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Chapter 8: Memory
Part I: 327-342
Part II: 342-355
Part III: 356-365
The Phenomenon of Memory (327-328)
Define memory in your own words:
How was Fig. 8.1 used in a memory experiment? What was found?
Studying Memory: Information-Processing Models (328-330)
1: How do psychologists describe the human memory system?
What are the 3 ways our brain works like a computer?
Draw a diagram of Atkinson and Shriffrin’s 3-stage processing model of memory.
What is the new name for STM/how was the 3 stage model revised? Describe what it means / give an
example of this new concept.
Encoding: Getting Information In (330-337)
2: What information do we encode automatically? What information do we encode effortfully, and how
does the distribution of practice influence retention?
How We Encode
Automatic Processing
What 4 kinds of things do we process automatically? Provide a unique example of each.
Effortful Processing
How can the memory we have from effortful processing be boosted. Give an example.
Describe Ebbinghaus’s study with nonsense syllables, his findings, and the principles learned.
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Describe the spacing effect and its implications for you when studying for AP Psychology . Contrast
it with massed practice, aka “cramming.” Describe Bahrick’s experiment supporting this concept.
Describe serial position effect, when it comes into play, and describe a unique example of this. What 2
effects collectively make up this effect?
What We Encode
3: What effortful processing methods aid in forming memories?
Levels of Processing
Finish the following phrase after reading: “We don’t remember things as they are, we remember them…
Give an analogy (book or unique) of this.
Describe the following with example(s): visual encoding, acoustic encoding (Johnny Cochran ), semantic
encoding. Then, describe the “point to remember.”
Describe the self-reference effect and give an example.
Visual Encoding
Our earliest memories almost surely involve _____________, or mental pictures. Given a list of words,
we remember words that lend themselves better to ___________.
Experts believe that memory for concrete nouns (and other tangible things) is aided by encoding them
both _______________ and _____________. Describe the implications for studying AP Psychology.
Describe “rosy retrospection” and give a personal example.
What are mnemonic devices? Who created them?
- Describe the “peg word” system? Describe what can be remembered with it.
Organizing Information for Encoding
What is chunking? Give an example. How does it help us remember more stuff more easily? Why are
Canada’s postal codes more difficult to remember?
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What are hierarchies? Draw Figure 8.10 and explain why it might help you remember the concepts
contained within it better. What does this mean for you in terms of note taking / studying?
Storage: Retaining Information (pg.337-345)
Sensory Memory
4: What is sensory memory?
Describe the study conducted by George Sperling (1960) and his findings. What type of sensory memory
was Sperling experimenting? How long does it last? What’s the “auditory” version of sensory
memory/how long does it last?
Working/Short-Term Memory
5: What are the duration and capacity of short-term and of long-term memory?
What does rehearsal have to do with STM?
How many “bits” of information did George Miller find that humans could hold in their STM? Where are
we stronger in STM—what we hear or what we see? Random digits or random letters? What’s the basic
principle?
Long-Term Memory
What is the capacity of LTM?
Storing Memories in the Brain
6: How does the brain store our memories?
Compare our memory system to how a library stores books.
Synaptic Changes
Describe the synaptic changes that take place in snails during learning. What are the longer lasting
effects on the sensitivity of these connections? Define in your own words LTP or “Long-term
potentiation.”
Describe what might happen to the brain of a football player or boxer who takes a major blow to the
head.
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Stress Hormones and Memory
How do stress hormones contribute to the perceived “importance” of an event? What effect does this
have for the memory of that event (see McGaugh’s quote) How might prolonged stress work differently?
Describe a unique flashbulb memory from your life. Explain why the brain remembers these event so
well.
What affect does prolonged stress have on memory?
Storing Implicit and Explicit Memories
Describe the most famous amnesia case / what happened / Carefully describe the difference between
what some amnesiacs (Jimmie) could remember/learn and what he couldn’t remember/learn (next
question relates to this as well).
What is the difference between implicit and explicit memory? How do we know that learning is taking
place (and therefore there is an unconscious memory of the learning) in people who have certain forms
of amnesia?
Read pgs. 344-345 closely (it is FASCINATING!). What are the specific roles of the hippocampus and
cerebellum in memory? How have we come to learn this?
What did LeDoux (1996) train one patient to do when greeting her?
What is and what explains infantile amnesia?
Retrieval: Getting Information Out (345-349)
7: How do we get information out of memory?
Give an example of a test of recall. Give an example of a test of recognition. What is relearning and
how can you use it to better your learning/memory?
Retrieval Cues
What analogy is given for thinking about retrieving memories? Complete the phrase, “..the best retrieval
cues come from associations we form…”
How does William James describe the phenomenon of “priming?” Describe priming in your own words or
give an example of it.
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Context Effects
8: How do external contexts and internal emotions influence memory retrieval?
Describe Godden and Baddeley’s study and findings on context effects for learning and recalling words
either on land or in water. Describe the 3 month olds study findings.
What percent of people report ever experiencing deja-vu? To whom does it happen more often? Have
you ever had a deja-vu experience? Describe it. Describe one of the explanations of deja-vu.
Moods and Memories
How can mood and state (drunk, tired, etc.) aid or hurt your ability to remember? Understand the
difference between state-dependent and mood-congruent memory.
Forgetting: (349-356)
9: Why do we forget?
Describe Jill Price’s condition and why forgetting is probably a blessing.
Create a mnemonic device for the 7 sings of memory disruption (something like My Dear Aunt Sally…for
the planets)
3 Sins of Forgetting: ATB
3 sins of Distortion: MSB
1 sin of intrusion: P
OR
Draw a graphic organizer of the 7 ways memory fails us.
Encoding Failure
Brain processes involved in encoding are slower in _____________ than ____________.
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Storage Decay
What class that you may be taking in high school now is used as an example of information that people
commonly lose due to decay.
Describe or draw Ebbinghaus’s famous curve and copy down his law.
Retrieval Failure
What phenomenon do we sense when retrieval failure occurs to us?
Interference
Create a unique example of the difference between proactive and retroactive interference.
Motivated Forgetting
What concept from Freud explains this? What do most researchers say about this today?
Describe a unique example of “change blindness.”
Who proposed that we forget because of repression? What types of memories do we repress?
Memory Construction (356-364)
10: How do misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our memory construction? How
real-seeming are false memories?
Gilbert says, “We don’t just retrieve memories, we ________ them.”
Misinformation and Imagination Effects
Describe Elizabeth Loftus’ & Palmer’s (1974) study involving witnessing a car accident. How did merely
changing the words, “smashed” or “hit” dramatically affect described memories thereafter?
Define/describe the misinformation effect by giving a few examples described in the book or 1 personal
example.
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Describe a study on how “…repeatedly imagining nonexistent actions and events can create false
memories.” Describe “imagination inflation.”
Finish these quotes/thoughts, “Those who have claim to have been abducted by aliens...” and “Those who
believe they have recovered memories of child sex abuse…”
Source Amnesia
Describe Piaget’s false memory of childhood and how he later came to know it was false.
Define / describe source amnesia by describing Poole and Lindsay’s studies with preschool children.
Discerning True and False Memories
List some differences and similarities between true and false memories (375-376). Include concepts
such as persistence and clarity of details vs. gist.
What modern advancement has all but discredited eyewitness testimony? What technique can be used
to improve eyewitness testimony?
Children’s Eyewitness Recall
Give one book example of planting a false memory in a child.
Repressed or Constructed Memories of Abuse?
11: What is the controversy related to claims of repressed and recovered memories?
Discuss arguments for and against the accuracy of “recovered memories,” especially concerning
childhood sexual abuse. Describe several ways in which supposedly forgotten or repressed memories can
be recovered. Discuss ethical reasons why it is difficult to develop an experiment on this subject.
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Improving Memory (364-365)
12: How can an understanding of memory contribute to more effective study techniques?
Paraphrase the 7 tips listed for improving one’s memory. Describe how you will you actively employ at
least 2 of them in your own learning and studying routine.