2.1 content (cognitive) Flashcards
(40 cards)
what are the stores of memory in the multi store model of memory?
- sensory memory
- short term memory
- long term memory
what is sensory memory?
- receives information from the environment
- unlimited capacity
- for information to get into the STM, you have to pay attention to it otherwise it will get lost
what is the short term memory?
- limited capacity, ranging from 5-9 items
- duration of around 30 seconds
- memories will only stay through maintenance rehearsal
- an example is when you repeat information verbally
how does information get to long term memory?
- through elaborative rehearsal
- when you link information to pre-existing knowledge
what is long term memory?
- unlimited capacity and duration
- you can forget by retrieval failure and interference
what is an example of retrieval failure?
when ur in an exam and don’t remember the answer to a question but yk that you’ve revised it
what’s an example of interference?
when ur in an exam and a song is stuck in ur head so u can’t remember the answer to a question cos the song is interfering with your memory
what is a strength of the multi store model?
- there is evidence from people with brain damage that support the distinction between STM and LTM
- Clive Wearing shows this as he has long term memory (he can remember his wife) but damaged short term memory (he can’t remember that he saw his wife a few mins ago)
- therefore, this shows the existence of seperate STM and LTM stores as suggested by the MSM
what is the weakness of the MSM?
- research suggests the description of the STM is wrong
- Baddeley and Hitch conducted an experiment where participants had to do two visual tasks simultaneously and they struggled. they didn’t struggle with one visual task and one auditory task simultaneously though
- therefore, STM has separate processes for visual and auditory tasks which the MSM does not take into account for
what are the parts of the working memory model?
- central executive
- visuo-spatial sketchpad
- phonological loop
- episodic buffer
what is the visuospatial sketchpad?
- holds information we see
- capacity of 3-4 objects
- visual cache stores information about form and colour
- inner scribe briefly records arrangement of objects in the field to maintain in the visual cache
what is the phonological loop?
- phonological store stores auditory information
- e.g a song you listened to
- articulatory process allows maintenance rehearsal to keep sounds in the background phonological store
what does reconstructive memory mean?
memory is broken down when stored and reconstructed when it is recalled
what are schemas?
- parcels/packages of information that stores our knowledge about the world based on our experiences
- helps us shape expectations of events or people
what is confabulation?
details are added or changed so that the story makes more sense to the person
what is levelling?
memories are shortened, only leaving what your schemas suggest are important
what is rationalisation?
- parts of the story are changed
- sections deemed irrational to the persons schema are changed
- e.g changing order of events
what is a strength of reconstructive memory?
- Bartlett - war of ghosts
- 20 british participants were asked to recall an unfamiliar, american story called “war of ghosts”
- found that memories were shortened and details were changed to better bit british vocabulary and expectations
- therefore, suggests memories are susceptible to changes based on schemas
what is a weakness of reconstructive model?
- Wynn and Logie
- tested memory of first year psychology students recalling places and events of their first week of uni
- fewer changes of students memories compared to bartlett due to them having schemas
- therefore, events that are more familiar and more relatable to the person changes less. Bartlett’s observations may only be applicable to some events
what are the parts of the working memory model?
- central executive
- visuo-spatial sketchpad
- phonological loop
- episodic buffer
what is the central executive and its function?
- it is the attentional controller for the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketch pad
- focusses and divides attention between tasks and controls supply of mental resources
- acknowledges when a task has been completed
what is the phonological loop and what does it do?
- consists of 2 subcomponents: phonological store and articulatory process
- phonological store is considered our inner ear that stores auditory information from the environment and retrieves it from LTM
- articulatory process enables subvocalisation allowing maintenance rehearsal from STM
what is the visiospatial sketchpad?
- it is visual short term memory
- processes and stores what we see
- manipulates images we see in both 2D and 3D
what is a strength of the working memory model?
- case studies of brain damaged patients supports idea of separate short term memory stores
- case of KF
- KF had a digit span of one suggesting an impairment in his phonological store but his visual memory was intact
- therefore, this supports proposal that working memory has two subsystems to deal with verbal and visual information differently