Cognitive Approach - Paper 1 Flashcards
Models of Memory - MSM
Peterson & Peterson
Lab study
Trigrams: Meaningless consonant triplets (e.g. XTB, MPT, PTR, etc.)
Aim: To investigate the duration of short-term memory, and provide empirical evidence for the multi-store model.
Participants: 24 psychology students
Methodology:
Measured the duration of the short-term store by having participants remember trigrams
Distraction: To prevent rehearsal participants were asked to count backwards out loud in threes or fours from a specified random number until they saw a red light appear.
Participants were asked to recall trigrams after intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds.
Results:
The longer the interval delay the less trigrams were recalled.
Participants were able to recall 80% of trigrams after a 3 seconds delay.
However, after 18 seconds less than 10% of trigrams were recalled correctly.
Conclusion:
Short-term memory has a limited duration when rehearsal is prevented.
It is thought that this information is lost from short-term memory from trace decay.
The results of the study also show the short-term memory is different from long-term memory in terms of duration. Thus supporting the multi-store model of memory.
No ethical issues:
Gain consent and debrief them after
low ecological validity
Learning nonsense trigrams is not a day-to-day activity, so the task lacks mundane realism.
lack population validity
Well-controlled lab study.
internal validity - instructions to people were standardized and extraneous variables were controlled.
Multi-Store Model of Memory
The multi-store model is an explanation of memory proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin which assumes there are three unitary (separate) memory stores, and that information is transferred between these stores in a linear sequence.
The three main stores are the sensory memory, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM).
Schema Theory
Cognitive schemas: mental representations that organize our knowledge, beliefs and expectations.
Schemas derive from prior experience. We have schemes (and possibly need them) to understand and simplify the world around us.
There are many different types of schemas including social schemas, scripts and self-schemas.
Social schemas: mental representations about various groups of people (connects to stereotypes).
Scripts: sequences of expected behavior for a given situation.
Self-schemas: mental representations about ourselves.
Schemas increase information processing efficiency, form a set of expectations and are generally resistant to change.
They can lead to distortion of memory.
Schema Theory Memory Processes
Encoding: Transfer sensory image into a memory
Storage: Maintain the memory
Retrieval: Using the stored information for decision making, problem solving, and thinking.
Schema Theory
Bransford and Johnson
Script schemas enable us to make predictions and they can guide our behavior in particular situations.
Aim: To show that activating particular schemas can improve the effectiveness of our processing, comprehension, and recall of new information.
Participants:
Experiment 1: 50 participants were divide into five groups of ten
Experiment 2: 52 participants were divided into three different groups
Methodology:
Participants had to read a passage that sounded rather vague and ambiguous.
The title of the passage is “Doing Laundry”
Not all of the participants were aware of the title before they listened to the passage that was read to them.
There 3 conditions:
Condition 1: they were told the title of the passage before
Condition 2: they were told the title of the passage after
Condition 3: were not told the title of the passage at all
After the participants listened to the passage being read, they were asked to rate their comprehension of the passage and recall as much of the story they could remember.
Results:
The average out of 18 points
Condition 1: around 6. They also gave a self-reported higher rate of comprehension than other two groups
Condition 2: 2.6
Condition 3: 2.8
Conclusion: (implications)
The study shows that schemas enhance memory in all stages (encoding, storage, and retrieval)
shows the function of schemas which is making them unable to process information more efficiently and improving comprehension of new information.
Ethical because there was informed consent, not deception, were debriefed, they could withdraw
total control is impossible
artificial (lacks mundane realism)
biased results
since the sample size was so small, it cannot be generalized
lacks ecological validity
cause and effect relationship
increased control and accuracy
objectivity
standardization
internal validity
Thinking and Decision Making
Thinking and Decision Making
Reconstructive Memory
Reconstructive memory is a theory of memory recall, in which the act of remembering is influenced by various other cognitive processes including perception, imagination, semantic memory and beliefs, amongst others.
Reconstructive Memory
two laboratory experiments, both of which used an independent measures design.
Aim: To investigate how information supplied after an event (in the form of a leading question) influences an eyewitness’ memory for that event.
Participants: 45 students from the University of Washington.
Methodology:
They were each shown the same seven film-clips of traffic accidents that ranged from 5-30 seconds long.
They were then asked to write an account of the accident they had just seen and asked to answer some specific questions, one of which was the critical question, to do with the speed of the vehicles involved in the collision.
There were 5 conditions in the experiment, each with 9 Ps, and the IV was manipulated by means of wording of the questions. The condition depended on the word the Ps heard when being asked their specific question.
critical question:
“About how fast were the cars going when they smashed/collided/bumped/hit/contacted each other?”
Results:
Mean speed given for each of the different verbs:
smashed: 40.8 mph
collided: 39.3 mph
bumped: 38.1 mph
hit: 34.0 mph
contacted: 31.8 mph
These results show that the phrasing of the question brought about a change in speed estimate. The verb ‘smashed’ elicited a higher speed estimate that the verb ‘contacted’.
Conclusion:
The results could have been due to a distortion in the memory of the participant due to the way the critical question was asked.
The results could also be due to response bias factors, in which case the Ps are not sure of the exact speed and so adjust their answers to fit in with the expectations of the questioner (demand characteristics).
Consent - they had consent
Withdraw - participants would have been able to withdraw but may have been hard
Informed consent - they didn’t have informed consent
lacks ecological validity because it was not typical of a real life situation.
Can create a causal relationship.
Cognitive Bias
Confirmation bias: a natural tendency to focus on and remember information that is consistent with existing beliefs or opinions.
Cognitive Bias
Buchanan and Lovallo
Cortisol: stress hormone released by the adrenal gland
Amygdala: A limbic system structure involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear and aggression.
Hypothalamus: A neural structure that sends and receives signals
Aim: To explore the effects the release of cortisol on memories of emotional information.
Participants: 48 participants (24 male/female)
Methodology:
Healthy participants (screened for psychiatric and neurological conditions)
Double-blind, independent samples design
Participants received 20mg of cortisol or a placebo
They were then shown a range of images, either pleasant scenes (eg. nice food, mountain scenery), unpleasant (e.g. disfigured people, threatening weapons) scenes or neutral scenes (e.g. a bicycle). The images were shown to participants on a TV.
Participants ranked how emotionally arousing they found the images.
One week later the participants’ memories of the images were tested (they were not told about the memory test beforehand)
Results:
both groups remembered the emotionally arousing images better than the neutral images.
the cortisol group remembered significantly more emotionally arousing images than the control group. The strongest effect was found in cued memory – when participants where given a category title (e.g. injured people, food, sports) and asked to recall the images.
Conclusion:
amygdala’s interaction with the hypothalamus causing the release of cortisol may result in consolidation of memory.
stress from images.
Extraneous variables controlled - because lab study
The influence of emotion on other cognitive processes
Buchanan and Lovallo
Cortisol: stress hormone released by the adrenal gland
Amygdala: A limbic system structure involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear and aggression.
Hypothalamus: A neural structure that sends and receives signals
Aim: To explore the effects the release of cortisol on memories of emotional information.
Participants: 48 participants (24 male/female)
Methodology:
Healthy participants (screened for psychiatric and neurological conditions)
Double-blind, independent samples design
Participants received 20mg of cortisol or a placebo
They were then shown a range of images, either pleasant scenes (eg. nice food, mountain scenery), unpleasant (e.g. disfigured people, threatening weapons) scenes or neutral scenes (e.g. a bicycle). The images were shown to participants on a TV.
Participants ranked how emotionally arousing they found the images.
One week later the participants’ memories of the images were tested (they were not told about the memory test beforehand)
Results:
both groups remembered the emotionally arousing images better than the neutral images.
the cortisol group remembered significantly more emotionally arousing images than the control group. The strongest effect was found in cued memory – when participants where given a category title (e.g. injured people, food, sports) and asked to recall the images.
Conclusion:
amygdala’s interaction with the hypothalamus causing the release of cortisol may result in consolidation of memory.
stress from images.
Extraneous variables controlled - because lab study
