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Psychology revision > Memory > Flashcards

Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

What is memory?

A
  • Human memory can most broadly be defined as the process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past - not just years ago but in immediate past too.
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2
Q

Types of memory

A
  • sensory memory/register (SM)
  • short term memory (STM)
  • Long term memory (LTM)
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3
Q

What is the sensory memory/register (SM)?

A
  • Initial contact for stimuli. SM is only capable of retaining information for a very short time
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4
Q

What is short term memory (STM)?

A
  • The information we are currently aware of or thinking about.
  • The information found in short term memory comes from paying attention to sensory memories
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5
Q

What is long term memory (LTM)?

A
  • Continual storage of information which is largely outside of our awareness, but can be called into working memory to be used when needed.
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6
Q

What is duration?

A
  • how long (in time) a memory lasts before it is no longer accessible.
  • STM and LTM differ in duration
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7
Q

Explain the duration of short term memory (STM)

A
  • short term memories last for very short period of time, unless rehearsed or paid attention to.
  • therefore STM is limited in duration
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8
Q

Explain the duration of long term memory (LTM)

A
  • long term memories can last anywhere can last anywhere from 2 minutes to 100 years.
  • LTM has an unlimited duration
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9
Q

Explain the features of the Peterson and Peterson experiment (1959)

A
  • Participants presented with a 3 letter consonant nonsense syllable followed by a 3 digit number.
  • Nonsense syllables were not memorable such as ‘BBC’.
  • Participants were then asked to count backwards in 3’s or 4’s to prevent them from rehearsing the nonsense syllable.
  • Each participant was given two practice trials followed by 8 real trials. On each trial the time spent counting backwards was different (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 seconds).
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10
Q

What were the results of the Peterson and Peterson experiment?

A
  • Participants remembered 90% when there was a 3 second interval, but only 2% when there was an 18 second interval.
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11
Q

List the positive evaluations of the Peterson and Peterson experiment (1959):

A
  • Showed that forgetting in STM can occur if information is not rehearsed.
  • Identified that duration of STM as approximately 18secs.
  • Highly controlled therefore limited the effect of extraneous variables.
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12
Q

List the negative evaluations of the Peterson and Peterson experiment:

A
  • Using artificial stimuli therefore they had no personal meaning to the participants – lacked mundane realism.
  • means that we may not be able to generalise these findings to different kinds of memory task.
  • This therefore lacks external validity.
  • Relatively small sample and all students
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13
Q

What were the key features of Bahrick et al experiment (1975)?

A
  • duration of LTM
  • 392 participants from Ohio aged between 17 and 74, using High school year books. Recall was tested in various ways
    1. Photo-recognition test of 50 photos
    2. Free recall test where they had to recall the names of
    students from their graduating class.
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14
Q

What were the results of Bahrick’s experiment?

A
  • After 15 years 90% accurate in photo recognition.
  • After 48 years 70% accurate in photo recognition.
  • After 15 years 60% accurate for free recall.
  • After 48 years 30% accurate for free recall.
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15
Q

List the positive and negative evaluations of Bahrick’s experiment:

A

Positive:
- High external validity, real-life meaningful memories were studied.

Negative:
- Confounding variables are not controlled in these experiments.
- These pictures could have been rehearsed over the years.

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16
Q

What is rehearsal?

A
  • a way of transferring info into LTM (long-term memory).
  • e.g. by repeating it over and over again or by attending to it
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17
Q

What is digital span?

A
  • A way of measuring the capacity of STM.
  • Participants have to repeat back a string of digits in order of presentation
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18
Q

List the features of Jacobs’ capacity of STM study:

A
  • method: Participants presented with a string of letters or digits.
  • Had to repeat them back in the same order. - The number of digits or letters increased until the participant failed to recall the sequence correctly.
  • results: majority of the time, participants recalled about 9 digits and about 7 letters (aged 8 years).
  • This capacity increased with age during childhood
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19
Q

What was concluded in Jacobs’ STM study?

A
  • Based on the range of results, Jacobs concluded STM has limited storage capacity of 5-9 items.
  • Individual differences were found, such as STM increasing with age, possibly due to use of memory techniques such as chunking.
  • Digits may have been easier to recall as there were only 10 different digits to remember, compared to 26 letters
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20
Q

List the evaluations of Jacobs’ experiment on STM:

A
  • research is artificial and lacks ecological validity - not something you would do in real life.
  • Meaningful info may be recalled better, perhaps showing STM to have an even greater capacity.
  • Also, the previous sequence recalled by the participants might have confused them on future trials
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21
Q

Explain Miller’s theory on span of memory and chunking:

A
  • Miller (1956) noted that things come in sevens: 7 notes on musical scales, 7 days of the week…
  • This suggests that the capacity of STM is 7 items (plus or minus 2).
  • argued that capacity for remembering info can be increased if we chunk items together.
  • If we find links between things and group them together then we will remember more.
  • e.g. FBI, TNT, NHS, LOL, AQA etc.
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22
Q

List the evaluations on capacity and coding:

A

Negative:
- artificial stimuli.
- lacking validity: digital span.
- not so many chunks (overestimation of STM).

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23
Q

Explain how artificial stimuli is a negative evaluation for capacity and coding

A
  • based on very old research.
  • Lacked adequate control.
  • Confounding variables.
  • However: other studies have found similar results supporting its validity.
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24
Q

Explain how the overestimation of STM is a negative evaluation of capacity and coding (not so many chunks)

A
  • Miller may have overestimated the capacity of the STM.
  • Cowan (2001) reviewed other research and concluded that the capacity of STM was only about 4 chunks.
25
Q

What is encoding?

A
  • the way info is changed so it can be stored in memory.
  • Info enters the brain via the senses but is then stored in different forms:
    1) Visual
    2) Acoustic
    3) Semantic
26
Q

What are the 2 sub-divisions of LTM?

A
  • explicit (declarative)
  • implicit (non-declarative)
27
Q

What is the explicit (declarative) sub-division of LTM?

A
  • Explicit (declarative) as you can put it into words.
  • Have to be consciously thought about to be recalled.
  • Often formed through several combined memories.
  • These include semantic and episodic memories. (E.g. semantic: knowing how to use a pair of scissors, knowing that grass is green, episodic: first kiss, brother’s graduation etc)
28
Q

What is the implicit (non-declarative) sub-division of LTM?

A
  • Implicit (non-declarative) which is more difficult to put into words.
  • These can be recalled without conscious thought.
  • These include procedural memories (e.g. riding a bike, writing.)
29
Q

What are episodic memories?

A
  • conscious recollection of previous personal experiences together with their context in terms of time, place, associated emotions, etc.
  • e.g. favourite song, primary school (friends/teachers), favourite book.
  • episodic memory are time-stamped into our brain and we have to make a conscious effort to recall them
30
Q

What role does the prefrontal cortex play in episodic memory?

A
  • The prefrontal cortex in the forward part of the frontal lobe is associated with initial coding of episodic memory.
31
Q

What role does the hippocampus play in episodic memory?

A
  • Memories of different parts of an event are located in the different visual, auditory, olfactory areas of the brain, but are connected together in the hippocampus to create a memory of an episode
32
Q

What is semantic memory?

A
  • Concerns factual knowledge an individual has learned.
  • These are not time stamped.
  • Linked to episodic as new knowledge is linked to experience.
  • e.g. facts about Harry Potter, Capital of France etc.
33
Q

What parts of the brain play a role in semantic memory?

A
  • Some disagreement over which areas involved in the semantic memory however the hippocampus is thought to be involved.
  • left prefrontal cortex: Coding associated with the frontal and temporal lobes
34
Q

What is procedural memory?

A
  • Concerned with learning motor skills.
  • Without conscious effort.
  • Difficult to explain in words.
  • Also involved in language.
  • e.g. sport, riding a bike, learning to drive etc etc
35
Q

What parts of the brain play a role in episodic memory?

A
  • right prefrontal cortex
  • hippocampus
36
Q

What parts of the brain play a role in procedural memory?

A
  • motor cortex and prefrontal cortex
  • cerebellum
37
Q

What role does the Motor Cortex and prefrontal cortex play in procedural memory

A
  • These areas are associated with procedural LTM and aid in the memories of how to walk etc
38
Q

What role does the cerebellum play in procedural memory?

A
  • cerebellum helps with timing and coordination of movements, making them smooth and precise.
  • Recent research also suggests a role in higher cognitive processes
39
Q

List the evaluations of memory encoding/types of LTM:

A

Positive:
- good clinical evidence
- neuroimaging evidence
- real life applications

Negative:
- overgeneralisation
- Cohen and Squire (1980)

40
Q

Explain how good clinical evidence supports memory encoding/types of LTM? (Positive evidence)

A
  • Episodic memory severely impaired as a consequence of amnesia. Great difficulty recalling events in the past.
  • Semantic memory unaffected – they understood the meaning of words.
  • Procedural memory also intact – could walk, tie shoelaces etc.
  • Supports Tulving’s view that there are different memory stores in the LTM.
41
Q

Explain how neuroimaging evidence supports memory encoding/types of LTM (positive evaluation)

A
  • Brain scans have been conducted whilst performing memory tasks.
  • Tulving (1994) found that episodic and semantic memories were both recalled from the prefrontal cortex.
  • This area is divided into two, one on each hemisphere of the brain:
  • Left prefrontal cortex – semantic memories
  • Right prefrontal cortex – episodic memories.
  • Supports the idea in different physical locality of different parts of memory.
42
Q

List the features of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s (1968) multi-store model:

A
  • memory consists of 3 stores: sensory register, short-term store, long-term store and info has to move through these stores to become a memory.
  • info from our environment (e.g. visual/auditory) initially goes into sensory register. If you pay attention to it, or think about it, the info will pass into short-term memory.
  • if info is processed further (rehearsed) then it can be transferred to long-term memory. In theory, info can remain there forever, until something more interesting comes along, like a bee or a cloud)
43
Q

List the positive evaluations / strengths of the Multi-store model:

A

Positive:
- external validity, supporting research:
- primacy effect
- recency effect
- Korsakoff’s Syndrome
- Milner et al (1957)

44
Q

Explain how research on the primacy effect supports the multi-store model

A
  • research shows ppts are able to recall 1st few items of a list better than those from the middle.
  • multi-store model explains as earlier items will have been rehearsed better and transferred to LTM.
  • if rehearsal is prevented by an interference task, the effect disappears.
  • e.g. Glenzer and Cunitz
45
Q

List the features of Glenzer and Cuniz’s (1966) experiment on MSM:

A
  • showed ppts a list of 20 words (presented one at a time) and then asked them to recall them.
  • serial position effect: ‘when asking people to remember list of words greater than capacity of STM, they have a tendency to remember words from beginning+end of list’.
  • comprised of primary effect and recency effect
46
Q

What is the primary effect? (MSM / Glenzer and Cunitz)

A
  • tendency for people to remember the 1st 5 or so words/items from the beginning of a list.
47
Q

What is the recency effect? (MSM / Glenzer and Cunitz)

A
  • tendency for people to remember the last 5 or so words/items from the end of a list.
48
Q

Explain how research on the recency effects supports the memory store model

A
  • ppts also tend to remember the last few items of a list better than those from the middle.
  • as STM has capacity of around 7 items, words in the middle of the list, if not rehearsed, are displaced from STM by the last few words heard.
  • these last words are still in STM at the end of the experiment and can be recalled.
49
Q

Explain how research on people with Korsakoff’s syndrome supports MSM

A
  • Korsakoff’s syndrome: amnesia mostly caused by chronic alcoholism).
  • they can recall last items in a list (unimpaired recency effect) suggesting an unaffected STM.
  • however, LTM is very poor.
  • This supports the model by showing that STM and LTM are separate stores
50
Q

How does Milner’s research support the memory store model (also list the key features)?

A
  • Milner et al (1957) did case study on patient called HM who suffered from severe and frequent epilepsy.
  • seizures based in hippocampus. Doctors surgically removed part of brain around this area.
  • operation reduced epilepsy, but led to memory loss.
  • could form STMs, but unable to form new LTMs
  • study supports idea that different types of memory are separate systems in the brain
51
Q

List the negative evaluations (limitations) of the memory store model:

A
  • more than 1 type of rehearsal / real life application of rehearsal.
  • oversimplified (more than 1 type of STM and LTM)
  • Use of artificial materials
52
Q

Explain how there being more than 1 type of rehearsal / real life application is a limitation of the MSM

A
  • people don’t always spend time rehearsing, yet will transfer info into LTM.
  • rehearsal not always needed for info to be stored and some items can’t be rehearsed, e.g. smells.
  • Craik and Watkins (1973) found that the importance of the amount of rehearsal is false:
  • type of rehearsal is what really matters:
  • maintenance: only maintained in the STM.
  • elaborative rehearsal: linking existing knowledge or meaning
53
Q

Explain how oversimplification is a limitation of the MSM

A
  • assumes there is only 1 LTM store and STM store. Disproved by evidence from brain damaged patients, suggesting several different STM stores and other evidence suggesting different LTM stores.
  • Patient K.F. case study, Shallice and Warrington (1970).
  • found STM store for non-verbal sounds.
  • at least one STM store processing visual info and 1 for auditory info.
  • supports working memory model
54
Q

Explain how Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed the WMM

A
  • believed memory is not just 1 store but a number of different stores.
  • they based their model on results from studies that used ‘interference tasks’:
  • if ppts performed 2 tasks simultaneously that use the same system, performance is affected, e.g. saying ‘the,the,the’ while silently reading is hard.
  • however, if 2 tasks involve different systems, performance isn’t affected on either task (e.g. saying ‘the, the, the’ whilst tracking a moving object
55
Q

List the key features of the central executive (WSM):

A
  • a key component in the model.
  • directs attention to tasks. Decides what working memory pays attention to.
  • pays attention to senses - similar to sensory store.
  • has limited capacity + controls ‘slave’ systems that also have limited capacity:
  • phonological loop
  • visuo-spatial sketchpad
  • episodic buffer
56
Q

List the features of the phonological loop (1st slave system):

A
  • deals with auditory info and preserves word order, inner ear.
  • Baddeley (1986) further subdivided it into:
  • phonological store, holds words heard (inner ear)
  • articulatory process (holds words heard/seen) and silently repeated (looped) like an inner voice. A kind of maintenance rehearsal
57
Q

List the key features of the visuo-spatial sketchpad (2nd slave system):

A
  • visual and/or spatial info stored here (inner eye:
  • visual = what things look like.
  • spatial = relationships between things.
  • Logie (1995) suggested subdivision:
  • visuo-cache (store), an inner scribe for spatial relations, stores info on colour/form
58
Q

List the features of the episodic buffer (3rd slave system):

A
  • Baddeley (2000) added episodic buffer as he realised model needed a more general store.
  • Buffer is an extra storage system.
  • briefly stores info from the other subsystem and integrates it together, along with info LTM, to make complete scenes or ‘episodes’
59
Q

List the evaluations of the working memory model

A

Positive:
- research support
- Further research support

Negative:
- WMM does not fully explain all of memory
- the explanation of the central executive is unclear

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