2 - Memory Flashcards
What are the 3 types of memory?
- Sensory register (SR)
- Short-term memory (STM)
- Long-term memory (LTM)
What is in the sensory register?
Information that is discovered by the senses
What is in the STM?
Memory of events in the present or immediate past
What is in the LTM?
Memory of events that have happened in the more distant past
What does capacity mean?
How much information can be stored in memory
What does duration mean?
How long memories can last for before it’s no longer available
What does coding mean?
The different formats the brain uses to store memories
What are the 2 types of coding?
Acoustic and semantic coding
What does acoustic coding mean?
Information in the form of sounds
What does semantic coding mean?
Information in the form of meaning
What is the capacity, duration and coding type of the SR?
- CAPACITY - very large
- DURATION - 0.25 seconds
- CODING TYPE - modality specific (depends on the sensory organ)
What is the capacity, duration and coding type of the STM?
- CAPACITY - 7±2
- DURATION - 15-30 seconds
- CODING TYPE - acoustic
What is the capacity, duration and coding type of the LTM?
- CAPACITY - unlimited
- DURATION - (potentially) a lifetime
- CODING TYPE - semantic
Describe the multi-store model of memory
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1) Sensory register is stimulated by an environmental stimulus
2) If attention is payed, the stimulus will move to the STM. If not, it will decay after less than 1 second
3)
What was the aim of Miller’s 7±2 study (1956)?
To investigate the capacity of STM
What was the method of Miller’s 7±2 study (1956)?
Miller reviewed literature of published investigations into perception and STM, from the 30s to the 50s
What were the results of Miller’s 7±2 study (1956)?
Existing research suggested that organising stimulus input into a series of chunks allows STM to cope with around 7 chunks
What was the conclusion of Miller’s 7±2 study (1956)?
Encoding (organisation) can extend the capacity of STM and enable more information to be stored there
What was the aim of Peterson and Peterson’s duration of STM study (1959)?
To investigate how short intervals of
What was the method of Peterson and Peterson’s duration of STM study (1959)?
- 24-student sample
- 48 trigrams were presented to ppts to remember
- Ppts had to look at cards with 3 digit numbers on them and count back in 3s or 4s for an interval of 3-18 seconds
- At the end of the interval, ppts needed to recall the trigram
What were the findings of Peterson and Peterson’s duration of STM study (1959)?
- Longer intervals = less accurate recall
- At 3 seconds, 80% of the trigrams were correctly recalled
- At 18 seconds, 10% were correctly recalled
What was the conclusion of Peterson and Peterson’s duration of STM study (1959)?
STM has a limited duration of around 18 seconds
What was the aim of Bahrick’s duration of LTM study (1975)?
To investigate the duration of LTM
What was the method of Bahrick’s duration of LTM study (1975)?
- Sample of 392 American graduates
- Ppts were shown photos from their yearbook - they had to identify their names from a given list
What were the findings of Bahrick’s duration of LTM study (1975)?
- 90% of ppts were able to match names to faces 14 years after graduation
- 60% of ppts were able to match names to faces 47 years after graduation
What was the conclusion of Bahrick’s duration of LTM study (1975)?
People could remember certain types of information for almost a lifetime
What are the components of the working memory model?
- Sensory memory
- Central executive
- Phonological loop
- Episodic buffer
- Visuo-spatial sketchpad
- LTM
What is the function of the central executive?
Controls the phonological loop, episodic buffer and visuo-spatial sketchpad
What is the function of the phonological loop?
Stores verbal information
What is the function of the episodic buffer?
Integrated information from the central executive, phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad
What is the function of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Stores visual information
What was the aim of Baddeley and Hitch’s dual task study (1974)?
To investigate if participants can use different parts of their working memory at the same time
What was the method of Baddeley and Hitch’s dual task study (1974)?
Ppts had to do 2 tasks at the same time: a digit span test (repeating a list of numbers) and a verbal reasoning test (true or false)
What were the findings of Baddeley and Hitch’s dual task study (1974)?
As the number of digits increased on the digit span test, ppts took longer to answer verbal reasoning questions. But, no errors were made
What was the conclusion of Baddeley and Hitch’s dual task study (1974)?
The verbal reasoning task made use of the central executive and the digit span test made use of the phonological, meaning that different parts of the WWM can be used simultaneously
What is episodic LTM? Give an example
Memory of certain events in your life, eg. your first day at school
What is semantic LTM? Give an example
Memory of facts and meanings, eg. the capital city of France is Paris
What is procedural LTM? Give an example
Memory of how to perform certain tasks, eg. how to change a tyre
What is proactive interference? Give an example
When old information stored in the LTM interferes with learning new information, eg. learning a new phone number
What is retroactive interference? Give an example
When learning information interferes with recalling old information, eg. struggling to recalling your old phone number once you have learned your new one
What was the aim of Keppel and Underwood’s proactive interference study (1962)?
To investigate the effect of proactive interference on LTM
What was the method of Keppel and Underwood’s proactive interference study (1962)?
- Ppts were shown trigrams and had to remember them after different intervals of time
- Ppts had to count backwards in threes before recalling the trigram
What were the results of Keppel and Underwood’s proactive interference study (1962)?
Ppts remembered the trigrams that were shown to them first better than the ones that they were shown sooner
What was the conclusion of Keppel and Underwood’s proactive interference study (1962)?
Proactive interference had occurred because earlier trigrams had interfered with the memory of new trigrams
What was the aim of Baddeley and Hitch’s retroactive interference study (1977)?
To investigate retroactive interference in everyday memory
What was the method of Baddeley and Hitch’s retroactive interference study (1977)?
- Ppts were rugby players who had played every match in the season or had missed some games due to injury
- The season’s length was the same for all players
- Ppts were asked to recall the names of the teams they had played against earlier in the season
What were the findings of Baddeley and Hitch’s retroactive interference study (1977)?
Players who had played the most games forgot proportionally more games than those who had played fewer games due to injury
What was the conclusion of Baddeley and Hitch’s retroactive interference study (1977)?
The learning of new team names had interfered with the memory of old team names, so retroactive interference had occurred with the ppts who had played the entire season
What are the 2 types of retrieval failure due to the absence of cues?
- Context-dependent forgetting
- State-dependent forgetting
What was the aim of Godden and Baddeley’s context-dependent forgetting study (1975)?
To investigate the effect of contextual cues on recall
What was the method of Godden and Baddeley’s context-dependent forgetting study (1975)?
- 18 ppts were divided into 4 conditions:
1) learning words on land and recalling on land
2) learning words on land and recalling underwater
3) learning words underwater and recalling underwater
4) learning words underwater and recalling on land
- Ppts were presented with 38 words and were instructed to write all remembered words
What were the findings of Godden and Baddeley’s context-dependent forgetting study (1975)?
Words learned underwater were better recalled underwater and words learned on land were better recalled on land
What was the conclusion of Godden and Baddeley’s context-dependent forgetting study (1975)?
Contextual (environmental) cues improve recall
What was the aim of Goodwin et al.’s state-dependent forgetting study (1969)?
To discover if mental/physical state affects memory
What was the method of Goodwin et al.’s state-dependent forgetting study (1969)?
- Male ppts were given a word list
- Either sober or at 3 times the legal limit
- Asked to recall words after 24 hours
What were the findings of Goodwin et al.’s state-dependent forgetting study (1969)?
Recall was significantly better in original state
What was the conclusion of Goodwin et al.’s state-dependent forgetting study (1969)?
Forgetting is state-dependent
What does eyewitness testimony mean?
An account given by people of an event they have witnessed
What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s leading questions study 1 (1974)?
To investigate the effect of leading questions on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
What was the method of Loftus and Palmer’s leading questions study 1 (1974)?
- Sample of 45 American student
- Ppts watched a video of an RTA
- Asked how fast the cars were going when they ‘smashed/collided/bumped/hit/contacted’?
What were the findings of Loftus and Palmer’s leading questions study 1 (1974)?
- The estimated speed was affected by the verb used
- ‘Smashed’ reported an average speed of 40.5mph
- ‘Contacted’ with an average speed of 31.9mph
What was the conclusion of Loftus and Palmer’s leading questions study 1 (1974)?
The accuracy of eyewitness testimony is affected by leading questions
What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s leading questions study 2 (1974)?
To investigate further how leading questions can effect eyewitness testimony
What was the method of Loftus and Palmer’s leading questions study 2 (1974)?
- A different sample of 150 American students was used to their first study
- All watched a video of an RTA
- Ppts were either asked: “How fast were the cars going when they smashed/hit each other?”
- A control group weren’t asked either question
- A week later, they were asked if they saw any broken glass (THERE WAS NO BROKEN GLASS)
What were the findings of Loftus and Palmer’s leading questions study 2 (1974)?
- 32% of smashed ppts reported seeing broken glass
- 14% of hit ppts reported seeing broken glass
- 12% of control ppts reported seeing broken glass
What was the conclusion of Loftus and Palmer’s leading questions study 2 (1974)?
Memory of an event can be distorted by leading questions
What was the aim of Christianson and Hubinette’s beneficial anixety study (1993)?
To investigate the effects of anxiety on eyewitness recall
What was the method of Christianson and Hubinette’s beneficial anixety study (1993)?
- IV (1) - vitcims of the crime (bank teller)
- IV (2) - bystanders (customers)
- DV - details matching CCTV of the crime
What were the findings of Christianson and Hubinette’s beneficial anixety study (1993)?
All bank tellers had over 75% average accuracy of the crime
What was the conclusion of Christianson and Hubinette’s beneficial anixety study (1993)?
Semantic/episodic memory formation is better when you’re anxious
What was the aim of Johnson and Scott’s detrimental anxiety study (1976)?
To investigate the effects of anxiety on eyewitness recall
What was the method of Johnson and Scott’s detrimental anxiety study (1976)?
- Ppts were invited to a lab and were told to wait in the reception area
- Ppts overheard a conversation in the lab
- Condition 1 - target left the lab holding a greasy pen
- Condition 2 - target left the lab after a heated exchange, holding a bloody knife
What were the findings of Johnson and Scott’s detrimental anxiety study (1976)?
- Those who had witnessed the man holding a pen correctly identified the target 49% of the time
- Those who had witnessed the man holding a knife correctly identified the target 33% of the time
What was the conclusion of Johnson and Scott’s detrimental anxiety study (1976)?
Anxiety associated with seeing a knife reduced the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
What are the 4 elements of the cognitive interview?
- Report everything
- Reinstate the context
- Change the order of events
- Change the perspective
In the context of the cognitive interview, what does ‘report everything’ mean?
When the witness is encouraged to include every single detail of the events, even if they seem irrelevant
In the context of the cognitive interview, what does ‘reinstate the context’ mean?
When the witness returns to the original scene of the crime in their mind and imagine the environment
In the context of the cognitive interview, what does ‘change the order’ mean?
When the witness recalls the events of the crime in a different order to the original sequence
In the context of the cognitive interview, what does ‘change the perspective’ mean?
When the witness recalls the events of the crime from a different perspective
In the context of the cognitive interview, why is reporting everything important?
Recalling how you felt at the scene of the crime could enhance recall
In the context of the cognitive interview, why is reinstating the context important?
Witnesses may not realise that some details could be important, which may trigger important memories
In the context of the cognitive interview, why is changing the order important?
This prevents people from reporting their expectations of the situation rather than the actual events
In the context of the cognitive interview, why is changing perspective important?
It disrupts the effect of expectations and schemas on recall
