Memory

Question 1

provide a study that looks into coding in STM and LTM

Answer 1

psychologist- Baddeley
procedure: acoustically similar or dissimilar words
semantically similar or dissimilar words
results- immediate recall was worse with acoustically similar words-suggests that STM is acoustic
recall after 20 mins was worse with semantically similar words- suggests LTM is semantic

Question 2

provide a study that looks into the capacity of STM

Answer 2

psychologist- Miller
procedure: made observations of everyday practice and noted that things came in 7s, e.g. 7 days a week, 7 deadly sins etc.
conclusion- the span of STM is therefore 7 items (±2) but can be improved by chunking into meaningful units

Question 3

provide a study into duration of STM

Answer 3

psychologist: Peterson and Peterson
procedure: 24 students were given a consonant syllable to remember as well as a 3-digit number to count backwards for 3, 6, 9, 12 or 18 seconds

results: after 3 seconds- recall was accurate by 80%
after 18 seconds- accuracy of recall dropped to 3%- suggests that duration of STM is
about 18-30 seconds without rehearsal

Question 4

provide a study into duration of LTM

Answer 4

psychologist- Bahrick et al

procedure- pps consisted of 392 American aged between 17-74
Con 1: Recognition Test- 50 photos from pps’ high school yearbook
Con 2: Free recall test: pps listed names of their graduating class

results- PPs testes 48 years after graduation were at least 70% accurate in comparison to free recall

Question 5

briefly describe the 3 types of LTM

Answer 5

1) Episodic Memory- stores events from our lives
time-stamped
conscious effort is needed to recall them
involve several elements- e.g. people, place etc.

2) Semantic Memory- stores knowledge of the world, meanings etc.
is not time-stamped and is less personal to the individual

3) Procedural memory- Muscle-based memory/ how we do things
recall is effortless- we find it hard to explain it to someone else

Question 6

evaluate the types of LTM

Answer 6

Episodic Memory (strength)- case study evidence- for example, H.M- difficulty in recollection and formation of new LTM memories, but semantic memories were unaffected- suggesting that there is support to the belief in different types of LTM .

weakness- Clinical evidence- case studies such as that of H.M are beneficial, however, cannot be used religiously applied to wider society due to them being unique, individual cases. So conclusions drawn about the nature of LTM may not necessarily be accurate

Question 7

who proposed the concept of the Working Memory Model (WMM)?

Answer 7

Baddeley and Hitch

Question 8

outline the function of the Central Executive

Answer 8

• allocates slave systems to tasks/ organises info. into suitable system
• an attentional process that monitors incoming info.
• limited storage/ capacity

Question 9

outline the function of the Phonological Loop

Answer 9

phonological loop- consists of the phonological store (words heard) and the articulatory process(allows for maintenance rehearsal)

• deals with auditory info.
• preserves it in the same order it is arrived in

Question 10

outline the function of the Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)

Answer 10

-stores visual and/ or spatial info.

psychologist- Logie- subdivisions of the VSS into :
Visual cache- stores visual data
Inner Scribe- records arrangement of objects in a visual field

Question 11

outline the function of the Episodic Buffer

Answer 11

• Added in 2000
• temporary store for information
• incorporates visual, spatial and verbal info. from other stores
• maintains a sense of time-sequencing
• links to LTM

Question 12

provide a strength and a weakness of the WMM

Answer 12

strength- case study of KF supports supports separate STM stores- Shallice and Warrington- KF was a brain damage patient who had poor STM ability for verbal info. but could process visual info. normally- suggested that the phonological loop was damaged but other areas of memory were intact.

weakness- function of the central executive lacks clarity- Cognitive psychologists state that the explanation of the CE provided is unsatisfactory, as it needs to be clearly described as opposed to simply stating ‘attention’. hence the WMM may not offer a full explanation to the different stores within memory

Question 13

what is the difference between proactive and retroactive interference?

Answer 13

proactive- when old memories interfere with new ones

retroactive- when new memories interfere with old ones

Question 14

describe the procedure used by McGeoch and McDonald in their study of interference

Answer 14

procedure: pps were asked to learn a list of words till they accurately recall them
-they were then given a new list to learn- words varied in similarity to the first list given-
group1- synonyms
group 2- antonyms
group 3- unrelated
group 4- consonant syllables
group 5- 3-digit numbers
group 6- control group

Question 15

discuss findings and conclusions drawn from their study

Answer 15

results- performance depended on the nature of the 2nd list- the more similar the words were, the worse the recall
when pps read a completely different list, the mean number of words recalled increased

conclusions- interference is strongest when the memories are similar. e.g. group 1- likely that the words with the same meanings blocked access to storage of the new material, and therefore affected recall

Question 16

evaluate interference as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 16

strength- research support- Baddeley and Hitch-asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they played so far in that season week by week.
accuracy did not depend on how long ago the match took place, yet instead on the number of matches played in the meantime.
suggests that interference can be applied to some everyday situations

weakness-lacks mundane realism- often, the materials used are artificial and usually consist of word lists. memorising a word list in an artificial environment is not a task carried out by individuals on a daily, hence cannot be reflective of real-life interference of memory

Question 17

provide a key study into misleading information.

Answer 17

Loftus and Palmer

procedure: 45 pps watched a video of a car crash and responded to a questionnaire about speed immediately after.
critical question: “how fast were the cars going when they (blank) each other
5 groups- each had a different verb, e.g. contacted/collided

results: when ‘contacted’ was the given verb, mean estimated speed was 31.8 compared to 40.5 for ‘smashed’
therefore, leading questions affects accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Question 18

define the terms : Memory contamination and Memory conformity

Answer 18

Memory contamination: the discussion of a crime leads to mixing information with the memories of other witnesses

memory conformity:when co-witnesses go along with each other to win social approval due to the belief that the other witnesses are right

Question 19

provide a key study into Post Event Discussion

Answer 19

Gabbert et al

procedure: 60 students and 60 adult pps were either paired or on their own (control group) and watched a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet
-co-witness group were told that each pair watched the same video,
but in reality, only one of them actually saw the girl steal
-they then discussed what they had watched

results: 71% of pps in co-witness group mistakenly recalled something they didn’t see as opposed to none of the pps in the control group
- suggests that PED can lead to an inaccuracy of EWT

Question 20

provide a strength and a limitation of misleading info.

Answer 20

strength- real world application- research into EWT has had practical implications on agencies such as the police force, investigators etc. as the consequences of inaccurate EWT can be serious. for e.g. case of Ronnie Long who was wrongly convicted of rape and spent 44 years in prison. has helped with the introduction of the cognitive interview

weakness- use of artificial materials- Yuille and Cutshall- watching clips of car accidents do not reflect the emotions felt when a real car crash has been witnessed, e.g. less stressful. they found that witnesses of a real armed robbery had accurate recall 4 months after the crime had taken place

Question 21

explain Johnson and Scott’s research procedure into the effects of anxiety

Answer 21

procedure: pps were seated in a waiting room believing that they were going to take part in a lab study
- Con 1- high anxiety- pps overheard a heated argument from the other room accompanied with a loud crashing sound. a man then walked out with a knife (made of paper) covered in blood
- Con 2- Low anxiety- pps overheard a heated argument and a man walks out with a pen and greasy hands
- pps were then asked to pick out the man from 50 pictures

Question 22

discuss the findings and conclusions of their study

Answer 22

results: Con 1 (high anxiety)- only 33% of the pps were able to correctly identify the man compared to 49% of the low anxiety con.
conclusions: tunnel theory of memory suggests that a witness’s attention is drawn to the weapon due to fear of harm- this is called weapon focus

Question 23

explain the research into anxiety by Yuillie and Cutshall

Answer 23

procedure: 21 real witnesses of a real life event were asked to take part, of which only 13 agreed
- pps were interviewed 4-5 months after the incident and rated how stressed they were at the time of the crime
results: recall was very accurate and there was little change after 5 months
conclusions: pps that stated that they were very stressed were more accurate than those who said they weren’t

Question 24

describe the Inverted U theory and the psychologists that proposed this.

Answer 24

Yerkes and Dodson: believe that the relationship between arousal/stress and performance is curvilinear rather than linear

Question 25

evaluate anxiety as an explanation of EWT

Answer 25

weakness- ethical issues- creating anxiety in pps is unethical as it can expose them to psychological harm/distress. this may make real-life studies more beneficial as it uses pps that have already experienced an event, so there is no need to create it. this doesn’t mean that research conducted is not beneficial, but it may raise questions on conducting it

weakness- Johnson and Scott’s study may test for surprise and not anxiety. study was replicated by Pickel (1998), but instead used scissors, wallet, raw chicken etc. in a hairdressing salon and found that accuracy was poorer the more unusual the items held were.

Question 26

who introduced the concept of the Cognitive Interview

Answer 26

Fisher and Geiselman (1992)

Question 27

briefly explain the steps involved in the CI

Answer 27

• report everything: witnesses are encouraged to include all details of the event- even if it seems irrelevant as it can act as cues to other memories
• reinstate the context- returning to the original crime scene ‘in their minds’ and imagines the environment, emotions etc. based on the concept of context-dependant forgetting

reverse the order- events recalled in a different order, e.g. from the end to the beginning. prevents the use of expectations and dishonesty

change POV- trying to view the event from someone else’s angle- how did it appear to them? prevents the use of schema on recall

Question 28

what are the additional elements to CI developed by Fisher et al? (Enhanced CI)

Answer 28

a focus of social dynamics of the interaction- this could be knowing when to make eye contact and when to avoid it

includes ideas such as:

• minimising anxiety
• removing any distractions
• asking open-ended questions

Question 29

evaluate the usefulness of CI

Answer 29

strength- effectiveness of CI- meta-analysis carried out by Kohnken et al of 50 studies found that enhanced CI consistently provided more accurate information than a standard interview- suggests that there are real-life practical benefits to the use if CI

weakness- time consuming- police officers may be reluctant to use CI as it takes them time to get trained, form a rapport with the individual, allow them time to relax etc. hence, police officers are more prone to using the standard interview as opposed to CI