Issues & Debates Flashcards
1
Q
Practical issues- General
A
Schmolck
HM
Lab experiments
Case studies
2
Q
Practical issues- Baddeley
A
- Opportunity from APRC- Shared characteristics
- Independent measures to avoid DCs, OEs
- Study 1 & 2 showed need for interference task (pilot studies) to make sure he was studying LTM
- Hearing test- removes EVs
- Standardised
- Low mundane realism
- Words in jumbled order on prompt card- removes OE
3
Q
Development Over Time- General
A
- MSMWMM
- WMM WMM (2000) with episodic buffer
- Reconstructive taught us about the importance of reconstruction/introduced concepts of schemas
- Reconstructive EWT research like Loftus
- MSM Tulving
- Schmolck shows where semantic knowledge is in the brain
- Baddeley showed the encoding of LTM
- HM shows- role of hippocampus, different stores between STM & LTM, Procedural memory
4
Q
Development Over Time- Baddeley
A
- Two pilot studies to discover the best way to test LTM
- We still use similar experiments now i.e. word lists
- Baddeley went on to look at WMM after this
- HM showed there were two different stores before this
- MSM was formed after this and took the encoding from this experiment
5
Q
Nature/Nurture- General
A
- The case of HM supports the existence of nature affecting the memory as he was unable to remember new factual information after surgery.
- Clive Wearing (Blakemore, 1988) supports nurture to a certain extent because an illness prevented new memories being stored.
- Peterson & Peterson (1959) showed the influence of rehearsal on short term memory which is a nurture factor that can be applied to some extent to improving student learning.
- Cognitive psychology attempts to explain how memory works using models such as the multi store model which emphasises nurture in the need for attention and rehearsal.
- Schmolck- semantic memory is held in the anterolateral temporal cortex
- Memory is encoded and stored in the brain
- Schemas come from the environment/life experience
- Dementia- plaques and tangles are biological
- Individual differences could be biological i.e. Dyslexia
6
Q
Nature/Nurture- Baddeley
A
- The case of HM supports the existence of nature affecting the memory as he was unable to remember new factual information after surgery i.e. the two stores of memory which Baddeley then looked at therefore could be nature
- Peterson & Peterson (1959) showed the influence of rehearsal on short term memory which is a nurture factor that can be applied to some extent to improving student learning….which Baddeley stopped with interference tasks
- Cognitive psychology attempts to explain how memory works using models such as the multi store model which emphasises nurture in the need for attention and rehearsal.
- If the encoding is the same for everyone it would indicate the effects of nature (as universal things often are)
- Baddeley however only did it in one location so we can’t be sure that their nurture wasn’t a factor in creating the results
7
Q
Reductionism- General
A
- Research into cognitive psychology often uses simplified tasks, like word lists, which reduce memory to a system of information processing.
- Multi-store model assumes attention and rehearsal is required for memory which is reductionist as it ignores how people recall experiences they have not rehearsed.
- WMM is less reductionist than MSM because it is looking at the different parts of STM (VSSP and PL)
- WMM however was reductionist because it initially ignored LTM until the inclusion of the Episodic Buffer in 2000
- MSM could be seen as a little more holistic than WMM and Tulving as it tries to look at Sensory, STM and LTM
- Bartlett’s (1932) reconstructive memory relies on schemas which come from whole life experience therefore is holistic so not all cognitive psychology can be considered reductionist.
- The case of HM demonstrated the ability to learn procedural skills without rehearsal, showing that reducing memory to a set of stores is insufficient to explain how all memory works so cognitive psychology should be more holistic.
- Schmolck tries to identify individual brain areas rather than looking at the whole brain process which might be linked to semantic memory
- Tasks in Schmolck are a reductionist view of semantic knowledge
8
Q
Reductionism- Baddeley
A
- Research into cognitive psychology often uses simplified tasks, like word lists, which reduce memory to a system of information processing.
- Lab experiment uses scientific procedures limiting EVs which could effect the results and thus uses reductionism to get cause and effect
- Multi-store model assumes attention and rehearsal is required for memory which is reductionist as it ignores how people recall experiences they have not rehearsed.
- Simplifies STM and LTM into one type of encoding whereas other theories have shown multiple types of encoding/storage
9
Q
Psychology as a science- General
A
- Uses Lab experiments (Baddeley, Schmolck, Miller, Parkin, Robbins etc etc)- which meet most of the criteria (you just need the examples from some)
- Modern Cognitive Psychology uses brain scanning i.e. Parkin, tests before Schmolck study which are empirical, objective (mostly), test hypotheses, reliable, controlled etc
- Cognitive also uses case studies- which have lots of EVs (due to lack of control and therefore lower internal validity), are less able to be repeated, might be subjective (depending on methods/data gathered), get triangulation (increasing internal validity), May not have a hypothesis to test
- Mental models of memory are not entirely empirical (we rely on lists of words etc rather than testing memory directly)- schemas also
- But these sorts of behaviours are objective and empirical (no of words recalled as % etc)
- CE couldn’t be found empirically
10
Q
Psychology as a science- Baddeley
A
- Falsifiable- testing theories about encoding and brain location which could be proven wrong
- Reductionist- simplifying memory down to simple lists to be recalled and activities i.e. naming pictures
- Testing hypotheses about encoding/word similarity and location of damage in brain
- Some things could be objectively measured i.e. words recalled but others were qualitative in nature i.e. descriptions of objects and animals (which were turned into a numerical score and IRR to improve objectivity)
- Words recalled/correct and incorrect can be measured empirically
- Standardised- timings, activities etc
- Both highly controlled e.g. hearing test and jumbled word lists, tasks given and matched pairs which gives better internal validity
11
Q
Ethics- General
A
- Consent (informed)- yes but Schmolck and case studies use brain damaged patients so may be questionable
- Deception- no deception
- Confidentiality- not really an issue in experiment but we don’t really know who they were
- Debrief- unknown, but no deception etc so probably not necessary
- Withdrawal- Yes, most likely but cognitive studies often don’t mention it because its not a harmful study
- Protection from harm- No harm, case studies have naturally occurring damage
12
Q
Ethics- Baddeley
A
- Consent (informed)- yes although they didn’t know about IV/surprise recall
- Deception- no, but may have thought they were the only group
- Confidentiality- not really an issue in experiment but we don’t know who they were
- Debrief- unknown, but no deception etc so probably not necessary
- Withdrawal- Yes, most likely but cognitive studies often don’t mention it because its not a harmful study
- Protection from harm- No harm, case studies have naturally occurring damage
13
Q
Social Control- General
A
- MSM- Could be influential with how schools are taught to teach/revise with students
- MSM- Could be influential with dementia patients and how information is presented to them
- Dementia treatments i.e validation therapy and how family and NHS treat people with dementia
- WMM- Dementia treatments i.e not overloading their CE with many tasks and how family and NHS treat people with dementia
- WMM- influential in education with how lessons/tasks are devised to use multiple stores (drawing diagrams along with notes, no talking rules etc)
- Reconstructive- We can change people’s memories of events- using stereotypes to restructure schemas
- Reconstructive- Rules about who can give testimony, how police can work i.e. questions they can ask (but they could use it to get false confessions etc), also influences whether we’re going to have people convicted etc
- Tulving- Cues being used to help people recall episodic memories (for EWT)
- HM- socially controlling in the way we treat people with brain damage/amnesia
14
Q
Social Control- Baddeley
A
- Encoding of STM and LTM doesn’t have a lot to do with social control honestly
- Could be influential with how schools are taught to teach/revise with students
- Could be influential with dementia patients and how information is presented to them
- Low ecological validity/mundane realism etc so any aspects of social control might not even apply in the real world
15
Q
Usefullness- General
A
- Cognitive psychology has informed our understanding of how memory works that could aid students for revision.
- Peterson and Peterson (1959) demonstrated the importance of rehearsal, but they used trigrams which is an artificial stimulus so may not help with more complex real-life stimuli.
- Knowing about encoding of LTM from Baddeley is useful for revision
- Issues surrounding memory impairment can be used to aid the effectiveness patients diagnosed with dementia.
- Use of a photo could help to encode a memory or retrieve a memory for those with dementia which is a big issue in society.
- WMM useful for helping students not becoming distracted through dual tasks…also useful in driving, in air traffic control etc
- Parkin however couldn’t find the CE and therefore this might not be useful
- Useful for people with dementia by focusing on not distracting them with multiple steps in a task
- Reconstructive is useful at teaching us not to trust EWT
- Useful for cognitive interviews to help people recall more about a crime in interviews
- Tulving- useful for explaining what happens with the memories of someone with dementia.
- Also useful for the influence of cues on episodic memory (and how we can use that for crime reconstruction)
- Schmolck is useful for letting us know about brain areas to study for helping those with semantic dementia
- However, memory research often uses case studies which aren’t generalisable so less useful
- Memory research also often uses labs which are low in mundane realism and therefore wouldn’t be useful
