Focus Questions 7 (Chapter 8, also 7 maybe)

1.) Consolidation is the process by which new memories are transformed to a more
permanent state. Discuss the role of the hippocampus within the standard model of
consolidation and within the multiple trace hypothesis. Provide evidence in support of each
of these models.
-Consolidation: transforms new memories from fragile state to more permanent state
-synaptic vs. systems consolidation
-Standard Model:
Hippocampus plays role in retrieval during consolidation, but no longer needed after
(only used for recent memories)
Hippocampus replays neural activity associated with memory
After consolidation, the cortex retrieves remote memories
-Multiple Trace Hypothesis:
Hippocampus activated for both retrieval and remote (evidence by Gilboa et al. 2004)
Evidence??
2.) Time alone does not cause the slippage of memory. It is caused in part by what
goes on during the passage of time. Discuss why decay theory fell out of favor to be
replaced with interference theories of forgetting (what did they explain and suggest
methods of minimizing their effects?). Additionally, another serious type of forgetting is
cause by amnesia. Describe two of the different types of amnesia.
-The decay theory: loss of information from immediate memory due to passage of time
insufficient because the fact that iron rusts over time doesnt mean that rust is caused
by time:
-interference: information lost from immediate memory because info currently being
processed is negatively influenced by presentation of other info
proactive interferencepreviously encoded info interferes with ability to remember
new info
o individuals with high attentional/working-memory capacity can resist
proactive interference unless performing an attentionally demanding task at
the same time as learning the task
retroactive interference newly encoded info interferes with ability to remember
previously encoded info
o post-event questioning can alter memory of an event

Amnesia:
Retrograde: loss of memory for events prior to trauma
Anterograde: cant form new memories
3.) A Schema is a pattern of knowledge describing what is typical or frequent in a
particular situation. In general, schemas improve memory but they also facilitate memory
errors. Provide an example of how schemas might influence your memory during encoding
and an example of influence during retrieval. Support your examples with research
findings from the text (chpt 10) or lecture.
Schema: general form of knowledge representation (ball game, classroom)
Script: knowledge of sequence of actions during particular experience (going to the
dentist, building a snowman)
-effect during encoding: Shank and Abelson found that elements of a story that are
irrelevant to the major theme or purpose will not be well-encoded or remembered, salient ones
will be particularly well remembered
ex: if someone is telling me about how they were going surfing at the beach and
packed a pb and j sandwich to get ready, I wont really remember what kind of
sandwich it was. But if they tell me they put on a coat to get ready I will notice and
remember
-effect during retrieval: construction of false memories can occur if they are consistent
with the theme but not true (memory testing, magazines in doctors office made up but considered
true because it would make sense)
the story about going surfing: you could make up later that you saw a hobo on the
beach and I will probably assume that happened
4.) While memory abilities can be individual, several patterns of memory have been
defined by both observations and research. Explain three of these memory phenomena,
supporting their existence with research. (hint: reminiscence bump, infantile amnesia,
flashbulb memories)
Reminiscence bump:
-peak in memories between ages of 10-30
-life-narrative hypothesis: Identity formation
-cognitive hypothesis: rapid change followed by stability produces better
encoding
-cultural life script: script for typical life in given culture

-tested people who had recently emigrated: bump shifted later (memories recalled
during a period of change )
infantile amnesia: caused by immature brain, immature language, immature self-concept
-cultural studies done: chinese femle offset due to later development of selfconcept
Flashbulb Memories
Memory that is much more distinctive due to a dramatic event
elaborative rehearsal, distributed practice, distinctiveness, personal importance,
strong emotions
emotions: emotionally charged pictures produce stronger amygdala response and
better memory
One memory phenomenon is called the remiscience bump. This bump entails a peak in
memories between the ages of 10-30. Most of the memories made at this time are very
personally significant salient, distinctive, and important. But one study found that memories
for not just personally experienced events, but also autobiographical facts and signitifcant
historical events are heightened.
5.) Explain the theory of flashbulb memories. How does more current research's
explanation of Flashbulb memories differ from Brown and Kulicks? What does the
evidence suggest about these flashbulb memories. Do you believe there is a special
mechanism for flashbulb memories, why or why not?
-encoding often associated with stronger emotion, more vivid detail, events are
more personally important
-likely that FBMs are retrieved and rehearsed multiple times, consolidation and
reconstruction of memory over time
-higher confidence in accuracy at retrieval (flashbulb memories appear more
vivid and more clear at retrieval)
-bottom line: no convincing evidence that flashbulb memories involve special
mechanisms, although there are ways in which they tend to be unusual
1.) Describe a "typical" misinformation effect study and the three hypotheses
suggested as explanation for this phenomenon. Explain whether or not you feel this failure
at retaining information in memory is evidence in support of the reconstructive nature of
memory.
A typical misinformation effect study consists of a subject being shown a sequence of
events and is then asked questions about the events. These questions typically contain false
assumptions (such as talking about a stop sign when the sequence of events showed a yield sign).
Subjects then receive a memory test, and the misinformation effect is supported by subjects
remembering the false assumptions that the questions implanted which are not consistent with
the video.

Memory impairment hypothesis which suggests that false information simply replaces
memory of the correct information.
Encoding failure + response bias hypothesis: subjects didnt notice the correct info in the
first place
Memory co-existence hypothesis: false info and correct info are both retain in memory
and compete with each other
2.) The malleability of memory is well documented. The influence of Post-event
information has been shown to have significant impact on memory for the original event.
Sometimes it can be as harmless as misremembering the color of someone's eyes or as
harmful as creating a memory for an entire event. Describe the recovered memory
controversy, evidence on both sides of the controversy, and whether or not you believe there
is a special mechanism for these traumatic memories. Be sure to support your answer with
what you have learned about memory in this course.
Recovered memories: shocking or traumatic, and there was an extended period when the
individual did not remember the experiences that are recovered.
Freud: painful childhood memories blocked from consciousness through repression
Controversy is that therapists have capacity to implant memories. (daughter of
clergyman supposedly raped and pregnant twice, med exam shows she never was pregnant)
Forgotten memories are forgotten through same mechanisms. Since memories are
painful, we dont think of them often so they dont get repetition. Also maybe encoding failure
because of the trauma of the event, our minds dont know how to make sense of/properly
organize the experience.

3.) There are two groups of variables that affect a witness's ability to perceive details
accurately. Using at least three of these event or witness factors, explain why it is that two
people witnessing the same event may have completely different recollections of the event.
(hint: create a scenario and illustrate with examples)
event factors:
exposure time
frequency
detail salience
emotionally laden
type of fact
witness factors:

Weapon focus
o Memory narrowing/ tunnel memory
o Witness focuses on
Expectations:
o Cultural
o Past experience
o Temporary expectations
o Personal prejudices
o Other race effect
Post-event misinformation

4.) Cognitive Maps sometimes correspond to reality, but sometimes they show
systematic deviations. Discuss the factors that seem to produce systematic distortions when
people estimate distances on mental maps.
Cognitive maps: a process of psychological transformations by which someone acquires,
codes, stores, recalls, and decodes info about locations and attributes of spatial environment
Mental image/representation of space/layout of a setting
Tolman and rats: lay of the land
Not s-r connections
-route knowledge (how to get somewhere) vs survey knowledge (relationships btw
environmental cues)
-Distortions
Number of intervening citiesmore cities, more cluttered, route seems longer

 Semantic Categories: when semantically close, we assume geographically closer

Landmark vs. non-landmark
Angles: tend to be represented as right angles
Curves: more regular and symmetrical, roads straightened
Rotation Heuristic
1.) Linguist Noam Chomskys revolutionary ideas of universal grammar included a strong
attack on the Behaviorist view of how children learn language. Explain Chomskys theory,
including his attack on Skinners book and then discuss current challenges to Chomsky.
Inspired research on :
Syntax: theory of word order and its relation to meaning
Semantics: theory of meaning
Lexical: word meaning
Semantics: meaning of sentences and the implications of sentences
Pragmatics: Theory of the effect of social context on meaning
Underlying basis of languages is all similar
Children produce sentences theyve never heard and that havent been reinforced
-innate organizing principles of cognition
2.) Define each stage of speech production from an information-processing
approach. As in many processes, we learn about normal behaviors by studying what
happens when we make errors. Provide 3 examples of slips of the tongue, (create your own,
do not use examples from class or the text) explain the process behind each and offer at
least one possible explanation that has been proposed to explain these slips.
Conceptualizing what we want to say
-

Planning, formulating the linguistic plan

Articulating the linguistic plan
-switch
-exchange
-anticipation
-perseveration
fire fuck
-deletion
-addition
-substitution
-blend
process: stress patterns and syntactic structure, then words and free morphemes added,
then bound morphemes, then function words and overt articulation
can occur at diff stages to morphemes, phonemes, and words
accommodation
Self-monitoring

Interruptionediting expression(oops, sorry, oh wait, um)repair (I mean)

Internal (inner speech version), external (listening to whats actually produced)
3.) Once again we see the influence of bottom-up and top-down processing. Explain
the role of bottom-up processing in speech perception and the role of top-down processing
in phoneme perception. Be sure to use research support (Warren).

Listeners heard sentence w/ phoneme covered by a cough

Asked to state where in the sentence the cough occurred
Listeners couldnt correctly identify the position of the cough or notice that the phoneme
was missing
4.) We are now looking at schemas in a different context, that of Discourse
Comprehension. Define the four processes thought to underlie the use of schemas in
understanding discourse, using research examples when available. And finally, discuss the
role of scripts in discourse comprehension.
1. selection and attention
2. abstraction of meaning, disposal of verbatim details
Sachs had people read a paragraph and then determine whether a meaning similar
sentence
3. appropriate schema activated
paragraph reading random stuff, if no picture attached to activate, you dont fully
understand
4. then information taken in and info activated for comprehension integrate into single
representation
script is generalized knowledge representation of routine activities
info about typical objects, situations, and activities encountered in conjunction
with certain activities
ex. Participants list activities commonly associated with certain situations,
response shows consistency

similar to prototypical members

script-irrelevant details 9waiters shoes) are not recalled, but salient/distracting details
(waiter spilling water) are remembered

1.) Explain confirmation bias, then explain why typical errors on the 2-4-6 task seem
to indicate that people are prone to a confirmation bias, and explain why the typical errors
on the four card problem seem to show a tendency towards a confirmation bias. Finally,
suppose that Dr. Pickrell is prone to confirmation bias and suppose that Dr. Pickrell
believes that young people don't know very much about politics. When Dr. Pickrell meets a
young person, how would Dr. Pickrell behave, given her confirmation bias and her belief
about young people's knowledge of politics?
Confirmation bias: tendency to favor info that confirms beliefs or hypotheses
2-4-6 task: people asked to figure out the rule for triplets of numbers (TRIN)
automatically assume its more complicated
when they see 2-4-6 they assume its ascension by 2s
really its just ascending numbers
but theyll produce other ascension by 2s triplets and theyre guesses will be
confirmed
nobody ever guesses wrong ones
conditional reasoning: if p then q
4 cards:

if a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even number on the other side
typically people overturn one vowel and one even number
but they should turn over one vowel and one odd number to prove it WRONG!

Pickrell:

2. Changing the wording of the Asian disease problem from "lives saved" to "lives
lost" causes people to switch their preference from a sure saving of 200 people to a gamble
where nobody will die (1/3 chance) or 600 people will die (2/3 chance). Explain why this fits
the pattern of a framing effect. Then explain what this has to do with risk aversion or risk
seeking.
Framing effect: change in preference due only to the way options are described
Asian Disease:
-emphasis on gains elicits risk averse behavior
first version saves 200 people for sure
people are averse to risk of saving 600 people
-emphasis on losses elicits risk seeking behavior
second version 400 people die
or risk of saving everyone and losing 600 people

3. In the case of the representativeness heuristic, people fail to take into account two
important factors that should be emphasized. In the case of the availability heuristic,
people take into account two important factors that should be ignored. Discuss these
statements, giving examples of each of these four kinds of errors.

Representativeness Heuristic: events that are more representative are more probably
More representative if they resemble typical outcome
People often ignore:
o 1. Sample Size
large sample more likely than small sample to reflect true proportion
o 2. Base Rate
people ignore a given base rate if their sample fits their stereotype
(engineer problem)
engineer 30%, lawyer 70% (racial profiling)
Availability Heuristic: events more probable if examples of similar events are easy to
recall or imagine
Frequency and ease of recollection
In general, more frequently encountered events easier to recall
Exploited: easily recalled events are assumed to be frequent in occurrence
o Sharks vs. tornadoes
o More male vs. female names
Actually same #, but male names are famous and therefore more
memorable
4. How do the surface features and structural features of problems influence a
persons ability to make effective use of analogies in problem solving? Describe at least two
experiments relevant to this question, and also techniques that have been used to improve
analytical problem solving.
Surface features: specific elements of the problem
Printer jam
Structural features: underlying relationships among surface features

Two sentences that look different but mean the same thing

Experiment one:
Subjects to read a group of passages, and then another
Some passages were surface analogous to others, but also structurally analogous to
different ones
Reading out loud encouraged Surface Similarity
Verbalization biases people toward verbalizable processes
Experiment two:
had people construct own analogies to target problems
everyday problems approached with more structural analogies
Techniques:
Kinesthetic information
o Enactment improves accuracy
Thinking out of the box (false constraints)
5.) What is the basic principle behind the Gestalt approach to problem solving?
Describe two problems that illustrate this principle. In addition, define insight and the
evidence supporting the fact that insight does occur as people are solving a problem.
Gestalt: basic principle is INSIGHT
-restructuring the problem in mind
-problem isomorph
Algorithmic Problems: mindless playing out of associations

Restructuring: mutilated checkboard and circle radius problem

Insight Problems: restructuring of problem elements until solution is discovered
Apes and crates and bananas

6.) What barriers prevent our successful use of the analogy approach to problem
solving? Think of an area in which you are an expert (academic subject, hobby, workrelated) and point out where you are skilled in recognizing the structural similarities
shared by problem isomorphs.
-misleading or uninformative problem representation
look for alternative representations
unnecessary assumptions (false constraints)
Set recommendation: look for alternative strategies
Playing water polo: sometimes there are too many people guarding the goal
When my goal is to shoot and there are people in the way, pass the ball, move, then
get the ball back and shoot
usually
5.) Define the term Task Load and then describe the impact it has on selective
attention. Using examples from the research on task load, discuss which type of
filter theory is supported when and why.

Task Load: how much of a persons cognitive resources are used to accomplish a task
Identification of stimulus with lots of available spots and a distractor present
Early selection occurs with hard tasks, late selection occurs with easy tasks
early vs. late: whether attentional selection occurs before or after the assignment of
meanings to stimuli

In laying the foundation for cognitive psychology, Ebbinghaus and Bartlett made
significant contributions to the field with their research. Compare and contrast
the early memory work of Ebbinghaus and Bartlett. Be sure to include what they
did, how they did it and what they found. Explain why each contribution was
important.
Ebbinghaus: self-study on syllable memory
-forgetting curve
1. demonstrated experimental methods
2. established research paradigm for memory
3. established principles for memory
Bartlett: more naturalistic
Had participants recall fairy tales and stories
Memory as reconstructive rather than reproductive
Distinguish between bottom-up and top-down processing. Explain how each of
these is used to help you recognize the letters of the alphabet in this question.
Describe a scenario where the over reliance of top-down processing may lead to
errors in perception. The chapter emphasized visual object recognition; provide
an example from 2 of the other senses of how top-down processing could help
you recognize sensations. (sounds, tastes, odors, touch)
Bottom-Up Processing:
-data-driven
-current stimulation influences perception
Top-Down:
-theory/knowledge drive
-background knowledge, learning, and expectations influence what is perceived

Letters: bottom-up processing helps me recognize the structure of the letters of the
alphabet, top-down helps me to recognize the words and meanings that the letters
make up.
Over-reliance on top-down processing: The last time my mom called, she told me
bad news/emergency. Over-reliance would be if she called again and I assumed it
was an emergency again
Visual Object recognition: Smelling fireI know something is burning which is
BAD. Feeling heat from the bottom of my carI know my breaks are going out.
3.) Explain Sperling's experiment about sensory memory. Make sure that you
clearly describe the
whole- vs. partial-report methods, and what is found when subjects attempt to
identify letters in these two conditions. What are the important conclusions that
we can draw from the results of Sperling's experiment? In other words, what do
these experiments show about sensory memory that we would not know if these
experiments had not been done?
Subject can report cued row after the letter array is removed
Has at least as much capacity as needed for 3x4
Decay within one second
Limit on memory capacity refers to a limit on the amount of information that can be
held in memory. Not the amount of information that can be input to memory
(encoding), and not the amount of information that can be retrieved from memory
(retrieval).

1.) Atkinson and Shiffrins model draws a distinction between Short-term

memory and Long-term memory. Provide evidence to support the idea of 2
separate memory systems, discussing both behavioral and neurological evidence.
STM: memory store for active, current thoughts/images/spatial representations
LTM: variety of memory processes that allow retrieval of memories that arent
currently preserved in STM
-info about self and events in world
-trivial info about what has happened in the recent past

-semantic knowledge (what is an apple, pencil, is a moose or mouse bigger, etc.)

-how to do things
-learned associations that arent explicit (dentists office makes you
apprehensive)
-recall word list
-primacy and recency effects
HM
Severe anterograde amnesia and some retrograde amnesia