Issues and debates cognitive

Question 1

ethical - cognitive psych as a whole, way you collect data

Answer 1

In general research in cognitive psychology is ethically very sound. Lab experiments on normal participants with average memory are unlikely to cause big problems in terms of informed consent, right to withdraw, protection from harm, etc. P’s may not be given the full aim of the study to avoid demand characteristics, but that is not the same thing as deception.

Question 2

Unethical - cog (brain damaged patients)

Answer 2

Case studies of brain damaged patients can experience difficulties in terms of gaining informed consent. For example, you would have to ask HM every 30 seconds or so whether he was happy to take part in the research. [Case studies are normally anonymised though, which is good; HM’s identity was protected for over 55 years].

Question 3

ethics classic study

Answer 3

Baddeley (1966b): Very ethically sound. Lab experiment so P’s knew they were in an experiment. Informed consent, right to withdraw, etc. No psychological harm. No deception (except the surprise retest). Baddeley was competent.

Question 4

Reductionistic

Answer 4

The multi-store model of memory has been criticised for being overly simplistic. By proposing that memory has distinctly different stores it made it easier to study experimentally, but it arguably underplays the interconnections between different memory systems.

Question 5

Holstic

Answer 5

Bartlett’s reconstructive theory of memory benefits from a much more holistic approach; for example, his War of the Ghosts study looked at a number of different qualitative features of memory (e.g. rationalisation, omission, etc).

Question 6

Reductionistic vs holistic classic study

Answer 6

Baddeley (1966b): To generate specific, testable hypotheses, he reduced memory down to acoustic and semantic encoding in long-term and short-term stores. This is an over-simplification (e.g. what about visual encoding?). He may have acknowledged this when he said in his conclusion that the LT store was largely semantic (thereby leaving the door open for other modalities)

Question 7

nature

Answer 7

Sebastian & Hernandez-Gil (2012) demonstrated that the phonological loop component of working memory develops in the same way across diverse human populations (nature). That said, our native language can change how efficiently we can use that store (nurture).

Question 8

nurture

Answer 8

Bartlett proposed that the basic building blocks of memory are schemas (nature). Schemas are mental representations of objects, scenes or events. What is contained within our schemas depends on our experiences (nurture). In the “War of the Ghosts” study, the P’s were unable to faithfully recall the story because their schemas were so different to the Native American culture the story came from.

Question 9

Nature vs nurture classic study

Answer 9

Baddeley (1966b): LTM and STM are basic components of everyone’s memory. The finding that STM was mostly acoustic and LTM was mostly semantic was true of all participants (universal). As such, this study is (mostly) nature.

Question 10

The Use of Psychology in Social Control - direct interventions

Answer 10

Direct interventions for dyslexia could be seen as a form of social control. Rather than embracing the skills and abilities of people who are not neurotypical, we force them to do working memory exercises so they can participate in mainstream education. This separates them from their peers and could be damaging for their self-esteem.

Question 11

The Use of Psychology in Social Control - memory research

Answer 11

Memory research shows that memory is reconstructive in nature and prone to distortion (e.g. Loftus and Palmer, 1974; “what speed were the cars going when they smashed into one another?”).
Knowing that post-event information can change memories in certain predictable ways could lead eyewitnesses to be deliberately misled by lawyers / police officers.

Question 12

The Use of Psychology in Social Control - classic study

Answer 12

Baddeley (1966b): Advertisers use Baddeley’s finding that STM is primarily acoustic to hijack our memories (e.g. jingles and catchphrases). If you can capture someone’s attention acoustically, you are well on your way to creating a short-term memory.

Question 13

The Use of Psychological Knowledge in Society - working memory

Answer 13

An understanding of working memory has helped us to support children with dyslexia, either by the use of classroom strategies that relieve the burden on their phonological loop OR by the use of direct interventions that target this part of working memory in a bid to improve it.

Question 14

The Use of Psychological Knowledge in Society - episodic memory

Answer 14

Episodic memories contain multiple elements interwoven together to form a single memory. If you can remind someone of part of the memory they can sometimes recall the whole thing.
This is called cue-dependent recall and it has been used by the police to help witnesses more accurately recall what they have seen. This is why the police sometimes perform reconstructions or release CC-TV footage.

Question 15

The Use of Psychological Knowledge in Society - classic study

Answer 15

Baddeley (1966b): The research can be used to inform effective revision practices. For example, if you want to form a solid long-term memory, it has to be encoded semantically => elaborative rehearsal (i.e. consider the information at the level of its meaning).

Question 16

Scientific

Answer 16

Laboratory experiments are very popular in cognitive psychology and they are considered to be the most scientific research method (high levels of control mean that they are replicable, reliable and have high levels of internal validity). For example, much of the research that went into the MSM was lab-based with specific, empirically testable, falsifiable hypotheses, and objective data.

Question 17

Unscientific

Answer 17

Bartlett’s theory of “reconstructive memory” was based on studies that had a lack of standardisation and control. For example, in his War of the Ghosts study he bumped into a participant 6 ½ years later and asked him to recall the story. His findings were qualitative (he characterised memory in a purely descriptive way; e.g. omission, distortion, rationalisation, etc). This made it subjective.

Question 18

psychology as a science classic study

Answer 18

Baddeley (1966b): Lab experiment with high levels of control (e.g. word lists were matched for usage in the English language; the word lists were up on the wall as it was the sequence not the words themselves that were important). IV and DV were clearly operationalised. Gathered objective data; no opinion needed to measure if the sequence was correct. Specific, testable hypothesis.

Question 19

Practical issues research method - lab exp

Answer 19

Laboratory experiments are a very popular research method in cognitive psychology. One the one hand they are extremely reliable and have high construct validity because of the very controlled setting (extraneous variables are eliminated or held constant). On the other hand, this control makes the situation artificial and so they therefore lack ecological validity.

Question 20

Practical issues piece of research - seb and hernandez gil

Answer 20

Sebastian & Hernandez-Gil (2012) used the digit span test. This test has high CV (i.e. we can be sure it really measures STM capacity) because there is no rehearsal and the numbers have no meaning (so they are not already in LTM). However, you rarely have to memorise strings of digits in real life so the study lacks EV.

Question 21

practical issues classic study

Answer 21

Baddeley (1966b): Independent groups design means individual differences in memory were a confounding variable. Lacks mundane realism (not how memory is used on a daily basis). Well controlled (e.g. words matched for frequency of everyday use). Sample doesn’t generalise well because it was MAINLY students on the research panel (so may have better than average memory).

Question 22

Culture issues seb and hernandez

Answer 22

Sebastián and Hernández-Gil (2012) wanted to compare the development of STM capacity in the Spanish population with Anglo-Saxon cultures. To do this they needed a culture-free method of measuring STM. They chose memory for numbers. However, their research revealed that digit-span is not a culture-free measure, because Spanish digits take longer to sub-vocally rehearse than English digits.

Question 23

Culture issues bartlett

Answer 23

Bartlett’s theory of reconstructive memory suggests that the basic building block of memory is the schema. These schemas vary between cultures. His “War of the Ghosts” study asked 20 British participants to recall a native American story. They distorted and simplified the story precisely because it was culturally unfamiliar to them (in terms of their “story” schemas).

Question 24

culture issues classic study

Answer 24

Baddeley (1966b): P’s were from the Cambridge University subject panel (mostly students). In 1966 this sample of individuals was unlikely to be particularly culturally diverse. The study was only conducted in English on native English speakers; the same results may not be true of other languages.

Question 25

Gender issues seb and hernandez gil

Answer 25

Sebastián and Hernández-Gil (2012) had a sample of 298 females and 272 males. Each age group tested had a roughly equal number of boys and girls. As such, the study is not gender biased.

Question 26

gender issues brain damaged patients

Answer 26

Case studies of brain damaged patients tend to be male (e.g. Phineas Gage, Clive Wearing, HM, KC, KF, etc). This research is therefore gender biased. This may reflect the fact that men are more likely to injure themselves engaging in risky activities (HM cracked his skull in a childhood accident; Phineas Gage blew a tamping iron through his head; KC and KF both had motorbike accidents).

Question 27

Gender issues classic study

Answer 27

Baddeley (1966b): Volunteer sample from the Cambridge University subject panel (mostly students); 72 participants. There was a mixture of men and women in the study (exact breakdown not available). Each of the four groups in the independent groups design (15-20 in each condition) was fairly gender balanced, so this study is not gender biased.

Question 28

How Psychological Understanding has Developed over Time - msm

Answer 28

The multi-store model of memory incorporated a huge amount of research (e.g. Peterson & Peterson, 1959; Baddeley, 1966b) and provided a framework for understanding memory that led to further research, such as…

Question 29

How Psychological Understanding has Developed over Time - wmm

Answer 29

… research into working memory. This research led to the Working Memory Model, which was subsequently refined to include the episodic buffer. This part of the model was added to help account for the interrelationship between short-term and long-term memory.

Question 30

How Psychological Understanding has Developed over Time - classic study

Answer 30

Baddeley (1966b): This research was an important part of the development and refinement of the multi-store model of memory and led to further research in this area. This ultimately led to the working memory model, etc.

Question 31

socially sensitive research seb and hernand

Answer 31

Sebastián and Hernández-Gil (2012) could have been socially sensitive, because the results of the study make Spanish people look mentally deficient compared to Anglo-Saxons. However, the researchers were quick to investigate why the differences were observed and they explained them in a way that did not create a negative perception of Spaniards.

Question 32

socially sensitive research alzheimers

Answer 32

Research into Alzheimer’s risks creating a perception of people with the disease as helpless or a burden on family / society. This perception threatens their dignity as a group. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t conduct research into memory disorders, but we should do so with care.

Question 33

socially sensitive research classic study

Answer 33

Baddeley (1966b): The study establishes a norm for human memory; namely that short-term memory is acoustic. This has the downstream consequence of stigmatising those people whose memory systems don’t work that way (i.e. people with dyslexia who have poor working memory when it comes to sounds but not imagery).

Question 34

Comparisons of Ways of Explaining Behaviour using Different Themes - msm vs wmm

Answer 34

Multi-store model vs. Working memory model. Both view memory as a series of structures and look at how information is shuffled between those structures. Although both acknowledge the role of processes in memory, these are secondary to the structures. The main difference is that the WMM focuses on STM only, whereas the MSM looks at the whole of memory.

Question 35

Comparisons of Ways of Explaining Behaviour using Different Themes - different ways of helping students with dyslexia

Answer 35

There are different / competing ways of helping students with dyslexia. If you believe that working memory can be improved, you use direct interventions. If you don’t believe it can be improved, you use classroom strategies to reduce the burden on working memory.

Question 36

Comparisons of Ways of Explaining Behaviour using Different Themes - classic study

Answer 36

Baddeley (1966b): The research feeds into the multi-store model of memory, which is a structural model of memory. In contrast, Bartlett’s research and his theory of reconstructive memory is about the process of memory and uses qualitative terms such as “shortening”, “transformation” and “omission”.