Psychology Degree Cognitive Psychology and Memory 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: George Miller's famous '7 ± 2' finding refers to the capacity limit of which memory system?
- Long-term memory
- Sensory (iconic) memory
- Short-term (working) memory (Correct answer)
- Procedural memory
Correct answer: Short-term (working) memory
Miller (1956) showed that short-term memory can hold approximately 7 (±2) chunks of information at one time.
Question 2: Which term describes the cognitive process of grouping individual pieces of information into larger, meaningful units to expand effective working memory capacity?
- Elaboration
- Chunking (Correct answer)
- Priming
- Consolidation
Correct answer: Chunking
Chunking recodes multiple items into a single meaningful unit, effectively increasing the amount of information held in working memory.
Question 3: A witness to a crime later incorporates inaccurate details from post-event news coverage into their memory of the event. This best illustrates:
- Source monitoring error (Correct answer)
- Repression
- Flashbulb memory
- Proactive interference
Correct answer: Source monitoring error
A source monitoring error occurs when information from one source (news) is misattributed to another source (personal experience), distorting the original memory.
Question 4: What is 'spaced practice' (distributed practice), and why does it improve long-term retention compared to massed practice?
- Studying in multiple environments; context variability strengthens retrieval cues
- Repeating material at increasing intervals; each retrieval attempt strengthens the memory trace (Correct answer)
- Using multiple modalities; dual-coding creates redundant memory representations
- Studying with others; social encoding activates emotional memory systems
Correct answer: Repeating material at increasing intervals; each retrieval attempt strengthens the memory trace
Spaced practice with expanding retrieval intervals strengthens memory traces because each successful retrieval is an active reconstruction that re-encodes the memory.
Question 5: Which concept describes the tendency to remember information presented at the beginning of a list better than information in the middle?
- Recency effect
- Primacy effect (Correct answer)
- Von Restorff effect
- Generation effect
Correct answer: Primacy effect
The primacy effect occurs because early list items receive more rehearsal and are more likely to be transferred into long-term memory.
Question 6: Which cognitive psychology concept best explains why reading the definition of a word aloud leads to better memory than silently reading it?
- Encoding specificity
- Generation effect (Correct answer)
- Maintenance rehearsal
- Semantic satiation
Correct answer: Generation effect
The generation effect shows that self-generated information (reading aloud, creating an example) is remembered better than passively received information.
Question 7: In the context of eyewitness testimony research, what did Elizabeth Loftus's 'leading question' studies primarily demonstrate?
- Eyewitnesses with higher IQ provide more accurate testimony
- Post-event information can alter the content of an original memory (Correct answer)
- Stress enhances the accuracy of perceptual encoding
- Emotional memories are immune to misinformation effects
Correct answer: Post-event information can alter the content of an original memory
Loftus showed that asking 'How fast were the cars going when they smashed?' vs. 'hit' led participants to later report broken glass that was never present, demonstrating memory's reconstructive and malleable nature.
Psychology Degree Cognitive Psychology and Memory 4
George Miller's famous '7 ± 2' finding refers to the capacity limit of which memory system?