memory Flashcards

Question

duration of LTM study

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

Sensory STM store LTM store Register

Answer 4

✔️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)

Answer 5

Baddely and Hitch | - a more complex version of the STM which focuses on processes rather than structures

Answer 6

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

Answer 7

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

Answer 8

- 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

Answer 9

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

Answer 10

- Binds and integrates information from other components - Sends information to the LTM store - Temporary storage system for the central executive

Answer 11

✔️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)

Answer 12

Memories for personal events | - Consciously retrieved with effort

Answer 13

Knowledge of the world | - Consciously retrieved with effort

Answer 14

Examples of knowing how… | - Behaviours are unconscious

Answer 15

Failure to retrieve memories

Answer 16

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

Answer 17

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

Answer 18

past learning interferes with new learning

Answer 19

new learning interferes with past learning

Answer 20

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.

Answer 21

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

Answer 22

a trigger of information that allows us to access a memory

Answer 23

Recall depends on external cues

Answer 24

recall depends on internal cues

Answer 25

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

Answer 26

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

Answer 27

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

Answer 28

questions which suggest the answer

Answer 29

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

Answer 30

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

Answer 31

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

Answer 32

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

Answer 33

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

Answer 34

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

Answer 35

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

Answer 36

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

Answer 37

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

Answer 38

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

Answer 39

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

Answer 40

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

Answer 41

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

Answer 42

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

Answer 43

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