PSY4930 MEMORY DISORDERS NAME__________________________

Spring 98 EXAM #3

[ the first three Qs dealt with short-trm memory, which we did not cover this semester. As before, the sampel example should be taken as showing the kinds and scope of questions that might be used, rather than indicate the particular coverage that's important - Dr. F. ]
 

4. Using Lang's two-factor approach to emotion, outline the effects of arousal and valence (pleasantness) of a stimulus on memory for that stimulus as a function of the retention interval.

5. Give an example of how stress and anxiety can influence memory for an event.

6. What was our "bottom line" regarding the nature of "flashbulb memories?"

7. What is Schacter's explanation for the "dissociative" amnesias we see in cases like Lumberjack or apparently in cases of multiple personality disorder, in terms of the memory processes that fail in dissociation?

8. I find myself standing in line for tickets to Animal Kingdom, with no sense of who I am or why I'm there. Avoiding sarcastic or existential answers, characterize my impairment: What may have caused it? What would you call it? What's the outlook for recovery?

9. An important distinction in cases of "motivated" forgetting of particular episodes, according to Schacter and others, is whether it was caused by "repression" or "suppression." What is meant by this distinction? How does the evidence compare for each?

10. What brain structure(s) seems particularly relevant to cases of "psychogenic amnesias?" Is there evidence, either from clinical or animal research, for a biological mechanism for "limited amnesias" for particular episodes?

11. Chris Sizemore claims that her dissociative identity disorder as Eve White and Eve Black was not "mere acting or role playing." How would you respond to this? Test it?

12. What is one important reason that we should be skeptical about recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse, in the absence of corroborative evidence?

13. Schacter considers how implicit memory might be used to distinquish between false and real recovered memories. What's his idea? What does he see as the main problem with it?

14. In general, what kind of memory tasks show the biggest deficits in the elderly (not including degenerative diseases like DAT)?

15. Why did Schacter call his last chapter "stories of the elders?"