AO1s Flashcards
What models of memory are there?
**The multi-store model of memory
**3 separate stores:
* sensory memory
* short term memory (S TM)
* long term memory (LTM)
(Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968)
**The working memory model
**Looks at short term memory. 4 key
components:
* central executive (key
component)
* phonological loop, visuo-spatial
sketchpad, episodic buffer (3 slave
systems)
Who proposed the MMM?
(Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968)
What are the 3 separate stores of the MMM?
3 separate stores:
* sensory memory
* short term memory (STM)
* long term memory (LTM)
Define encoding, capacity and duration
Encoding: The format the information is stored in
Capacity: The amount of info that can be held
Duration: The length of time information can be held
What is the encoding, capacity and duration of the sensory register
E: Attention (sperling 1960)
C: Limited (sperling 1960)
D: Limited (sperling 1960)
What is the encoding, capacity and duration of the STM
E: Acoustically - sound
(Baddeley 1966a)
C: 7+ or -2 items (miller) 1956 (jacobs)
D: Aprox 18 secs (peterson and peterson 2959)
What is the encoding, capacity and duration of LTM
E: Semantically- meaning (baddedley 1966b
C: unlimited
D: Approx. a lifetime (Bahrick) 1975
How does information transfer from SR to STM?
When attention is paid to something in the environment, it is then converted to short-term memory (STM).
How can information stay in STM?
To keep information in STM, it requires rehearsal or active repetition. This allows the information to be temporarily stored and prevents it from decaying
What is maintenance rehearsal
Repeating items over and over to maintain them in short-term memory, e.g. repeating a telephone number until it has been dialed
How does information transfer from STM to LTM
Elaborative rehearsal
What is meant by elaborative rehearsal?
Elaborative rehearsal is a type of memory rehearsal that is useful in transferring information into long-term memory. This type of rehearsal is effective because it involves thinking about the meaning of the information and connecting it to other information already stored in memory.
6 marks each
Outline research into the encoding, capacity and duration of the sensory register
**SPERLING 1960
**
CAPCITY
In the original experiment, Sperling (1960) flashed grids of letters in 3 x 4 format on screens for
1/20th of a second and participants on average recalled 4/5 letters correctly. For example, F, C, H,
D, J
However, Sperling changed the method slightly to a partial report procedure. In this task participants had to
recall the letters from a specified row as indicated by a high pitch (top row) medium pitch (middle row) or low
pitched (bottom row) tone. On average participants remembered at least 3 letters e.g. J, R, P.
Participants did not know which they line they would be asked to recall, yet the participants were able to recall
any information from the grid. This suggests that all the 12 letters in the grid had been available in the
participants’ sensory register for recall, thus demonstrating the capacity of the sensory register is larger than 4/5 (37%)
letters (as proposed in the original experiment). Various sizes shown. Performance did not significantly differ between the various matrix sizes
ENCODING
Method:
1. Participants: 12 individuals
2. Presentation: Briefly flashed matrices of letters (either whole or partial)
3. Task: Participants were asked to recall as many letters as possible from the matrix
4. Variations:
a. Whole-report condition: Participants had to recall all the letters
b. Partial-report condition: A tone indicated which row of letters to recall
C. Findings:
1. Whole-report condition:
a. On average, participants recalled approximately 4.5 out of 12 letters (37%)
b. Performance declined as the matrix size increased
c. Letters from the beginning and end of the matrix were recalled more accurately
2. Partial-report condition:
a. Participants could recall nearly 100% of letters (evidence of iconic memory)
b. Recall was best when the tone was presented immediately after the matrix disappeared
DURATION
A. Aim:
1. To examine the duration of the sensory register
B. Method:
1. Participants: 12 individuals
2. Presentation: Flashed matrices of letters, followed by varying delays before recall
3. Task: Participants were asked to recall as many letters as possible from the matrix
C. Findings:
1. Immediate recall after the matrix presentation resulted in the highest accuracy
2. Performance declined rapidly as the delay between matrix presentation and recall increased
3. After a delay of 1 second, recall reduced significantly
4. By 3 seconds, participants could recall very few letters
Outline research into the capacity of STM
Jacobs (1887) conducted the first systematic study on the capacity of memory. Participants were presented with a sequence of digits or letters and required to repeat them back in the same order (for example, 6,3,8,9,4,7,2 or G,S,T,J,W,V,K,L). The pace was controlled at half second intervals using a metronome. The longest list of sequences that was correct 50% of the time was taken as the participant’s digit span. The number of digits presented in each trial gradually increased until participants were unable to accurately recall the sequence.
Jacobs found that participants recalled more digits than letters. The average span for digits was 9.3, whereas it was 7.3 for letters. Jacobs also found that capacity increased steadily with age; in one sample of school girls he found that 8 year olds
remembered an average of 6.6 digits whereas for 19 year olds it was 8.6 digits.
The capacity is usually phrased as 7 + or – 2, so the capacity of STM is known as 7+ or – 2 items.
In further research, Miller found that not only could people recall about 7 individual items, but could also recall 7 chunks of information. Miller suggested that the capacity for STM is 7 ± 2 chunks (in other words, nearly all people can recall between 5 and 9 small chunks of information).
Outline reserach into the duration of STM
Peterson and peterson (1959)
Procedure
Participants are given a trigram (three-letter nonsense syllable) and then asked to count backwards from a certain number for a specified time. After intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds participants were asked to stop counting and to repeat the trigram.
Findings
Peterson & Peterson found that the longer the interval the less accurate the recall. At 3 seconds, around 80% of the trigrams were correctly recalled, whereas at 18 seconds only 10% were correctly recalled.
Outline research into the encoding of STM
Baddeley(1966) divided participants into groups (independent groups design) and gave them different lists of words to
learn:
- Acoustically similar words (they sound the similar) e.g. man, mad, map
- Acoustically dissimilar words e.g. pen, day few
- Semantically similar words (they mean similar things) e.g. great, big, large
- Semantically dissimilar words e.g. hot, old, late
In the short term memory condition they had to recall the words in the correct order immediately after hearing them.
Results: In STM, recall of acoustically similar lists were remembered poorly, with a correct recall of about 10%. With the other lists, accurate recall was much better, between 60% – 80%, with acoustically dissimilar words recalled the best.
Conclusion: as acoustically dissimilar words were recalled more accurately than acoustically similar words, there must be some acoustic confusion during recall, which suggests that coding is acoustic. As there was little difference in recall for the semantically similar and dissimilar words, this would suggest that meaning is not the coding used in STM.
Outline research into the duration of LTM
**Bahrick et al. (1975)
**
Aimed to investigate the duration of long term memory to see if memories can last over decades, and thus support the idea that the duration of memory can be a lifetime.
A sample of 392 American ex-high school students aged from 17-74 was studied. They were asked to remember
the names of their classmates (free recall) and they were then shown faces and names of classmates and asked if they recognised them.
The accuracy of participants recall could be assessed by using their high-school year-books, which contained
both pictures and names. 50 photos were used
FINDINGS
- photo recognition 15 yrs after was 90%
- photo recognition 48 yrs after was 70%
- Free recall was less accurate: 60% after 15 years and 30% after 48 years.
- Bahrick et al concluded that peoples’ long tem memories can last for their whole life, even though they may weaken over time.
- Recognition is better than recall.
Outline research into the encoding of LTM
Baddeley (1966) divided participants into groups (independent groups design) and gave them different lists of words to learn:
- Acoustically similar words (they sound the similar) e.g. man, mad, map
- Acoustically dissimilar words e.g. pen, day few
- Semantically similar words (they mean similar things) e.g. great, big, large
- Semantically dissimilar words e.g. hot, old, late
In the long term memory condition they had to recall the words in the correct order 20 minutes after hearing them.
Results: In LTM, recall of semantically similar lists were recalled the worst, with a correct recall of 55%. With the
other lists, accurate recalled was much better, between 70% – 85%, with acoustically dissimilar words recalled the best.
Conclusion: as semantically dissimilar words were recalled more accurately than semantically similar words,
there must be some semantic confusion in LTM during recall, which suggests that coding is semantic. As there was little difference in recall for the acoustically similar and dissimilar words, this would suggest that the sound of the words is not the coding used in LTM
4 key components of the WMM
- central executive (key
component) - phonological loop, visuo-spatial
sketchpad, episodic buffer (3 slave
systems)
Who proposed the WMM
The WMM was proposed by Baddley and hitch (1974), as an explanation of how the STM is organised and how it functions
Outline the Central Executive
- The CE has a very limited processing capacity and does not store information
- The CE has a ‘supervisory’ role as it controls, manipulates and processes information that flows to and from slave systems
- The CE gathers information from different sources, organizes the slave systems and shifts between tasks
Outline the phonological loop
- The phonological loop deals with auditory/acoustic information (sound and verbal information) and is vital for learning languages
- The PL consists of 2 components, the first being the phonological store
- The phonological store is the inner ear, it uses sound-based code to store information
- Information decays after 2s, unless rehearsed by the articulatory process
- The articulatory rehearsal component is the outer ear, it can revive memory traces
- The articulatory rehearsal component rehearses information verbally through repetition
- It has a time-based capacity of 2s
Outline the visuo spatial sketchpad
- The visuo-spatial sketchpad processes visual and spatial information (how things look and where they are) and contains 3 components:
- Visual components: how something looks, spatial components: distance between 2 things, kinaesthetic components: to do with movement
- visual cache, -> form and colour. inner scribe -> spatial n movement
- 3 to 4 items
Outline the episodic buffer
Baddely (2000) , the episodic buffer is a general store that allows both sound and visual information to
be bound together.
It integrates information from the other systems and also offers a sense of time sequencing.
It records events (episodes) that are happening and sends information to LTM.
Like all the systems in working memory, it has a limited capacity.
Compare and contrast the MMM with the WMM
SIMILARITIES
- Both models acknowledge that information comes in through the senses.
- Both models acknowledge
that short-term memory has a
limiter capacity and duration. - Both models acknowledge that the rehearsal of short- term memory leads to long- term memory.
DIFFERENCES
- According to the MSM, there is a single short-term memory store, while according to the WMM, there are three short-term memory storage systems.
- The WMM includes the central executive, which reflects how information comes together to build a bigger picture.
- The WMM can explain multi-tasking,
while the MSM cannot.
Who proposed LTM?
TULVING (1972)
List the 3 types of LTM as suggested by Tulving
Episodic, semantic, procedural
key terms
Outline episodic memory
personal
birthday
details - context and emotions
declarative
time stamped
key terms
Outline semantic memory
facts and knowledge
abstract/ concrete
paris
declarative
time stamped
less personal, large store constant
constantly being added to
key terms
Outline procedural memory
how to do things, learned skills
bike
repeated practise
non- declarative
not time stamped
3 things to consider when describing an LTM memory store
- declarative or not
- time stamped or not
- definition
- example
- background info
What brain areas store episodic, semantic and procedural memories?
episodic = hippocampus
semantic = temporal lobe
preocedural = cerebellum
eh
st
pc
aim method findings conclusion investigator year
Outline patient HM case study
Milner (1962) in case study of patient HM found that HM suffered from severe epilepsy, leading to removal of his hippocampus; post-surgery he was unable to transfer episodic and semantic information (explicit) but could learn procedural tasks (implicit).
What are the 2 explanations of forgetting
Interference and retrieval failure
What is proactive interference?
- Proactive is past learning interfering with new learning
- For example, your old mobile number preventing you from being able to remember your new mobile number
What’s retroactive interference
- Retroactive is recent learning interfering with past learning
- For example: the memory of your new car registration number prevents recall of your previous car registration number.
- Miller 1900 was the first to investigate this
What is interference?
4 must include key terms?
- Interference happens when two pieces of information conflict with each other, resulting in forgetting of one or both, or in some distortion of the memory.
- Interference explains forgetting of similar information in the LTM. Though available we can’t get access to the information in LTM, although it is still available.
Outline research into retroactive interference
**Postman and Underwood 1960
**- A research study to investigate if new learning interferes with previous learning.
- Participants were divided into two groups. Group A were asked to learn a list of word pairs i.e. cat, tree, they were then asked to learn a second list of word pairs where the second paired word was different i.e. cat, glass.
- Group B were asked to learn the first list of word pairs only. Both groups were asked to recall the first list of word pairs.
- Group B recall of the first list was more accurate than the recall of group A.
- This suggests that learning items in the second list interfered with participants’ ability to recall the list due to it being similar.
- This is an example of retroactive interference.
What is retrieval failure?
Retrieval failure is a form of forgetting that occurs when we don’t have the necessary external or internal cues to access memory
Can you describe the 2 types of retrieval failure?
One of which is **state dependent forgetting **which occurs where physical state for learning and recall is different (e.g., a different mood).
The other type of retrieval failure is **context dependent forgetting **which occurs where environment for learning and recall is different (e.g., a different room).
What is the Encoding Specificity Principle, and who proposed it?
The encoding specificity principle investigated by Tulving 1983, where cues help retrieval if the same cues are present at encoding and retrieval.
For example, if you revise at college, you are more likely to retrieve the information than you are if you revise at home.
The closer the retrieval cue to the original cue, the better the cue works.
1974
Outline research investigating the effect of misleading information on eyewitness testimony
Aim: to test their hypothesis that the language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory
Procedure: asked people to estimate the speed of motor vehicles using different forms of questions as a lab experiment
7 films of traffic accidents, 5 to 30 secs. 45 university students
“About how fast were the cars going when they (smashed/collided/bumped / hit / contacted) each other?”
Findings: Smashed was 40.8mph, contacted was 31.8mph
Conclusion: verb conveyed an impression of the speed the car was traveling and this altered the participants’ perceptions.
factors affecting ewt
misleading info, post event discussion and anxiety
Outline research investigating the effect of post‐event discussion on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
GABBERT ET AL. 2003
The sample comprised 60 students from the University of Aberdeen and 60 older adults recruited from a local community
METHOD
Participants watched a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet. The participants were either tested individually (control group) or in pairs (co‐witness group). The participants in the co‐witness group were told that they had watched the same video; however, they had in fact seen different perspectives of the same crime and only one person had actually witnessed the girl stealing. Participants in the co‐witness group discussed the crime together. All of the participants then completed a questionnaire, testing their memory of the event.
FINDINGS
71% of the witnesses in the co‐witness group recalled information they had not actually seen and
60% said that the girl was guilty, despite the fact that they had not seen her commit a crime.
CONCLUSION
These results highlight the issue of post‐event discussion and the powerful effect this can have on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
Outline reasearch investigating the effect of anxiety on eyewitness testimony
JOHNSON AND SCOTT 1976
PROCEDURE
To test this effect Johnson and Scott (1976) asked participants to sit in a waiting room where they heard an argument in an adjoining room and then saw a man run through the room carrying either a pen covered in grease (low anxiety condition) or a knife covered in blood (high anxiety, ‘weapon focus’ condition). Participants were later asked to identify the man from a set of photographs.
FINDINGS
The findings supported the idea of the weapon focus effect.
- Mean accuracy was 49% in identifying the man in the pen condition
- Compared with 33% accuracy in the knife condition.
- Loftus et al. (1987) showed that anxiety does focus attention on central features of a crime (e.g.
the weapon). The researchers monitored eyewitnesses’ eye movements and found that the presence of a weapon caused attention to be physically drawn towards the weapon itself and away from other things such as the person’s face.
What is the weapon focus effect?
The view that a weapon in a criminal’s hand distracts attention (because of the anxiety it creates) from other features and therefore reduces the accuracy of identification.
Who suggested the yerkes-dodson effect? How did he propose this?
Kenneth Deffenbacher (1983) reviewed 21 studies of the effects of anxiety on eyewitness memory.
He found that 10 of these studies had results that linked higher arousal levels to increased eyewitness accuracy while 11 of them showed the opposite.
What is meant by the yerkes-dodson effect accounting for inconsistency in findings on anxiety and EWT?
Deffenbacher suggested that the Yerkes—Dodson effect (see left) can account for this apparent inconsistency. According to this principle there would be occasions when anxiety/arousal is only moderate and then eyewitness accuracy would be enhanced. When anxiety/arousal is too extreme then accuracy will be reduced.
What is cognitive interview?
The cognitive interview (CI) is a method of interviewing eyewitnesses about what they can recall from a crime scene or event
It was developed as a way of improving EWT to enhance recall and thus lead to a more accurate conviction of the perpetrator
What are the 4 techniques of cognitive interview?
recall everything’, ‘reverse the order’, ‘change perspective’ and ‘reinstate the context
What is context reinstatement?
re-creating the context including details of the environment e.g. the weather and the individual’s emotional state
What is recall in reverse order?
Trying to recount the scene in a different chronological order for example, from the end to the beginning
What is recall from a changed perspective?
Recall the event, but this time, from the perspective of another witness/ the victim, etc
What is report everything?
Recall the maximum amount of information, even if it appears to have little relevance, appears trivial, or is accorded a lower level of confidence.
Geiselman et al. (1985)
Geiselman et al. (1985) carried out a study where participants were shown a video of a violent crime and asked to recall the events
What did Fisher (1999) find
CI produced 46% more detail, 90% more accurate than standard police interviews
What is CI based on? (Tulving)
The encoding specificity principle investigated by Tulving 1983, where cues help retrieval if the same cues are present at encoding and retrieval.
Name 2 subsections of the sensory register
Iconic memory deals with visual sensing, echoic memory deals with auditory sensing
