UIUC PSYC 224 Exam 2 Questions with Correct Answers Latest Update 2025/2026
what is your working memory limited in - Answers duration and its capacity when you must
remember new information
short-term memory - Answers refers to the memory system that is responsible for holding onto
a small amount of information that has been recently taken in from the environment
limitations of short term memory - Answers the amount of time that the short-term memory
system can hold onto information an in the amount of information that it can hold
george miller contribution to memory - Answers the magical numbers seven
The magical number 7 - Answers we can only hold a limited number of items in short-term
memory; specifically people remember about 7 items (give or take two)
chunk - Answers memory unit that consists of several components that are strongly associated
with one another
how many chunks can short term memory hold - Answers approximately 7
Brown/Peterson and Peterson technique - Answers Involves presenting participants with some
items that they are instructed to remember. Participants then perform a distracting task. After
spending some time on the distracting task, participants are then asked to recall the original
items.
rehearsal - Answers repeating items silently
counting affect on rehearsing - Answers counting activity prevents rehearsing so people do not
recall things as easily
serial position effect - Answers refers to the U-shaped relationship between a word's position in
a list and its probability of recall
typical results for serial position effect - Answers the percent recalled decreases as the delay
before recall increases
recency effect - Answers tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well
when serial-position curve method is used, the size of short term memory is estimated to be
what - Answers about three-seven items
primacy effect - Answers enhanced recall for items at the beginning of the list
why are the early items easy to remember - Answers they don't need to compete with any earlier
items and people rehearse these early items more frequently
relationship between an item's serial position and the probability that it will be recalled -
, Answers items at the end of the list will be remembered the best, followed by items at the
beginning of the list
semanitics - Answers the meaning of words and sentences
proactive interference (PI) - Answers means that people have trouble learning new material
because previously learned material keeps interfering with their new learning
release from proactive interference - Answers a situation in which conditions occur that
eliminate or reduce the decrease in performance caused by proactive interference
results of experiment recalling different categories and percent correct (on trials 1,2,3 everyone
saw category related to occupation but say fruits in trial 4) - Answers the degree of semantic
similarity is related to the amount of interference (people remember the first group best, but
then the last group better than the middle) also if the outlier group is more distantly related to
the first three, they will be remembered better (i.e. occupations vs fruits)
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model - Answers proposed that memory involves a sequence of separate
steps; in each step, information is transferred from one storage area to another
information-processing approach - Answers one approach to cognition, arguing that our mental
processes are similar to the operations of a computer, and information progresses through our
cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time
sensory memory - Answers a storage system that records information from each of the senses
with reasonable accuracy
how long did Atkinson and Shiffrin suggest sensory memory was stored - Answers 2 seconds or
less and then mostly forgotten
how long did Atkinson and Shiffrin say short-term memory can be lost in - Answers 30 seconds
unless rehearsed
control processes - Answers internal strategies-such as rehearsal- that people may have to
improve their memory
working memory - Answers the brief, immediate memory for the limited amount of material that
you are currently processing; part of working memory also actively coordinates your ongoing
mental activities
working-memory approach - Answers our immediate memory is a multipart system that
temporarily holds and manipulates information while we perform cognitive tasks
what type of memory is working memory - Answers short-term memory and is an active process
is working memory capacity limited? - Answers yes but not strictly 7 +/- 2
what is your working memory limited in - Answers duration and its capacity when you must
remember new information
short-term memory - Answers refers to the memory system that is responsible for holding onto
a small amount of information that has been recently taken in from the environment
limitations of short term memory - Answers the amount of time that the short-term memory
system can hold onto information an in the amount of information that it can hold
george miller contribution to memory - Answers the magical numbers seven
The magical number 7 - Answers we can only hold a limited number of items in short-term
memory; specifically people remember about 7 items (give or take two)
chunk - Answers memory unit that consists of several components that are strongly associated
with one another
how many chunks can short term memory hold - Answers approximately 7
Brown/Peterson and Peterson technique - Answers Involves presenting participants with some
items that they are instructed to remember. Participants then perform a distracting task. After
spending some time on the distracting task, participants are then asked to recall the original
items.
rehearsal - Answers repeating items silently
counting affect on rehearsing - Answers counting activity prevents rehearsing so people do not
recall things as easily
serial position effect - Answers refers to the U-shaped relationship between a word's position in
a list and its probability of recall
typical results for serial position effect - Answers the percent recalled decreases as the delay
before recall increases
recency effect - Answers tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well
when serial-position curve method is used, the size of short term memory is estimated to be
what - Answers about three-seven items
primacy effect - Answers enhanced recall for items at the beginning of the list
why are the early items easy to remember - Answers they don't need to compete with any earlier
items and people rehearse these early items more frequently
relationship between an item's serial position and the probability that it will be recalled -
, Answers items at the end of the list will be remembered the best, followed by items at the
beginning of the list
semanitics - Answers the meaning of words and sentences
proactive interference (PI) - Answers means that people have trouble learning new material
because previously learned material keeps interfering with their new learning
release from proactive interference - Answers a situation in which conditions occur that
eliminate or reduce the decrease in performance caused by proactive interference
results of experiment recalling different categories and percent correct (on trials 1,2,3 everyone
saw category related to occupation but say fruits in trial 4) - Answers the degree of semantic
similarity is related to the amount of interference (people remember the first group best, but
then the last group better than the middle) also if the outlier group is more distantly related to
the first three, they will be remembered better (i.e. occupations vs fruits)
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model - Answers proposed that memory involves a sequence of separate
steps; in each step, information is transferred from one storage area to another
information-processing approach - Answers one approach to cognition, arguing that our mental
processes are similar to the operations of a computer, and information progresses through our
cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time
sensory memory - Answers a storage system that records information from each of the senses
with reasonable accuracy
how long did Atkinson and Shiffrin suggest sensory memory was stored - Answers 2 seconds or
less and then mostly forgotten
how long did Atkinson and Shiffrin say short-term memory can be lost in - Answers 30 seconds
unless rehearsed
control processes - Answers internal strategies-such as rehearsal- that people may have to
improve their memory
working memory - Answers the brief, immediate memory for the limited amount of material that
you are currently processing; part of working memory also actively coordinates your ongoing
mental activities
working-memory approach - Answers our immediate memory is a multipart system that
temporarily holds and manipulates information while we perform cognitive tasks
what type of memory is working memory - Answers short-term memory and is an active process
is working memory capacity limited? - Answers yes but not strictly 7 +/- 2
