Cognitive Processes and Memory Flashcards

The 'tip-of-the-tongue' (TOT) state is best explained as a failure of:

Answer: Retrieval

TOT states occur when information is stored in long-term memory but retrieval cues are temporarily insufficient to access it fully.

George Miller's classic research on working memory capacity suggested that people can hold approximately how many chunks of information at once?

Answer: 7 ± 2

Miller (1956) famously described working memory capacity as 'the magical number seven, plus or minus two.'

In Endel Tulving's framework, memory for personally experienced events tied to specific times and places is called:

Answer: Episodic memory

Episodic memory is the autobiographical memory system that records personally experienced events with their temporal and spatial context.

The 'encoding specificity principle' (Tulving & Thomson, 1973) predicts that recall will be best when:

Answer: Retrieval cues match conditions present at encoding

Memory retrieval is maximized when the cues available at retrieval match the context present when the memory was originally encoded.

Which of the following is an example of proactive interference?

Answer: Old Spanish vocabulary interferes with learning new French vocabulary

Proactive interference occurs when previously learned information disrupts the learning or recall of new information.

Which brain structure is most critically associated with the consolidation of new declarative memories?

Answer: Hippocampus

The hippocampus is essential for encoding and consolidating new declarative (explicit) memories, as demonstrated by patient H.M.'s case.

Mnemonic strategies like the 'method of loci' improve memory primarily by:

Answer: Linking new information to existing spatial and visual schemas

The method of loci creates rich associations between new information and well-known spatial locations, leveraging existing long-term memory structures.