PSYC 302 - Final Exam Study Guide UPDATED ACTUAL
Questions and CORRECT Answers
How did Ebbinghaus study memory? He used himself as a participant, creating and memorizing nonsense syllables to
study memory in its simplest, purest form.
What is a CVC Trigram from Ebbinghaus's research? Consonant-vowel-consonant sequences
What did Ebbinghaus examine? How memory faded over time, by calculating a saving score as a measure of how
much he retained from initially learning his list.
What did Ebbinghaus discover about memory? Practice enhances memory; recall proved to be substantially better when
practice was distributed.
What did Ebbinghaus discover about forgetting? Forgetting is very rapid over the first hour and then declines gradually over
subsequent days. Under some circumstances, well-learned memories may fade
but thereafter be preserved almost permanently.
What type of memory was Ebbinghaus trying to study? Memory in its purest, simplest form
What is recall? Participants are asked to remember material they were shown earlier, without
further prompting
What is recognition? Participants are shown material and asked if is the same material they were
shown earlier
What is the spacing effect? Finding that we remember material better if we distribute or spread our practice
of this material over time
Shallow Processing Analyzing based on sensory features
Deep Processing Analyzing based on meaning
, What are the two levels of analysis in Chomsky's Theory Surface structure and deep structure.
about Memory?
What does the surface structure of a sentence refer to in The grammar of the sentence.
Chomsky's Theory?
What does the deep structure of a sentence refer to in The underlying meaning of the sentence.
Chomsky's Theory?
Evidence revealing support for Chomsky's theory Sachs' results showed that we store words and the meaning of a sentence
separately. At first, we remember both. As time passes, exact wording may be
lost, whereas memory for meaning is preserved
How did research on language provide evidence for Research on language suggests that participants reading verbal material cannot
Chomsky's theory? be simply associating words in sequence, something far more complex seems to
be occurring
Motor Program A mental program that specifies and supervises the sequential movements of
action
What is behaviorism? Study visible behavior, rather than mental states. Emphasis on explaining
behavior in terms of environmental causes.
What contribution did behaviorism have on cognitive Able to apply results from behaviorism studies in a wide variety of settings
psychology and memory research? (autism treatment, exposure therapy, token economy, etc.). Convinced most
psychologists that the test of any theory must be its ability to predict behavior.
What is short-term memory under the Atkinson-Shiffrin Memory for material presented recently, this is a temporary system in which
Model? these memories are believed to be held while they are processed.
What is the capacity for short-term memory under the Capacity is small, and items held decay rapidly over time, normally lost within 30
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model? seconds
What happens when items in short-term are processed Once processing in STM is completed, the coded material will be transferred to
under the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model? long-term memory
What is long-term memory under the Atkinson-Shiffrin Memory for experiences that occurred much earlier.
Model? Once information is transferred into LTM, likely to be held there permanently.
Control Processes Processes that regulate the flow of information and that are under an individual's
voluntary control
What are the main control processes? Rehearsal, coding, and retrieval
What is coding and organization? Coding and organization can increase the chances that material will be
remembered once it has been transferred to the long term store
What is rehersal? Rehearsal is a control process that can hold information in short-term memory
What is the primacy effect? Improved recall for items from the beginning of the list compared with items
from the middle. Beginning words are likely to be rehersed and transferred into
long term memory
Questions and CORRECT Answers
How did Ebbinghaus study memory? He used himself as a participant, creating and memorizing nonsense syllables to
study memory in its simplest, purest form.
What is a CVC Trigram from Ebbinghaus's research? Consonant-vowel-consonant sequences
What did Ebbinghaus examine? How memory faded over time, by calculating a saving score as a measure of how
much he retained from initially learning his list.
What did Ebbinghaus discover about memory? Practice enhances memory; recall proved to be substantially better when
practice was distributed.
What did Ebbinghaus discover about forgetting? Forgetting is very rapid over the first hour and then declines gradually over
subsequent days. Under some circumstances, well-learned memories may fade
but thereafter be preserved almost permanently.
What type of memory was Ebbinghaus trying to study? Memory in its purest, simplest form
What is recall? Participants are asked to remember material they were shown earlier, without
further prompting
What is recognition? Participants are shown material and asked if is the same material they were
shown earlier
What is the spacing effect? Finding that we remember material better if we distribute or spread our practice
of this material over time
Shallow Processing Analyzing based on sensory features
Deep Processing Analyzing based on meaning
, What are the two levels of analysis in Chomsky's Theory Surface structure and deep structure.
about Memory?
What does the surface structure of a sentence refer to in The grammar of the sentence.
Chomsky's Theory?
What does the deep structure of a sentence refer to in The underlying meaning of the sentence.
Chomsky's Theory?
Evidence revealing support for Chomsky's theory Sachs' results showed that we store words and the meaning of a sentence
separately. At first, we remember both. As time passes, exact wording may be
lost, whereas memory for meaning is preserved
How did research on language provide evidence for Research on language suggests that participants reading verbal material cannot
Chomsky's theory? be simply associating words in sequence, something far more complex seems to
be occurring
Motor Program A mental program that specifies and supervises the sequential movements of
action
What is behaviorism? Study visible behavior, rather than mental states. Emphasis on explaining
behavior in terms of environmental causes.
What contribution did behaviorism have on cognitive Able to apply results from behaviorism studies in a wide variety of settings
psychology and memory research? (autism treatment, exposure therapy, token economy, etc.). Convinced most
psychologists that the test of any theory must be its ability to predict behavior.
What is short-term memory under the Atkinson-Shiffrin Memory for material presented recently, this is a temporary system in which
Model? these memories are believed to be held while they are processed.
What is the capacity for short-term memory under the Capacity is small, and items held decay rapidly over time, normally lost within 30
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model? seconds
What happens when items in short-term are processed Once processing in STM is completed, the coded material will be transferred to
under the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model? long-term memory
What is long-term memory under the Atkinson-Shiffrin Memory for experiences that occurred much earlier.
Model? Once information is transferred into LTM, likely to be held there permanently.
Control Processes Processes that regulate the flow of information and that are under an individual's
voluntary control
What are the main control processes? Rehearsal, coding, and retrieval
What is coding and organization? Coding and organization can increase the chances that material will be
remembered once it has been transferred to the long term store
What is rehersal? Rehearsal is a control process that can hold information in short-term memory
What is the primacy effect? Improved recall for items from the beginning of the list compared with items
from the middle. Beginning words are likely to be rehersed and transferred into
long term memory
