memory Flashcards
what is the multi-store model of memory?
- atkinson and shriffin’s (1968-1971) MSM describes how info passes through memory system
- suggests memory consisted of 3 stores: sensory register, STM and LTM - STM + LTM being unitary states
- info passes from store to store in linear way + the stores are passive (hold onto info before it is moved on or lost)
what is the sensory register? when does info pass through it?
- stimuli from the environment pass into the register automatically
- part of the memory that comprises of several registers (one for each sense)
- not under cognitive control like LTM + STM
- info only passed on to STM if pay attention
what is the coding, capacity and duration of the sensory register?
- coding in each store is modality specific (iconic = vision/ echoic = sound)
- duration of material in SR very brief - less than half sec
- SRs have very high capacity
what is the STM? the duration of STM like? capacity? encoding?
- a temporary memory store
- coded mainly acoustically
- duration - lasts about 18 secs unless rehearsed
- capacity - 7+/-2 limited capacity store
what is maintenance rehearsal?
- occurs when we repeat material to ourselves over and over again
- can keep info in STM as long as we rehearse it - if rehearse long enough passes into LTM(elebarotive rehearsal)
How is information lost?
- through decay or displacement
what is LTM? what is duration like? capacity? encoding?
- potentially permanent memory store for info that has been rehearsed for prolonged time
- coded mostly semantically (meaningful)
- duration - unlimited
- capacity - practically unlimited
what is retrieval?
according to MSM when want to recall info from LTM has to be transferred back into STM by process called retrieval
one strength of MSM? ev
- support from studies showing LTM and STM are different
- Baddeley (1966) found tend to mix up words sound similar using STMs - but mix up words with similar meanings when use LTMs
- shows STM and LTM separate indep memory stores like MSM claims
counterpoint to strength of MSM (baddeley)? ev
- in everyday life form memories related to useful things - faces names etc
-but many studies supporting MSM use none of these
- words - baddeley
- digits, letters - jacobs
- consonant syllables with no meaning - p&p
- MSM may not be valid model of how memory works in everyday lives when have to remember meaningful info
two limitations of MSM? ev
- evidence for more than one STM store - KF- had amnesia + his STM for digits poor when read out loud to him but much better when read himself - could be another STM for non-verbal sounds - so MSM wrong claiming just one STM
- prolonged rehearsal not needed for transfer to LTM - according to MSM what matters about rehearsal is amount but craik + watkins (1973) found type important - elaborative rehearsal needed for LT storage - PR not necessary
- suggests MSM does not fully explain how LT storage achieved
what is elaborative rehearsal?
when you link the information to your existing knowledge or think about what it means
what is encoding? what are the forms?
- the way information is changed so that it can be stored in the memory
- three main ways info can be encoded
- visual (picture)
- acoustic (sound)
- semantic (meaning)
what is the procedure of Baddeley (1966) study?
- gave list of words to 4 groups of ppts to remember
- group 1- acoustically similar
- group 2- acoustically dissimilar-
- group 3- semantically similar
- group 4- semantically dissimilar
- ptps shown words + asked to recall in order
what were the findings of Baddeley’s study? what do they suggest?
- did task immediately - recalling from STM- did worse with acoustically similar words
- recalled after 20mins from LTM did worse semantically similar words
- findings suggest info is coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM
which study is research on coding?
Baddeley (1966)
which studies are research on capacity?
- Jacobs (1887)
- Miller (1956)
what did jacobs (1887) do?
- found out how much info STM can hold at one time by measuring digit span
- ptps presented with a list of letters or numbers which increase as they recall them correctly + then have to recall until they cant anymore
what were the findings of jacobs (1887)
found that mean span for digits across all ptps was 9-3 items and mean span for letters was 7-3
what did Miller (1956) do?
- made observations of everyday practice + noted things come in sevens
- thoughts span of STM about 7+/-2
- also noted that people can recall 5 words as easily as can recall 5 letters - do this by chunking
what studies show research on duration?
- P&P (1959)- duration of STM
- Bahrick et al (1975) - duration of LTM
what did peterson and peterson (1959) do?
- tested 24 students in 8 trials
- each trial the student given a consonant syllable to remember + 3 digit number
- told to count backwards from number to prevent mental rehearsal of syllable
- on each trial told to stop after varying periods of time: 3 secs, 6, 9..18.
what were the findings of P&P (1959)? what do they suggest?
- after 3secs average recall about 80%
- after 18secs - 3%
- findings suggest STM duration may be about 18secs unless verbal rehearsal is done
what did bahrick et al (1975) do?
- studied 392 ptps ages 17-74
- high school yearbooks obtained from ptps or some schools
- recall tested in various ways:
- photo-recognition test consisting of 50 photos some from ptps yearbooks
- free recall test - pfpts recalled all names of graduating class
what were the findings of bahrick et al (1975) ? what do they show?
- ptps tested within 15 years of graduation about 90% accurate in photo recognition
- after 48 years declined to about 70%
- free recall less accurate than rec - 60% after 15yrs dropping to 30% after 48
- LTM may last up to a lifetime for some material
what is one strength of Baddeley (1966)?
- identified a clear difference between two memory stores
- later research showed some exceptions to Baddeley findings
- but idea STM uses mostly acoustic coding + LTM mostly semantic has stood test of time
- important step in understanding of memory system leading to MSM
what is one limitation of Baddeley (1966)?
- used quite artificial stimuli rather than meaningful material
- words no personal meaning to ptps - findings may not tell about coding when use memory in everyday life
- suggests findings in study have limited application
what is one strength of jacobs’ (1887) study?
- it has been replicated
- study is old + research in psych often lacked adequate controls
- despite this findings have been confirmed by other better controlled studies
- suggests jacobs’ study is a valid test of digit span in STM
what is one limitation of Miller’s research (1956)?
- he may have overestimated STM capacity
- Cowan (2001) reviewed other research + concluded capacity only about 4 chunks
- suggests lower end of millers estimate (5 items) more appropriate than seven items
what is one limitation of P&P (1959)?
- stimulus material artificial
- recalling consonant syllables does not reflect most everyday memory activities where what we remember more meaningful
- means study lacked external validity
what is one strength of Bahrick et al’s study (1975)?
- high external validity
- researchers investigated meaningful memories
- suggests Bahrick et al’s findings reflect a more ‘real’ estimate of duration of LTM
what is episodic memory?
- a LTM store for personal events
- are time stamped
- includes memories of when the events occured and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved
- memories from store have to be retrieved consciously and with effort
what is semantic memory?
- not time-stamped
- a LTM store for our knowledge of the world - includes facts + our knowledge of what words & concepts mean
- usually also need to be recalled deliberately
what is procedural memory?
- a LTM store for our knowledge of how to do things
- includes our memories of learned skills
- usually recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort
who is tulving (1985)? what did he propose?
- cognitive psychologist - realised MSM’s view of the LTM too simplistic + inflexible
- proposed 3 LTM stores containing different types of information:
- episodic
- semantic
- procedural
how does Tulving et al (1994) show there are different types of LTM? (ev)
- evidence from Tulving et al (1994) using PET scans- getting ptps perform tasks whilst scanned
- episodic and semantic memories tend to be recalled from prefrontal cortex (right and left)
- procedural memories tend to be recalled from cerebellum + basal ganglia
why is use of PET scan a strength?
- photographic evidence - cannot be questioned or argued with
- objective scientific evidence - high validity
what is one strength of types of LTM? ev real-life help
- able to identify diff aspects of LTM allows psychologist to target certain kids of memory problems - better lives
- ex Belleville (2006) - demonstrated episodic memories could be improved in older people with mild cognitive impairment - trained ptps performed better on test of episodic after training than control group
- shows distinguishing types of LTM - specific treatments developed
what is another strength of types of LTM? (HM + wearing) ev
evidence - wearing + HM - episodic memory impaired consequence to amnesia - difficulty recalling past events but semantic memory intact (knew concepts) also procedural (knew how to walk + speak)
- support tulving’s view there are different memory stores in LTM - one can be damaged but others unaffected
what is a counterpoint to the clinical evidence of types of LTM from HM + clive? ev
- clinical studies lack control variables
- lack of control limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM
how are cohen + squire a limitation to tulvings approach?
- limitation of Tulving’s approach - may only be 2 types of LTM
- cohen + squire (1980) - argued episodic & semantic memories stored together in one LTM store called declarative memory - but agree procedural separate (non-dec)
- therefore - possibility there are no more than two LTM stores
what is declarative memory?
memories that can be consciously recalled
what is the working memory model? who developed it?
- explanation of how STM is organised + how it functions
- suggests STM is a dynamic processor of different types of info using subunits co-ordinated by a central decision-making system
- Baddeley and Hitch
what are the components of the WMM?
- central executive
- phonological loop (inner voice)
- visuospatial sketchpad (inner eye)
- episodic buffer
what is the central executive? what is its capacity? coding?
- monitors incoming data
- focuses + divides our limited attention
- allocates subsystems to tasks
- CE has very limited processing capacity + does not store information
- no coding
what is the phonological loop? its capacity? coding?
- preserves order in which info arrives
- deals with auditory information - coding is acoustic
- limited capacity
what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad? capacity? coding? subdivision?
- stores visual &/ spatial info when required
- limited capacity
- coding: visual
what is the episodic buffer?
- temporary store for info - brings together material from other subsystems into single memory rather than separate strands
- limited capacity
- no coding
what is one strength of the WMM? (KF) ev
- clinical evidence from KF - had damage to his occipital lobe
- remembers words better if presented visually as opposed to auditorily
- phonological loop damaged but VSS intact
- supports WMM suggests there are different slave systems + suggests when one impaired does not affect other
what is another strength of the WMM? (dual-task) ev
- studies of dual-task performance support separate existence of visuo-spatial sketchpad
- baddeley et al (1975) - ptps carried out visual + verbal task at same time - performance on each similar to when carried out separately
- but when both tasks visual performance on both declined substantially
- bc use same same subsystem
- shows there must be a separate subsystem that processes visual input
how is CE a limitation of WMM?
- lack of clarity over nature of CE
- baddeley (2003) himself said that CE is ‘the most important but least understood component’
- needs to be more clearly specified than just simply being ‘attention’ - vague
- means CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the WMM
what is a leading question?
a question which because of the way its phrased suggests a certain answer
what is the research on leading questions?
- loftus and palmer (1974) arranged 45 ptps to watch film clips of car accidents + there were 5 groups of ptp each group given different verb in a critical question - how fast were they going when they hit, contacted, bumped, collided and smashed into each other
- findings - mean est speed for contacted - 31.8 mp
- smashed 40.5 mph
- leading qs biased eyewitness recall of an event
two reasons why do leading qs affect EWT?
- response-bias explanation - suggests wording of q has no real effect on ptp’s memories but influences how they decide to answer - when ptp gets leading q with verb smashed encourages to choose higher speed est
- substitution explanation loftus + palmer conducted a second ex supporting substitution ex - proposed wording of leading q changes ptps memory of film clip - shown because ptp who originally heard smashed later more likely to report seeing broken glass (was none) than those who heard hit
- critical verb altered memory of incident
what is post-event discussion? what is the research on it?
- eyewitnesses to a crime may sometimes discuss their experiences + memories with each other
- gabbert et al (2003) - studies ptps in pairs - each ptp watched same crime filmed from diff povs - meant each ptp could see elements in event that other could not
- both ptps discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall
- findings - 71% of ptps mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that did not see in the vid but had picked up in the discussion
- corresponding figure in a control group where there was no discussion - 0% - evidence of memory conformity
why does post-event discussion affect EWT?
- memory contamination - when co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other their EWT’s may become altered or distorted - because they combine misinfo from other witnesses with own memories
- another ex. memory conformity - gabbert et al concluded witnesses often go along with each other - either win social approval or believe other witnesses are right + they are wrong - unlike with memory contamination - actual memory unchanged
how is real-life application a strength of research into misleading information?
- important practical uses in the criminal justice system
- consequences of inaccurate EWT can be serious - loftus believes LQ’s can have distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be careful about how they phrase their qs when interviewing EW’s
- psychologists sometimes asked to explain limits of SWT to juries
- shows they can improve the way the system works - protecting innocents from faulty convictions
what is one limitation of the substitution explanation?
- EWT more accurate for some aspects of event than for others
- sutherland + hayne showed ptps video clip when - when later asked misleading qs recall more accurate for central details than peripheral - presumably attention focused on central features of event - resistance to misleading info
- suggests original memories for central details survived + not distorted - outcome not predicted by substitution explanation
what is a limitation of the memory conformity explanation?
- evidence that PED actually alters EWT
- skagerberg + wright showed ptps film clips - ptp discussed in pairs each seeing diff versions (in one mugger hair dark brown in other light) - often did not report what they had seen in clips or heard from co-witness but ‘blend’ common answer - medium brown
- suggests memory itself distorted through contamination by misleading PED rather than memory conformity
what is interference?
- occurs when two pieces of information disrupt each other
- resulting in forgetting one/both or in some distortion of memory
what is interference an explanation for?
- has been proposed mainly as an explanation for forgetting in long-term memory
- interference between memories makes it harder for us to locate them
what are the two types of interference?
- proactive interference
- retroactive interference
what is proactive interference?
occurs when older memory interferes with a newer one
what is retroactive interference?
when a newer memory interferes with an older one
what did McGeoch and McDonald do?
discovered that in both PI and RI interference is worse when memories/learning are similar
what was the procedure of McGeoch and McDonald?
- studied retroactive interference by changing amount of similarity between two sets of materials
- ptps had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy - then learned new list - 6 group of ptps who had to learn different types of new lists
what were the findings and conclusions of McGeoch and McDonald?
- when ptps were asked to recall og list of words - most similar material (synonyms) produced worst recall
- shows interference strongest when memories similar
how does bruke and skrull’s study support interference theory?
- presented a series of magazine adverts to their ptps - who had to recall the details of what they had seen
- in some cases - more difficulty recalling earlier adverts - other cases the later ones
- effect greater when they were similar (adverts for identical products by different brands)
what are the two possible reasons that similarity may affect recall?
- due to PI making new similar information more difficult to store
- or due to RI - new info overwrites previous similar memories due to similarity
how is real-world interference by baddeley and hitch a strength of interference theory?
- asked rugby players to recall names of teams they played against during rugby season
- players all played same time interval - but number of intervening games varied because some players missed matches due to injury
- players who played most games - poorest recall
- shows interference can operate in real-world situations increasing validity
how is the use of cues a limitation of interference theory as shown by tulving and psotka?
- interference theory temporary + can be overcome by using cues
- gave ptps lists of words organised into categories - one list at a time (not told what categories were)
- recall averaged 70% for first list but became progressively worse as learned additional list
- at end of procedure given cued recall test - told categories - recall rose again to about 70%
- shows interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material still in LTM - not predicted by interference theory
what is retrieval failure?
- a form of forgetting
- occurs when dont have necessary cues to access memory
- memory available but not accessible unless suitable cue is provided
what is tulving’s encoding specificity principle?
- reviewed research into retrieval failure + discovered consistent pattern to findings - summarised pattern in ESP
what does the encoding specificity principle state?
- a cue - if helpful - has to be both present at encoding (when we learn the material) and present at retrieval (when we are recalling it)
- follows from this that if cues available at encoding + retrieval are different/ cues entirely absent at retrieval - will be some forgetting
what are two non-meaningful cues?
- context-dependent forgetting - recall depends on external cue (weather)
- state-dependent forgetting - recall depends on internal cue (upset)
what was the procedure godden and baddeley (1975) provide research on context-dependent forgetting?
- studies deep-sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land help/hindered their work underwater
- divers learned lists of words either underwater/land then asked to recall words either underwater/land - creating 4 conditions
what were the findings and conclusions of godden and baddeley for context-dependent forgetting?
- two of these conditions - environmental context of learning + recall matched - whereas in other two they did not
- accurate recall - 40% lower in non-matching conditions
- concluded external cues available at learning different from ones available at recall - led to retrieval failure
what was the procedure done by carter and cassaday that provided research on state-dependent forgetting?
- gave hayfever drugs to their ptps
- has a mild sedative effect making ptps slightly drowsy
- creates an internal physiological state different from ‘normal’ state of being awake and alert
- ptps had to learn lists of words + passages of prose + then recall the information creating four conditions
what were the findings for carter and cassaday’s research into state-dependent forgetting?
- in conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning + recall - performance on memory test significantly worse
- so when cues are absent (ex you are drowsy when recall but alert learning) - more forgetting
how is recall vs recognition a limitation of context effects?
- may depend on type of memory being tested
- godden + baddeley replicated underwater experiment - used recognition instead of recall
- ptps had to say whether recognised a word read to them from a list - instead of retrieving themselves
- when recognition tested no context-dep effect - performance same in all 4 conditions
- suggests retrieval failure limited explanation for forgetting - only applies when person has to recall info rather than recognise
how does overton support state-dependent cues?
- research support
- Participants learned material whilst either drunk or sober
- tested on material when either drunk/sober
- overton found recall worse when ptps had different internal state when tested than had when learnt
- recall best if same internal state at recall + learning
- shows how state-dependent cues can aid recall information
how is the jorvik museum in york a strength of context-related cues?
- aggleton + waskett conducted their study at the jorvik museum in city of york
- york called jorvik during viking times + ruins still exist under today’s city
- at museum - town has been reconstructed so you can travel back in time + experience what its line - including smells
- found that recreating smells helped people to recall details of trip to museum more accurately - even after several years
- smells act as cues - recall strong because present when stored + retrieved
how may anxiety have a negative effect on recall?
- creates physiological arousal in the body - prevents us paying attention to important cues
- recall is worse
what is one approach to studying anxiety and eyewitness testimony?
- look at the effect of the presence of a weapon - creates anxiety
- leads to a focus on the weapon - reducing a witness’s recall for other details of event
what was the procedure of johnson and scott when researching anxiety’s negative effect on recall?
- ptps believed taking part in lab study
- while seated in waiting room ptps in low-anxiety condition heard casual conversation in next room + saw a man walk past them carrying a pen + with grease on his hands
- other ptps overheard heated argument - accompanied by sound of breaking glass - man walked out of room holding knife covered in blood - high-anxiety condition
what were the findings and conclusion of johnson and scott’s research into anxiety having a negative effect on recall? what does the tunnel theory argue?
- ptps later picked out man from a set of 50 photos
- 49% who had seen man carrying pen able to identify him
- those who had seen blood-covered knife - 33%
- tunnel theory of memory argues people have enhanced memory for central events - weapon focus as a result of anxiety can have this effect (tunnel theory-narrows attention to one aspect of a scene)
how may anxiety have a positive effect on recall?
- witnessing stressful event creates anxiety through physiological arousal within body - fight/flight response triggered - increasing alertness - may improve event as become more aware of cues in situation
what was the procedure of yuille and cutshall in providing research for anxiety having a positive effect on recall?
- conducted a study of an actual shooting in a gun shop
- shop owner shot a thief dead - 21 witnesses - 13 took part in study
- were interviewed four-five months after incident + these interviews compared with og police interviews at time of shooting
- accuracy determined by number of details reported in each account
- witnesses also asked to rate how stressed they had felt at time (7 point scale) + whether had emotional problems since event
what were the findings and conclusions of yuille and cutshall’s research into the positive effect on recall of anxiety?
- witnesses very accurate in accounts + little change in amount recalled/accuracy after 5 months
- though some details less accurate - ex recollection of colour of items + age/height etc estimates
- ptps who reported highest levels of stress most accurate
- suggests anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on accuracy of eyewitness memory in a real-world context - may even enhance it
what is a description for the contradictory findings of anxiety’s effect on recall? how this used to explain deffenbacher’s findings?
- yerkes and dodson - relationship between emotional arousal + performance looks like an ‘inverted U’
- deffenbacher reviewed studies of EWT + noted findings on effects of anxiety
- used yerkes-dodson law to explain (relationship between emotional arousal + performance looks like ‘inverted U’)
- when witness accident - emotionally + physiologically aroused
- experience anxiety + phys changes
- lower levels of anxiety - lower levels of recall accuracy - memory becomes more accurate as level of anxiety increases
- however optimal level
what does deffenbacher say about an optimal level of anxiety?
there is an optimal level of anxiety - point of maximum accuracy
- if person experiences any more arousal - recall suffers drastic decline
what is a limitation of johnson and scott’s research into anxiety?
- may not have tested anxiety
- reason ptps focused on weapon may be because - surprised rather than scared
- pickel conducted experiment using, scissors, handgun, wallet, raw chicken as hand-held items in a hairdressing salon video (scissors high anxiety, low are unusualness)
- eyewitness accuracy significantly poorer in high unsualness conditions
- suggests weapon focus effect due to unusualness rather than axiety/threat + therefore tells us nothing specifically about effects of anxiety on EWT
what is a strength of anxiety having a negative effect on recall?
- anxiety has negative effect on accuracy of recall
- study by valentine + mesout - supports research on weapon focus - used heart rate to divide ptps into high + low anxiety groups
- 17% of high-anxiety group correctly identified details of actor (played a person who was encountered by them in labyrinth)
- 75% correct identification in low anxiety group
what is a study to support the positive effects of anxiety on recall?
- christianson + hubinette
- interviewed 58 witnesses to bank robberies
- some witnesses directly involved, some indirectly
- recall more than 75% accurate across all witnesses
- direct victims (most anxious) even more accurate)
- findings from actual crimes confirm anxiety does not reduce accuracy of recall - may even enhance
what is the cognitive interview?
method of interviewing EW to help them retrieve more accurate memories
what are the four main techniques for the cognitive interview?
- report everything
- reinstate the context - return to crime scene ‘in mind’ - related to context-dependent forgetting
- reverse the order - different order from original sequence - prevents reporting expectations of how must have happened + reports actual events + dishonesty
- change the perspective - recall from other perspectives - disrupt expectation + effect of schema on recall - scheme you have for particular setting - generate expectations of what would have happened + schema recalled rather than actual events
what is the enhanced cognitive interview?
- fisher et al developed some additional elements of the CI to focus on social dynamics of interaction
- ex, interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact + when to relinquish
- enhanced also includes ideas like reducing anxiety, distractions + open-ended questions
what supporting evidence is there that the cognitive interview works?
- meta-analysis by kohnken et al
- combined data from 55 studies comparing CI with standard police interview
- CI gave average 41% increase in accurate info compared to standard
- shows CI to be effective
what evidence shows how some elements of the cognitive interview are not useful?
- milne and bull
- found each of the four techniques did produce more info than standard police interview
- but found combination of report everything + reinstate the context produced better recall than any other elements/combination of them
- confirmed police officers’ suspicions that some aspects of CI more useful than others
- casts some credibility on overall cognitive interview
how can the cognitive interview be seen as time consuming?
- police officers may be reluctant to use CI - takes more time + training than standard police interview
- more time needed to establish rapport with witness + allow them to relax
- suggests CI not realistic method for police officers to use
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what research is there on the sensory register?
- sperling
- flashed a grid of 20 letters onto a screen for a 20th of a second
- When participants were asked to recall random rows of letters the recall was strong
- suggests that all the rows of letters were stored in the sensory register as participants didn’t know which row would be asked for
- meaning that the iconic store in the sensory register has a large capacity
what did memon find about CI?
- reviewed 57 studies - found that CI interviews produced more accurate recall than non-CI interviews, especially in older people
