Working Memory Quiz for AP Psychology Students

🧠 Quick Study Guide

• ⏱️ Working memory is a cognitive system responsible for holding and manipulating information temporarily.
• 📝 It's a crucial component of the broader memory system, linking perception, attention, and long-term memory.
• 🧮 The phonological loop stores auditory information, while the visuospatial sketchpad stores visual and spatial data.
• ✍️ The central executive controls attention and coordinates the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.
• 🔗 Working memory has a limited capacity, typically around 7 +/- 2 items (Miller's Law).
• 💡 Strategies like chunking can increase the amount of information held in working memory.
• 🎯 Working memory is essential for reasoning, language comprehension, and problem-solving.

🤔 Practice Quiz

1. What is the primary function of working memory?
   1. A) Storing information for extended periods.
   2. B) Temporarily holding and manipulating information.
   3. C) Retrieving information from long-term memory.
   4. D) Encoding new memories.
2. Which component of working memory is responsible for storing auditory information?
   1. A) Visuospatial sketchpad
   2. B) Central executive
   3. C) Phonological loop
   4. D) Episodic buffer
3. The concept of "7 +/- 2" items is most closely associated with the capacity of:
   1. A) Sensory memory
   2. B) Long-term memory
   3. C) Working memory
   4. D) Implicit memory
4. What role does the central executive play in working memory?
   1. A) Storing visual information
   2. B) Storing auditory information
   3. C) Controlling attention and coordinating subsystems
   4. D) Encoding long-term memories
5. Which strategy can be used to increase the amount of information held in working memory?
   1. A) Priming
   2. B) Chunking
   3. C) Rehearsal
   4. D) Elaborative encoding
6. Which of the following is NOT a typical function associated with working memory?
   1. A) Reasoning
   2. B) Language comprehension
   3. C) Problem-solving
   4. D) Procedural memory storage
7. What happens to information in working memory if it is not actively maintained?
   1. A) It is immediately transferred to long-term memory.
   2. B) It is permanently stored in the central executive.
   3. C) It decays or is displaced.
   4. D) It is automatically chunked for better storage.