM.

Question 36

What is the primacy effect?

Answer 36

Better recall for early items due to more rehearsal and transfer to LTM.

Question 37

What is the recency effect?

Answer 37

Better recall for the most recent items still in STM.

Question 38

What did Craik & Tulving’s levels of processing study show?

Answer 38

Deeper, meaningful encoding improves LTM retention more than shallow processing.

Question 39

What concept replaced the simple STM box in memory models?

Answer 39

A working memory system that supports reasoning and problem-solving.

Question 40

What are the key components of Baddeley’s working memory?

Answer 40

Central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer.

Question 41

What is the function of the phonological loop?

Answer 41

To manipulate and maintain auditory and verbal information.

Question 42

What tasks test the visuospatial sketchpad?

Answer 42

Mental rotation, Corsi block tapping, visual mnemonics.

Question 43

What functions does the central executive perform?

Answer 43

Goal-directed attention, task switching, inhibition, planning.

Question 44

Where is the central executive located in the brain?

Answer 44

Prefrontal cortex including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and ACC.

Question 45

Which hemisphere supports the phonological loop?

Answer 45

Left hemisphere.

Question 46

Which hemisphere supports the visuospatial sketchpad?

Answer 46

Right hemisphere.

Question 47

Where is the episodic buffer located?

Answer 47

Parietal cortex (association cortex).

Question 48

What is the main role of STM according to early models?

Answer 48

Temporary storage and rehearsal for LTM transfer.

Question 49

What is Baddeley’s model of WM used for?

Answer 49

Active processing and integration of multi-modal information.