Unit 3 Psychology
Memory
SAC 2: Part 2
Section
A
B
C
Number of Questions
53
13
1
Marks Allocated
53
30
18
Time allocation: 70 minutes
INSTRUCTIONS
Section A: Multiple Choice Questions
Circle the correct response (a, b, c or d) in each of the questions.
Section B: Short Answer Questions
Answer the questions in the space provided. All answers must be written within the page
borders.
Equipment: Pens, pencils
Test conditions apply: no notes or books should be open during the test.
NAME: _____________________________________________
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Unit 3 Psychology: Outcome 2 - Test
Name:
Section A: Multiple-choice questions (53 marks)
1. Which of the following lobes of the brain is most likely involved in memory formation and
storage?
A. The frontal lobe
B. The temporal lobe
C. The parietal lobe
D. The occipital lobe
2. Pearl is concerned that her memory is starting to fade now that she is in her 40s. Which
long-term memory store is most likely to be affected by memory-loss first?
A. Episodic memory
B. Procedural memory
C. Semantic memory
D. Short-term memory
3. Which of the following is an accurate description of elaborative rehearsal?
A. Elaborative rehearsal involves rote learning.
B. Elaborative rehearsal involves repetition of information vocally.
C. Elaborative rehearsal involves repetition of information sub-vocally.
D. Elaborative rehearsal relies on making meaningful connections with information to
be learned.
4. Mobile phone numbers often involve three sets of numbers (e.g. 0400 111 222). The
process of grouping these individual numbers together is known as ___________________.
This helps increase the capacity of _____________________________.
A. elaborative rehearsal; sensory memory
B. chunking; short-term memory
C. chunking; long-term memory
D. elaborative rehearsal; short-term memory
5. According to Baddeley and Hitch’s model of working memory, information in the
________________________ and _______________________ are integrated in the episodic
buffer to create a representation or ‘episode’ of an event.
A. phonological loop; visuospatial sketchpad
B. central executive; visuospatial sketchpad
C. central executive; phonological loop
D. visuospatial sketchpad; central executive
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6. Johan is visiting his old high school and takes himself on a walk through his old classrooms
and the grounds he used to play sport on. Which division of long-term memory is John most
likely to be utilising?
A. Working memory
B. Semantic memory
C. Episodic memory
D. Procedural memory
7. What name do we give to the theory that claims that information is stored in long-term
memory in an organised and interconnected network of nodes and meaningful links?
A. The serial-position effect
B. The consolidation theory
C. Encoding specificity principle
D. The semantic network theory
8. Emily is trying to remember the name of the country town her family visited when she
was younger. She remembers that it starts with C and that it was a long word. Emily is most
likely experiencing:
A. proactive interference.
B. retroactive interference.
C. tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.
D. repressed memories.
9. Soo-Ching has just filled up her car with petrol and goes in to the store to pay. However,
when she gets there she cannot remember the new PIN on her EFTPOS card. She keeps
remembering digits from her old PIN instead. Which theory of forgetting best explains this
phenomena?
A. Proactive interference
B. Retroactive interference
C. Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
D. Repressed memories
10. Recalling information in the order it was presented is known as _______________ recall,
whereas recalling information with a hint is known as ________________ recall.
A. serial; free
B. ordered; cued
C. cued; free
D. serial; cued
11. After attending his grandmother’s funeral, Ali remembers when his grandfather passed
away. Being sad triggered memories of the last time he was really sad. This is an example of:
A. quality encoding.
B. a state-dependent cue.
C. a context-dependent cue.
D. retrieval.
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12. Using the expression ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit’ to remember the order of the
music notes EGBDF is an example of:
A. narrative chaining.
B. an acronym.
C. an acrostic.
D. peg-word method.
13. Sensory information must be converted into a form (code) that can be used in the
memory system. This conversion process is known as:
A. Storage
B. Duration
C. Encoding
D. Retrieval
14. The three major memory processes that occur in order are:
A. Retrieval, storage, encoding
B. Encoding, storage, retrieval
C. Storage, encoding, retrieval
D. Storage, retrieval, encoding
15. Research into the physiological basis of memory suggests that:
A. The hippocampus is the brain structure responsible for all memory formation and
storage
B. Memory formation begins at specific synapses in the brain
C. The temporal lobes are the brain areas responsible for all memory formation and
storage
D. Memory formation begins with the formation of plaques and tangles in the brain
16. Which of the following statements concerning age-related memory decline is correct?
A. Age-related memory decline affects all types of information equally strongly
B. All people over 85 years of age will experience significant memory decline
C. The more recent the information, the better it is remembered
D. Elderly people perform better on tasks involving recognition than on tasks involving
recall
17. Which of the following is the most effective way to transfer information from STM to
LTM?
A. Chunking
B. Serial position
C. Elaborative rehearsal
D. Maintenance rehearsal
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18. On recovering consciousness, a footballer who has been knocked unconscious during a
match is unable to recall events that occurred in the 15 minutes before being knocked out.
According to consolidation theory, this occurs because of:
A. Insufficient time to consolidate sensory information in STM
B. Insufficient attention being paid during the 15 minutes before being knocked out
C. Insufficient time for his brain cells to lay down memory traces of the events
occurring 15 minutes prior to being knocked out
D. Insufficient rehearsal of information relating to the events in t he 15 minutes prior
to being knocked out
19. Which of the following statements about storage in LTM is true?
A. LTM’s storage capacity is limited
B. LTM’s storage capacity is unlimited
C. LTM’s are stored according to the similarity of their structural features
D. LTM’s are stored phonetically
20. Information in sensory memory is available for:
A. Approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of a second
B. Up to a few seconds
C. Approximately 18-20 seconds, unless rehearsed
D. Up-to-a-lifetime
21. Paula memorized a list of words that included ‘yacht’, ‘effort’, ‘instructor’, and
‘question’. Later, when she was attempting to recall them, she wrote ‘ship’, ‘work’, ‘teacher’
and ‘enquiry’. This suggests that Paula encoded the original words:
A. Automatically
B. Structurally
C. Phonemically
D. Semantically
22. Compared with younger people, older people:
A. Generally have poorer memory for most things
B. Have better recall of recent events
C. Have more problems recalling material without cues, but recognize items equally
well
D. Have more insight into and memory of material
23. Herman Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve demonstrates that forgetting is most rapid:
A. One week after learning
B. Immediately after learning
C. Two hours after learning
D. Four hours after learning
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24. Ebbinghaus chose to use nonsense syllables in his experiments to test forgetting
because these:
A. Are easier to encode
B. Provide more retrieval cues
C. Are more meaningful
D. Lack meaning
25. A stimulus used to aid recovery of information stored in memory is called a:
A. Retrieval cue
B. Mnemonic device
C. Form of elaboration
D. Theory
26. Trying to memorise the order of items on a shopping list by creating a story in which
each item is included is an example of:
A. The method of loci
B. An acronym
C. Elaborative rehearsal
D. Narrative chaining
27. People are more likely to remember information when they are in the same
environment where the original learning occurred. This illustrates the role of __________ in
retrieval.
A. Recall
B. Rehearsal
C. State-dependent cues
D. Context-dependent cues
28. When newly formed memories block the retrieval of old memories, this is described as:
A. Retroactive interference
B. Proactive interference
C. Retrograde amnesia
D. Anterograde amnesia
29. What does the savings score calculate?
A. The amount of information lost over time
B. The amount of information retained over time
C. The percentage of information retained over time
D. The percentage of information still to be learnt
30. Kat is trying to learn a list of cities for her Geography test. She decides to place them in
alphabetical order and attaches each city to be remembered to a letter of the alphabet. Kat
is trying to avoid which type of forgetting?
A. Motivated forgetting
B. Retrieval failure theory
C. Amnesia
D. Interference theory
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31. Theories regarding motivated forgetting are supported by which famous psychologist?
A. Freud
B. Piaget
C. Hudspeth
D. Pavlov
32. Recalling information in the order it was presented, but with no cues is known as
___________ recall, whereas recalling information in any order with no cues is known as
_____________ recall.
A. Serial; free
B. Ordered; cued
C. Cued; free
D. Free; serial
33. Kubra has been trying to learn the periodic table of elements for Chemistry. At first she
tries reciting them over and over again, but this does not seem to improve her performance.
She then constructs a memory aid that allows her to link the first letter of each element
with the first letter in each word of a sentence that she constructed. She finds this
technique much more effective. When Kubra uses the first letter of each element to be
remembered to form a sentence, this is an example of:
A. Method of loci
B. An acronym
C. An acrostic
D. Narrative chaining
34. Memories that are consciously blocked from our conscious awareness are known as
_______ memories; whereas those that are unconsciously blocked are known as
__________ memories.
A. Repressed; motivated
B. Repressed; Freudian
C. Suppressed; repressed
D. Motivated; repressed
35. Research into the neural basis of memory have found that there are functional and
structural changes to the neuron when new memories are formed.
The change in the structure was the increase in the number of _________________ and the
change in function was the increase in the amount of _______________.
A. Neurotransmitter; axons
B. Axons; myelin
C. Neurotransmitter; dendrites
D. Dendrites; neurotransmitter
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36. Ahmet was knocked unconscious in a clash of heads in the first quarter of a football
match. He was taken to hospital but could not tell the doctors what had happened. Ahmet
could not remember anything that had happened in the 30 minutes leading up to the
accident, including the coach’s address to the players before the match had started.
This type of memory loss provides evidence in support of:
A. Consolidation theory
B. Semantic network theory
C. Elaborative rehearsal
D. The serial position effect
37. Studies of the human memory ability over the lifespan have been used to compare the
abilities of young and elderly people on recall and recognition tasks.
Results from these studies have shown that:
A. Young people perform better on both recall and recognition tasks than elderly
people
B. Young people perform better on recall tasks; however, elderly people perform just
as well as young people on recognition tasks
C. Young people perform just as well as elderly people on both recall and recognition
tasks
D. Young people perform better on recognition tasks; however, elderly people perform
just as well as young people on recall tasks
38. _________________ affects memory for information experienced before the person
sustains brain damage; whereas __________________ affects memory for information
experienced after the person sustains brain damage.
A. Retrograde amnesia; anterograde amnesia
B. Anterograde amnesia; retrograde amnesia
C. Anterograde amnesia; retroactive interference
D. Retroactive interference; proactive interference
39. Adina was watching television when her mother asked her a question. Adina didn’t think
she’d heard her mother’s question and was about to ask her to repeat it. However, when
Adina took her attention from the television, she found that she was still able to ‘hear’ her
mother’s question.
This effect is due to:
A. Boredom
B. Echoic memory
C. Iconic memory
D. Short-term memory
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40. The serial position effect is best described as:
A. The effect that results from the position of items in a series that are to be
remembered using serial recall
B. The effect that results from the position of items in a series that are to be
remembered using cued recall
C. The effect that results from the position of items in a series that are to be
remembered using recognition
D. The effect that results from the position of items in a series that are to be
remembered using free recall
41. The information we receive first is stored initially in _______________ memory.
A. Episodic
B. Short-term
C. Long-term
D. Sensory
42. Research on recall ability was conducted with two groups of participants. Each genderbalanced group comprised 50 people. Group A was given a list of 20 three-letter nonsense
syllables to remember, whereas Group B was asked to remember 20 common three-letter
words. The results showed that Group B recalled more because they were able to group
individual items together on the basis of some shared characteristic.
This finding provides support for the importance of:
A. Rehearsing information over and over to ensure it has been learnt properly
B. Organization of information during encoding to help with later retrieval
C. Chunking information to retain it in short-term memory
D. The serial position effect
43. If you have a tip-of-the-tongue experience, you would probably be unable to
immediately _______________ the word you were trying to remember.
A. Relearn
B. Recite
C. Recall
D. Recognize
44. A month ago Liz established a new bank account and had to choose a 4-digit security
Personal Identification Number (PIN) with which to access it. She has used the account
many times and had no difficulty recalling the PIN each time. Last week, Liz purchased a new
mobile phone which also requires a 4-digit PIN. She was advised not to use the same PIN for
different things as a security measure, so she chose a different 4-digit PIN for the phone.
However, Liz finds that when she tries to access her mobile phone, the digits from her back
account PIN keep interfering with her recall of the mobile phone PIN.
This is an example of:
A. Proactive interference
B. Retroactive interference
C. Anterograde amnesia
D. Retrograde amnesia
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45. 70 year-old Isabelle is not able to remember getting drunk on her 21 st birthday and
going ‘skinny dipping’ in the family pool in front of all her guests, although she was terribly
embarrassed when they recounted the incident the day after. The most likely explanation
for Isabelle’s inability to remember the incident now is:
A. Interference theory
B. Context-dependent forgetting
C. Motivated forgetting
D. Anterograde amnesia
46. The decay of information in long-term memory suggests that forgetting occurs because:
A. The physical trace of the original memory has faded through disuse over time
B. The person is no longer in the same state they were when they formed the memory
C. The person is no longer in the same place they were when they formed the memory
D. As people get older, their memory fades
47. Ten days after taking her Unit 3 Psychology exam, Sophie undertook another exam on
the same material. Sophie did not review any of the material between exams. Her score on
the second exam was just less than half the score she’d achieved on the first exam.
If Sophie had been tested a third time on the same material (without reviewing the
material), ten days after the second exam, the forgetting curve would suggest that her score
on this third exam would be:
A. About 50% of her score on the second exam
B. About 75% of her score on the second exam
C. About the same as her score on the second exam
D. About 25% of her score on the second exam
48. The process involved in answering the multiple-choice questions on this test requires:
A. Recall
B. Relearning
C. Recognition and relearning
D. Recognition
49. The type of retention thought to be most sensitive is:
A. Recognition
B. Relearning
C. Recounting
D. Recall
50. When attempting to solve crimes, police investigators sometimes take witnesses back to
the scene of the crime. It has been shown that witnesses have better recall at the scene of
the crime because of:
A. The availability of state-dependent cues
B. The availability of method of loci
C. An ability to use narrative chaining
D. The availability of context-dependent cues
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51. The words RAAF and NATO are examples of which mnemonic?
A. Peg-word method
B. Method of loci
C. Acronyms
D. Acrostics
52. American psychologist, Elizabeth Loftus, and her colleague, John Palmer, conducted a
series of experiments in the 1970’s to test the influence of how questions were worded on a
witness’s memory for a particular event. In one experiment, they showed participants a
series of pictures of a car accident. The participants were then randomly allocated to one of
two groups.
Group A was asked: “How fast would you estimate the cars were going when they hit each
other?”
Group B was asked: “How fast would estimate the cars were going when they smashed into
each other?”
Estimates of cars’ speed from the two groups were:
A. Faster from Group A than Group B
B. Faster from Group B than Group A
C. Approximately the same from each group
D. Unable to be made because they were still pictures
53. In an experiment that compared the performance of working memory in 15-15 year-olds
with that in 55-65 year-olds, which of the following is most probably a significant result?
A. p < 0.01
B. p < 0.1
C. p > 0.05
D. p > 0.01
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Section B: Short-answer questions (30 marks)
Question 1
a What is the definition of the term ‘storage’ as it relates to the information processing
model of memory?
b The information processing model is often likened to using a computer. How is the
process of storage similar to the use of a computer?
1 + 1 = 2 marks
Question 2
In terms of the serial-position effect, explain the recency effect and give an explanation for
why it occurs.
2 marks
Question 3
Thani is studying for an exam and she would like to try to encode the information
effectively. She decides to use deep processing. What type of encoding is best for deep
processing? Explain your answer.
2 marks
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Question 4
Explain what the forgetting curve displays.
1 mark
Question 5
Explain the difference between anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
2 marks
Question 6
Provide one reason why eye-witness testimony may be fallible.
1 mark
Question 7
Explain the difference between maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2 marks
Question 8
Identify two reasons why Alzheimer’s disease is linked to memory loss.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2 marks
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Question 9
What are two criticisms of the decay theory?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2 marks
Question 10
Damage to the hippocampus, located in the __________________________ lobe,
often results in a specific type of memory loss called _________________________.
2 marks
Question 11
The neurodegenerative condition, Alzheimer’s disease involves the degeneration of the
brain’s neurons.
a) What is the name of the protein not normally found in the brain, but occurring in
abnormally high levels in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients?
___________________________________________________________________
1 mark
b) This protein encourages the development of two types of abnormal structures, each
of which has a damaging effect on the brain.
Name and describe these two abnormal structures
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________
4 marks
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Question 12
In Baddeley and Hitch’s model of working memory, they describe a component called the
episodic buffer.
Describe the main function of the episodic buffer in terms of the components of working
memory and their relationship with long-term memory.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
3 marks
Question 13
Mnemonic devices are techniques that enhance our memory. Two such mnemonics are
narrative chaining and acrostics.
Describe two common features shared by these mnemonics in terms of:
a) The particular type of retention that is enhanced, and
b) An aspect of the procedure used in each
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
4 marks
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Section C: Research Methods (18 marks)
Professor Stoner was investigating the effects of marijuana on retention. His participants
were 50 second year university students who he randomly allocated to control and
experimental groups. Gender balance was maintained in each group. All participants
completed and signed an informed consent form and all were over 18 years old. The
consent form did not detail the use of marijuana because Professor Stoner did not want to
have participant expectations to affect their behaviour and subsequently the results.
Professor Stoner had his assistant, Ms Reefer, conduct an experiment on the recall of 20
four-letter nouns. Ms Reefer was unaware of which students were in the experimental or
control groups.
All participants were initially provided with “morning tea” as they sat and listened to
Professor Stoner’s one hour lecture on different theories of forgetting. The experimental
group were given a cup of tea or coffee and one home-baked cookie – each laced with a
measured quantity of marijuana. The control group were also given a cup of tea or coffee
and a home-baked cookie that did not contain marijuana. When Professor Stoner’s lecture
finished Ms Reefer took over the class. She told the class they were going to do an exercise
involving the recall of some common words. She projected each of the 20 words onto a
screen using a Powerpoint presentation. Each word was left on the screen for two seconds
and there was a two second interval between each word.
The test of recall was undertaken straight after the presentation of the words. Response
sheets were then collected by Ms Reefer and scored by Professor Stoner, as only he knew
which students belonged to which group. When the mean score for each group was
compared, the results showed superior recall by the control group and the difference in the
mean scores was found to be significant at p<0.05. As a result of these findings, Professor
Stoner accepted his research hypothesis. He explained to Ms Reefer why he believed his
results were valid and why he believed that the experimental design had internal validity
but not external validity.
In your extended response, provide a written description of Professor Stoner’s experiment
in terms of:
i. A research hypothesis, including operationalised independent and dependent variables
and the population from which participants were drawn.
ii. The type of experimental design used.
iii. The name of the procedure employed by Professor Stoner to minimise participant and
experimenter expectations.
iv. The likely effect of the position in the series of words on participants’ ability to accurately
recall them and why this occurs.
v. The implication of the p-value.
vi. What Professor Stoner meant by saying that his ‘experimental design had internal validity
but not external validity’.
vii. Name and briefly describe at least one ethical principle that was probably breached in
this research .
18 marks
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Area of Study 2: Memory
Section A: Multiple-choice questions
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
B
A
D
B
A
C
D
C
A
D
B
C
C
B
B
D
C
C
B
B
D
C
B
D
A
D
D
28 A
29 C
30 B
31 A
32 A
33 C
34 C
35 D
36 A
37 B
38 A
39 B
40 D
41 D
42 B
43 C
44 A
45 C
46 A
47 C
48 D
49 B
50 D
51 C
52 B
53 A
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