302 Lab Memory Exercises: Set 1

302 Lab Memory Exercises: Set 1

Brown-Peterson

Answer Questions:

 Basic Questions:

1. What does "actively rehearsing the trigram" mean? (Hint: the distractor task prevents active rehearsal.)

 2. Suppose we used trigrams like "JOE" or "CAT" or "WXY" or "RIT" rather than the type used in the demonstration. Describe what the relationship between percent correct recall and number of seconds of distractor task might be compared to the one that Brown and Peterson obtained.

Use terms like “meaning,” “pronounceability” and “predictable pattern” to help in your description (i.e., what do these factors add to one’s ability to remember material?).

Discussion Questions:

3. Put together a good argument for the operation of decay during forgetting from

short-term memory.  (That is formulate a good “rule of thumb.” For example: The

greater the…”)

Memory Span

Answer Questions:

 Basic Questions:

4. Why do you think that memory span might be related to reading and to

problem solving.

Discussion Questions:

5. Memory span capacity limits affect the work that working memory does.

Discuss some of the effects on working memory. (That is give some practical

examples where the limitations of memory span/working memory cause

problems.)

 From the Reading Assignments:

            6. According to the article “Individual Differences in Working Memory,” What

             are some of the other cognitive tasks is working memory capacity (span)

            associated with? Do the authors conclude whether or not working memory

            capacity can be approved by practice? What are some of the implications of this

             finding?

            7. In the article “Individual Differences in Working Memory,” research is cited by

            Baddeley et al., about what the capacity of working memory really is (NOT the

            usual description of 7 plus or minus 2)?

            8. In the article “Improving Fluid Intelligence with Training on Working

            Memory,” what do the authors say the relationship between working memory and

            fluid intelligence is? Do they conclude that working memory can be improved

            through practice? How would you characterize the differences between the kind

            of practice done in the studies done in the first article (“Individual

            Differences…”) with the kind of practice done in this article?