Psychology Degree Cognitive Psychology and Memory 4

Question 1

George Miller's famous '7 ± 2' finding refers to the capacity limit of which memory system?

Accepted Answer

Short-term (working) memory

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

Chunking

Answer

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:

Accepted Answer

Source monitoring error

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

Repeating material at increasing intervals; each retrieval attempt strengthens the memory trace

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

Primacy effect

Answer

The primacy effect occurs because early list items receive more rehearsal and are more likely to be transferred into long-term memory.

Psychology Degree Practice Test

Psychology Degree Practice Test

Psychology Degree Cognitive Psychology and Memory 4