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A-Level Psychology (edexcel) > Cognitive > Flashcards

Cognitive Flashcards

1
Q

What does the Sensory memory store with?

A
  • visual and auditory information that passes through our senses quickly
  • doesn’t last long, spontaneous decay
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2
Q

What are the 3 processes of memory?

A
  1. Encoding 2. Storage 3. Retrieval
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3
Q

Who proposed the Multi-store model of memory?

A

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

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4
Q

What are the parts of the multi-store model?

A

stimulus from environment - sensory register - short term store - long term store

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5
Q

Explain the sensory register.

A
  • iconic store = visual
  • echoic store = sound/acoustic
  • duration less than half a second
  • high capacity- unable to measure
  • encoded- attention, means info goes into further memory system
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6
Q

Explain the short term memory store.

A
  • capacity Miller’s 1956 magic number 7(+-)2
  • Baddeley: encoded acoustically
  • Peterson&Peterson: between 18 & 30 secs
  • maintenance rehearsal = into long term memory
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7
Q

Explain peterson and peterson’s research on duration of stm

A

sample of 24 psychology students read meaningless trigrams (e.g. THG, XWV) then counted backwards in threes or fours from a specific number to prevent rehearsal, then recall the trigrams
found that the longer the interval the less accurate the recall, 3 seconds 80% of the trigrams correctly recalled whereas 18 seconds only 10% correctly recalled, at 30 seconds 2% were recalled

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8
Q

Explain the long term memory store.

A

potentially permanent

  • unlimited capacity
  • Baddeley: encoding is semantic
  • lifetime duration (Bahrick et al)
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9
Q

Explain Bahrick 1975 research on the duration of ltm

A

392 american university graduates were shown pictures of faces from people in their yearbooks. 15 years on from graduation 90% could recall who the person was, and 50 years on 60% could, showing long term memory has the ability to store information over decades

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10
Q

What is an issue with the Multi-Store Memory model?

A

too simplistic, more parts within stores for example, stm, KF case study: visual ok but verbal not showing more than one type of stm

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11
Q

Who proposed the working memory model and when?

A

Baddeley and Hitch in 1974

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12
Q

What is the overview of the working memory model?

A

-central control system (central executive) assisted by 3 ‘slave’ subsystems (phonological loop, episodic buffer and visuospatial sketchpad)

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13
Q

What is the central executive and give the duration, capacity and encoding of it?

A

main control centre
- attentional process that focuses, divides and switches our limited attention
- monitors incoming data, allocates to sub-systems
- very limited capacity
- no storage

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14
Q

What is the phonological loop?

A
  • deals with auditory information
  • acoustic encoding
  • preserves order of info
    -made up of the phonological store (holds info in speech form for 2 secs) and articulatory process (rehearse info)
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15
Q

Who studied word length effect?

A

Baddeley, Thompson & Buchanan 1975
short word lists were recalled better than long word lists, and explain that this is due to long words requiring more time to rehearse, meaning the 2 second retention period was over before the majority of words could be subvocally rehearsed

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16
Q

What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

A

slave subsystem
- temporarily store visual and spatial info
- Logie 1995: visual cache (stores visual images), inner scribe (rehearses layout info)

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17
Q

What is the episodic buffer?

A

maintains time sequencing
combines info from other subsystems (PL and VSS) with long term memory -links to wider cognitive processes

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18
Q

What are strengths of the Working Memory model?

A

-support from lab experiments
-dual task performance studies (Baddeley et al 1975)
visual & verbal task done at same time = performance good, same as how they performed doing them separate
-2 visual tasks or 2 verbal tasks at the same time = performance declined -shows the tasks competing are for same slave subsystems

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19
Q

What are opposing arguments of the Working Memory model?

A

lack of clarity over the central executive -most important but least understood
-contains its own separate subsystems but can’t understand what they are
therefore working memory model not fully explained

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20
Q

What is a differing theory for the working memory model?

A

the multi-store model

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21
Q

What is an application of the Working Memory model?

A

understanding amnesia
-Patient KF: amnesia after brain injury, poor STM auditory, good visual memory but phonological loop damaged
-shows amnesia is not a global disorder that affects everyone in the same way

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22
Q

Who studied long term memory?

A

Tulving 1972

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23
Q

What are the 3 parts of the long term memory?

A

Episodic -Procedural -semantic

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24
Q

What is the procedural memory?

A

remembering how to do things without consciously thinking -instant recall

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25
Q

What is the episodic memory?

A

information about events we have personally experienced -times, places, associated emotions -unique to the individual

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26
Q

What is semantic memory?

A

information about non-personal events, social and cultural norms, language and general knowledge of the world

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27
Q

Strength of Tulving’s long term memory explanation

A

STRENGTH: HM case study supports it, episodic severely affected, semantic relatively intact (could remember previous ideas and opinions but couldnt form new ones) procedural memory still able to develop (repetition of tracing a star while looking in a mirror improved in accuracy each time), supports the idea of different memory stores

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28
Q

Counter argument of using the case study of HM to support Tulving’s ltm explanation

A

unable to test his memory before damage, lack of control affects validity

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29
Q

Weakness of Tulving’s long term memory explanation

A

There is now evidence that the episodic and semantic memory are interconnected, the semantic can exist without the episodic but not vice versa, showing that long-term memory is more complicated than tulvings explanation

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30
Q

Who proposed the reconstructive memory model?

A

Bartlett 1932

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31
Q

What is reconstructive memory?

A

unconsciously filling in the gaps in your memory with schemas (set of beliefs and opinions about the world)

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32
Q

What is reconstruction?

A

active process that automatically fills gaps in memory using mental schemas
a memory that is retrieved is unlikely to be the exact same as the original

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33
Q

Explain Bartlett’s war of the ghosts study on reconstructve memory

A

20 English college students read an unfamiliar Native American folk tale called the ‘War of the Ghosts’, then were asked to recall the story after 15 minutes
found that they changed unfamiliar language to fit with their own culture, e.g canoe to boat, tribe to group, story was shorter due to omission of obscure details

34
Q

How does the war of the ghosts study support the idea of schemas?

A

The participants changed unfamiliar information to information that they knew about their own culture, showing that there was influence of their learned set of beliefs about the world put into recalling the story

35
Q

What is a strength of the reconstructive memory?

A

further research support from Loftus car crash study
research is more realistic, being asked to recall an event is common in daily memory use so it externally valid

36
Q

What was Loftus study into reconstructive memory?

A

Participants were shown clips of a car crash, then were asked to guess the how fast the car was going, questions were phrased to participants differently using verbs of increasing levels of severity e.g. how fast was the car going when it contacted/hit/crashed/ smashed, into the other car
those who were told with the more severe verbs estimated the car was going faster than it was, showing their schemas about the nature of these verbs

37
Q

What is a weakness of Bartlett’s reconstructive memory?

A

study not completely controlled
-instructions not standardized, ppts experiences not consistent, hard to compare

38
Q

What is a differing theory of the reconstructive memory?

A

some memories accurate, so its wrong to suggest that all are inaccurate or affected by schemas, traumatic memories or ones of emotional significance are more likely to be remembered better

39
Q

What is an application for the reconstructive memory?

A

-useful to explain problems with witness testimony -don’t always recall accurately (Loftus) -no convictions now based on eye witness testimony alone, not trustworthy enough

40
Q

What is our classic study?

A

Baddeley 1966b

41
Q

what is the aim of baddely?

A

to investigate the influence of acoustic and semantic similarity on learning and recalling in short term and long term memory

42
Q

what is the procedure of baddeley?

A

independent groups design
1. hearing test
2. each list presented via projector, 1 word every 3 seconds
3. participants were to complete 6 tasks involving memory for digits (interference tasks)
4. asked to recall the word list in one minute by writing down the words in the correct order, repeated over 4 trials
5. groups were given a 15 minute interference task, copying digit sequences at their own pace.
6. surprise retest of the words.

43
Q

what were the 4 lists in baddeley’s experiment?

A

a. 10 acoustically similar words
b* 10 acoustically dissimilar words
c. 10 semantically similar words
d* 10 semantically dissimilar words
*control lists

44
Q

what was baddeley’s sample?

A

72 men and women from the Cambridge applied psychology research unit subject panel each had either list A, B C or D condition.

45
Q

what were the results in the acoustically similar vs dissimilar conditions?

A

trial 1: similar ones remembered slightly worse
trial 2: similar ones remembered much worse
trial 3: similar ones remembered bit worse
trial 4: no difference
retest: no difference

46
Q

what were the results in the semantically similar vs dissimilar conditions?

A

trial 1: no difference
trial 2: no difference
trial 3: no difference
trial 4: similar ones remembered slightly worse
retest: similar ones remembered much worse

47
Q

what were the conclusions of baddeley’s study?

A

participants found it harder to recall list a in the initial phase of learning, which suggests short term memory is largely acoustic - meaning acoustically similar sounding words were more difficult to encode.
later retest recall of list c was impaired compared to other lists because they were semantically similar , suggesting that encoding in ltm is largely, but not exclusively semantic.

48
Q

what are 2 strengths of baddeley?

A

high reliability
- due to the highly controlled nature of the experiment, baddeley can estabilish a cause and effect relationship between the iv (semantic or acoustic word similarity) and the dv (ltm), used a standardised procedure so its replicable
–study was scientific, controlled lab environment
high population validity
- men and women included, 72 is a relatively large sample
ev’s controlled, participants were excluded if they failed the hearing test as bad hearing can affect acoustic encoding

49
Q

what is a weakness of baddeley?

A

low ecological validity
- lab research employs use of experimental techniques that aren’t typical in the way we use memory in an everyday context. we don’t often learn lists of random monosyllabic words. therefore the ability to generalise these findings to everyday contexts is questioned.
Low population validity, sample from the Cambridge research panel therefore likely to be successfully academics which indicates good memory, the sample may have been biased towards those with better memories in general

50
Q

What is the cognitive contemporary study?

A

Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil 2012

51
Q

What were aims of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s study?

A

investigate development of phonological loop -using verbal digit span as measure of capacity -compare Spanish schoolchildren with anglo-saxton elderly adults and dementia patients

52
Q

Procedure of Sebastian and Hernandez gil

A

570 native spanish speaking children aged 5-17 volunteered from schools in madrid
those with reading writing or hearing impairments were excluded
children were split into 5 age groups: 5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-17
performed a digit span test with each digit read to them at a rate of 1 per second

53
Q

What were the findings of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s study? (general)

A

-increase in digit span with age
-significant increase to 11, rate then slowed to 17 -previously studied patients with dementia = similar digit span to 5/6 year olds

Comparison to Anglo-Saxon research showed a similar pattern of development, however the capacity of the Spanish participants phonological loop appeared less than Anglo-Saxon (average digit span of 7) due to Spanish digits being multisyllabic and taking longer to rehearse.

54
Q

Findings for sebastian and hernandez gil (statistics)

A

age: average digit span
5: 3.76
6-8: 4.34
9-11: 5.13
12-14: 5.46
15-17: 5.83

advanced dementia patients average digit span: 4.2

55
Q

What were the conclusions of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s study?

A

digit span increases with age up to adolescence
-avg digit span lower for Spanish children due to word length effect
capacity of phonological loop component is affected more by age than dementia

56
Q

Evaluate the validity of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s study?

A

control of variables -several standardized procedures -digits read aloud at constant rate for all ppts -reasonable degree of internal validity but -children not directly tested for underlying impairments, relied on parents, may have undermined validity of study

57
Q

Evaluate the reliability of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s study?

A

-has a standardised procedure so can be repeated to test reliability
-small sample size in comparison study (only 9 ppts) so results found may be over generalised (type 1 error), study may not have enough statistical power to reject null hypothesis -conclusions are questionable

58
Q

Evaluate the application of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s study?

A

understanding cognitive abilities -longer digit span = better readers and higher general intelligence -short digit span linked to learning disorders -digit span can explain crucial real life cognitive skills

59
Q

Evaluate generalisibility of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s study?

A

-digit span linked to culture -due to structural differences between languages -can’t generalize results to all cultures

conclusions about word length effect are generalisable as have been drawn all over the world ; a repetition with a Welsh sample found similar levels of digit span/ phonological loop capacity due to longer words, and Chinese research found digit spans or phonological capacity similar to those in the Anglo-Saxon research as the Chinese language also has monosyllabic numbers.

60
Q

What was the aim of our practical?

A

to investigate whether organisation Of information affects how well words are recalled

61
Q

What was the experimental hypothesis of our practical?

A

Participants will remember significantly more words from the organised list than the disorganized list

62
Q

what was the procedure of our practical?

A

-independent groups design
-opportunity sample, excluded psychology students to avoid demand characteristics
-40 ppts split into 2 conditions, 20 in organised information condition 20 in disorganized information condition
-60 seconds to read through the words Not being allowed to write them down
-60 seconds of writing down strings of numbers as of rehearsal prevention task
-60 seconds to write down as many words they could recall in the correct order

63
Q

What is the mean, median, mode, range of the amount of words recalled from the categorised word list in our practcial

A

20.3, 20, 20, 11

64
Q

What is the mean, median, mode, range of the amount of words recalled from the uncategorised word list in our practcial

A

12.3, 13.5, 13. 14

65
Q

what were the findings of our cognitive practical?

A

For the Mann Whitney U test, where the number of participants with list A was 10, and those with list B was also 10, a one-tailed hypothesis, and where p<0.01, the critical value is 19. Our observed value was 5.5. This is less than the critical value, meaning our results are significant at a level of p< 0.01. This means we accept the research hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis. As such, participants with an organized list are more likely to remember more words than those with a randomized list.

66
Q

what was the conclusion of our practical?

A

in conclusion, we accept the research hypothesis that there will be significantly more words correctly remembered by participants with categorised word lists than the randomized word lists. this supports the idea that if information is organized, for example in study notes, it will be easier to remember than disorganized information. The mean number of words recalled from the categorised list was 20.3 while the mean for the randomized list was 12.3, suggesting its easier to recall words from a categorised list.

67
Q

what is the key question for cognitive?

A

what is the best way to help children with dyslexia?

68
Q

Define the issue in our key question (dyslexia)

A

reading disorder defined as a problem in learning to recognise and decode words at a level expected for their age, but with normal comprehension levels. statistically 3-6% of the population have it but its estimated to be up to 10%. this is an issue because it can lead to economy issues; if the child is not well supported in school with their reading and writing then they could end up in low paying jobs when they have a high IQ capable of more challenging jobs.

69
Q

How are working memory and dyslexia connected/ (key question)

A

Children with dyslexia have poor short-term verbal memory
McDougall et al 1994 found poor readers had lower memory spans for words and they sound out the words more slowly
Alloway at al 2009 found that children with dyslexia have difficulty in processing and remembering speech sounds because of poor working memory

70
Q

Describe the classroom strategy of using phonics to help dyslexic children (key question)

A

Phonics is a reading strategy associated with breaking down words into sounds which these children can then associate with the patterns of the letters. If done frequently enough children will begin to automatically recognise these patterns and will not have to sound out the words, speeding up the efficiency of their reading and allowing them to keep up with their classmates

71
Q

Describe the classroom strategy of altering the teaching and learning environment (key question)

A

Using different delivery methods, for example mixing verbal delivery and written delivery, in order to avoid overloading the phonological loop
Colour coding or highlighting key information can also help the child to focus on the important things so they don’t become stressed and behind trying to figure out irrelevant words

72
Q

Describe a direct intervention in terms of helping a child with dyslexia (key question)

A

These are designed to help children with literacy difficulties by directly targeting memory skills. e.g. A study by Klingberg et al 2005 showed that a computerised ‘n back’ test (focussed on testing the working memory by tracking a moving stimulus’ previous movements, specifically the visuospatial sketchpad, the visual cache and inner scribe) found a significant improvement in duration of the working memory, with practice the participants could track back further each time.
These techniques can be used to help train the brain for children with dyslexia in particular strengthening their working memory

73
Q

What is the issue with using Direct interventions to help a child with dyslexia (key question)

A

There are questions of how well the skill can be transferred to another setting as children are affected by dyslexia in different ways, e.g. one child may struggle with the phonological loop and one child may struggle with the visual spatial side of picturing words, so the n-back test wouldn’t work for every type of dyslexia

74
Q

What is the conclusion of our key question, what strategy is best to help children with dyslexia and why?

A

Classroom strategies are best, as they are best suited to all dyslexic children and cover multiple areas of defecit in the memory asscociated with dyslexia, Also the transferability is good as not all direct interventions are individually suited to everyone whereas classroom strategies are more broad

75
Q

What are areas covered in developmental psychology in cognitive?

A

How children’s memories develop normally as they grow up from toddlers to children to adolescents (sebastian and hernandez gil)
Memory can change and degenerate as a result of disease processes such as Alzheimer’s disease

76
Q

Explain Alzheimer’s

A

alzheimers disease is a progressive degenerative neurological disorder associated with ageing affecting 1 in 20 people. categorised in memory and concentration loss, confusion, and extreme mood changes. It initially affects the working memory central executive functioning becomes impaired making complex tasks difficult to coordinate and impairing visual spatial processing. Eventually it travels around the brain and affects long-term memory, then once it reaches the brainstem its fatal

77
Q

What was Baddeley et al 2001 research on Alzheimer’s?

A

Conducted a series of attentional tests on Alzheimer’s patients and control participants involving looking for the letters Z among distraction letters. The Alzheimer’s patience performed significantly worse

78
Q

What are topics under individual differences in memory?

A

Processing speed, schemas and reconstructive Theory, episodic memory

79
Q

Explain processing speed in terms of individual differences

A

The rate at which we process and receive information differs between people, for example some people take longer to write notes because of slower processing and also less of a short-term store capacity. in a quiz for example, people to retrieve the information from their memory before other people do, making them appears as though they have a worse memory

80
Q

Explain reconstructive memory in terms of individual differences

A

We all have our own schemas, the way on which we view people, events etc can be influenced by experience affecting the way we perceive and recall information

81
Q

Explain episodic memory in terms of individual differences

A

Episodic memory is individual to each person as it is a collection of their own autobiographical events therefore there are differences in this area of long-term memory

82
Q

Explain Polombo at al 2012 research into individual differences in memory

A

598 volunteers conducted a self report survey of how good their memory is, divided into four demains: episodic, semantic, spatial and prospective
Individuals tended to score the same on semantic memory as they did on episodic memory therefore concluding that you either have a good memory or you don’t

A-Level Psychology (edexcel) (6 decks)

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