memory

Question 1

define coding,capacity,duration.

Answer 1

coding-the format in which information is changed into to be stored in memory
capacity-the amount of information that can be held in memory
duration-the length of time information can be held in memory

Question 2

what is the coding,capacity and duration of the sensory register?

Answer 2

coding-modality specific
capacity-unlimited
duration-250ms

Question 3

what is the coding,capacity and duration of short term memory?

Answer 3

coding-mainly acoustic
capacity-7+/-2
duration-18-30secs

Question 4

what is the coding,capacity and duration of long term memory?

Answer 4

coding-mainly semantic
capacity-unlimited
duration-potentially forever

Question 5

how did Baddeley find out that STM coded acoustically and LTM coded semantically?

Answer 5

participants were given 1 of 4 word lists to learn. The lists contained words that were either acoustically similar/dissimilar and semantically similar/dissimilar. Participants either recalled the list immediately ,testing the coding of STM or after 20 minutes, testing the coding of LTM.

Question 6

what did miller(1956) state regarding STM?

Answer 6

on average people can remember 7+/-2 items in their STM. He used digit span to to research this and argue that this is the capacity of STM. he said people can chunk items together to improve their memory but still a limit of 7+/-2 chunks of info stored in STM

Question 7

how did Peterson and Peterson(1959)find that STM is between 18-30 seconds?

Answer 7

participants were given a nonsense trigram of 3 syllables and 3 digit number. after intervals trigrams had to be recalled. recall was accurate after 3 seconds but by 28 seconds declined to around 10% and was concluded duration of STM is around 18-30 secs if rehersal is prevented

Question 8

how did Bahrick et al (1975) concluded duration of LTM is potentially lifelong?

Answer 8

ppts ages 17-74 required to identify schoolmates from a high school yearbook and to name in free recall or match faces to names.
PPts who left school within 15 years were very accurate with photo recognition (90%)and those who left decades earlier were 70% accurate
older ppts were less good at free recall but nearly as good as younger participants in the matching tasks which led to that conclusion.

Question 9

what is the multistore model of memory(MSM)?

Answer 9

a model by Attkinson and Shiffrin which explains how memory works and assumes there are 3 unitary stores.

Question 10

what are the 3 main stores in the MSM?

Answer 10

sensory resister-5 sense –>multimodal lasts around 250ms
short term store–>a limited memory store–>capacity of 7+/-2 items
long term store–>memory store which lasts potentially forever and codes semantically

Question 11

what is attention in the MSM?

Answer 11

if someone pays attention to details they are more likely to retain that information

Question 12

what is rehearsal in the MSM?

Answer 12

the continuous repetition of information. MSM argues as material in the STM is being rehearsed it will automatically transfer into our LTM store.

Question 13

what is recall in the MSM?

Answer 13

memories in the LTM store are recalled mid retrieval which requires conscious thoughts to access it and bring it to our STM in order for it to be recalled.

Question 14

what are the 3 types of LTM?

Answer 14

episodic,procedural,semantic

Question 15

define episodic memory

Answer 15

memory for events in our lives. includes memories of the time and place occurred and the people ,objects and behaviours involved

Question 16

define procedural memory

Answer 16

muscle based memory for actions. includes memories of how to carry out skills and techniques we have learnt.

Question 17

define semantic memory

Answer 17

memory for general knowledge. includes facts about the world

Question 18

what are the characteristics of episodic memory?

Answer 18

• formed through experiences
• declarative meaning info can be consciously inspected(conscious effort needed to inspect them)-can recall time and place info was encoded
• less resistant to forgetting

Question 19

what are the characteristics of procedural memory?

Answer 19

• taught
• non-declarative meaning info cannot be consciously inspected
• very resistant to forgetting

Question 20

what are the characteristics of semantic memory?

Answer 20

• taught
• declarative memories -cannot usually recall time and place info was encoded
• less resistant to forgetting

Question 21

who proposed that the LTM was separated into 3 different store?

Answer 21

Tulving (1985)

Question 22

Clive Wearing case study(types of LTM)

Answer 22

memory intact-procedural and semantic as he could still play the piano and remembers Buckingham palace
memory damages-episodic as he cant remember any events

Question 23

HM case study(types of LTM)

Answer 23

memory intact-procedural memory as he improved in drawing the star task
memory damaged-episodic and semantic as he could remember what he ate and the doctors name

Question 24

what is the working memory model(WMM)?

Answer 24

replaced the idea of a unitary STM store, Baddeley and Hitch(1974) suggested that STM was an active process considering of multiple components.

Question 25

what is the central executive?(WMM)

Answer 25

most important component
limited and unitary store which decides what to pay attention to
allocates info to correct subsystems
dual tasks –> increase demand on central executive therefore tasks=automated–>central executive doesn’t need to pay attention

Question 26

what is the phonological loop(WMM)?

Answer 26

deals with spoken and written material & is active when someone performs a verbal task and has 2 parts:
1-phonological store–>linked to speech perception ,holds words spoken in 2 seconds
2-Articulatory control process(inner voice)–>linked to speech production, rehearses verbal info from phonological store

Question 27

what is the episodic buffer(WMM)?

Answer 27

limited capacity that can hold about 4 chunks of information
provides temporary storage of info in multimodal code
integrates info into a single episodic representation maintains time sequencing-remembers events in order like a short episodic memory

Question 28

what is the visuospatial sketchpad(WMM)?

Answer 28

details with visual or spatial info
active when a visual task is performed
AKA inner eye
capacity of 3-4 objects and there are 2 parts:
1-visual cache-stores info that’s visual
2-inner scribe-records spatial and movement info

Question 29

what is the coding and capacity of the central executive?

Answer 29

coding-multi modal and capacity-limited

Question 30

what is the coding and capacity of the phonological loop?

Answer 30

coding-verbal capacity-2 secs of spoken info

Question 31

what is the coding and capacity of the episodic buffer

Answer 31

coding-multi modal capacity-about 4 chunks

Question 32

what is the coding and capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 32

coding-visual and spatial capacity-3-4 objects

Question 33

define forgetting?

Answer 33

forgetting refers to the apparent loss or modification of information already encoded and stored in an individual’s long-term memory.

Question 34

what are the 2 explanations for forgetting?

Answer 34

interference theory and retrieval failure

Question 35

what is interference?

Answer 35

interference is an explanation for forgetting in which 2 sets of info become confused
proactive interference: where old learning prevents recall of more recent info
retroactive interference: where new learning prevents recall of old info
interference is more common when old and new info are similar

Question 36

what is retrieval failure?

Answer 36

where info is available but cannot be recalled because of the absence of cues.
context depending: items cannot be retrieved because the situation recalling in is different to situation encoded in
state depending: items cannot be retrieved because your internal state when recalling the info is different from your internal state at the time info was encoded

Question 37

define eyewitness testimony(EWT).

Answer 37

a legal term which refers to an account given by people of an event they have eyewitness

Question 38

what are the 3 stages after witnessing an event that memory can be influenced leading to an inaccurate testimony?

Answer 38

1. Encoding
2. Storage/retention
3. Retrieval

Question 39

what is a leading question?

Answer 39

a question which suggests to witnesses what answer is desired, or leads them to the desired answer subtly prompting the respondent to answer in a particular way. e.g. “how many men attacked the victim?” suggests only men.

Question 40

what was loftus and palmers(1974) research(EWT)?

Answer 40

aim: test their hypothesis that language used in EWT can alter memory
sample:45 American university of Washington students
design: lab experiment-independent measures
iv; wording of question
dv: speed reported by the participants

Question 41

how did loftus and palmer(1974)conduct their EWT experiment?

Answer 41

7 films of traffic from 5-30 seconds presented in random order to each group. after watching ppts were asked to describe hat had happened They were then asked “how fast were the cars going when they smashed/collided/bumped/hit/contacted each other?”

Question 42

what were the results of loftus and palmers(1974) experiment?

Answer 42

the speed estimated was affected by the verb used
the verb implied info abt the speed
people who were asked the smashed question thought the cars were going faster and the opposite for contacted

Question 43

what is anxiety?

Answer 43

the state of emotional and physical arousal.

Question 44

what do psychologists argue regarding EWT and anxiety?

Answer 44

some argue the accuracy of EWT is increased when witnesses experience anxiety but others ague it is decreased

Question 45

what was Loftus and burns study that suggested anxiety reduces EWT?

Answer 45

meth: lab
design: independent groups
sample: 226ppts
115 ppts watched bank robbery film which becomes violent 111ppts watched one that doesn’t get violent. ppts then answered 25 questions most critical one was of the number on the football jersey of one of the young boys who was playing in the parking lot
findings:4% of ppts correctly recalled the number in violent condition and 28% in non violent.

Question 46

what was Johnson and Scott (1976)study that suggested anxiety reduces EWT?

Answer 46

meth:lab
design:independent groups
ppts invited to a lab told to wait in the reception area, receptionist left to run errand

Question 47

what was Johnson and Scott (1976)study that suggested anxiety reduces EWT?

Answer 47

meth: lab
design: independent groups
ppts invited to a lab told to wait in the reception area, receptionist left to run errand and there were 2 conditions:
1)’no weapon’ overhearing a convo about equipment failure, individual left the lab
2)’weapon’ overheard a heated exchange ,sound of breaking glass followed by an individual running out holding a bloodied letter opener
findings: those who witnessed a pen identified the target 49% of the time whereas those who saw a bloodied letter opener identified target 33% of the time

Question 48

what was Yuille and Cutshall(1986) study that suggested anxiety increases accuracy of EWT?

Answer 48

they interviewed 13 ppl who witnessed a real armed robbery. ppts had to rate their anxiety and answer questions abt the event
findings: ppts who had the highest levels of anxiety were the most accurate in their recall of details

Question 49

what is the cognitive interview?

Answer 49

an interview which is a specialist method o try to improve EWT. the interviewer takes the witness through 4 main steps.

Question 50

what is meant to ‘report everything’ in cognitive interview?

Answer 50

the interviewer encourages reporting of every single detail of the event
*important to avoid response bias from specific questions

Question 51

what is meant to’ reinstate the context’ in cognitive interview?

Answer 51

witnesses mentally recreates the environment and personal context of the incident e.g. imagining sounds weather emotions
*prevents retrieval failure as imagining environment can trigger emotional cues

Question 52

what is meant to ‘change the order’ in cognitive interview?

Answer 52

interviewer tries to get the witness to work through timeline alternatively e.g. end to start
*disrupts the effect of expectation and schema on recall

Question 53

what is meant to’ change in perspective’ in cognitive interview?

Answer 53

witnesses should recall the event from someone else’s POV

*disrupts the effect of expectations and schema on recall

Question 54

what are some characteristics of a standard interview

Answer 54

• closed questions
• answers are usually short
• witnesses are bombarded with brief questions to elict facts
• witnesses interrupted which can break concentration