Memory Flashcards
Encoding
in what form?
Capacity
how much information?
Duration
how long for?
Sensory Memory: Encoding
iconic memory (visual from the eye) - images
echoic memory (auditory input from the ears) - sounds
haptic memory (tactile input from the body) - feelings
Where does sensory memory take information for
from the sense organs and holds them in that same form
Research in Sensory Memory
information is stored in an unprocessed form
transferred to short term memory through attention
Sensory Memory: Sperling 1960 - recalling letters
presented a grid of letters for less than a second
sperling used a grid of letters to cue participants to recall a specific row
recall on the specified row was high
demonstrated we have large capacity in sensory memory
Short Term Memory: Encoding
in 1964 Conrad visually presented students with one letter at a time
letters that are acoustically similar are harder to recall from STM than those which are acoustically dissimilar
suggesting that STM mainly encodes things acoustically even though items were presented visually
Short Term Memory: Capacity
Miller 1956, the STM can hold ‘the magic number 7 plus or minus 2)
on average the capacity of STM is between 5 and 9 items of information
Short Term Memory: Extending Capacity, chunking
Miller 1956, increase capacity by combining separate bits of information into larger chunks
chunking involves making info more meaningful by organising it in line with existing knowledge from your LTM
Short Term Memory: Duration
the duration of STM is 18-30 seconds
Peterson and Peterson (1959)
got students to recall combinations of 3 letters (trigrams after longer and longer intervals)
prevented from rehearsing during trigrams using a counting task
Long Term Memory: Encoding
Baddeley 1966
presented lists of 10 words at a time
some lists were semantically similar some were not
tested immediately and then after 20 mins
after 20 mins did poorly on semantic test
suggesting we encode LTM’s according to what they mean so similar things get confused
Long Term Memory: Capacity
capacity - potential unlimited
Long Term Memory: Duration
anything up to a lifetime - difficult to test exact duration
Bahrick et al (1975) tested US graduates
show classmates photos years later
90% accuracy remembering faces and names 34 yrs after graduation this declined after 48 yrs particularly for faces
Multi Store Model of Memory Theory
Memory is the process of encoding, storing and retrieving information
encoding or coding is taking information from the environment, converting the information so that it can be stored
storage, retaining encoded information can be in LTM or STM
retrieval, access the information that has been stored
Multi-Store Model of Memory
Environment Input - Sensory Memory - STM (rehearsal loop) = LTM
+ recall, attention, prolonged rehearsal, retrieval
Primary Recency Effect
first few words are inputted into sensory memory and they are paid attention to an placed in STM and then rehearsed into LTM then retained back into STM
middle words are placed in sensory memory however they stay there and decay
last few word get to STM because first few words have now been processed
Evaluating Multi-Store Model of Memory
the first model of memory - pro
we can now study what STM and LTM is and can help solve issues, if someone new comes they have a good basis to start from
the model is oversimplified - con
many research finding cannot be explained by the model, more than one type of rehearsal, more than one type of STM and LTM
over emphasis the role of rehearsal - con
this is because it makes it sound like rehearsal is the only way to store information in your LTM
a pro is that it can explain primary recency effect
Case Study: Henry Gustav Molaison - 1953
HM had an accident as a boy which caused him to have seizures to control these seizures he had brain surgery to remove is hippocampus and amygdala
as a result of surgery the seizures decreased but he could no longer form new memories or remember the prior 11 years of his life
however he could remember childhood memories
the surgeon probably destroyed brain structures which played a role in sense of smell and forming new memories
anterogade amnesia due to loss of hippocampus
HM could use his memory only until STM and could live only in the moment
Brenda Miller’s experiment on HM
He was to trace an outline of a star, but he could only see the mirrored reflection. He did this once a day over a period of a few days and Milner observed that he became faster and faster. Each time he performed the task he had no memory of ever having done it before, but his performance kept improving. This is further evidence for localization of function – the hippocampus must play a role in declarative (explicit) memory but not procedural (implicit) memory
Does HM support the multi-store model
because the model can explain where HMs anterograde amnesia stems from
he is unable to move STM into the LTM which denotes both the existence of STM and LTM on separate stores and the need for the movement between them
Research Support for Seperation of LTM and STM
Baddeley 1966 gave ppts word lists, acoustically similar and dissimilar, semantically similar and dissimilar
ppts mixed up acoustically similar words in STM and semantically similar words LTM
supports model, as model suggests that LTM and STM are separate stores
this gives the model validity as it suggests its accurate
Flashbulb Memories
do not require rehearsal
an event that occurs that sticks with someone
an accurate and vivid memory effected by emotional states
multi-store model is unable to explain why they occur, this is a limitation of the model therefore lacks explanatory power for real life memory forming
Memory pros and cons concerning
memory research
HM
memory research uses nonsense tasks and is conducted in laboratories therefore does not have ecological validity because the tasks are situations that we would no face in everyday life
there are ethical tissues with HM case study because no informed consent from him because he forgot that he gave consent or had the right to withdraw they did have consent from his guardians
Working Model Memory Intro
Baddeley and Hitch
they believed that STM store in MSM was too simplistic they thought that STM was not a passive store but several active processes that manipulate info
Experiment Dual-Task
if digit span is a measure of STM capacity ppts should be expected to show impaired performance on the reasoning task because their STM would be fully occupied
ppts made errors on either however speed was slightly slower
they concluded that STM must be made of several components all of which are involved in processes other than simply storage
Working Model of Memory
central executive
visuo-spatial sketchpad
episodic buffer
phonological loop
Central Executive
drives the system
decides how attention is directed to particular tasks
allocates the resources to tasks
data arrives from the senses or from the LTM
has limited storage capacity, so cannot attend to many things at once
Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
stores and manipulates visual information, input is from eyes or LTM
if you imagine an object and then picture it rotating you are using your visuo-spatial sketchpad
2 sub-systems
visual cache - stores visual data
inner scribe - records the arrangement of objects in the visual field (where they are)
Episodic Buffer
the episodic buffer takes information from the other slave systems and adds information about time and order, ready for episodic LTM
Phonological Loop
inner ear, repeat sounds to remember use sound based code to remember, decays after 2 seconds
articulatory loop, inner voice, rehearses info verbally and has capacity of 2 seconds, repeat over and over again
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Support for WMM comes from clinical evidence
Support for WMM comes from clinical evidence - case study of patient KF they suffered brain damage then had poor STM ability for verbal information but could process visual information, only PL had been damaged this supports the separation of visual and acoustic stores, however may not be reliable because cases are unique
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Better at explaining memory than MSM
yes more developed STM less simplified, divides STM into parts which evidence suggests is accurate
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Concept of CE is vague
least understood of working components, needs to be more clearly explained than just simply being attention, may consist of separate components
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
WMM not complete explanation of
doesnt talk about LTM doesnt show how information moves to the LTM, can only be used when comparing MSM
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Logie et al (1989)
ppts play game and at the same time carry out either a visuo-spatial/ verbal memory distracter task
impaired performance on perceptual motor
conclusion separated PL and V-S SP, demonstrates limited capacity of components, can only do a certain amount of processing
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
WMM helps explain learning differences
DeSong 2006 dyslexia involves deficit in PL and CE functioning, effects childrens learning of phonics, ability to take apart and analyse sounds in words requires student to have strong working memory
real life application if we know PL + CE not functioning teachers can come up with strategies to help
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Brain scanning studies have been conducted
tasks involving CE during brain scan
greater activity in prefrontal cortex
activity in area increased as task became harder
as demand on CE increases it works harder
suggests STM is actively processing info
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Dual task experiments have been carried out
support separate existence of V-S SP, more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks than one verbal and one visual, this is because they arent the same slave systems and therefore there is no competition
Types of LTM
procedural memory (non-declarative memory) - knowing how
declarative memory - knowing that
Procedural memory/ non-declarative memory
implicit, knowing how, not easy to put into words
memory for actions or skills
can recall these memories without conscious awareness or a great deal of effort
Declarative memory
explicit memory, knowing that, easy to put into words
Declarative memory further splits into
semantic memory - general knowledge
episodic memories - personal recollection
Semantic memory
contains knowledge of the world
includes facts
memories of what words mean, e.g. what university is
these memories are not time stamped much less personal
better sustained over time than episodic
linked to episodic as new knowledge tends to come from experience
some suggest it is linked to the hippocampus some say several areas
Episodic memory
Auto biographical record of your experience
strength of memory influenced by emotions present at time of encoding
strength affected by degree of processing - highly processed memories recalled more easily
suggested that they help in distinguishing between real events and imagination
coding in the prefrontal cortex
different parts of memory for the event are looked in different areas of the brain
connected through the hippocampus to create memory of an episode rather than separate sections
Evaluation of Tulvings Theory of LTM - CL
8yr old CL had brain damage after tumour removed which led to deficiencies in episodic LTM, semantic LTM unaffected suggesting they use different brain areas
Evaluation of Tulvings Theory of LTM - Clive Wearing
famous musician who suffered from a rare brain infection which left him with moment to moment memory
but procedural memory that had previously stored were still available to him if you ask him if he can play music he says no (declarative) but he can still play the piano (non-declarative memory), semantic memory is also fine
Evaluation of Tulvings Theory of LTM - HM
HM drew a star by tracing it he couldnt look down but he could look at the mirror, procedural memory not affected since he can do this
however episodic memory effected because he cant remember doing this
Evaluation of Tulvings Theory of LTM - Brain Damage Difficulties
brain damage is traumatic which may change behaviour
may have difficulties paying attention and therefore underperform on some memory tasks
cannot control degree of damage sustained
may be a relay station that is damaged not the area that controls the behaviour
Evaluation of Tulvings Theory of LTM - AO3 Neuroimaging Evidence
Nyberg et al (2003) brain scans show memories are stored in different areas of the brain, PET scans show episodic and semantic are in the pre-frontal cortex, left semantic, right episodic
concept has validity
Evaluation of Tulvings Theory of LTM - AO3 Real Life Applications
can target aspects of memory to improve lives
episodic memory can be improved in older people who have mild cognitive impairment
enables specific treatment to be made
relationship between episodic and semantic
some patients retain ability to form new semantic memories but not episodic memories
Interference Theory Research Schmidt et al (2000)
aimed to assess influence of retroactive interference upon memory of street names learned during childhood
Interference Theory Research Schmidt et al (2000) - Procedure
randomly slected 700 pupils from database old and new students they were all sent questionnaires
211 responded (11-79) given a map of the area with 48 street names replaced with numbers, asked to remember as many as possible, relevant details were collected (how many times ppt moved, where they lived), retroactive interference was assessed by the number of times individuals had moved (thus learning new street names)
Interference Theory Research Schmidt et al (2000) - Findings
positive association between number of times ppts had moved house and number of street names they had forgotten
retroactive interference is potentially causing forgetfulness of true supports interference theory
Interference Theory Research Schmidt et al (2000) - Extraneous variables
higher IQ = better memory
real life settings
can cheat on questionnaires
age older = worse memory
method of transportation
Baddeley and Hitch (1977) - Rugby Players Retroactive interference
asked rugby players to remember as many as possible of the teams they had played
interference tested by assessing how recall was affected by number of games played
forgetting was due to number of games played rather than passage of time
supports retroactive interference as more games played more interference experienced
Forgetting
the failure to recall memories
Interference Theory
forgetting is due to the information in the LTM becoming confused with or disrupted by other information while coding, confusion or disruption leads to inaccurate recall
Proactive
previously learned information interferes with more recent learning e.g. you call your new partner your ex-partners name
Retroactive
recent learning interferes with information previously learned e.g your recent learning of spanish interferes with your previous learning of french
Interference Theory McGeoch and McDonald (1932)
in both cases interference is worse when memories are similar
Interference Theory McGeoch and McDonald (1932) - Procedure
studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials
ppts had to learn a list of 10 words (100% accuracy)
they then learned a new list 6 groups
group 1 - synonyms
group 2 - antonyms
group 3 - words unrelated to original
group 4 - consonant syllables
group 5 - 3-digit numbers
group 6 - no list (control group)
Interference Theory McGeoch and McDonald (1932) - Findings
when recalling the original list of words , performance depended on the second list
the most similar material produced the worst recall, interference is strongest when memories are similar
Interference Theory A03
lacks ecological validity
only explains forgetting when two sets of information are similar. this cannot be applied to everyday real-life forgetting. for example forgetting to go the one appointment you booked cannot be explained by the interference theory. therefore the interference theory lacks external validity because it does not explain why we forget non-similar things it only explains forgetting similar things. it also lacks real-life application because most evidence is from lab studies which also lack ecological validity.
Interference Theory A03
lab experiments
one strength of interference theory is lab experiments, literally thousand of lab experiments have been carried out into this explanation for forgetting. for example in 1931, McGeoch and McDonald made an experiments where they tested ppts with a list of 10 words which they had to learn with 100% accuracy, the ppts were then separated into 6 groups each group having to learn a different second list with varying levels of similarity. the results showcased that when recalling the original list of words their performance depended on the nature of the second list. the more similar the worse the results. this proves the interference theory. however since a lab experiment it takes place in artificial settings and lacks ecological validity.
Retrieval Failure/ Cue-dependent Forgetting
a type of forgetting based upon a failure to retrieve the prompts to trigger recall
information is still in LTM but cannot be accessed
recall is dependent on accessing information by remembering the retrieval under which the information is stored
Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP)
Tulving 1988, if a cue is to help us recall it has to be present at encoding and at retrieval
if the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different forgetting will occur
Context-Dependent Failure
external retrieval cues, forgetting occurs when the external environment is different at recall from when it was encoded
for example achieving fewer marks in a test when you take the test in a different room to where you learnt the information
State-Dependent Failure
internal retrieval cues
forgetting occurs when an individuals internal environment is dissimilar at recall to when the information was encoded
State-Dependent Failure Research Darley et al (1975)
ppts who hid money while high on marijuana were less able to recall where the money was when they were not high. when they were high again they were better able to recall where they had hid the money
State-Dependent Failure Research Carter and Cassaday (1988) - Procedure
they looked at the effect of anti-histamines, they gave these to their ppts, these had a mild sedative effect making the ppts slightly drowsy. this creates an internal physiological state different from the normal state of being awake and alert. the ppts had to learn passages of prose and recall it
group 1 - learn on the drug - recall when on it
group 2 - learn on the drug - recall when not on it
group 3 - learn not on drug - recall when on it
group 4 - learn not on drug - recall when not on it
State-Dependent Failure Research Carter and Cassaday (1988) - Findings
where there was mismatch between internal state at learning and recall performance on the memory test was significantly worse, so when cues are absent there is more forgetting
Context-Dependent Failure Research Godden and Baddeley (1975) - Procedure
divers learned a list of words when underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land
group 1 - learn on land - recall on land
group 2 - learn on land - recall underwater
group 3 - learn underwater - recall on land
group 4 - learn underwater - recall underwater
Context-Dependent Failure Research Godden and Baddeley (1975) - Findings
in two of these conditions the environmental contexts of learning and recall matched, whereas is the other two they did not, accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions
Retrieval Failure Theory AO3
real life application
although context-dependent cues appear not to have a very strong effect on forgetting. Baddeley suggest they are worth paying attention to this could be very useful in education we could do tests in the same environment that content was learnt
Retrieval Failure Theory AO3
not testable
ESP cannot be tested since it leads to a form of circular reasoning in experiments where a cue produces the successful recall of a word we assume that the cue must have been encoded at time of learning and the opposite for when a cue does not produce a successful result, no way to check whether cues have been created or not
Retrieval Failure Theory AO3
cues effect memory when tested a specific way
when the divers study is altered to be a recognition test it becomes a limitation because recognition wasnt affected by context-dependent forgetting going under sea or on land had no effect on their ability to recognise. therefore theory only works when a specific thing is taught and then remembered not when testing recognition
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Misleading Information - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer Experiment 1
in 1974 Loftus and Palmer investigated how information provided to a witness after an event will influence their memory of the event
Method - IV was verb used DV estimates of speed
45 ppts were shown a video they were split into 5 groups all ppts were asked ‘about how fast were the cars going when they — each other’
each group was given a different verb to fill in the blank
results
smashed 40.8mph
collided
bumped
hit
contacted 31.8mph
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Misleading Information - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer Experiment Evaluation Ecological Validity
low because it was a laboratory study and the ppts know they were taking part in an experiment
in real life situations would be an element of surprise so you might not be playing attention
might not be asked questions until some time later
have the opportunity to talk with other people
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Misleading Information - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer Experiment ppts
ppts were all students
not representative of general population, may include age, driving experience, educational experience (e.g. used to paying attention and get tested)
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Misleading Information - Leading Questions - Loftus and Palmer Experiment Usefulness and Issues
useful
police questioning witness
courtroom witness rules
issues
hard to estimate speed for some people easier for others
driver not visible in car, old woman go slow
what if car had been a porsche or ferrari
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Misleading Information - Post-Event Discussion - Gabbert et al (2003)
when co-witnesses to a crime discuss it, testimony can be contaminated
ppts watched video of the crime, filmed from different viewpoints, so each ppt could see elements of the event that others could not, ppts then discussed what they had seen before comparing recall
71% of ppts recalled aspects of the event they did not see but picked up in discussion, control group 0%
conclusion, witnesses often go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe others may be right and they may be wrong this is called memory conformity
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Misleading Information Evaluation
supporting evidence, Loftus and Palmer suggest EWT in real life is generally inaccurate and hence unreliable
lack of ecological validity in study: Foster (1994) found if ppts thought they were watching a real life robbery and their response would influence the trial, their identification of the robber was more accurate
real-world application: EWT research is important to ensure innocent people are not convicted on the basis of faulty EWT’s
individual differences - elderly people compare to younger subjects have difficulty remembering source of information therefore more prone to misleading information
Anxiety has a negative effect on recall
anxiety leads to increased arousal in the body which can stop us from paying attention to important cues (such as facial features of attacker) and therefore recall is worse
Anxiety has a positive effect on recall
the stress of witnessing a crime or accident creates anxiety
the fight or flight response is triggered which increases our alertness and therefore improves our memory for the event because we are aware of cues in the situation like the attackers face
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety - Negative Effect - Johnson and Scott (1976)
ppts in a waiting room overheard a heated discussion in the room next door
condition 1 = overhear normal conversation, man emerges holding ink-stained pen (low anxiety) - 49% of ppts accurately identified the man
condition 2 = overhear heated conversation, man emerges holding blood-stained knife (high anxiety) - 36% of ppts accurately identified the man
conclusion anxiety makes EWT worse
Weapon Focus Effect
if a crime is violent then high anxiety and levels off arousal may focus attention on the central details of the attack e.g. weapon used instead of perpetrators face
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety - Positive Effect - Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
a group of 21 customers in a gun shop in Vancouver witnessed the owner of the shop shoot and kill a thief
they all gave statements to the police
13 of these original customers were interviewed five months later by Yuille and Cutshall
original statements were compares to interviews for accuracy most ppts were very accurate even after 5 months
ppts were asked how stressful they found the event those who found it more stressful were more accurate in their recollection of the event
Yerkes Dodson Law
we can account for the contradictory findings between positive and negative effects on anxiety using the inverted u hypothesis
this states that when arousal (e.g. anxiety) is concerned, there is an optimum level at which performance will be best, but below or above this it will be worse
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety - A03 - inverted u hypothesis is too simple
anxiety is difficult to explain and measure accurately
anxiety has many many elements: cognitive, behavioural, emotional, physical
but the inverted u hypothesis assumes only one of these is linked to poor performance, physiological (physical) arousal
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety - A03 - individual differences
suggests that a key extraneous variable in studies of anxiety is emotional sensitivity
Bothwell et al (1987) ppts were tested for personality characteristics labelled as neuronic (anxious quickly) or stable (less emotionally sensitive)
stable ppts showed rising levels of accuracy as stress levels increased the opposite happened for neuronics
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety - A03 - Parker (2006)
lab-based and real life studies of anxiety only compare high and low anxiety groups. However there must be a moderate group so that it can be properly tested
Parker overcame this problem by interviewing people who had been affected by the destruction wrought by hurricane Andrew in the US in 1992, researchers defined anxiety in terms of the amount of damage the ppts suffered to their homes
researchers found that there there was a link between the level of recall and the amount of damage? anxiety experienced
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety - A03 - Pickel (1988)
Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors a handgun a wallet and a raw chicken
scissors low anxiety low unusualness
chicken and handgun low anxiety high unusualness
weapon focus is due to unusualness rather than anxiety and therefore it tells us nothing specifically about effects on anxiety on EWT
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety - A03 - Yuille and Cutshall measurements
they used a likert scale to measure anxiety this is a problem because every person has different perception of levels of anxiety
also people might lie if they dont want others to know how anxious they got
What is EWT
EWT is important for juries when making decisions
in 75% of cases, where individuals found to have been wrongly convicted by DNA evidence the original EWT which led to the conviction was incorrect
research helps further our understanding and has many practical applications
has influence how courts conduct witness statements and the basis of convictions
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony: Schema
Bartlett (1932) - memories are not accurate snapshots of event but are reconstructions
schemas are internal, mental representations of the world they cause us to interpret sensory information in a pre-set manner
schemas affect the reliability of EWT, witnesses arent just revealing facts as they happened, they are reconstructing memories
What Principles is the CI Based on?
organisation - the way memory is organised means memories can be accessed in a number of ways
cue dependency - memories are cue dependent, they use situational and emotional cues present during the original encoding
The Four CI Techniques
reinstate the context
change of narrative order
change perspective
repeat everything
Reinstate the Context
help the interviewees go back in their minds to the context in which they encoded the memory e.g. how they were feeling emotionally
going back in mind - external or internal cue could cause recall
Change of Narrative Order
changing the order in which the events are recalled can be very beneficial as it ensures that details are not skipped and gaps can be filed e.g. witness asked to record their account in reverse order
blocks the effect of schemas and therefore stop expectations impacting memory
Change Perspective
you are asked to describe the incident from the perspective of other people who were present at the time e.g. from the offender pov
block effect of schemas i.e. expectations of being a victim
Report Everything
required to report back any information about the event you can remember, even if it does not seem to have a bearing on the crime
this should trigger further details + memories
ECI Fisher and Geiselman (1987)
amended version of the CI the ECI builds a trusting relationship between interviewer and witness, this improves the communications between the two
includes ideas about reducing anxiety, minimising distractions, asking open ended questions and getting the witness to speak slowly
the interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact and when to relinquish it (they may receive learning for this)
AO3 CI - Supporting Research
strength of the CI is the amount of supporting research for example Kohnken et al (1999( conducted a meta-analysis of 53 studies and found an average increase of 34% in the amount of correct info gathered in the ECI compared to standard interview techniques
AO3 CI - Can be Split
another strength of the CI is the ability to be split and used separately in 2002 Milne and Bull found that each individual element was uniquely available
they found that a combination of report everything and context reinstatement produced better recall than any other condition
this is a strength because it suggest that even if CI cant be used as a whole two elements should be used
also many times police dont have enough time for training so they could learn these two initially
AO3 CI - Time consuming and Expensive
learning the CI is time consuming and expensive and the police is a government funded institution therefore has limited spending capacity and the training for CI is very specialist
Kebhel and Wagstaff found that many police forces have not been able to provide more than a few hours of training
also conducting the CI takes more time than a standard police interview
