#Exam 1- Cognitive approach Flashcards
What is the order of MSM
sensory memory
short-term memory
long-term memory
How long does sensory memory last
2 seconds
how long does STM last?
decays unless rehearsed
what is the capacity of STM
5-9 objects
what is the capacity and length of LTM
unlimited
what supporting evidence does MSM have?
Clive Wearing- has procedural memory, however, has no long-term memory or short-term memory
Miller- Discovered duration of STM
evaluation of MSM
S- Clive Wearing
C- Clive Wearing case study doesn’t explain how this occurs
O- WMM
U- Shows how we commit things to LTM (SCHOOL)
Reductionist
What are the three components of the WMM
the central executive
phonological loop
visuospatial sketchpad
What does the central executive do?
Allows us to pay direct attention to certain things in our environment, use in strategic thinking, maths problems and problem-solving
what does the phonological loop do
deals with auditory information
Visuospatial sketchpad purpose
visual information is stored here
Evaluation of WMM
S- Baddeley and Hitch showed we can complete tasks when they are from different parts of the WMM
C- schmolck shows it is more confusing then what is initially thought
O-WMM
U- the Education system also shows how we take in memories
T- strong controls in Baddeleys study
Low ecological validity
Episodic and semantic memory has two key concepts what are they?
episodic and semantic memory
what is the episodic memory
remembers life events
what are context and state cues within episodic memory
context- time referencing and context of a situation
state- emotional state
semantic memory is where we store
facts, dates, rules, concepts and knowledge
what is referred to as a mental encyclopedia
semantic memory
evaluate episodic and semantic memory
S- KC (motorbike) good semantic memory poor episodic
C- Clive Wearing has a procedural memory which is neither
O/T- relies heavily on case studies, MSM is conflicting evidence
U- neuroscience also backs this theory it suggests we have different brain areas for each type of memory
Whos theory is MSM
Atkinson and Shiffrin
Whos theory is WMM
Baddeley and Hitch
Whos theory is the Episodic and Semantic memory
Tulving
Whos theory is Reconstructive Memory
Bartlett
Key concepts of reconstructive memory
the idea that memories are affected by prior experiences- we reconstruct our own memories
what is a schema
schemas allow us to make sense of what is happening and what we should do
what is confabulation
a disturbance in memory which can lead to fabrication or a misinterpreted memory
emotional perception is
the ability to recognise certain emotions in others
Evaluate Reconstructive memory
S- the war of the ghosts, Native American story is westernised
O- MSM states that we remember something through maintenance and elaborative rehearsal
U- Shows us that we can’t rely on one witnesses testimony as it can be influenced
T- hard to test as it hard to determine how many changes people made to a story
what is the case study in cognitive psychology
HM
what is the classical study of cognitive psychology
Baddeley 1996b
Why did HM need surgery
he suffered severe epilepsy
what parts of the brain were removed from HM
Hippocampus as well as the amygdala the bilateral and medial temporal lobe
how was HMs memory affected
unable to produce new memories after the surgery however his LTM was fine
What tests were done on HM
he was asked to draw a five-pointed star in the mirror
what did the tests on HM show
That his procedural memory was fine, he would improve each time although having no memory of it
what conclusions can we make about HM
LTM has different stores and procedural memory was working fine
Evaluate HM
G- the information concluded for all only a case study could be generalised to the wider population as brain scans show we have similar brains
A- Showed that hippocampus is a key structure in the transfer of information from STM to LTM
IV- the study has low IV as it is a case study and can’t be repeated
E-he cant remember consenting so it raises issue of whether it is ethical
what was the aim of Baddeley’s study
to see if LTM was different to STM as in STM it showed that acoustically similar words were impaired when trying to memorise however semantically similar words were not
Outline the procedure to Baddeley’s study
men and women from psychology test rake part in a memory test, they were all given 4 separate lists ( making independent M ). the list appeared on a projector 1 word every 3 seconds. afterwards, they did a memory test regarding digits. then a 1-minute recall task, 15m interference and a surprise recall task follow.
acoustic results ( Baddeley)
acoustically words recalled worse at the start, at the end of 4 trails difference was not significant at the end
semantic results (Baddeley)
semantically similar words difficult to encode but are easier once in LTM
Overall conclusion for Baddeley
STM= acoustic
LTM=semantic
Evaluate Baddeley
G- only generalisable to psychology students but 72 participants were male and female
R/V- High control factors
A-Can be applied to learning a language
Ev- low ecological validity
is Baddeley or Schmolck the contemporary study
Schmolck
What was the aim of Schmolcks study
look at the performance of SM tests and the extent temporal lobe damage and HM in comparison to other patients
what was the procedure in Schmolcks study
gave semantic memory test, 9 tests over the course of 3 sessions, 48 items were included eg animals and obejects
who were the participants in Schmolcks study
3 with medial temporal lobe damage
HM- MTL damage
2- amnesia
8-‘normal’ participants
what were the results of Schmolcks study
Hippocampal formation patients ( amnesia ) able to complete tasks wheres those with MTL performed the worst, HM was one of the participants who done the worst
what were the conclusions of Schmolcks study
MTL sufferers had less difficulty then MTL + patients, this suggests damage to the anterolateral temporal cortex is responsible for semantic memory
Evaluate Schmolck
G- not representative of the whole of society
R-standardized, scientific procedure, MRIs used and everyone was given same memory tests.
A- helps to understand the effects of brain damage on memory
E- Consent is an issue for those with memory loss
what is the key question for cognitive psychology
How can psychologists understanding of memory help patients with dementia
what is dementia?
a disease which damages someones ability to process information including memory, progressive so it gets worse over time
what are the symptoms of dementia
loss of memory and ability to function independently
how many are affected by dementia in the UK
850,000
How many are expected to be affected by 2025
100,000
How does MSM explain Dementia
Inability to transfer information from STM to LTM due to dementia
How does WMM explain Dementia
Declining central executive means they find it hard to pay attention to certain things
How does semantic and episodic memory explain dementia
Different types of memory affected this shows why someone may be able to walk and talk but not able to remember events from a long time ago
How does reconstructive memory explain dementia
Shows that people with dementia get their schemas confused which may lead to them getting muddled. understanding situations become harder.
Issues with the MSM explanation for dementia
it doesn’t explain how procedural and STM memory may still work
Issues with the WMM explanation for dementia
Doesn’t provide an explanation for the memory loss aspect of dementia
Issues with the Semantic and episodic explanation for dementia
Doesn’t show us how some procedural memories and LTM become faded.
Issues with the Reconstructive memory explanation for Dementia
Doesn’t explain the memory loss aspect of it.
What was the Cognitive practical
Can schemas improve memory recall?
What does our cognitive practical test
reconstructive memory
what design was our cognitive practical
independent measures
what was the method of our cognitive practical
given 3 minutes to read a short paragraph, then the two groups had to flip the paper with the paragraph over so it couldn’t be seen and then it had to be written from memory. one group had a title and one group didn’t
what was our conclusion for the cognitive practical
whether or not a title is given to an ambiguous paragraph will have no effect on someones ability to recall
what were the Mann Whitney U scores for group A and B for our cognitive practical
GA=without title 5.4
GB=with title 5.7
over 5% due to chance factors- reject our experimental hypothesis
