# Test Your Learning

## Instructions

You have as long as you want to answer the questions below. This page scrolls down so you can get to the later questions. When you have finished, click on the 'submit answers' button at the bottom of the page.

Which of these statements most accurately describes the role of STM in memory?

A store for the information you have taken in recently A store for the information that is in use at any particular time A store for information that is only useful in the short term

Choose the right words to complete the description of a digit span experiment.

In a digit span experiment, participants are given lists of
. The lists increase in
. They are asked to recall them
.

What is the capacity of an average person's STM if digit span measures are used?

bits of information.

What does 'chunking' do?

Decreases the capacity of STM by causing a blockage Increases the capacity of LTM by allowing greater depth of processing Increases the capacity of STM by allowing you to combine bits of information together

Which of the following statements is true of Miller's findings about STM capacity? (You may choose more than one)

Statement | True | False
Most people struggle to recall more than four digits |  |
Very few people can recall more than nine digits |  |
Most people can recall five digits |  |
Average recall is around 7 digits. |  |

What was the aim of Simon's (1974) experiment?

To examine the relationship between chunking and STM duration To examine the relationship between chunking and LTM transfer To examine the relationship between chunk size and STM capacity

Choose the right words to describe Simon's (1974) results.

Simon found that as the chunks of information the participants were asked to recall became larger, the number they could recall
.

On which of the following claims do Miller's and Simon's results agree or disagree?

Claim | Agree | Disagree
STM handles information in bits or chunks |  |
Chunking increases the capacity of STM |  |
Chunks can be any size without affecting STM capacity |  |

Which of the following statements best describes the recency effect?

The tendency for recall to drop for words at the end of a list The tendency for recall to rise for words at the beginning of a list The tendency for recall to rise for words at the end of a list

When recency measures are used, what is the average capacity of STM?

words.

In Glanzer & Cunitz' (1966) experiment, what tended to happen to words in the middle of the list?

They were forgotten They were recalled better than the words at the beginning They were recalled better than the words at the end

State whether each of the following statements about Glanzer & Cunitz' (1966) results are true or false.

Statement | True | False
Recall was best for words at the beginning and end of the list |  |
When an interference task was used, recall for words in the middle of the list improved |  |
When an interference task was used, the recency effect disappeared |  |

Choose the right words to complete the conclusion drawn from Glanzer & Cunitz' (1966) research.

The recency effect occurs because the words at the end of the list are retained for a short time in
. This is proven by the fact that an interference task that requires the use of
removes the
, but leaves the
intact.

Which of the following statments best decribes ecological validity?

The extent to which the sample is representative of the population from which it was drawn The extent to which the research situation resembles the participants' natural environment The extent to which a study produces results that can be repeated

Would the following factors increase or decrease the ecological validity of a research study?

Factor | Increase | Decrease
The participants are unaware they are being studied |  |
The research takes place in a laboratory |  |
The participants do a familiar task |  |

Which of the following statments best decribes sampling validity?

The extent to which the sample is representative of the population from which it was drawn The extent to which the research situation resembles the participants' natural environment The extent to which a study produces results that can be repeated

Would the following factors increase or decrease the sampling validity of a research study?

Factor | Increase | Decrease
Using a large sample |  |
Sampling only psychology undergraduates |  |
Including an equal number of male and female participants |  |