Section 7.2 Quiz

. In the serial position curve,items are best remembered

when they had appeared in the beginning or end of a list.

when they had appeared in the middle of a list.

if they stand out as unique on a list.

if they had appeared in the middle or end of a list.

. Which of the following is most consistent with the notion of complementary memory systems in the brain?

The hippocampus and medial temporal lobe store memories; we recruit our neocortex when retrieving memories from the hippocampus.

The hippocampus and medial temporal lobe are highly involved in encoding and retrieving new memories; over time, these memories become solidified in cortical regions and can be accessed without hippocampal involvement.

The neocortex serves as a back-up for the hippocampus. Damage that is isolated to the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe results in only minimal memory impairment because the neocortex can take over their functions.

The hippocampus and medial temporal lobe encode information important for implicit memory, whereas the neocortex encodes information important for explicit memory.

. One of the primary features of memory consolidation (LTP) is that it occurs

only in brain slices prepared in a laboratory.

only under optimal conditions (e.g., the animal must be primed to learn, alert, and/or in perfect health).

quickly, but is labile (fragile, memories decay easily).

slowly.

. How can we recognize so many different people and objects? Classically, some theorists proposed the notion of "grandmother cells": hypothetical neurons, each of which would respond to a very particular stimulus (e.g., your grandmother). In contrast, more recent research has revealed the importance of "population coding."What idea does this refer to?

Depending on how active it is, each neuron is capable of discriminating an infinite number of different objects.

Information in the brain is represented by patterns of activity across populations of neurons, not within individual neurons.

Thousands of neurons synchronize their activity so that they are either all on or all off, enabling a person to recognize virtually anything.

Each neuron signals its nearest neighbors to turn either on or off, depending on the nature, intensity, and length of time that the visual stimulus is present.

. Increased levels of stress hormone like cortisol have been linked with

impaired digestive functions.

an inability to perform even the simplest motor tasks.

memory impairments.

an inability to learn new information.

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