Cognitive Flashcards
Memory
The process by which we retain info about events that have happened in the past
STM Capacity
Very limited capacity 7 +/- 2 - Miller’s magic 7
LTM Capacity
Potentially unlimited = hard to measure
Millers Magic 7
Tested capacity of STM & found = 7 +/- 2 meaning in every day life we may only remember 7 numbers / letters
Digit Span Test
Jacob’s 1887
Given number of digits & Ptp asked to remember in order - inc by 1 digit each time until can no longer remember in order
= 443 females (8-19) North London collegiate school - mean digit span = 9.3 & letter span = 7.3
Strengths of Miller’s Magic 7
Theory is based on & supported by research e.g., Jacob’s
J’s research = based on systematic & replicable procedure - Digit span shown as reliable & valid by others
Weaknesses of Miller’s Magic 7
J’s research done in 1800s may not = well controlled - could be affected by confounding variables
M’s theory that ppl can remember as many chunks as letters = disproved - shorter span for longer chunks - Simon 1974
Cowan 2001 reviewed a variety of studies into STM & concluded it is likely to be limited to about 4 chunks
Some researchers have looked at STM capacity for visual info & 4 items = limit
M’s work based on others work may have made mistakes
Strengths of Jacob’s Study
Based on systematic & replicable procedure - shown to be r & v by others
In controlled environment & large num of ptps = gen to large group of ppl
Created objectifiable method
Weaknesses of Jacob’s study
May = IDs
Cannot be gen to rest of society only = young girls
May not have been well controlled like today - confounding variables
STM Duration
Limited 18-30 seconds
Most ppl keep info longer by rehearsing- repeating keeps memory active
LTM Duration
Unlimited theoretically whole life
Peterson & Peterson 1959 Procedure
Investigated probability of recalling info when rehearsal = prevented
Lab exper Repeated Measures 24 intro psych students at Indiana Uni
Ptp given a 3 letter trigram & a number to count back from in 3s / 4s when red light appeared recall = 3-18s
Peterson & Peterson 1959 Findings
As delay inc recall ability decreased
Verbal repetition prevents rehearsal from taking place so items being learnt = lost - lasted approx 18 secs
Peterson & Peterson 1959 Criticisms
Nonsense trigrams in a lab = low eco val
Relates to 1 aspect of memory & may not apply to all aspects (semantic, episodic & procedural)
Students aren’t like everyone else - clever & younger
Psych students may try to guess the aim may change behav - DCs
Single blind & double blind can combat
Research into STM Duration
STM = short duration - P&P suped by Sebrechts (1989) - Ptps asked to unexpectedly recall 3 words did well if recall = immediate after 4 = almost 0 - sups limited duration w/o rehearsal / processing
M recent research shows STM duration is not as P&P thought - Naire (1999) thinks can = 96 secs
Research into STM Duration Criticisms
In Naire’s study ptps were asked to recall the same items across trials earlier studies used dif items could lead to interference dec recall
Info remains in STM for quite a while unless overwritten / replaced
Bahrick Procedure
Aimed to investigate VLTM in a natural setting w/ personal significance - comp verbal & visual
Sample - 400 Ptp 17-74 various tests - year book used to ensure accuracy
1. Free recall names in grad class 2. Photo Rec 50 photos from their class 3. Name Rec x school friends
Bahrick Findings
Tested w/in 15 yrs = approx 90% accurate faces & names
After 48 = 80% for name & 70% for face
Free recall less good 15 yrs = 60% 48 = 30% - LTM lasts longer if visual than verbal as older free recall dec = harder to retrieve w/o stimulus
Bahrick Conclusions
Evidence of VLTM - some loss - verbal almost as good as visual - recog better than recall - need stimulating
Bahrick Criticisms
Could have looked at yearbook recently - could recall m info - may have met friends recently
Some may know m / some old have mem probs
Eco val not lab exper
Encoding
Initial learning of info = how info from sensory input is changed into a form it can be stored
E.g., a word seen may be stored is encoded into a sound / meaning
1st stage of process of memory involves processing info not same in LTM & STM
Visual Encoding
Images
Elaborative Encoding
Relating to prior knowledge
Tactile Encoding
Touch
Organisational Encoding
Categorising
Acoustic Encoding
Sound
Semantic Encoding
By meaning
Baddeley 1966
Aim: asses coding in STM (mainly acoustic) & LTM (mainly semantic)
Tested affects of acoustic & semantic similarity recall on 75 Ptp
4 groups given word list - either similar / dissimilar a / s
At recall found ptps had difficulty in remembering acoustically similar words in STM but not LTM
Semantically similar words easy for STM not LTM
Baddeley 1966 Strengths
Had controls to prevent extraneous variables from confounding results
Poor hearing could have affected - given hearing test only perfect = used
Took place under controlled conditions in lab = internal val
Baddeley 1966 Weaknesses
Used meaningless tasks & stimuli lacked eco val
Some experiments have also shown visual codes used in STM - Brandimore (1992) ptps used visual coding in STM if given visual tasks & prevented from rehearsal b4 recall
Normally we translate visual images into verbal codes but when rehearsal = prevented found to have used visual codes
MSM Forgetting
STM has a capacity of 7+/-2 units of info if = full info will become displaced (leads to forgetting)
STM has limited duration b4 it needs to be transferred to LTM if runs our info will decay (leads to forgetting)
Sensory Store
Iconic store - visual input - what we see
Echoic store - for auditory - what we hear
Haptic store - tactile input - what we touch
Baddeley 1988
Purpose of visual store is to allow us to integrate visual info we exper to = a smooth continuous visual exper
Have to hold SM info from 1 image during a few mili-sec it takes b4 next image is presented
Another func = sift incoming sensory info to avoid overload
SM holds image for a few seconds whilst scanned to decide when attention should go & passed for process
Sperling 1960
Ptps asked to stare at cross on screen - shown word grid for 50 milk seconds - asked to recall as many as possible could recall 4-5 aware of m
Change technique = 3 tones 1 for each row show grid & tone played immediately after - average recall = 3 - could have been any row but memory fades too quickly
While thing = 5 recalled (42%) but 1 row = 3 recalled (75%)
Sperling 1960 Evaluation
= reliable high control levels
May lack validity doesn’t reflect everyday memory use
Ethical issues = limited right to w/d & debrief = NB due to potential bad performance perception
Glanzer & Cunitz (1966)
Condition 1 immediate recall
Condition 2 distractor task
Serial Position Effect
Words better recalled from start - primary effect - words = rehearsed & transferred to LTM
Words better recalled from end - recency effect - in STM at start if recall
Middle = less recall
Glanzer & Cunitz (1966) Condition 2
distractor task disrupted recency effect - words from last part not recalled well = displaced in STM but earlier words not affected as rehearsal meant they had gone into LTM
Central Executive
Has overall control - sets task goals - Directs attention to task
Monitors & corrects errors
Starts rehearsal process
Determines how resources are allocated
Limited capacity = key component
Slave Systems
Support CE - can be used as storage systems
frees up CE capacity for m demanding tasks
Have separate responsibilities
Phonological Loop
Sometimes called inner voice - deals w/ auditory info & preserves word order - limited capacity
Baddeley (1986) subdivided into articulatory process (holds words heard / seen & silently repeats) & phonological store (inner ear holds words heard)
Visuo-spatial Sketchpad
Used when planning spatial tasks = limited capacity
Visual / spatial info stored
Subdivided - Logie (1995) passive visual store & visual cache
linked to inner scribe = rehearsal mechanism
Episodic Buffer
Baddeley added 2000 realised model needed general store - slave systems deal w/ specific info type
CE has no storage capacity = extra storage & integrates info from other areas
Baddeley & Hitch (1974) Positive Evaluation
M detail than MSM - dual task expert = used - struggled to complete 2 verbsl / visual tasks = limited capacity - when 1 verbal & 1 visual could complete = 2 stores
Brain damaged patients KF had visual STM X verbal capacity - suggests = 2 stores nut = unique & individualistic not gen
Baddeley & Hitch (1974) Negative Evaluation
Doesn’t describe LTM link - Cowan (1998) suggested that to explain abilities e.g., text comprehension WMM should have LTM activation - need LTM to understand STM
Some areas = vague & inaccurate some psychs = CE = too vague & doesn’t explain anything probs sev components (Shah & Miyake)
Doesn’t take into account other STM forms - Berz (1995) X musical memory - can listen to instrumental w/o impairing performance on other acoustic tasks
Types of LTM
Tulving (1985) = 1st to realise = 3 types & MSM = too simplistic & inflexible