The term "episodic memory" was introduced by Tulving to refer to what

Question

The term "episodic memory" was introduced by Tulving to refer to what he considered a uniquely human capacity — the ability to recollect specific past events, to travel back into the past in one's own mind — as distinct from the capacity simply to use information acquired through past experiences. Subsequently, Clayton et al. developed criteria to test for episodic memory in animals. According to these criteria, episodic memories are not of individual bits of information; they involve multiple components of a single event "bound" together. Clayton sought to examine evidence of scrub jays' accurate memory of "what," "where," and "when" information and their binding of this information. In the wild, these birds store food for retrieval later during periods of food scarcity. Clayton's experiment required jays to remember the type, location, and freshness of stored food based on a unique learning event. Crickets were stored in one location and peanuts in another. Jays prefer crickets, but crickets degrade more quickly. Clayton's birds switched their preference from crickets to peanuts once the food had been stored for a certain length of time, showing that they retain information about the what, the where, and the when. Such experiments cannot, however, reveal whether the birds were reexperiencing the past when retrieving the information. Clayton acknowledged this by using the term "episodic-like" memory.   1 
 B 
 1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. explain how the findings of a particular experiment have been interpreted and offer an alternative interpretation

B. describe a particular experiment and point out one of its limitations

C. present similarities between human memory and animal memory

D. point out a flaw in the argument that a certain capacity is uniquely human

E. account for the unexpected behavior of animal subjects in a particular experiment

2 
 C 
 2. According to the passage, Clayton's experiment depended on the fact that scrub jays

A. recall "when" and "where" information more distinctly than "what" information

B. are not able to retain information about a single past event for an indefinitely long period of time

C. choose peanuts over crickets when the crickets have been stored for a long period of time

D. choose crickets over peanuts whenever both are available

E. prefer peanuts that have been stored for a short period to crickets that have been stored for a short period

3 
 C 
 3. The passage suggests that Clayton's experiment demonstrated scrub jays' ability to

A. choose different storage places for different kinds of food to minimize the rate at which a food will degrade

B. unlearn a behavior they use in the wild in order to adapt to laboratory conditions

C. bind together information about different aspects of a single past event

D. re-experience a past event in memory and act accordingly

E. distinguish one learning event from a subsequent learning event

4 
 A 
 4. It can be inferred from the passage that both Tulving and Clayton would agree with which of the following statements?

A. Animals' abilities to use information about a specific past event are not conclusive evidence of episodic memory.

B. Animals do not share humans' abilities to reexperience the past through memory.

C. The accuracy of animals' memories is difficult to determine through direct experimentation.

D. Humans tend to recollect single bits of information more accurately than do animals.

E. The binding of different kinds of information is not a distinctive feature of episodic memory

plumber250 · Accepted Answer

Hi There,

Seems to be a few questions over Q 4. Let me see if I can help.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that both Tulving and Clayton would agree with which of the following statements?

Here are the answer choices:

A.Animals' abilities to use information about a specific past event are not conclusive evidence of episodic memory.  This is correct. Tulving says episodic memory is for humans only, and Clayton says that his work on Jays is uncertain so calls it 'episodic like'. So neither CONCLUSIVELY argues for this.

B.Animals do not share humans' abilities to reexperience the past through memory.  Incorrect. Clayton's research suggests they may be able to

C.The accuracy of animals' memories is difficult to determine through direct experimentation.  Incorrect. This may or may not be true, we don't have evidence for this

D.Humans tend to recollect single bits of information more accurately than do animals. Incorrect. As per C, we don't have evidence on this in the passage

E.The binding of different kinds of information is not a distinctive feature of episodic memory Incorrect. We do not see 'binding' mentioned at all under Tulving, it is only mentioned when we talk about Clayton.

So overall, when looking at this question there are 2 things I take away.
1) In answer A we have the word 'conclusively' - this is often a give away word, it requires a very high level of proof
2) In this passage we only talk about Tulving for a very short period - the majority is on Clayton, so for Tulving and Clayton to agree, we have to find evidence in the Tulving section - as this is short, it's easy to work it out.

Hope this helps...

James

qhoc0010 · Answer

Sorry guys. I don't have OA. But here is my explaination.

1. B
There is a limitation in the experiment:
 Such experiments cannot, however, reveal whether the birds were experiencing the past when retrieving the information. Clayton acknowledged this by using the term "episodic-like" memory.  

2. C
 Clayton's birds switched their preference from crickets to peanuts once the food had been stored for a certain length of time, showing that they retain information about the what, the where, and the when.  

3. C
 According to these criteria, episodic memories are not of individual bits of information; they involve multiple components of a single event "bound" together.  

4. A
B is very close. How to refute (B)?
Tulving said that "episodic memory" is a uniquely human capacity, so it is not in "animal." Clayton's only refers "episodic-like" memory in animal.

banerjeea_98 · Answer

hmmm....ques on # 3.....the last sentence of the para says "Such experiments cannot, however, reveal whether the birds were experiencing the  past  when retrieving the information." Then how do we pick "C" (bind together information about different aspects of a single  past  event ) isn't it contradicting the author, I didn't choose this becose it says "past", which author denies. Can anyone explain ?

Again on # 4, author says that we don't know if animal has the ability to use past events, then how can we say in "A" that "Ability of an animal to gather single  past  event was not related to episodic memory". Can anyone answer these two to me plz. Thx

HongHu · Answer

When you answer the questions, did you have to go back to the passage? I only needed to go back once for question 3, to check if it is indeed a "single" event. I knew it was about the experiment so I scanned that paragraph quickly and found this sentence: "Clayton's experiment required jays to remember the type, location, and freshness of stored food based on a unique learning event", which gave me the confirmation I needed.

So as I said before, I spend most of my time to understand the idea of the paragraph and leave the details, and I only needed very little time to answer the actual questions.

qhoc0010 · Answer

Oh, so you mean (B) is little more extreme than (A)
(A) ...not conclusive evidence 
may be/may be not -> the evidence is not so strong

(B) Animals do not share ...
completely conclude something that is unsure for Clayton

HongHu · Answer

Ok, to answer your question, we have to first get a good understanding about the passage. The passage says this: Guy1 believed that the ability of experiencing a past event and combining info from multiple events is unique to human. Then guy2 set out to prove that animal has that ability too. (It didn't say so, but I tried to think what is the connection between guy1's theory and guy2's experiment and gained that understanding.) So guy2 did an experiment. He proved that birds can combine multiple info in a single learning event. But he ackowledged that he did not know whether birds were actually "experiencing" the past when they combine past knowleges. So now to your questions: Question 3, we did not know if birds were experiencing the past, but guy2 did prove that birds can combine multiple info from the past. Question 4, we do know that animals can use past info from guy2's experiment, but we don't know if animals are experiencing the past, so to speak, when they use those past information. Sorry I missed your post btween my two posts.

But I was working on that as soon as I finished my last post.

;)

banerjeea_98 · Answer

Thx for ur help, I guess I am still confused with the term "experiencing the past". Doesn't animal need to experience the past in order to retrieve info from a past event ? Or is the psg saying that retrieve info from past event is more like a habitual thing or learning exp rather than mentally going back to the past to get info on an event.

HongHu · Answer

We don't know about this. You can't base your understanding on your pervious knowlege or your own assumptions. The passage specifically stated that the birds can combine multiple info, but the scientist who did the experiment was not sure if it was because they were experiencing the past.

Possible. But again we can make our own conjestures but the answer must be based on the passage.

eybrj2 · Answer

OA is BCCA.

I have a question about the number 2.

When I looked up this Q, I found people say that C is correct because only C is mentioned in the passage.
I agree with them. However, I'd like to know the logic that justifies the choice C.

Thanks.

veerapan88 · Answer

IMO, it's a combo of that and understanding what Clayton was trying to accomplish. By choosing peanuts over crickets, his jays were remembering what type of food was being stored where and how long it was stored there, thus showing that they could have episodic-like memories.

imhimanshu · Answer

Question Stem -
According to the passage, Clayton's experiment depended on the fact that scrub jays

Since this is a specific question, answer must follow from the information given in passage-

2. According to the passage, Clayton's experiment depended on the fact that scrub jays 
A.recall "when" and "where" information more distinctly than "what" information - INCORRECT - Checkout Clayton's theory. Its what, "what," "where,"and "when" information and their binding of this information.

B.are not able to retain information about a single past event for an indefinitely long period of time - No evidence given

C.choose peanuts over crickets when the crickets have been stored for a long period of time - 
Here is the information from passage-
  Clayton's birds switched their preference from crickets to peanuts once the food had been stored for a certain length of time, showing that they retain information about the what, the where, and the when

D.choose crickets over peanuts whenever both are available - might be true. but, this information doesn't form the basis of Clayton's theory.
What forms the basis is the preference changes when Crickets degrades, that's the reason clayton is going to answer his theory of What, where and when.

If you are Scientist performing some experiment, then what is your expected result will form the basis. Hence, this is not a valid answer. Check out above option, it clearly maps with clayton's theory

E.prefer peanuts that have been stored  for a short period to crickets  that have been stored for a short period - I couldn't find highlighted part in passage.

WillEconomistGMAT · Answer

I think what may have led to your confusion is the fact that "what" "where" and "when" information are mentioned in the passage as components of episodic memory. That's a common distraction technique on the GMAT.

It's important to stay focused on the item stem, though. Here, the key language in the stem is "experiment depended on the fact that..."

If we want to know what fact the experiment depended on, we need to recall what the experiment is intended to show. It's a test for whether scrub jays exhibit episodic memory (or at least "episodic-like" memory). Now, the language might be a bit confusing here, since we are really concerned with Clayton's results, but we can still work this one out.

The experiment ultimately demonstrated that scrub jays do have something like episodic memory. But this demonstration turns on an important fact:

The scrub jays "remembered" that the crickets spoiled over time. This was demonstrated by the change in preference. Without that, the experiment would not have demonstrated the result.

So, the correct response is  C .

All the best,
Will Langley
The Economist GMAT

MacFauz · Answer

1) The answer to question 2 IMO is undoubtedly "C". You might want to check the answer choices in the MGMAT source. Maybe they are in a different order over there.

2) Tulving says episodic memory is uniquely human and goes on to say that it is the ability to travel back to the past in one's own mind.
Clayton acknowledges that the experiments could not reveal whether the birds were experiencing the past.

So, it is likely that the two of them agree that animals' abilities to use information about a specific past event are not conclusive evidence of episodic memory.

The passage nowhere speaks about the distinctive features of episodic memory. It merely says that episodic memory is the ability to travel back into the past in one's own mind.

Kurtosis · Answer

Time taken: 7 min 4 secs. Got 3/4 correct

2) According to the passage, Clayton’s experiment depended on the fact that scrub jays

Refer: "Jays prefer crickets, but crickets degrade more quickly. Clayton’s birds switched their preference from crickets to peanuts once the food had been stored for a certain length of time, showing that they retain information about the what, the where, and the when."

Answer: C

3) The passage suggests that Clayton’s experiment demonstrated scrub jays’ ability to

Refer: " Clayton’s experiment required jays to remember the type, location, and freshness of stored food based on a unique learning event."

Answer: C

4) It can be inferred from the passage that both Tulving and Clayton would agree with which of the following statements?

Refer: "The term “episodic memory” was introduced by Tulving to refer to what he considered a uniquely human capacity". 
"Such experiments cannot, however, reveal whether the birds were re-experiencing the past when retrieving the information. Clayton acknowledged this by using the term “episodic-like” memory."

Answer: A

abhimahna · Answer

Time taken 5 mins.

Marked last one wrong but realized later that The last of line of the passage clearly states that it is not the episodic memory rather the episodic like memory. Hence, both would agree that analysis of animal behavior may not be conclusive.

Skywalker18 · Answer

-The author introduces the concept of episodic memory - He then describes experiment conducted to check for episodic memory in animals - The author then points out how the experiment cannot reveal whether the birds were re experiencing or retrieving information 7 mins 5 seconds in total, including 2 mins 15 seconds to read . Got the first question incorrect . 1. Answer B - Though i chose Answer E

2. "Clayton’s birds switched their preference from crickets to peanuts once the food had been stored for a certain length of time, showing that they retain information about the what, the where, and the when" Answer C 3. "Clayton sought to examine evidence of scrub jays’ accurate memory of “what” ,“where” , and “when” information and their binding of this information" Answer C 4. "Such experiments cannot, however, reveal whether the birds were re-experiencing the past when retrieving the information. Clayton acknowledged this by using the term ―episodic-like memory" Answer A

shukla880 · Answer

The question no.2 asks about 'Clayton's experiment depended on the fact'. It does not asks us about what actually happened in the experiment. The basis for Jay's experiment was whenever Jays have an option for Crickets and Peanuts , Jays's will go for Crickets. Not because of the episodic memory Jays knew that Crickets would have been degraded, hence they went for peanuts.So i suppose the ans should be D.

krishnabalu · Answer

D says that Jay's prefer crickets over peanuts, however it doesn't strictly says that it is applicable only when crickets are not degraded.
What if crickets are degraded and peanuts are available?

hbadger · Answer

Hey Guys,

" Such experiments cannot, however, reveal whether the birds were reexperiencing the past when retrieving the information. " - I am having trouble deciding whether this line is an opinion stated by the author or if its just an observation made by the author.

It would be great if anyone can help me understand this better

The term "episodic memory" was introduced by Tulving to refer to what

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

The term "episodic memory" was introduced by Tulving to refer to what

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards