1 Flashcards
What are cognitions
Mental actions or processes of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experiences and senses
What is an engram
A memory trace that is stored within the brain and can be extracted when the memory is requested
What is coding
The way information is stored and processed into memory. Information is changed into a form which can be stored
What is capacity
A measure of how much can be held in memory
What is duration
A measure of how long a memory lasts in a store, before it is no longer available for recall
What are the three ways information can be coded
Acoustic, visual, semantic
Describe Baddley’s cat/mat
Four different groups - acoustically similar words, acoustically dissimilar words, semantically similar words, semantically dissimilar words
Independent groups design-participants see a set of 10 words and recall them. The number of words written correct and in the write order can be multiplied by four to find the percentage figure
What were Badley’s findings and what does this show
Acoustically similar= 10% and this showed that STM is coded acoustically
Acoustically dissimilar=80%
Semantically similar=65%
Semantically dissimilar=70%
Recall after 20 minutes was worse with semantically similar words so this shown LTM is coded semantically
Strengths and limitations of Badley’s study
-
Less meaningful study- doesn’t reflect how we use memory is every day life
+
Standardised procedures so it is easily replicable
Describe Jacob’s serial digit span study
-there is a list of digits that increase by one gradually
-the participant recalls the list directly after hearing it
-the digit span they reach before going wrong is a measure of their STM capacity
What is miller’s magic number
7+/-2 items- the capacity of the short term memory
What is chunking
We groups items into larger units or chunks to increase the number of items we can hold in the STM
Describe the Peterson and peterson’s experiment
24 psychology students were shown a random trigram and then asked to count down in threes from the number shown. Then they were asked to recall the trigram. The time between showing the trigram and then recalling it increases. AS the time increases, percentage of trigram correct decreases. This shows the duration of short term memory is 18-30 seconds
Discuss strengths and limitations of the Peterson and Petersons experiment
Controlled experiment- easily replicable
Unrealistic as normal people do not perform such tasks
Describe Bahrick’s high school year book experiment
He got participants that had graduated 15 years ago and participants that had graduated 48 years ago
Recognition test- he showed participants their yearbook and asked them to identify classmates from their photos
15=90%
48=70%
Free recall test-free recall of the names of their classmates with no image
15=60%
48=30%
Using cues may help LTM last a lifetime
Describe the multi store model of memory
-the sensory register is modality species and detects information from the environment via the 5 senses
-it is a filter and not a store so information only stays for 1/4 second
-if attention is payed to the information it will be transferred to the short term memory
-it is coded acoustically and we are consciously aware of the information
-only 5-9 pieces of information can be held at one time for 18-30 seconds
-the rehearsal loop allows information to be transferred into the long term memory and avoid decay and displacement
-long term memory is potentially unlimited and is coded semantically
-information must be retrieved back to the short term memory if it is to be used again
What is the case study of KF and how does it support/challenge the MSM
Memory was impaired as a result of a motorbike accident.is long term memory was unaffected but some of his short term memory was.
Supports- separate unitary stores in the MSM and different areas of the brain
Challenge- simplified nature of the MSM. Only verbal short term memory affected but not visual and acoustic
What is the case study of Clive wearing and how does it support/ challenge the MSM
Herpes virus destroyed parts of his brain so his long term memory was affected but not his short term memory
Supports- memories are formed by passing information from one store to the next in a linear fashion.separate stores for LTM and STM
Challenges- the simplified nature of the MSM- Clive’s semantic and procedural memories were fine
Issues or debates around the multi story model
Machine reductionism- attempts to explain a complex behaviour by comparing humans to computers. Affected by emotion and motivation unlike computers. Limits usefulness of the MSM in explaining human memory accuracy
What does the central executive do
It allocates resources dependant on the cognitive demands. It controls the other slave systems.
What is the phonological loop and what are the two subsystems
It is a temporary acoustic storage system for auditory and verbal information Phonological store and articulatory processes
What does the phonological store do
It represented auditory information in terms of pitch and loudness
What does the articulatory process do
It acts as maintenance rehearsal and holds words for subvocal repetition to prevent decay
What does the Visio spatial sketchpad do and what are the two subsystems
It rehearses visual and spatial information. Visual cache and inner scribe
What does the visual cache do
It stores visual information like the form or colour of an item
What does the inner scribe do
It stores information about spatial relationships- the arrangement of objects
What is the capacity/ duration of the phonological loop
2 seconds/ the amount of time it takes to say seomthing
What is the capacity of the Visio spatial sketchpad
Around 3-4 objects at a time
What does the episodic buffer do
It holds and integrates diverse information from both slave systems. Binds the information into chunks
What is the best issue and debate for the working memory model as a limitation
Machine reductionism- reduces how complex human memory to like a computer. This ignored emotional and motivational factors which limits the model
What evidence is there to support the working memory model
Hitch and Baddley’s dual task experiment
Case study of K.F
PET brain scans
What are the limitations of the working memory model
Lack of knowledge of the central executive
PET brain scans do not show central executive and episodic buffer
Dual tasks were artificial tasks
How does the case study of K.F support the working memory model
K.F suffered a brain injury and his STM for visual and acoustic items was fine but he had difficulties with verbal items
Supports the idea that visual and verbal information is stored in separate locations
What was Hitch and Baddleys dual task experiment
Partcipants had more difficulty doing two visual tasks than doing one visual and one verbal task at the same time.
This means that there must be a separate slave system that process the visual input and can only focus on one item at any one time
What are the three types of long term memory
Episodic, semantic, procedural
What are episodic memories
Personal memories- time, people, objects, places and behaviours
What are semantic memories
Memories around facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts means
What are procedural memories
Our knowledge of how to do things. Undeclaritive so not retrieved consciously
Where are procedural memories stored in the brain
The cerebelum
Where are semantic memories store in the brain
The cerebrum and the prefrontal cortex
Where are episodic memories stored in the brain
The hippocampus
