memory- 1 Flashcards
what is the msm
a theoretical model that explains how memory works- information received by the environment is processed by a series of memory stores
what is coding- msm
the format of info that can be held in a memory store
what is capacity- msm
the amount of information that can be stored in a memory store
what is duration- msm
how long information can be stored in a memory store
what is the sensory register in the msm
the first store of the msm- stores info received by the senses- has a series of substores that holds info relating to one of the senses
what is the sub store in the sensory register that codes visually
the iconic store
what is the sub store in the sensory register that codes acoustically
the echoic store
what is the second store in the msm
the short term memory , it receives info from the sensory register
how is information passed into the stm
info can only be passed into the stm if a persons attention is directed at it
how is the stm coded
primarily acoustically
what is the capacity of the stm like
better than than the sensory registers capacity, the stm can hold usually about 7 pieces of info at a time
what is the duration of the stm like
information does not last longer than 30 seconds, it is usually lost in around 18-20 second
how can the duration of info in the stm be increased
maintenance rehersal, keeps the info in the stm long enough to be passed onto the ltm
what is the ltm and how does info arrive there
info that is rehearsed enough in the stm is passed onto the ltm, its coding is primarily semantic and its capacity and duration is unknown
what are the types of ltm and who came up with them
Tulving came up with the types of ltm to challenge the msm’s deception of the ltm, there are three stores- semantic episodic and procedural
what is episodic memory
autobiographical memory store, experienced events- ‘stamped’ with temporal and spatial info, under conscious control
what is semantic memory
general knowledge, facts and definitions, not ‘stamped’ with spatial or temporal info, under conscious control
what is procedural memory
how to do things, not ‘stamped’ with spatial or temporal info, not under conscious control
what is the working memory model
theoretical model with different functions, developed to explain how stm can be used to complete memory and attention
what is the central executive
controlling system of the wmm, coordinated the slave systems and dircets the imp of attention
what does the direction of attention involve in the wmm
focusing limited attention, splitting limited attention, switching attention from one task to another
what is the phonological loop in the wmm
stores and processes verbal info, coded acoustically, comprised of the phonological store and the articulatory process, has limited capacity and duration
outline the visio spatial sketch pad in the wmm
stores and processed visual and spatial info, compromised of visual cache and inner scribe
outline the visual cache in the wmm
stores visual info about the shape and colour of objects in visual field
outline the inner scribe of the wmm
stores spatial info about location and trajectory of objects in the visual field
outline the episodic buffer in the wmm
temporary store for info from other parts of working memory, as well as info retrieved from the ltm, capacity of about 4 chunks
what part does ltm have in the wmm
isn’t part of the wmm but interacts with memory via the episodic buffer
limitation- wmm- homunculus
attempts to explain one thing in terms of another concept without explaining how the new concept works.
- This poses a danger of infinite regression, where the central executive could be explained by having its own internal central executive
- central workings of the wmm are not understood
strength -wmm -real life applications
learning about the wmm can help teachers teach in a way that is easier for students to learn, by taking into account the capacity and duration of memory stores
what is interference theory and why do we forget
according to interference theory we don’t forget because info is lost, we forget because we cannot access the info because of interference between similar pieces of info in the ltm
what is proactive interference
information from an old memory interfering with the retrieval of a new memory, leading us to remembering the old info instead and forgetting the new
what is retroactive interference
a new memory prevents the retrieval of an older memory, meaning we retrieve the new instead and forget the older info
strength- interference theory- research support
mcgeoch + McDonald made participants memorise a list of words, and recall was worst when a second list with words similar to the first was added for them to memorise as well
-didn’t have any support for proactive interference
limitation- interference theory-ecological validity
lists of random words in lab conditions, not names and dates, no real world applications in their work
what is context dependent forgetting
context dependent cues present at encoding are not present at retrieval
what is state dependent forgetting
state dependent cues present at encoding are not present at retrieval
what is the reverse the order technique- cog interview
witness is asked to recall the events in reverse chronological order (starting at the end and finishing at the beginning)
-disrupts the schemas, forces them to remember events as they happened not according to schemas
strength-cog interview- research support
meta analysis 53 studies- 34% increase in correct info given when cog interview techniques were used
- meta analysis, more reliable, one of the strongest types of evidence in science
limitation- cog interview- difficult to implement
takes time and dedication, training officer administering the interviews, the interviews themselves also take longer to conduct than normal
outline the effect of leading questions on eye witness testimony
Loftus and Palmer- investigated by asking participants to watch a video clip of a car accident and estimate how fast one of the cars was going
- different conditions were questioned on the speed of the cars, but the questions were worded differently using verbs of different intensities: ‘how fast were the cars going when they…[smashed/contacted/bumped etc]…into each other?’
- mean estimates were lower for the lower intensity verbs, demonstrating how leading questions can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
outline the effect of post event discussion on eye witness testimony
Gabbert tested post-event discussion by showing participants a video of a robbery
-by filming the robbery from multiple angles, each witness could be shown slightly different footage, After viewing the footage, some participants were allowed to confer before giving their testimony whilst the control group was not
- 71% of participants who conferred before giving testimony mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they could not have seen from their footage- 0% of controls did this
- show the ability of post-event discussion to affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
strength- research into factors affecting eye witness testimony- economic implications
miscarriage of justice- an innocent person is wrongly convicted- has huge financial costs- associated with wrongful arrest, trial and imprisonment, as well as the loss of income for the falsely accused
- Research into the effect of misleading information could help inform on the best ways to interview eyewitnesses so as to prevent inaccurate testimony
- research into the effect of leading questions could help inform law enforcement officers how to interview eyewitnesses so as to avoid a type of false confession called an internalized false confession, in which an innocent person is led to believe they have genuinely committed a crime
limitation- research into leading questions on eyewitness testimony- population validity
loftus and palmers experiment consisted of 150 American students
- participants may still not have been representative of typical eyewitnesses
- participants in their experiment, being students and therefore probably young, were less experienced drivers, who may be less accurate at estimating speeds than older, more experienced drivers
- may be difficult to generalise the results of this study to the wider population
limitation- research into misleading info on eyewitness testimony
eyewitnesses in the Loftus and Palmer experiment watched a video clip of a traffic accident and Gabbert’s participants watched videos of a crime, both experiments were conducted in the laboratory
-do not reflect real life instances of eyewitness testimony, In real-life, the experience of witnessing an incident is likely to be surprising and filled with intense emotions
- doubtful this experience can be recreated by watching video footage of an incident in the artificial setting of a laboratory
what is anxiety
emotionally aroused state of distress or uneasiness
what is the yerkes-dodson law
emotionally arousing states, can enhance performance up to a point, but after this there are detrimental impacts on cognitive functions, like memory
- the intense arousal associated with anxiety would impair memory and reduce the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
what is the weapons focus effect
situations when eyewitnesses to crimes involving weapons focuses their attention on the weapon and subsequently fails to remember other details of the crime
- when eyewitnesses see a weapon, this causes a state of anxiety that leads them to focus their attention on the weapon and so miss peripheral details, like the identity of the perpetrator
strength- research into anxiety on eye witness testimony- research support
Johnson and Scott’s- participants had better memories of a confederate’s appearance when they exited the scene of a staged argument carrying a pen rather than a bloody knife
- bloody knife induced greater feelings of anxiety than a pen, and this high level of anxiety caused an impairment in their memory, as the Yerkes-Dodson law would predict
- provides support for the weapons focus effect, participants observing the confederate with the knife would experience greater anxiety and so focus their attention on the knife rather than confederate’s appearance
limitation- research into anxiety on eye witness testimony- ecological validity
research ethics restrain researchers from placing participants in high anxiety situations-most research relies on participants watching video footage of a crime or witnessing a staged crime
- difficult for artificial tasks to capture the true nature of the anxiety experienced by eyewitnesses to a crime
- In a real eyewitness situation, participants would experience strong emotions, and without these it may be difficult to generalise from laboratory research to real life eyewitness situations
what is the report everything technique- cog interview
witnesses report everything, even seemingly irrelevant details
- by reporting everything, witnesses increase the availability of retrieval cues during retrieval, which, according to the encoding-specificity principle, increases the likelihood that the witness will accurately retrieve information from their long-term memory
what is the reinstate the context technique-cog interview
imagine themselves back at the scene of the crime and report on both their external environment (e.g., weather) and internal state (e.g., mood)
- increases the availability of retrieval cues, which increases the likelihood that the witness will accurately retrieve information from their long-term memory
what is the change perspective technique- cog interview
asked to recall the events from another person’s perspective (e.g., how another witness might have seen things happen)
- designed to disrupt the effect of schemas so witnesses will hopefully remember events accurately rather than as they expected them to happen
strength- large capacity of LTM - case study
Akira Haraguchi- holds the unofficial world record for memorising 100,000 digits of pi
- demonstrates that enormous amounts of information can be held within LTM
- single case study- may not be representative of others, may not be generalisable to wider population
what are schemas in memory and what do they do
clusters groups of similar information , leading to confabulations- incorrect recall due to schemas disrupting accurate recall
