How Do We Determine the Conditions That Existed in the Very

question 45

Multiple Choice

How do we determine the conditions that existed in the very early universe?

• A) We work backward from current conditions to calculate what temperatures and densities must have been when the observable universe was much smaller in size.
• B) We look all the way to the cosmological horizon, where we can see the actual conditions that prevailed all the way back to the first instant of the Big Bang.
• C) The conditions in the very early universe must have been much like those found in stars today, so we learn about them by studying stars.
• D) We can only guess at the conditions, since we have no way to calculate or observe what they were.

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Definitions:

Short-Term Memory

The capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time.

George Miller

A psychologist best known for his theory on the limits of short-term memory, proposing that people can hold about 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their working memory.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

A German psychologist known for his pioneering work in the study of memory, including the discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect.

Iconic Memory

A type of visual sensory memory that holds a brief photographic image for a few seconds after the exposure to the original stimulus.