Cognitive Psychology Flashcards
What is ‘encoding’?
How sensory input is formatted by the memory system
What is ‘capacity’?
How much information can be stored
Define ‘duration’
How long the information can be held in storage
What is the capacity of the Short Term Memory
7+-2 items (Miller)
What is the duration of the Short Term Memory
30 seconds (Peterson & Peterson)
How does the Short-Term Memory encode information?
Acoustic (Baddeley)
What is the capacity of the Long-Term Memory?
Unlimited (Brady)
What is the duration of the Long-Term Memory?
Unlimited (Bahrick)
How does the Long-term memory encode information?
Semantically (Baddeley)
Who proposed the Multi-Store model of Memory?
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
Describe the Sensory Store
- Can retain information for 1-2 seconds
- Can be encoded into the STM if the person is paying attention
- Information will decay if the person isn’t paying attention
Describe the short-term memory store
- Duration of 30 seconds (Peterson & Peterson)
- Capacity of 5-9 items (Miller)
- Acoustic encoding (Baddeley)
- If the information is not subject to rehearsal, it will be displaced or it will decay
- Transferred into the LTM by rehearsal
Describe the Long-term memory store
- Unlimited capacity (Bahrick, 48 years or more)
- Unlimited duration (Brady, 2500 pictures)
- Semantic encoding (Baddeley)
Evaluate the strengths of the Multi-Store Model of Memory
+ Supported by Glanzer and Cunitz’s empirical research
+ They asked pps to remember a series of words, and proved the primary and recency effect.
+ This research gives validity to the MSM claim that there ate distinct and separate stores
Evaluate case study support of the Multi-Store Model of Memory
+ Clive Wearing suffered from herpes encephalitis inside his brain, damaging the hippocampus and causing anterograde amnesia
+ He was no longer able to store new long-term memories
+ HM contracted herpes encephalitis after surgery to correct epilepsy
+ He could no longer store long-term memories either
+ This confirms distinct separate stores of the STM and LTM
Evaluate the other explanations of the Multi-Store Model of Memory
- Over-emphasises the role of rehearsal in memory
- Some memories don’t have to be rehearsed in order to be transferred into long-term memory
- Craik & Lockhart’s Levels of Processing Theory suggests that information doesn’t need to be rehearsed to be transferred into LTM if it’s meaningful/emotional
- This means that the Multi-Store Model of Memory is reductionist
Evaluate the debates of the Multi-Store Model of Memory
- The Multi-Store Model of Memory does not describe the complexity of the processes involved; it assumes a single STM store
- KF suffered brain damage and had problems with verbal information in his STM but his memory for visual information was largely unaffected
- This shows that there are separate STM components for visual information (VSS) and verbal information (phonological loop)
- Therefore there is more than one STM store so the MSM is reductionist
Outline the case study of Clive Wearing
- Viral infection caused brain damage to the hippocampus
- Could still use his STM but could not make new memories
- Inability to rehearse information into the LTM
Outline the case study of HM
- Brain surgery to cure epilepsy; removed his hippocampus
- Unable to make new memories
- Retained his memories from before his surgery
Outline the case study of KF
- Suffered brain injury from a motorcycle accident
- Had issues with processing verbal information but could process visual information
What is anterograde amnesia?
The type of memory loss that occurs when you can’t form new memories
What is retrograde amnesia?
Where you can’t recall memories that were formed before the event that caused the amnesia
Who proposed the Working Memory Model?
Baddeley & Hitch
Describe the Central Executive
- Monitors the whole system
- Allocates information to other sections rather than acting as a storage system
- Decides how the slave systems should function
- Problem solving
Describe the Phonological Loop
- Limited capacity and duration but can be extended if refreshed using the articulatory rehearsal system
- Relies on acoustic encoding for storage
Describe the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
Stores visual and spatial information
Visual Cache: stores material on colour and shape
Inner-scribe: spatial relations which store the arrangement of objects
- Sets up and changes mental image
- Allows us to recreate images either based on something we’re seeing in real-time or something we’ve seen in the past
- Limited capacity
Describe the Episodic Buffer
Integrates material from the central executive, visuo-spatial sketchpad, articulatory-phonological loop and the LTM when the working memory wants it
Summarise the key points about the Working Memory Model
- If 2 tasks require the same component, they can’t be performed successfully together
- LTM is a passive store; it holds previously learned material for the use of STM when needed
- STM is not a unitary store
Evaluate the strengths of the Working Memory Model
+ Baddeley and Hitch proved the existence of the WMM by using dual task research
+ They asked pps to do two tasks that would utilise the visuospatial sketchpad at the same time.
+ They found that pps were able to perform the tasks separately without any difficulty, but when they did them together their performance at both was impaired because both tasks exceeded the capacity of the VSS
Evaluate a case study supporting the Working Memory Model
+ KF suffered from brain damage and had problems with verbal information in his STM, but his memory for visual information was largely unaffected
+ This shows that there are separate STM components for visual information (VSS) and verbal information (phonological loop)
Evaluate the brain scan research surrounding the Working Memory Model
+ Paulesu et al. found whilst using a PET scan that the Broca’s area was active whilst undertaking speech-based memory tasks, whereas the parietal lobe was more active in visuospatial tasks.
+ This increases the validity of the WMM’s assumptions because it is objective, replicable, empirical research
Evaluate the credibility of the Working Memory Model
- The central executive in the WMM cannot be measured directly because of its very limited capacity
- Its function must be inferred from the performance of verbal and visual tasks
- It is not falsifiable and therefore has limited scientific credibility
Evaluate the debates of the Working Memory Model
- The WMM does not explain the complexity of the LTM
- Tulving proposed that there are three different LTM components (semantic, episodic, procedural), which the WMM does not state.
- The MSM considers LTM’s processes by including maintenance rehearsal whereas the WMM doesn’t
- Therefore it is reductionist
Describe semantic memory
- The memory of facts and knowledge, e.g. ‘Paris is the capital of France’
- Like a combination of an encyclopaedia and a dictionary
- Independent of time and spatial referencing
- Fragmented input
- Retrieval is not dependent on context to aid recall
- Retrieval is possible without learning
Describe episodic memory
- Our ability to recall events, e.g. ‘my 5th birthday party’
- Like a diary, or a record of daily happenings
- Dependent on time and spatial referencing
- Continuous input
- Uses context to aid retrieval
- Susceptible to transformations from schemas e.g. leading questions and post-event discussions
Evaluate the strengths of Tulving’s explanation of long-term memory
+ Schmolck investigated the link between damage to the medial temporal lobe and the anterolateral temporal cortex and the pps performance on tests of semantic memory
+ Findings confirmed a link between impaired semantic memory and damage to the anterolateral temporal cortex
+ This shows that there are different components to LTM, as Tulving suggested
Evaluate case study support for Tulving’s explanation of long-term memory
+ HM’s episodic memory was impaired, but his semantic memory was unaffected.
+ He could understand the concept of a ‘dog’, but couldn’t remember owning a dog
+ Shows that there are different stores in LTM
Evaluate the reductionist argument in Tulving’s explanation of long-term memory
- The declarative memory systems work very closely together and perhaps are interrelated.
- It is possible to have semantic memory and not episodic (like HM), but there is no evidence for having episodic memory without semantic memory
- This shows that the relationship between the LTM stores is more complex than originally believed
Evaluate the other explanations of Tulving’s explanation of long-term memory
- Tulving originally stated that there were only two stores in long-term memory
- His theory didn’t explain procedural memory
- The case study of HM disproves that there are only two stores, because his episodic memory was damaged, but both his semantic and procedural memory were in tact because his motor skills were unaffected
- Original theory was reductionist; Tulving later revised it and included procedural memory
Evaluate applications of Tulving’s explanation of long-term memory
+ Belleville et al (2006) created an episodic memory program for people with mild memory impairment. They performed better than controls on an episodic memory tests afterwards
+ The fact that it is possible to improve one type of LTM, proving that there are different types
+ Benefit: can be used to help people with specific memory problems live more normal lives in old age
Who suggested the theory of Reconstructive Memory?
Barlett (1932)
Describe the theory of Reconstructive Memory
Barlett suggested that memory is an active reconstruction.
Memory is not a completely accurate record because we fill in gaps in our knowledge with what we think should have happened, using existing schemas.
What is a schema?
A ‘mental framework’
Assimilating: integrating new knowledge into an existing schema
Accomodating: a new schema is formed due to new information
Outline Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts study
- British pps read an unfamiliar Native American folk tale twice and reproduced it in 15 minutes
- Bartlett showed the new version to another participants, who also reproduced it after 15 mins
- He repeated this chain (serial reproduction) and tested recall over minutes, weeks, months and years
- Bartlett found that the story became shorter due to omissions, and phrases were altered to match the culture of pps (‘canoes’ to ‘boats)
- Story was changed to be more coherent and meaningful to the participants
Evaluate the strengths of Bartlett’s theory of Reconstructive Memory
+ Loftus & Palmer got American students to watch films of traffic accidents. They asked ‘how fast were the cars going when they ___ each other’, with each group asked a different question, either with smashed, collided, bumped, hit, or contacted.
+ The verb used affected the interpretation of the speed, with ‘smashed’ giving an answer of 40.5 mph, and ‘contacted’ produced 31.8
+ Expectation affects perception and therefore memory
Evaluate the credibility of Bartlett’s theory of Reconstructive Memory
- Bartlett didn’t use rigorously controlled methods and lacked objectivity
- His instructions were not standardised, so the pps experiences of the procedures were inconsistent
- Lacks reliability and validity
- Low credibility; not replicable
Evaluate the other explanations of Bartlett’s theory of Reconstructive Memory
- Reconstructive memory is perhaps true for unfamiliar, unemotional events and not all types are memories are influenced by schemas and pervious knowledge as Bartlett suggested.
- Wynn & Logie (1998) asked students to recall details or their first week at university (an unfamiliar memory at the time). They were asked to do this several times throughout the year. The accuracy of their descriptions remained the same.
- Yuille & Cutshall (1986) found that witnesses of a real-life gun shooting at a gun shop in Canada had remarkable accurate memories.
Evaluate the debates of Bartlett’s theory of Reconstructive Memory
- Does not explain how long-term memories are transferred from the short-term memory, unlike the multi-store model of memory
- Does not give as a holistic explanation of memory
- Therefore REDUCTIONIST
Evaluate the application of Barlett’s theory of Reconstructive Memory
+ Useful application to the Cognitive Interview for Eyewitness Testimonies
+ Bartlett suggests that episodic memories rely on semantic schemas to recall events that have happened. The Cognitive Interview uses ‘change order’ technique where witnesses imagine the scene of the crime in an unfamiliar order alongside ‘Change perspective’ where people recall from another person’s view.
+ Both of these methods avoid the use of schemas (prior knowledge and expectations) in accessing recall.
What were the aims of Baddeley’s study
To investigate the influence of acoustic and semantic similarity on long-term memory for word lists
Describe the sample of Baddeley’s study
Independent groups design
72 participants (male and female university psychology students) in one of four conditions:
1. Acoustically similar
2. Acoustically dissimilar
3. Semantically similar
4. Semantically dissimilar
Describe the procedure for Baddeley’s study
- 10-word lists presented visually, each word for 3 seconds
- Write down 8-digit sequences (prevent rehearsal)
- 60 seconds to recall the word list in the correct order
- Repeat 4 times
- 8-digits presented and recalled for 15 minutes (forgetting task)
- 1 minute to recall the 10 words in the correct order (forgetting test)
Describe the results of Baddeley’s study
- All word lists confused at the start, but pps soon catch up with the control group in the semantically dissimilar and acoustically similar and dissimilar lists
- Pps perform worse because the LTM gets confused retrieving words which are semantically similar
Describe the conclusions of Baddeley’s study
Long-term memory encodes words semantically
Evaluate the generalisability of Baddeley’s study
- Low generalisability
- 72 psychology students
- More likely to be attuned to research methods and may have guessed the aims, thus eliciting demand characteristics
Evaluate the reliability of Baddeley’s study
- Standardised procedures
- All pps shown the same amount of lists of 10-words, each for 3 seconds
- Standardised interference task of six 8-digit sequences before recalling the word list
- Easy to replicate
Evaluate the applications of Baddeley’s study
- The conclusion that LTM encodes semantically can help improve memorisation for exams
- Rather than repeating information, students are better advised to think about the contents meaning
Evaluate the internal validity of Baddeley’s study
+ High internal validity due to objective procedure and absence of bias
+ Participants did not have the chance to practice to improve performance (situational extraneous variable)
+ Standardised procedures = no situational extraneous variables
+ Variables were operationalised and measured objectively
Evaluate the ecological validity of Baddeley’s study
- Lab experiment: unfamiliar environment
- Low task validity: remembering word lists
Evaluate the ethics of Baddeley’s study
- Protection from harm
What were the aims of Schmolck’s 2002 Contemporary Study?
Investigate the link between damage to the medial temporal lobe & anterolateral temporal cortex, and performance on tests of semantic memory in people with amnesia.
Describe the participants in Schmolck’s 2002 Contemporary Study
Control group: 8 pps aged 74 years old
Hippocampal damage: 3, including patient HM
MTL & ATC damage: 3, all who had herpes complex encephalitis
Describe the procedure of Schmolck’s 2002 Contemporary Study
- Natural or quasi experiment
- Matched pairs design on age and education
- 9 semantic tests based on 48 line drawings. pps had to identify, sort and define 24 living and 24 non-living things which could be further assigned into categories, e.g. birds.
Describe tasks 1-4 of Schmolck’s 2002 Contemporary Study
- Naming a picture
- Semantic features
- Category fluency
- Category sorting
- Define
Describe the results Schmolck’s 2002 Contemporary Study
- Control Group: 98.9%
- Hippocampus-damaged patients: 100%
- Herpes Complex Encephalitis patients: 78.1%
- Hippocampus (MLT/HF) patients lost episodic but not semantic memory. Therefore, the hippocampus (located in the medial temporal lobe) processes episodic memories and the anterolateral cortex processes semantic memory
What were the conclusions of Schmolck’s 2002 Contemporary study
The hippocampus processes episodic memory and the anterolateral temporal cortex processes semantic memories
Evaluate the generalisability of Schmolck’s 2002 contemporary study
- Androcentric
- Control group had 1 female compared to 7 males
- Brain-damaged pps had 1 female compared to 5 males
Evaluate the reliability of Schmolck’s 2002 contemporary study
+ Standardised procedures
+ Same 48 line drawings, same 9 semantic tests, each pp scored using the same method
+ High inter-rater reliability for tests 8&9; responses were recorded and transcribed, scored on their grammar and syntax errors
Evaluate the applications of Schmolck’s 2002 contemporary study
+ Helps cognitive psychologists form new conclusions about memory as they know where semantic and episodic memories are processed
+ Benefits the scientific community and can be applied to research on other brain-damaged participants
Evaluate the internal validity of Schmolck’s 2002 contemporary study
+ Laboratory experiment = highly controlled
+ Extraneous variables controlled
+ Dependent variable was operationalised so cause & effect could be established
+ Objectively scored and therefore easily replicable
Evaluate the ecological validity of Schmolck’s 2002 contemporary study
- Low ecological validity (lab setting)
- Low task validity (low mundane realism)
- Doesn’t reflect real-life
Evaluate the ethics of Schmolck’s 2002 contemporary study
- Informed consent: pps chosen for this study have damage to their MTL and MTL+, so they may have forgotten that they agreed to participate , and they may have forgotten what the experiment was about, in which case the consent would have been invalid.
- Respect: pps may have been embarrassed or humiliated if they performed badly or incorrectly, in which case they wouldn’t have been treated with respect
How can culture influence memory?
Memory processes are universal, but schemas differ between cultures which can impact memory.
+ Harlene Hayne (2000) studied Maoris from New Zealand and found that they had the best autobiographical memory of all, recalling events from their second year of life, on average up to a year earlier than Caucasians.
How can personality influence memory?
- Introverts spend more time thinking about the past (they like to brood) and so they rehearse memories more; extroverts are more focused on the present and so pay more attention to sensory experiences. (Cox-Fuenzalisa et al. 2006)
How can developmental differences influence memory?
Memory improves with age, peaking in middle life and declining with old age.
+ Loftus et al. (1992) showed museum visitors a film then questioning them later. 26-35 year-olds were most accurate (77%) and the elderly (age 65+) group were the least accurate (56%).
How can the language you speak influence memory?
- Sebastian and Hernandez-Gill’s (2012) study suggested that since Spanish words are longer than English words, it would take longer to subvocally rehearse them.
- Thus leaves more items open to decaying sooner, therefore there are individual differences here as the digit span of a Spanish person will likely be lower than the average of an English person.
What are the common symptoms of dementia?
- Loss of memory
- Difficulty in understanding
- Depression
- Mood swings
- Exhaustion
What demographic of the population is affected by dementia?
8-10% of people over 65
How much does the UK spend annually on dementia?
27 billion pounds
How many people are affected by dementia in the UK?
850,000 (estimated to be 1 million by 2025)
How does dementia occur?
- Proteins build up in the neurons, firstly in the hippocampus (episodic memories and navigation). Therefore, the patients first fail to remember recent events and where they are in a familiar environment
- Disease spreads outwards to the temporal region, resulting in the loss of declarative memories
- Spreads to frontal lobe (decision making)
- Cerebral cortex (long-lasting memories are forgotten)
- Procedural memories are the last to deteriorate
How can validation therapy be used to help treat people suffering with dementia?
Rather than continually being told that they are wrong and deluded about things, the residents can live out their imagined lives. A therapist works with the patient, accepting their disorientation and validating their thoughts and feelings.
How can cognitive stimulation be used to treat people suffering with dementia?
It can slow down the progress of the disease as well as reduce stress and loneliness.
What are examples of cognitive stimulation?
- Puzzles
- Playing games
- Discussing something as a group
- Using music
- Introducing patients to pets
Describe Hogewey
Hogeway is a dementia village where the residents can live in the past, with their personal preferences (e.g. preferred foods) and without being contradicted or confused
How can Tulving’s LTM be applied to Hogeway?
Forgetting episodic memories is due to a lack of context and cues. The residents can be active and calm if they are surrounded by a familiar context and cues from their younger lives, such as photographs of family and identity memorabilia.
What is an Eyewitness Testimony?
An account/recall of an event or crime given to the court or jury. Juries tend to rely on the information given by eyewitnesses to reach a verdict, especially when there is a lack of forensic evidence or CCTW footage in the case.
What percentage of false convictions are caused by an inaccurate EWT?
72% (Innocence project), therefore it is a key issue in society.
Give an example of a wrongful conviction due to an eyewitness testimony:
- Ronald Cotton
- Wrongfully convicted of rape
- Srved 10 years of his life in jail before he was lawfully exonerated due to DNA evidnce
How much does the UK spend on one prisoner annually?
48,000 pounds
What are the political and economic ramifications of people losing faith in the judiciary system?
- Law and order will lose power as people can go about their lives committing crimes and believing EWTs may misidentify them
- Economies would suffer (UK pays 48,000 for one prisoner annually)
How can Bartlett’s theory of reconstructive memory be applied to EWT?
+ RM theory states that memory is an active reconstruction and that our schemas fill in the gaps of memory with what we think should have happen, meaning that Eye-witness testimonies are subject to reconstruction based on an individual’s schemas and may be inaccurate, especially if they have witnessed a crime familiar to them.
+ Bartlett’s research (War of the Ghosts study) found that memories can become confabulated with omissions of information and details are changed to fit the individual’s expectations, motivations and cultural norms. Therefore confabulation may occur in an EWT.
How can EWTs change by misinformation and misleading questions?
- EWTs can change by misinformation in the form of misleading questions, which give an individual an expectation and interpretation of how something took place
- Loftus & Palmer’s research showed that the verb used in a question determined how participants interpreted the speed of a car in a video when it crashed into another car. (40.5 mph for ‘smashed’ and 31.8 mph for ‘contacted’).
How can the MSM be applied to EWTs?
- If an eyewitness does not pay attention to a crime and latr rehearse the events, their testimony may not be accurate, according to the Multi-Store Model.
- The MSM states that in order for information to be stored in LTM, the individual must pay attention, and it has to be rehearsed. Peterson & Peterson showed that rehearsal was important in retaining trigrams, so if eyewitnesses rehearsed events repeatedly, they may be able to give a more accurate version of events.
