AP Psychology: Retrieving Memories — Drill 11

About This Drill

AP Psychology: Retrieving Memories — Drill 11 is a Multiple Choice practice drill covering Unit 2: Cognition. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

AP Psychology practice questions on retrieving memories, including recall versus recognition, retrieval cues, context-dependent and state-dependent memory, priming, and the reconstructive nature of memory. Sharpen AP exam prep on memory retrieval.

Questions in This Drill

1. After months of studying in the quiet back corner of the same library, Marcus takes his exam in a loud, unfamiliar auditorium on the other side of campus. He feels that the material, which he knew cold the night before, is suddenly harder to pull up. Which concept best explains his difficulty?
2. On a standardized history test, one section asks "In what year did the Berlin Wall fall?" and another section asks "The Berlin Wall fell in which of the following years: 1979, 1989, 1999, or 2009?" Students generally perform better on the second type of item than the first. This pattern most directly illustrates the difference between:
3. In Loftus and Palmer's classic study, participants watched a film of a car accident and were later asked a question about the speed of the cars. The wording of the verb in the question varied across conditions: "smashed," "collided," "bumped," "hit," or "contacted." A week later, participants were asked whether they had seen broken glass in the film. Participants in the "smashed" condition were significantly more likely to report seeing broken glass than those in the "contacted" condition, even though no broken glass appeared. Which conclusion is most strongly supported by the results?
4. A researcher tests whether the emotional state a person is in at encoding and at retrieval affects memory. Participants are first induced into either a happy or a sad mood using a standardized mood-induction procedure, and then memorize a word list. A day later, each participant is re-induced into either a happy or a sad mood and tested for recall. Average words recalled: Encoded happy / Recalled happy: 18; Encoded happy / Recalled sad: 12; Encoded sad / Recalled sad: 17; Encoded sad / Recalled happy: 11. Which conclusion is most directly supported by these results?
5. An elderly woman is shown a photograph of her wedding day, taken 60 years ago. She immediately describes the weather, the song that played during the first dance, and a private joke her husband told her at the altar — details she has not thought about in decades. Which combination of concepts best explains why a single cue unlocked such a rich set of memories?