COGS 200 Midterm Exam
Pack (2026)-Verified Questions &
Complete Solutions
What are the primacy and recency effects?
Primacy refers to better recall of early items; recency refers to better recall of the most recent
items. Primary and recency effect
What is anterograde amnesia?
inability to form new memories after an injury due to hippocampal damage
What role does the hippocampus play in memory?
Processes new explicit memories into short term memory.. Necessary for the consolidation of
memories.
How are consolidated memories stored?
In networks that connect regions of the cortex held together by the hippocampus.
What are the two main types of long term memory?
Declarative (explicit) and non-declarative (implicit) memory
What is procedural memory
Memory for skills and actions, often reffered to as "muscle memory"
What type of amnesia did Clive wearing have?
Both anterograde and retrograde amnesia, but his procedural memory was not affected and could
still excellently play the piano.
How could one test procedural memory?
Procedural tasks like playing an instrument or tying shoelaces could be used to assess procedural
memory.
What brain structures are involved in procedural memory?
The basal ganglia and cerebellum
What types of memory are included under non-declarative memory?
Procedural, conditioning, and priming
What brain structure is involved in emotional memory?
The amygdala, important for fear conditioning
What is priming in memory?
Priming is the unconscious influence of prior experience on memory or behaviour. Filling in the
blanks using previous knowledge.
What is an example of mental representation in computers?
Image, text, sound, and database files
What is the phonological loop?
A form of working (short term) memory that stores verbal and auditory info. Holding words in
memory activates speech areas in the brain (brocas area)
What is George millers "magical number"?
It refers to the capacity of working memory to hold 7+/-2 CHUNKS of information.
What is chunking?
Grouping information into meaningful groups to improve short-term memory capacity
, why does the visuospatial sketchpad (mental imagery) hold?
Holds Visual patterns and spatial information in memory
What experiment demonstrated mental rotation?
Shepard and metzlers experiment showing that larger mental rotations take more time. Mental
imagery is analogue, not digital
Are complete picture-like images stored in long term memory?
No, people store a mix of visual and conceptual (semantic) information in long-term memory.
What you make also recall in your declarative (explicit) memory.
Do people tend to remember gist or form (exact wording) more accurately?
Gist. Our memories omit, transform, or expand/emphasize/add info.
How does processing depth affect memory?
Semantic processing (thinking about meaning of stuff) improves memory more than shallow
processing (eg. Focussing on letters)
What is semantic memory?
Memory for facts and general knowledge, not tied to personal experiences and feelings. Opposite
of episodic memory
What happens to the recency effect when there is a delay before recall?
The recency effect decreases with delay, especially if the delay is filled with a distracting task
like counting backwards. Brain overloaded with info
How does rehearsel interference affect the recency effect?
Tasks that interfere with rehearsal eliminate the recency effect
What model of memory explains short term and long term memory as distinct?
The multi-store model of memory
What case provided evidence for the role of the hippocampus in memory?
The case of Henry molaison (HM), who had his hippocampus removed
What structure is crucial for consolidating new memories?
The hippocampus
What kind of memory deficit did the amnesiac patient EP have?
Anterograde amnesia. Couldn't form new long term memories but had intact short term memory
and excellent recollection of old memories.
What is episodic memory?
Memory of events that you personally experienced, mental time travel
What did Elizabeth Loftus demonstrate about memory?
The unreliability of eyewitness testimony and how memory can be influenced by leading
questions (eg. How fast where the cars going when they crashed into each other? pic of memory
construction of cars crashed worse than they are)
Why is linguistics part of cognitive science?
Because language is a core mental ability, alongside perception, memory, learning, and
reasoning
Why is language crucial to understanding the mind?
Language reveals:
How knowledge is structured
How meaning is represented
How humans think, reason, and communicate
Which disciplines in cognitive science study language?
Pack (2026)-Verified Questions &
Complete Solutions
What are the primacy and recency effects?
Primacy refers to better recall of early items; recency refers to better recall of the most recent
items. Primary and recency effect
What is anterograde amnesia?
inability to form new memories after an injury due to hippocampal damage
What role does the hippocampus play in memory?
Processes new explicit memories into short term memory.. Necessary for the consolidation of
memories.
How are consolidated memories stored?
In networks that connect regions of the cortex held together by the hippocampus.
What are the two main types of long term memory?
Declarative (explicit) and non-declarative (implicit) memory
What is procedural memory
Memory for skills and actions, often reffered to as "muscle memory"
What type of amnesia did Clive wearing have?
Both anterograde and retrograde amnesia, but his procedural memory was not affected and could
still excellently play the piano.
How could one test procedural memory?
Procedural tasks like playing an instrument or tying shoelaces could be used to assess procedural
memory.
What brain structures are involved in procedural memory?
The basal ganglia and cerebellum
What types of memory are included under non-declarative memory?
Procedural, conditioning, and priming
What brain structure is involved in emotional memory?
The amygdala, important for fear conditioning
What is priming in memory?
Priming is the unconscious influence of prior experience on memory or behaviour. Filling in the
blanks using previous knowledge.
What is an example of mental representation in computers?
Image, text, sound, and database files
What is the phonological loop?
A form of working (short term) memory that stores verbal and auditory info. Holding words in
memory activates speech areas in the brain (brocas area)
What is George millers "magical number"?
It refers to the capacity of working memory to hold 7+/-2 CHUNKS of information.
What is chunking?
Grouping information into meaningful groups to improve short-term memory capacity
, why does the visuospatial sketchpad (mental imagery) hold?
Holds Visual patterns and spatial information in memory
What experiment demonstrated mental rotation?
Shepard and metzlers experiment showing that larger mental rotations take more time. Mental
imagery is analogue, not digital
Are complete picture-like images stored in long term memory?
No, people store a mix of visual and conceptual (semantic) information in long-term memory.
What you make also recall in your declarative (explicit) memory.
Do people tend to remember gist or form (exact wording) more accurately?
Gist. Our memories omit, transform, or expand/emphasize/add info.
How does processing depth affect memory?
Semantic processing (thinking about meaning of stuff) improves memory more than shallow
processing (eg. Focussing on letters)
What is semantic memory?
Memory for facts and general knowledge, not tied to personal experiences and feelings. Opposite
of episodic memory
What happens to the recency effect when there is a delay before recall?
The recency effect decreases with delay, especially if the delay is filled with a distracting task
like counting backwards. Brain overloaded with info
How does rehearsel interference affect the recency effect?
Tasks that interfere with rehearsal eliminate the recency effect
What model of memory explains short term and long term memory as distinct?
The multi-store model of memory
What case provided evidence for the role of the hippocampus in memory?
The case of Henry molaison (HM), who had his hippocampus removed
What structure is crucial for consolidating new memories?
The hippocampus
What kind of memory deficit did the amnesiac patient EP have?
Anterograde amnesia. Couldn't form new long term memories but had intact short term memory
and excellent recollection of old memories.
What is episodic memory?
Memory of events that you personally experienced, mental time travel
What did Elizabeth Loftus demonstrate about memory?
The unreliability of eyewitness testimony and how memory can be influenced by leading
questions (eg. How fast where the cars going when they crashed into each other? pic of memory
construction of cars crashed worse than they are)
Why is linguistics part of cognitive science?
Because language is a core mental ability, alongside perception, memory, learning, and
reasoning
Why is language crucial to understanding the mind?
Language reveals:
How knowledge is structured
How meaning is represented
How humans think, reason, and communicate
Which disciplines in cognitive science study language?
