AP Psych Cognition/Intelligence/Memory

Front

Short-term memory is best described as

Back

memory that can hold only a small amount of information

Answer explanation

Correct. Memory that can hold only a few items, generally about seven, for a short period is known as short-term memory.

Front

Which psychologist is best associated with studying the function of memory? Options: Mary Whiton Calkins, Hermann Ebbinghaus, Erik Erikson, Carl Rogers, Carl Wernicke

Back

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Answer explanation

Correct. Hermann Ebbinghaus studied memory by memorizing nonsense syllables and seeing how many he could remember.

Front

Which of the following statements about automatic processing or effortful processing is true?
Effortful processing does not require conscious awareness,
Automatic processing makes other processing more difficult,
Automatic processing requires little mental effort,
Automatic processing does not improve with practice,
Effortful processing is affected by intelligence.

Back

Automatic processing requires little mental effort.

Answer explanation

Correct. Automatic processing requires little mental effort, whereas effortful processing requires mental effort and use of short-term memory.

Front

An example of using elaborative encoding to improve memory is

Back

Sam remembering which tree is the ginkgo by using the phrase “stinko ginkgo” because the fruit of the ginkgo tree smells bad

Answer explanation

Correct. Elaborative encoding occurs when something new is associated with something meaningful or with an existing memory.

Front

What is David using to enhance his memory when he notices that the day and month of one of the historical dates is the same as his own birthday?

Back

Self-reference

Answer explanation

Correct. This refers to the fact that information that is personally relevant is more easily remembered than personally irrelevant information.

Front

A teacher asks Yvonne to go to another classroom to get a student whom Yvonne has never met. As she walks, she repeats the student’s name to herself over and over to help her remember. Yvonne is boosting her memory by using

Back

maintenance rehearsal

Answer explanation

Correct. Simple thinking of words over and over again is a form of maintenance rehearsal.

Front

Based on what is known about the average limits of short-term memory capacity, what is the most likely number of digits Jeanette will be able to remember? Options: Two, Seven, Ten, Eleven, Twelve

Back

Seven

Answer explanation

Correct. Short-term memory capacity is roughly seven (plus or minus two).

Front

The fact that Lori finds herself thinking about dogs and other pets after seeing a cat is evidence that human memory is organized into

Back

an association network

Answer explanation

Correct. An association network representation predicts that activation of a concept will also activate related concepts.

Front

To remember a list of words, Jerry tries walking through his bedroom and making associations between words on the list and various areas he visits in his bedroom. Jerry is trying to improve his memory encoding by using

Back

the method of loci

Answer explanation

Correct. This is an example of using the method of loci to remember something.

Front

Which of the following illustrates the primacy effect?
Options:
Jason remembers the last two digits of his doctor’s phone number but not any other digits.
Susam left his grocery list at home and can remember only the first two items on the list.
Frederick thinks people are paying attention to him when they actually are not.
Paul gets a reward every time he gets on the bus for school on time.
When his son Fekru cries because he wants a candy bar, Mr. Debebe gives the boy the candy to stop him from crying.

Back

Susam left his grocery list at home and can remember only the first two items on the list.

Answer explanation

Correct. This is an example of the primacy effect, which refers to having a better memory for items occurring earliest in a list.