Cognitive Psychology - Memory

Question 1

What is the multi-store model?

Answer 1

An explanation of memory that sees information flowing through a series of storage systems.

Question 2

Who developed the multi store model?

Answer 2

Atkinson and Shiffrin

Question 3

Define coding

Answer 3

The means by which information is processed and represented in memory.

Question 4

Define capacity

Answer 4

The amount of information that can be stored at a given time.

Question 5

Define duration

Answer 5

The length of time information will be remained within storage.

Question 6

Define sensory register

Answer 6

A short duration store holding impressions of information received by the senses.

Question 7

How is information coded in the sensory register?

Answer 7

Modality specific. There are stores for each sense. Iconic store for visual input, haptic store for tactile input, echoic store for auditory input, gustatory store for taste and olfactory store for smell.

Question 8

What is the capacity of the sensory register?

Answer 8

The capacity of each store is large with information contained being in an unprocessed and ever-changing format.

Question 9

What is the duration of the sensory register?

Answer 9

Limited duration, with each store having different duration. However, overall duration decreases with age.

Question 10

What did Crowder find that supports the idea of duration in the sensory register?

Answer 10

Crowder found that the sensory register only retains information in the iconic store for a few milliseconds, but for two-three seconds in the echoic store. Supporting the idea that different sensory stores have different durations.

Question 11

What is short term memory?

Answer 11

A temporary store holding small amounts of information for brief periods.

Question 12

How is information coded in the short term memory?

Answer 12

Mainly encoded acoustically. Information that is not originally in auditory format will need re-coding. Some information can be coded visually or semantically (through meaning).

Question 13

What is the capacity of the short term memory?

Answer 13

7 +/- 2 items of information.

Question 14

What was Jacobs study in the capacity of short term memory?

Answer 14

Using a digit span task, participants could not remember any more than 5-9 digits. Therefore, the capacity of the short term memory is 7 +/- 2 items.

Question 15

What did Miller find about the capacity of the short term memory?

Answer 15

Information can be chunked by grouping items of information into larger units. Therefore, the capacity of the short term memory is 5-9 chunks of information, not 5-9 items of information.

Question 16

What is the duration of the short term memory?

Answer 16

Limited duration, with information lost rapidly.

Question 17

What did Peterson and Peterson find about the duration of the short term memory?

Answer 17

Peterson & Peterson asked participants to learn trigrams and recall them after a delay by counting backwards in threes from 100. They found that the capacity of the short term memory is 30 seconds.

Question 18

What is the long term memory?

Answer 18

A permanent store holding limitless amounts of information for long periods of time.

Question 19

How is information coded in the long term memory?

Answer 19

Semantic coding is the preferred method of coding in the long term memory.

Question 20

What is the capacity of the long term memory?

Answer 20

Unlimited amount of information can be stored. Forgetting in the long term memory is not due to the lack of capacity, but due to retrieval failure.

Question 21

What is the duration of the long term memory?

Answer 21

Long term memory can hold information for up to a lifetime, but the overall duration decreases with age.

Question 22

What was Bahrick’s study into duration of long term memory?

Answer 22

Participants were asked about their former class mates. Participants were doing very well up to 34 years later, it was after 47 years it began to decline due to age.

Question 23

How does the serial position effect support the multi store model?

Answer 23

Words at the beginning and end of a list are recalled better than those in the middle. Words at the beginning of the list, the primacy effect, are recalled better because they have been rehearsed and transferred to long term memory, while word at the end of the list, the recency effect, are recalled better because they are still in the short term memory.

Question 24

How does the case study of Clive Wearing support the multi-store model?

Answer 24

After catching a viral infection Wearing was left with major brain damage, and has an intact short term memory, but an impaired long term memory. Wearing has no memory of his past and continuously is convinced he has just regained consciousness. This case demonstrates how our short term and long term memory are separate from each other as the multi store model suggests.

Question 25

What are the criticisms of the multi store model?

Answer 25

Focuses too much on the structure of memory and not on the process.
Can not explain why some material that is rehearsed is still forgotten and that some knowledge can be acquired without rehearsal.
Research supporting the working memory model.

Question 26

What is the working memory model?

Answer 26

An explanation that sees short term memory as an active store holding several pieces of information simultaneously.

Question 27

What is the central executive?

Answer 27

Component of the WMM that oversees and coordinates the components of working memory. It selectively attends to particular types of information.

Question 28

What is the phonological loop?

Answer 28

Component of the WMM that deals with auditory information.

Question 29

What is the visuo-spatial sketch pad?

Answer 29

Component of the WMM that deals with visual information and the physical relationship of items.

Question 30

What is the episodic buffer?

Answer 30

Component of the WMM that serves as a temporary store of integrated information from the central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketch pad and long term memory.

Question 31

What are the two sub-components of the phonological loop and what is their function?

Answer 31

Primary acoustic store (inner ear) : stores words heard
Articulatory control process (inner voice) : allows sub-vocal repetition of information within the store and is linked to speech production.

Question 32

What are the sub-components of the visuospatial sketch pad? What are there functions?

Answer 32

Visual cache : stores information about form and colour

Inner scribe : stores information about the physical relationships of items.

Question 33

What is articulatory suppression?

Answer 33

Information can enter the phonological store via direct speech, however, speech based information has direct access to the articulatory control process and will therefore interrupt the information. This can cause forgetting what has just been said.

Question 34

How does Baddeley’s word length effect support the working memory model?

Answer 34

Participants recall more short words in serial order than longer words supporting the idea that capacity of the phonological loop is set by how long it takes to say words, rather than the actual number of words.

Question 35

How does Baddeley’s dual task studies support the working memory model?

Answer 35

Participants were asked to say yes if on a diagram the angle is at the top of the line while simultaneously track the movement of a dot of light with a pointer on a line. They found this difficult as both require the use of the visuospatial sketch pad. Party were then asked to track the movement of the dot of light with a pointer again while simultaneously repeating the word ‘the’ aloud. They found this task easier because it uses two different stores.

Question 36

What are the criticism of the WMM?

Answer 36

Dual task studies often lack mundane realism and therefore not highly valid.
Evidence for multi-store model.
Little is known about the central executive even though it is argued to be the most important component.

Question 37

What are the 3 types of long term memory?

Answer 37

Episodic
Semantic
Procedural

Question 38

What is episodic memory?

Answer 38

A form of long term memory for personal events occurring in an individuals life and their context. The strength of episodic memories is influenced by emotions at the time a memory is coded. The prefrontal cortex is associated with episodic memory.

Question 39

What is semantic memory?

Answer 39

Type of LTM for meanings, understandings and other concept based knowledge. Semantic memories are linked to episodic memories, as new knowledge tends to be learnt from experiences but there will be a gradual separation from the knowledge and the event that it was learned from. Semantic memories are associated with the hippocampus.

Question 40

What is procedural memory?

Answer 40

Type of LTM for the performance of particular types of actions. A procedural memory does not require conscious thought. Procedural LTM is associated with the primary motor cortex and cerebellum.

Question 41

What was the aim of Tulving’s study of Long term memory?

Answer 41

To assess the effectiveness of neuro-imaging as means of investigating mental processes.

Question 42

What was the procedure of Tulving’s study of long term memory?

Answer 42

6 volunteers were injector with radioactive gold which was scanned to detect its location with a gamma ray detector. Each participant performed 8 successive trial each lasting 80 seconds involving 4 semantic and 4 episodic memories. A participant would lie face up with their eyes closed and indulged in semantic or episodic retrieval through silent mental thought while being scanned.

Question 43

What were the findings of Tulving’s study of long term memory?

Answer 43

3 participants produced inconclusive data. The other 3 showed consistent differences in brain activity between semantic and episodic memories. There was greater activation in the frontal lobe during episodic memory retrieval and greater activation in the posterior region during semantic memory retrieval.

Question 44

What were the conclusions drawn from Tulving’s study of long term memory?

Answer 44

Episodic and semantic LTM’s appear to involve different brain areas and thus are separate forms of LTM.
Different brain areas associated with different LTM’s suggest a biological basis to differences in LTM.

Question 45

What are the strengths of Tulving’s study of long term memory?

Answer 45

• successful use of neuro-imaging, an effective means of objectively studying cognitive processes.
• successfully identifies the areas involved in LTM.

Question 46

What are the criticisms of Tulving’s study of long term memory?

Answer 46

Tulving himself was a participant along with his wife and colleague suggesting he was subjective when analysing results.
3/6 participants were inconclusive and are therefore not generalisable to the population as a whole.

Question 47

What is retrieval failure?

Answer 47

Material is stored in the LTM but cannot be consciously recalled as a result of a lack of cues.

Question 48

What is context dependent failure?

Answer 48

A form of retrieval failure where recall occurs in a different external setting to coding, forgetting is due to the lack of a contextual cue such as the environment.

Question 49

What is state dependent failure?

Answer 49

A form of retrieval failure where recall occurs in a different internal setting to coding, forgetting is due to the lack of the same psychological or physiological state to coding.

Question 50

How does Godden and Baddely’s study support context dependent failure?

Answer 50

G&D got divers to learn material either on dry land or while underwater. Recall was found to be worse when it occurred in a different context to coding than the same context.

Question 51

How does Overtons study support state dependent failure?

Answer 51

Overton got participants to learn material when either drunk or sober and found that recall was worse when Participants were in a different internal state at recall than their internal state at coding.

Question 52

What is proactive interference?

Answer 52

An explanation of forgetting where past memories inhibit an individuals ability to retain new memories.
E.g - trying to recall your new phone number but recalling your old one

Question 53

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 53

An explanation of forgetting where newly learned information interferes with the recall of old memories.
E.g - trying to recall your old address and recalling your current address.

Question 54

How does Baddely and Hitch’s study support interference theory?

Answer 54

B&H asked rugby players to recall the names of teams recently played. However, for various reasons such as injury some players did not play every match. Those players recalled better than those who did play every match due to less interference.

Question 55

What is repression?

Answer 55

An explanation of forgetting in long term memory in which memories that are emotionally threatening are banished to the unconscious mind to prevent the feelings of anxiety they might cause and therefore cannot be recalled.

Question 56

How do schemas influence eyewitness testimony?

Answer 56

Bartlett states memories are not snapshots of events but are reconstructions of events influenced by active schemas. Therefore, eyewitnesses are reconstructing memories based on their moods, existing knowledge of the situation and previous experiences, reducing the reliability of eyewitness testimonies.

Question 57

What are misleading questions and how do they effect eyewitness testimonies?

Answer 57

Misleading questions are questions that suggest a desired response. Leading questions increase the likelihood that an individuals schemas influence them to give a desired answer.

Question 58

How do Loftus and Zanni support leading questions influencing EWT?

Answer 58

L&Z showed participants a film of a car accident and then asked them if they saw “a broken headlight” or “the broken headlight”. When there was no broken headlight in the film. Those that were asked “the broken headlight” were more likely to answer yes, supporting the idea that leading questions encourage the influence of schemas causing inaccurate recall.

Question 59

What is post-event discussion and how does it effect EWT?

Answer 59

Post event discussion is information added to a memory after the event has occurred through discussing the event with others. Memories become contaminated with the new information as a result of active schemas using this information to ‘make sense’ of the event, reducing the reliability of the EWT.

Question 60

How did Gabberts study support post event discussion effecting EWT?

Answer 60

Participants were in pairs in which each partner watched a different video of the same event. Pairs in one condition were encouraged to discuss the event before individually recalling the event. 71% of these pps gave false details acquired from their partner.

Question 61

Define anxiety.

Answer 61

An unpleasant state of emotional arousal.

Question 62

How does anxiety affect EWT?

Answer 62

Anxiety can affect EWT in two ways:
Diverts attention away from the situation leading to inaccurate EWT.
Diverts attention towards the situation leading to an increase in accuracy in recall.

Question 63

What is the Yerkes-Dodson inverted U hypothesis?

Answer 63

Moderate amounts of anxiety (up to an optimum point) can lead to accurate recall, but too much or too little can lead to attention diverting away from the situation causing an inaccurate EWT.

Question 64

How does Loftus’ weapon study support how anxiety affects EWT?

Answer 64

Participants were exposed to one of two conditions. The first condition involved seeing a man emerge with grease on his face with a pen. In the other condition, after hearing an argument, the man emerged holding a knife which appeared to have blood on it. Those exposed to the second condition were unable to recall facial details of the man as their anxiety caused their attention to be diverted towards the weapon.

Question 65

What is the cognitive interview?

Answer 65

A procedure for police questioning of witnesses that promotes accurate, detailed recall of events.

Question 66

What are the 4 components of the cognitive interview?

Answer 66

Context reinstatement
Report everything
Change of perspective
Recall in reverse order

Question 67

What is the enhanced cognitive interview?

Answer 67

An advanced method of questioning witnesses that overcomes problems caused by inappropriate sequencing of questions.

Question 68

What are some of the components of the enhanced cognitive interview?

Answer 68

The interviewer not interrupting the witness
The witness controlling the flow of information
Asking open ended questions
Attempting reduce anxiety in witnesses (using relaxation techniques)