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psychology paper 1 > memory > Flashcards

memory Flashcards

1
Q

encoding

A

The format in which information is stored

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2
Q

capacity

A

The amount of information that can be held

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3
Q

duration

A

The length of time information can be held

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4
Q

sensory memory

A

receives information from the environment through our senses

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5
Q

trace decay

A

information is lost quickly if no attention is given to it

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6
Q

encoding of sensory memory

A

depends on the sense

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7
Q

duration of sensory memory

A

less than half a second

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8
Q

capacity of sensory memory

A

very high

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9
Q

key study of sensory memory by who..?

A

Sperling

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10
Q

duration of sensory memory study

A

Procedure: a grid of letters & numbers displayed for less than a second
Findings: 5/12 items remembered, but when asked to recall a row 3/4 items remembered but still knew 12 items were there
Conclusion: Info decays in less than two seconds

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11
Q

capacity of sensory memory study

A

Procedure: a grid with letters & numbers displayed, accompanied by a tone which related to what row the participants should recall
Findings: participants remembered more letters than they wrote because their memory faded too fast
Conclusion: sensory memory had a large capacity but a short duration

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12
Q

short term memory (working memory)

A

information we are consciously aware of due to the attention it has been given

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13
Q

encoding of short term memory

A

acoustically

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14
Q

duration of short term memory

A

18-30 seconds

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15
Q

capacity of short term memory

A

7 +/- 2 (so, 5 or 9

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16
Q

encoding of STM study

A

Conrad
Procedure: sequence of six consonants presented to participants
Findings: letters with similar sounds were more difficult to recall correctly than those with different sounds
Conclusion: STM is encoded acoustically

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17
Q

duration of STM study

A

Peterson & Peterson
Procedure: 24 participants recalled triagrams which were presented one at a time. They were recalled after intervals of 3,6,9,13,15,18 seconds and after seeing a triagram, participants has to count backwards
Findings: The longer participants had to count backwards, the less they could recall triagrams
Conclusion: STM has limited duration

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18
Q

capacity of STM study

A

Jacobs (1887)
Procedure: participants repeated a list of numbers & letters in the right order, with the amount of items increasing until participants could not recall the list anymore
Findings: there was an average item span of 7.3 to 9.3 digits
Conclusion: the capacity of STM is 7 +/- 2

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19
Q

capacity of STM study (2)

A

Miller (1956)

Findings: the capacity of STM can be increased by combining separate chunks of information

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20
Q

encoding of long term memory

A

semantically (meaning)

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21
Q

capacity of long term memory

A

unlimited

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22
Q

duration of long term memory

A

unlimited

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23
Q

encoding of LTM study

A

Baddeley (1996)
Procedure: participants given one list of words and were asked to recall them in the right order
Findings: when asked to recall after 20 minutes, semantically DIFFERENT words were remembered inaccurately
Conclusion: LTM is encoded semantically

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24
Q

capacity of LTM study

A

NO STUDIES

  • too much information in the brain
  • assumed to have unlimited capacity
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25
Q

duration of LTM study

A

Bahrick (1975)
Procedure: 392 American ex-highschoolers aged 17-74 asked to recall from their yearbooks. Free recall test -> asked to recall NAMES of as many peers as possible. Photo recognition -> shown 50 photos and had to identify who they remembered
Findings: participants tested within 50 years of graduation were 90% accurate, after 48 years recall declined to 70%. Free recall -> after 15 years it was 60% accurate, after 48 years it was 30%
Conclusion: LTM has unlimited duration

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26
Q

Multi-store Model

A

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
- A stimulus from the environment enters the sensory register, paying attention to this information sends it to the STM store. If this information is rehearses it is sent to the LTM store.

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27
Q

Draw the multi-story model

A

Sensory STM store LTM store
Register

28
Q

Evaluation of Multi-store model

A

✔️evidence to support (Clive)
✔️scientific evidence to support (MRI brain scan)
❌too simplistic (research has shown that the STM store has multiple stores within it)
❌too much emphasis placed on rehearsal (traumatic events are automatically remembered due to the stress experienced)

29
Q

Working memory model

A

Baddely and Hitch

- a more complex version of the STM which focuses on processes rather than structures

30
Q

Draw the working memory model

A
  • Central Executive
  • Visuo-spatial sketchpad (inner scribe & visual cache)
  • Episodic buffer
  • Phonological loop (inner ear & inner voice)
  • Long Term Memory
31
Q

Central Executive

A
  • Controls attention and directs information to its two slave systems - the visuo-spatial sketchpad & phonological loop
  • Co-ordinates activity
  • Limited capacity
32
Q

Phonological Loop

A
  • Deals with auditory information
  • Subcomponents:
    ⚫️Articulatory Control process (inner voice) -> allows for sub-vocal repetition of items in the phonological store, known as maintenance
    ⚫️Phonological store (inner ear) -> stores acoustic items for a short period
33
Q

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

A
  • Deals with visual and spatial tasks
    Subcomponents:
    ⚫️Inner scribe -> deals with the spatial relationship between objects
    ⚫️Visual Cache -> stores visual information
34
Q

Episodic buffer

A
  • Binds and integrates information from other components
  • Sends information to the LTM store
  • Temporary storage system for the central executive
35
Q

Evaluation of working memory model

A

✔️evidence to support (KF motorcycle accident)
✔️dual-task performance studies (both tasks compete for the two slave systems - Baddely)
❌role of central executive unclear (Baddely argues it is the most important system but the least understood)

36
Q

Types of LTM - Episodic memory

A

Memories for personal events

- Consciously retrieved with effort

37
Q

Types of LTM - Semantic memory

A

Knowledge of the world

- Consciously retrieved with effort

38
Q

Types of LTM - Procedural Memory

A

Examples of knowing how…

- Behaviours are unconscious

39
Q

Forgetting

A

Failure to retrieve memories

40
Q

Displacement

A

when the STM is full, new information pushes out the old information and takes its place

41
Q

Interference Theory

A

forgetting due to one memory blocking another, causing one or both memories to be distorted

42
Q

Proactive Interference

A

past learning interferes with new learning

43
Q

Retroactive Interference

A

new learning interferes with past learning

44
Q

study for proactive interference

A

Keppel and Underwood
Procedure: meaningless three-letter consonant triagrams were presented at different intervals, and participants had to count backwards to prevent rehearsal
Findings: participants remembered triagrams that were presented first, despite length
Conclusion: results suggest proactive interference occurred as memory for earlier consonants that had transferred to LTM was interfering with memories of new consonants.

45
Q

study for retroactive interference

A

McGeoch and Mcdonald
Procedure: participants had to learn a list of 10 words until they remembered them with 100% accuracy. Then they learned a new list. There was 6 groups -> synonyms, antonyms, unrelated words, consonant syllables, three-digit numbers, and no list.
Findings: when participants recalled the original list, the similar material produced the worst recall. This shows interference is strongest when the memories are similar
Conclusion: the reason similarity affects memory is due to retroactive interference because new information overwrites previous similar memories

46
Q

Retrieval cues

A

a trigger of information that allows us to access a memory

47
Q

Context-dependent forgetting

A

Recall depends on external cues

48
Q

State-dependent forgetting

A

recall depends on internal cues

49
Q

Retrieval failure

A

forgetting that may occur when we don’t have the necessary cues to access a memory

50
Q

study for context-dependent forgetting

A

Godden and Baddely (1975)
Procedure: divers had to learn a set of words on dry land or underwater, and then tested in 4 conditions -> Learn on land = recall on land , learn on land = recall underwater, learn underwater = recall on land, learn underwater = recall underwater.
Findings: recall was found to be worse when participants were in a different context to coding & recall was found to be better when coding was in the same context

51
Q

study for state dependent forgetting

A

Goodwin et al (1969)
Procedure: Male volunteers asked to remember a list of words when they were either drunk or sober. After 24 hours, they were asked to recall the list either drunk or sober
Findings: Recall scores show information learned when drunk was recalled better when drunk

52
Q

leading questions

A

questions which suggest the answer

53
Q

post-event discussion

A

when witnesses discuss their experiences with a co-witness, their memories may become contaminated.

54
Q

Conformity effect

A

co-witnesses start with different views of the events but during discussions they begin to change their view of what happened

55
Q

Repeat intervieing

A

with every interview that takes place, there is a chance that interviewers comments will change the witnesses recall

56
Q

study for leading questions

A

Loftus and Palmer (1974)
Procedure: university students were shown film clips of car accidents and then asked questions about it - there was one critical (leading) question -> “how fast were the cars travelling when they hit,contacted,bumped,collided or smashed?”
Findings: the mean estimated speed for each condition was calculated. “contacted” = 31.8mph, “smashed” = 40.5mph. This shows depending on words used, answers will change
Conclusion: This shows the impact leading questions can have on a participants answers to the same clip

57
Q

Evidence against leading questions

A

Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
Procedure: they interviewed 13 people who witnessed an armed robbery in Canada, where the robber was shot dead. Interviews took place more than four months after the crime, and included two leading questions
Findings: despite the leading questions, witnesses were accurate in their accounts
Conclusion: Leading questions didn’t affect the eye witness testimonies, perhaps this is due to the stress or trauma of the incident

58
Q

study of post-event discussion

A

Gabbert et al (2003)
Procedure: pairs of participants individually watched a film of the same crime but filmed from a different point of view - this meant that each person could see different elements of the crime that others could not. The participants then discussed what they had seen together, before being separately asked
Findings: 71% recalled aspects of the crime they didn’t see, compared to 0% of a control group that had no discussion

59
Q

anxiety

A

witnesses to a crime often experience anxiety, which has a chance of effecting the accuracy of the eye witness testimony / recall

60
Q

study for anxiety recall

A

Yuille and Cutshall
Procedure: participants asked to recall the incident, they were also asked how stressed they had felt using a 7 point scale
Findings: those with the highest levels of stress had the most accurate recall - 88% compared to 75% for low stress

61
Q

weapons focus effect

A

when a witness focuses on a weapon, they fail to notice other elements of the crime

62
Q

study of anxiety impairing recall

A

Loftus
Procedure: participants sat outside a lab and overheard a genuine exchange between people inside it. Condition1 -> heard a calm discussion, a man with greasy hands came out holding a pen, Condition2 -> heard a heated discussion followed by the sound of breaking glass and overturned furniture, a man with blood on his hands came out holding a paper knife.
Findings: participants shown 50 photos to identify who did it. 49% correct in condition1, but only 33% correct in condition2.
Conclusion: anxiety caused by seeing the knife and hearing the distress took attention away from the identity of the man

63
Q

Yerkes-Dodson Law

A

moderate anxiety is associated with better recall than very high or low anxiety

64
Q

Report everything

A

witnesses are encouraged to include every detail they remember of the event , even if it seems irrelevant

65
Q

Mental reinstatement

A

witnesses should return to the original crime scene in their mind to imagine the environment and their emotions at the time.

66
Q

Change of order

A

events should be recalled in a different chronological order to the original one. This is done to prevent expectations and dishonesty

67
Q

Change of perspective

A

witnesses recall the event from other peoples perspective. This is done to disrupt the effect of expectations

psychology paper 1 (4 decks)

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