Cognitive Psychology

Question 1

Multi Store Memory:

Answer 1

Focuses on STM and LTM stores
- info enters sensory memory via environment/ five senses
- held in the sensory memory for no more than 1-2 seconds
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Question 2

Baddeley:

Answer 2

Aim: to investigate the influence of semantically similar/dissimilar and acoustically similar/dissimilar words on memory

Sample:

• 72 men and women
• all from psychology research unit

Method:

• lab experiment
• recall acoustically and semantically similar word lists
• each contained 10 words either acoustically similar/dissimilar or semantically similar/dissimilar
• independent measures design
• each word was presented for 3 seconds
• ppts completed six tasks involving memory for digits and then asked to write down the words in the correct order
• they did this 4 times
• words presented->6 eight digit numbers-> recall
• after the fourth trial they were given a 15 minute distracted task involving copying numbers before doing a surprise recall (shown on a card then had to put them in order)

Results:
- acoustically similar words were recalled worse than dissimilar words during the initial phase, semantically similar words were the hardest to recall in the surprise recall

Conclusion:
- STM is acoustically encoded, long term memory is semantically encoded

Question 3

Schmolk:

Answer 3

Aim: investigate the effects of brain damage on semantic memory using case studies

Sample:

• six patients with amnesia compared to eight normal control participants
• matched on age, sex and education

Method:

• brain damaged patients divided into groups according to their brain damage (MTL damage and MTL+)
• conducted 13 tests, 9 from semantic test battery using line drawings of 24 animals and 24 objects
• asked to complete various tasks such as naming, describing etc

Results:
Hippocampus damage were able to name, point out and answer questions about objects they were given

MTL+ 50% for living objects and 62% for non-living
HM- 66.7% for living and 90% for non living

Conclusion:
MTL+ patients had greater difficulty than MTL suggesting that the anterolateral temporal cortex is responsible for semantic knowledge