Memory Chapter 5 Verified Test Bank

CHAPTER 5

MEMORY

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Chapter 5 is divided into six main sections. The first, the developmental study of memory, emphasizes the importance of memory in our daily lives. It explains how memory and aging has drawn the attention of scientists and nonscientists alike. Older adults and their families often worry that memory failures herald the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia covered in greater detail in Chapter 11. Everyday memory failures may signify early Alzheimer’s disease or they could represent mild memory loss that can occur as part of the normal aging process.

The second section of the chapter discusses memory using an information-processing framework, which describes memory in terms of the sensory store, the short-term store (including both primary memory and working memory), and the long-term store. There is little age-related decline with primary memory but such decline is found with working memory, which requires both mental processing and mental manipulation of information. Long-term memories fall into three categories (procedural, semantic, and episodic), and examples of each are given. Procedural memory and semantic memory are relatively preserved with age, but age-related differences are commonly found for episodic memory. Episodic memory can have noncontent attributes. Examples are remembering where, when, or from whom information was obtained (source memory), the order in which events occurred (temporal memory) and how frequently they occurred (frequency-of-occurrence memory).

With regard to episodic memory, three stages of processing are thought to take place: encoding, storage, and retrieval. The more elaborate the encoding, the richer and more memorable the trace that is placed into storage. Older adults often fail to encode elaboratively unless they are given instructions and guidance (production deficiency). Long-term storage capacity is unlimited but, compared to younger adults, older adults have more difficulty retrieving memories, possibly because the traces in their memory store are less distinctive. Older adults perform more poorly on tests of recall than they do on tests of recognition, which reinstates the encoding context and thereby offers environmental support.

The third section of the chapter covers remote memory, which is sometimes distinguished from long-term memory. Remote (very-long-term) memory is difficult to study because remembered events, both factual and autobiographical, happened so long ago and in the case of autobiographical memories cannot be checked for accuracy. From what researchers can determine, however, remote memories seem to be quite well maintained. A phenomenon called “reminiscence bump” indicates that people’s most vivid memories are for events that occurred between the ages of 10 and 30.

The fourth section of the chapter, memory in everyday life, describes aspects of memory other than retrospective memory for events or experiences in the past. Prospective memory, remembering to do something in the future, is an important aspect of daily life and in most cases holds up well with age, although more so when it is event-based as opposed to time-based.

Implicit memory, or memory without deliberate recollection or conscious intention, can influence everyday behavior. Older adults often perform well on tests of implicit memory even when they have problems with explicit memory. Neuroimaging techniques (discussed in Chapter 3) may hold the key to which parts of the brain are involved with implicit versus explicit memory.

Memory training has been a topic of great interest to researchers in adult development and aging. Older adults who complain about their memory can learn memory improvement strategies. The most common are external mnemonics such as making lists or notes. However, internal mnemonics such as visual imagery and using verbal associations are often taught in memory training classes and require a great deal of cognitive mental effort.

Discourse memory is crucial for everyday functioning. In everyday life we need this type of memory to read and remember text or follow a conversation. Discourse memory has been studied using both off-line and on-line measures. When materials are complex, some age-related decline has been noted, particularly for details rather than for a general theme or gist.

The fifth section of the chapter, knowledge and beliefs about memory, discusses metamemory (older adults’ understanding of how the memory process works), memory self-efficacy (older adults’ beliefs and judgments about their own memory abilities), and memory self-evaluations (how frequently older adults say they forget and how much it bothers them when they do).

There is evidence that people have stereotypes about memory and aging wherein they expect older adults to forget. Some researchers have reported that such expectations can actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy. People often attribute older adults’ memory failures to internal stable causes such as poor memory ability and mental difficulty, whereas they attribute young adults’ memory failures to internal unstable causes such as lack of effort and lack of attention.

The sixth and final section of the chapter describes individual differences among older adults that are associated with memory. Factors such as specific chronological age, level of education, lifestyle, and both physical and mental health are associated with memory functioning in older adulthood.

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Memory and Aging

http://www.apa.org/pi/aging/memory-and-aging.pdf

This document from the American Psychological Association describes various memory problems that older adults can experience. It also describes the types of memory that stay the same or improve with age. It makes a point of distinguishing between normal age-related memory failures and memory failures that could signify pathological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. There is a list of suggestions for improving memory functioning as well as suggestions for when it would be advisable to seek professional help for memory difficulties.

Distinguishing mild forgetting from forgetting that indicates a serious problem

www.niapublications.org

Once you reach this website, search for “forgetfulness” and you will see a list of sites that describe mild forgetfulness versus more serious memory problems.

Internet searches

An internet search using the terms aging memory will provide links to websites for various aging and memory research laboratories that study memory and age as well as articles that have appeared about aging and memory. In addition, there will be a list of links to further information on age and memory, including the following: aging and prospective memory; aging memory loss; improving memory; memory and aging research.

An internet search with the terms memory improvement older adults will yield a list of sites that describe memory exercises and games and other memory enhancement techniques.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

Select the best answer from the options provided.

1. Older adults often claim that their memory is not as good as it used to be.

a. True

b. False

2. Which memory store is difficult to study because of its fleeting nature?

a. Sensory store

b. Short-term store

c. Primary store

d. Remote store

3. The short-term memory store _____________.

a. holds information for up to 30 seconds

b. can hold approximately 7 unchunked units of information

c. will displace items when new ones enter the store

d. All of the above

4. Primary memory is a type of ______ and it shows_______________.

a. sensory memory; a great deal of decline with increasing age

b. short-term memory; very little or no decline with increasing age

c. short-term memory; a great deal of decline with increasing age

d. long-term memory; very little decline with increasing age

5. Working memory ______________.

a. is unlimited in capacity as far as how much information can be processed

b. has a larger capacity in older adulthood than it does in young adulthood

c. is similar to a mental scratch pad

d. holds up better than primary memory with increasing age

6. The term “magic number seven plus or minus two” applies to______.

a. the sensory memory

b. the short-term memory store

c. the long-term memory store

d. the procedural memory store

7. Items of information in the long-term memory store _____________.

a. are only held there for several days

b. are not always in our conscious awareness

c. cannot be retrieved

d. are remembered best when they are encoded rotely

8. Procedural memory _________________.

a. is often demonstrated in motor skills such as riding a bicycle

b. shows large age-related differences

c. is part of the short-term memory store

d. is learned at a specific time and place

9. The type of memory in the long-term store that includes general world knowledge is _______ and it ________.

a. episodic memory; remains intact with increasing age

b. semantic memory; remains intact with increasing age

c. procedural memory; shows age-related decline

d. finite memory; shows age-related decline

a.

10. Knowing that broccoli is a kind of vegetable is an example of _____.

a. working memory

b. procedural memory

c. episodic memory

d. semantic memory

11. Which type of memory shows the greatest evidence for age-related decline?

a. Primary memory

b. Episodic memory

c. Procedural memory

d. Semantic memory

12. Remembering the name of a movie that you saw last weekend would be considered an example of ____________.

a. short-term memory

b. semantic memory

c. episodic memory

d. prospective memory

13. Jean has difficulty remembering whether she actually turned off the stove or whether she only thought about doing it. This is a type of ______ on which there is ______.

a. activity memory; evidence for age-related decline

b. semantic memory; no evidence for age-related decline

c. working memory; evidence for age-related decline

d. remote memory; no evidence for age-related decline

14. Compared to younger adults, older adults are ___________ susceptible to false memories (for example, remembering a specific word was on the list of words they studied when really it was not there).

a. more

b. less

c. equally

15. Remembering where, when, or from whom an item of information was acquired is called _______ memory.

a. temporal

b. frequency-of-occurrence

c. source

d. prospective

16. Remembering when, or in which order, things actually occurred _________.

a. is a noncontent attribute of episodic memory

b. is especially difficult when there is damage to the frontal lobe area of the brain

c. shows age-related deficit when individuals must reconstruct an order exactly

d. All of the above

17. Which of the following would not be considered a noncontent attribute of memory?

a. Remembering the name of someone you happen to meet in the mall.

b. Remembering how many times you visited the mall in the past month.

c. Remembering where you heard about the big sale at one store in the mall.

d. Remembering which place you visited earlier in the week – the pharmacy or the grocery store.

18. Preparing information for entry into the long-term store is ______.

a. storage

b. automatic processing

c. encoding

d. retrieval

19. Items of information in the long-term store will be easier to remember if they are ________.

a. repeated over and over again

b. organized into meaningful categories

c. given as little attention as possible

d. moved back into the short-term store

20. When it comes to memory, one theory is that older adults have a production deficiency. Which statement most accurately describes what is meant by this term?

a. Older adults encode elaboratively on their own and they perform just as well as young adults do on episodic memory tasks.

b. Older adults do not encode elaboratively on their own and they are not able to do so even when they are given instructions to do so.

c. Older adults do not encode elaboratively on their own, but they are able to when they are given guidance and instructions on how to do so.

21. On which type of memory test would there be the greatest age-related differences?

a. Recall

b. Recognition

c. Cued recall

d. Age-related differences would be of the same magnitude on all three tests

22. Recognition tests ___________.

a. are more difficult than cued recall tests

b. provide more retrieval support than recall tests do

c. are only used to test memory for noncontent attributes

d. have never been used in memory studies on older adults

23. Recognition memory tests minimize the importance of_______. Performance on recognition tests shows ________ age-related decline compared to performance on recall tests.

a. encoding; more

b. encoding; the same amount of

c. retrieval; more

d. retrieval; less

24. Remote memory ____________.

a. is not difficult to study

b. has only been studied with regard to factual information

c. is something that older adults claim holds up very well

d. has only been studied with regard to personal information

25. The reminiscence bump refers to a phenomenon whereby _______.

a. older adults have the best and most vivid memory for events that occurred most recently in their lives

b. older adults have the best and most vivid memory for events that occurred in their adolescent and early adulthood years

c. older adults do not have any meaningful memories from early adulthood

d. older adults are disturbed by nightmares about events from their early lives (before the age of 3)

26. In which of the following age intervals would the reminiscence bump be most likely to occur?

a. Ages 5 to 10

b. Ages 10 to 30

c. Ages 40 to 60

d. Ages 60 to 80

27. Remembering to do something at a specific future point in time (such as remembering to mail a letter, pay a bill, or make a phone call) is an example of ________.

a. retrospective memory

b. working memory

c. prospective memory

d. implicit memory

28. In prospective memory studies that are conducted under controlled laboratory conditions, tasks may be either event-based or time-based. Which is most likely to show age-related decline?

a. Time-based laboratory tasks

b. Event-based laboratory tasks

c. Both are equally likely to show age-related decline

d. Neither shows any age-related decline

29. Memory that occurs without a person’s awareness that something has been learned or remembered is __________.

a. working memory

b. short-term memory

c. faulty memory

d. implicit memory

30. Older adults who do poorly on tests of explicit memory often __________ on tests of implicit memory.

a. do better

b. do about the same

c. do worse

31. Writing reminders on a calendar is an example of a(n) ____________.

a. implicit mnemonic

b. remote memory technique

c. internal mnemonic

d. external mnemonic

32. A technique often taught in memory training classes is to use visual imagery. This is an example of a(n)__________.

a. prospective trick

b. implicit memory

c. internal mnemonic

d. explicit mnemonic

33. Tess has difficulty remembering names when she is introduced to new people. The best advice for helping her improve her memory in this kind of situation would be to tell her she should repeat the new person’s name over and over in her head.

a. True

b. False

34. John has difficulty remembering names when he is introduced to people, so he tries to associate a person’s name with some aspect of the person’s facial features. This is an example of a(n)______________.

a. internal mnemonic technique

b. external mnemonic technique

c. classical conditioning technique

d. implicit memory technique

35. Taking a list of items to the grocery store so you will remember what to buy is a(n) _______.

a. internal mnemonic technique

b. external mnemonic technique

c. sign of poor metamemory

d. example of semantic memory

36. The method of loci is a _____________.

a. technique for measuring sensory memory that uses flashes of bright light

b. task in which a person listens to two different messages, one in each ear

c. technique for trying to remember things by mentally placing them in various locations in a familiar environment

d. form of unconscious learning that is most useful for older adults with dementia

37. On-line measures of memory for written discourse materials __________.

a. have been used more commonly than off-line measures have

b. measure memory for written materials right after they are read

c. track a person’s eye movements as he/she is reading written materials

d. All of the above

38. Metamemory is _________________.

a. an inherent understanding of how the memory system works

b. the conviction that one can succeed in memorizing a set of materials

c. a theory about procedural memory

d. a hypothesis about the relationship between personality and memory

39. Sue is confident that if she studies a grocery list for 2 minutes, she will remember to buy all the items on it even if she leaves her list at home. Sue’s belief that she will be able to do this is an example of ____________.

a. metamemory

b. memory self-efficacy

c. external control

d. a memory stereotype

40. Having people set goals for how much they will remember and giving them positive feedback on their progress is associated with performance gains for older adults.

a. True

b. False

41. Older adults that complain about their memory always have poor scores on objective memory tests.

a. True

b. False

42. When a young woman forgets where she put her keys, her forgetting is attributed to _____; when an older woman forgets where she put her keys, her forgetting is attributed to _______.

a. bad luck; lack of attention

b. lack of effort; poor memory ability

c. lack of attention; lack of effort

d. mental difficulty; lack of attention

43. Young adults’ memory failures are attributed to ______; older adults’ memory failures are attributed to ____________.

a. internal stable factors; internal unstable factors

b. internal stable factors; internal stable factors

c. internal unstable factors; internal stable factors

d. internal unstable factors; internal unstable factors

44. The hippocampus of the brain generally shows some shrinkage with age. Which of the following has been shown to have some benefit as far as minimizing and in some cases even reversing hippocampal shrinkage?

a. A stretching exercise program

b. A moderate-intensity aerobic exercise program

c. Both stretching and aerobic exercise programs have equal benefit

d. Neither stretching nor aerobic exercise programs have any benefit

45. Poor health___________________.

a. causes poor memory

b. is associated with poor memory

c. is unrelated to memory

d. usually goes with good memory

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. Briefly describe what is meant by procedural memory, semantic memory, and episodic memory. State whether or not age-related differences are typically found on each.

2. What is meant by noncontent attributes of episodic memory and are age-related differences found?

3. According to the information-processing model of memory, what are the three stages of processing that take place in long-term episodic memory? What, if any, age-related differences are usually found for each stage?

4. What is the role of elaboration in encoding? What is the relationship between encoding elaboration and production deficiency?

5. What is meant by the term reminiscence bump?

6. What is prospective memory and why is it important for everyday life? Under what conditions are age-related differences in prospective memory most likely to be found?

7. What is implicit memory and how does it differ from explicit memory? What age-related differences are found for each?

8. What type of mnemonics is usually taught in memory training classes?

9. Define metamemory and memory self-efficacy?

10. What attributions do people make when a young versus an older adult experiences an everyday memory failure?

11. If you were to advise young adults on what they can do make sure their memory will be maintained as well as possible in older adulthood, what would you tell them?