Ch.6 – Full Test Bank – Episodic Memory And Autobiographical

Chapter 6

Episodic Memory and Autobiographical Memory

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Hyperthymesia is ________.
   1. a rare condition in which a person has exceptionally accurate episodic memory
   2. a rare condition in which a person has systematically inaccurate episodic memory
   3. a common condition in which a person has exceptionally accurate episodic memory
   4. a rare condition in which a person has exceptionally accurate generic memory
2. Episodic memory is ________.
   1. the occasional retrieval of experienced events accompanied by strong emotions
   2. the retrieval of personally experienced events accompanied by the feeling of remembering
   3. the retrieval of important historical events
   4. the conscious failure to remember an important event
3. According to Tulving (1972), episodic memory does not include ________.
   1. a subjective sense of time
   2. a connection to the self
   3. a sense of knowing
   4. the presence of autonoetic consciousness
4. Episodic memory is a form of ________ memory.
   1. autobiographical
   2. generic
   3. explicit
   4. implicit
5. Autonoetic consciousness is ________.
   1. the ability for one to imagine oneself in past, future, or counterfactual situations
   2. to be conscious of remembering
   3. to be conscious of knowing
   4. the ability to remember dreams
6. “Contextual cues” are an integral part of episodic memories because ________.
   1. they can aid in the retrieval of information
   2. they make the memory more interesting
   3. they are a form of distraction from the correct remembering
   4. they often block the retrieval of information
7. The encoding of sequence and context by the hippocampus is essential to the creation of episodic memories because ________.
   1. as a consequence, the individual can forget about irrelevant memories
   2. the individual can distinguish among discrete experiences
   3. sequence and context avoid confusion with generic memories
   4. sequence and context are the basis for longer-lasting episodic memories
8. Episodic memories are formed in ________.
   1. the hippocampus
   2. the thalamus
   3. the neocortex
   4. the prefrontal cortex
9. Damage to the prefrontal cortex results in somewhat disorganized memories where the individual ________.
   1. is unable to learn new information
   2. is unable to forget some old information
   3. may be able to learn new information but is unable to link that learning to a specific episode
   4. links the learning to inappropriate/erroneous episodes
10. Internal memory cues give rise to ________.
    1. encoding/retrieval specificity effects
    2. state-dependent memory effects
    3. decoding/storage specificity effects
    4. state-independent memory effects
11. Godden and Baddeley (1975) presented words to people on land or scuba diving and then tested their memory for the words either on land or scuba diving and found that performance was ________.
    1. best when the context was the same
    2. worst when the context was the same
    3. always better on land
    4. always better when scuba diving
12. Weingartner et al. (1976) demonstrated that when people learn material when they are intoxicated and their recall for the material is tested later, they are ________ to recall the material ________.
    1. unable; when they are intoxicated again
    2. better; when they are intoxicated than when they are sober
    3. better; when they are sober than when they are intoxicated
    4. unable; under any condition
13. ________ refers to the phenomenon of remembering something that hasn’t actually happened before, but with feeling of remembering.
    1. Déjà vécu
    2. False memory
    3. Reconsolidation
    4. Retrograde amnesia
14. The impairment in people with disrupted episodic memory suggests that a primary purpose of episodic memory is to ________.
    1. prevent people from daydreaming
    2. allow people to daydream
    3. allow people to track experiences and to distinguish between daydreams and fantasies and thoughts representing events that have actually occurred
    4. avoid thoughts representing events that have not actually occurred
15. H.M. could not remember episodes that occurred just minutes before, and he was able to ________.
    1. gain new explicit memories through classical conditioning, the so-called back door effect
    2. gain new implicit memories through classical conditioning
    3. extinguish more efficiently memories obtained through classical conditioning
    4. gain new explicit memories through priming
16. People with hyperthymesia ________.
    1. regularly outperform their peers when tested at school
    2. would do very well on a game show like Jeopardy
    3. have exceptional memory for events from their own lives
    4. have excellent memory for facts and a sense of identity
17. Autobiographical memory is different from episodic memory in that ________.
    1. autobiographical memory contains both events and factual information, whereas episodic memory consists only of events
    2. autobiographical memory contains both events and factual information, whereas episodic memory consists of either events or factual information, but not both
    3. autobiographical memory contains both events and factual information, whereas episodic memory may consist only of factual information
    4. it cannot be forgotten
18. A person’s autobiographical memory, and the significance that person ascribes to different life events, is ________.
    1. fixed and it is related to her or his self-concept, a belief in who she or he is
    2. fixed and it is related to her or his genetic make-up
    3. not fixed but it is opportunistic, i.e. dependent exclusively on the immediate practical rewards of each belief
    4. not fixed but it is related to her or his self-concept, a belief in who she or he is
19. ________ is not a component of the autobiographical knowledge base, according to Conway (2005)?
    1. Lifetime periods
    2. The central executive
    3. Event-specific knowledge
    4. General events
20. According to Conway (2005), the relationship between the autobiographical knowledge base and the working self is ________.
    1. broken
    2. reciprocal
    3. one-way
    4. ambiguous
21. Both episodic and generic autobiographical information activates ________ associated with self-reference (but episodic information activates this area to a greater degree).
    1. the anteromedial prefrontal cortex
    2. right temporo-parietal and parietal-frontal systems associated with reconstruction of spatial information
    3. left temporo-parietal and parieto-frontal systems associated with egocentric spatial reasoning
    4. the emotional centres of the brain
22. A flashbulb memory is ________.
    1. an especially vivid memory but lacking emotional experience
    2. an especially vivid memory that is invariably inaccurate
    3. an especially vivid memory of a highly emotional experience
    4. memory induced by a short, bright flash of light
23. According to Talarico and Rubin (2003), ________.
    1. people have an exaggerated belief in the accuracy of their flashbulb memories after long delays
    2. flashbulb memories are immune to forgetting
    3. flashbulb memories are consistent over time
    4. there is a significant difference between flashbulb memories and everyday memories for their measure of recall consistency
24. Conway’s comprehensive model of flashbulb memory ________.
    1. is inconsistent with experimental findings
    2. implies that flashbulb memories occur when interest, impact, and emotion are all high
    3. claims that flashbulb memories are more accurate than other episodic memories
    4. implies that flashbulb memories are identical to other episodic memories
25. According to Rathbone et al. (2008), the reminiscent bump describes the tendency for ________.
    1. older adults to recall events from adolescence and early adulthood more than other events from their past
    2. older adults to recall events from their distant past more than other events from their adolescence and early adulthood
    3. young adults to recall events from adolescence and early adulthood more than recent events
    4. better memories for important events in life
26. The reminiscence bump tends to consist of ________.
    1. negative life events
    2. positive life events
    3. unconscious memories
    4. knowledge about events
27. According to Wildschut et al. (2006), a characteristic that does not typify nostalgia is ________.
    1. the narratives include indicators of negative emotions with far greater frequency than indicators of positive emotions
    2. people tend to place themselves in the centre of these nostalgic events and rarely report events where the self is an observer or bystander
    3. people engaging in nostalgia typically remember people who are close to them and personally treasured life events
    4. the narratives follow a predictable sequence in which negative feelings give way to positive outcomes
28. ________ is a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past.
    1. Hyperthymesia
    2. Nostalgia
    3. Déjà vu
    4. Déjà vécu
29. Wildschut et al. (2006) suggest that nostalgia serves at least three functions, which do not include ________.
    1. increasing self-regard
    2. heightening positive mood
    3. making personal memories stronger
    4. fostering a sense of connection to other people of importance to the person
30. According to Greenwald (1980), autobiographical memory recall is subject to a variety of cognitive biases, which do not include ________.
    1. egocentricity
    2. collectivism
    3. beneffectance
    4. conservatism

Short Answer Questions

What is episodic memory? What are its central features?

What is generic memory?

Which circuits of the hippocampus are essential for memory formation? How do they work?

What are encoding/retrieval specificity effects and state-dependent memory effects in the context of episodic memory?

What differentiates episodic memory from autobiographical memory?

According to Martin Conway, how is autobiographical memory constructed and what are the two elements that comprise it?

What did Talarico and Rubin conclude about the difference between flashbulb memories and everyday memories?

What are negative and positive memory bias?

Essay Questions

1. According to Lisman (1999), how is the hippocampal circuit well suited to store the two main features of episodic memory: sequence and context?
2. What is the reminiscence bump? What are the biological, cognitive, and sociocultural explanations for it?
3. What role does cognitive bias play in autobiographical memory? Specifically, what cognitive biases affect autobiographical memory recall?