memory

Question 1

define memory

Answer 1

Memory is the process of retaining information after the original thing is no longer present

Question 2

define coding

Answer 2

Format in which memories are stored

Question 3

define duration

Answer 3

The length of time information can be held in memory

Question 4

define capacity

Answer 4

The amount of information that can be stored

Question 5

capacity of sensory register…

Answer 5

unlimited

Question 6

duration of sensory register….

Answer 6

250 milliseconds

Question 7

coding of sensory register…

Answer 7

modality specific

Question 8

capacity of short term memory…

Answer 8

7+/-2

Question 9

duration of short term memory…

Answer 9

18-30 seconds

Question 10

coding of short term memory…

Answer 10

acoustic/ sound based

Question 11

capacity of long term memory…

Answer 11

unlimited

Question 12

duration of long term memory…

Answer 12

potentially forever

Question 13

coding of long term memory…

Answer 13

semantic

Question 14

what were the researches on capacity of STM

Answer 14

1.-Joseph Jacobs (1887) measured capacity of the STM using digit span.
-Jacobs found that the mean span for digits across all participants was 9.3.
-the mean of span of letters was 7.3
2.-George Miller (1956) observed that many items in life come in groups of 7.
-Believed capacity of STM was 7 items ± 2
-noted that people can recall 5 words as easily as they could recall 5 letters( through chunking)

Question 15

a strength of Jacob’s study on capacity of STM

Answer 15

-it has been replicated
-The study is a very old one and early research in psychology often lacked adequate controls.
-e.g. some participants’ digit spans might have been underestimated because they were distracted during testing (confounding variable).
-Despite this, Jacobs’ findings have been confirmed by other, better controlled studies since (e.g. Bopp and Verhaeghen ).
-This suggests that Jacobs’ study is a valid test of digit span in STM.

Question 16

a limitation of Miller’s research on capacity of STM

Answer 16

-he may have overestimated STM capacity.
-Cowan reviewed other research and concluded that the capacity of STM is only about 4 (plus or minus 1) chunks.
-This suggests that the lower end of Miller’s estimate (five items) is more appropriate than seven items.

Question 17

define chunking

Answer 17

grouping sets of digits or letters into units/chunks

Question 18

What is the evidence for acoustic encoding in STM and semantic encoding in LTM?

Answer 18

.Baddeley gave participants four lists of words to learn:
-Acoustically similar
-Acoustically dissimilar
-Semantically similar
-Semantically dissimilar
.recalling from STM had worse results for acoustically similar words
.recalling from LTM had worse results for semantically similar words
-so info in coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM

Question 19

evaluation 1- artificial stimuli ( research on coding)

Answer 19

-limitation
-didn’t use meaningful material.
-The word lists had no personal meaning so Baddeley’s finding may not tell us much about coding in different memory tasks.
-When processing meaningful info, people may use semantic coding for STM tasks.
-This suggests these findings have a limited application.

Question 20

evaluation 2- separate memory stores ( research on coding)

Answer 20

-strength
-it identified a clear difference between two memory stores.
-The idea that STM uses mostly acoustic coding and LTM mostly semantic has stood the test of time.
-This is an important step in understanding the memory model which led to MSM.

Question 21

what was the research on duration of STM?

Answer 21

-Peterson and Peterson used consonant syllables and a filler task of counting backwards for differing lengths of time. The amount they could recall showed the duration of STM
-found that recall was about 80% after 3 seconds and 3% after 18 seconds

Question 22

what was the limitation of Peterson and Peterson’s study on duration of STM

Answer 22

-stimulus material was artificial.
-The study is not completely irrelevant because we do sometimes try to remember fairly meaningless material (e.g. phone numbers).
-recalling consonant syllables does not reflect most everyday memory activities where what we are trying to remember is meaningful.
-This means the study lacked external validity.

Question 23

what was the research on duration of LTM?

Answer 23

-Bahrick conducted a yearbook study and recall was tested through (1) photo recognition recall and (2) free recall test
-within 15 years of graduation there were about 90% accurate in photo recognition recall and 60% in free recall
-after 48 years it dropped to about 70% in photo recall and 30% in free recall

Question 24

what was the strength of Bahrick’s study on duration of LTM

Answer 24

-it has high external validity.
-the researchers investigated meaningful memories i.e. of people’s names and faces.
-When studies on LTM were conducted with meaningless pictures to be remembered, recall rates were lower (e.g. Shepard 1967).
-This suggests that Bahrick’s findings reflect a more real estimate of the duration of LTM.

Question 25

What is the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 25

-It is a cognitive model of memory written in very much in the same way information processing models in computing are designed
-It involves the forward flow of information from sensory input, through to sensory memory (SM), then to short-term memory (STM), to long-term memory (LTM) and finally as an output

Question 26

How does information pass through the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 26

-Sensory information passes from SR to STM via attention
-The information then passes from STM to LTM via rehearsal
-Information can be passed back from LTM to STM via retrieval

Question 27

what is the sensory register?

Answer 27

-The memory stores for each of our five senses, such as vision (iconic store) and hearing (echoic store).
-Coding in the iconic sensory register is visual and in the echoic sensory register it is acoustic (sounds).
-The capacity of sensory registers is huge (millions of receptors) and information lasts for a very short time (less than half a second).

Question 28

what is iconic memory and name an example?

Answer 28

Iconic memory: retaining information that comes from sight or light stimulus
Example: You remember how the theatre or cinema looked as the light went down

Question 29

what is echoic memory and name an example?

Answer 29

Echoic memory: retaining information that comes from sound or auditory stimulus
Example: You can recall a song you just heard in your head

Question 30

evaluation 1- research support (MSM )

Answer 30

-strength
-support from studies showing that STM and LTM are different.
-Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar when we are using our STMs.
-But we mix up words that have similar meanings when we use our LTMs.
-These studies clearly show that STM and LTM are separate and independent memory stores, as claimed by the MSM.

Question 31

evaluation 2- counterpoint of research support (MSM)

Answer 31

-in everyday life we form memories related to all sorts of useful things - people’s faces, their names, facts, places, etc.
-But many of the studies that support the MSM used none of these materials.
-Instead, they used digits, letters (Jacobs), and sometimes words (Baddeley)and consonant syllables that have no meaning (Peterson and Peterson).
-This means that the MSM may not be a valid model of how memory works in our everyday lives

Question 32

evaluation 3- more than one STM store (MSM)

Answer 32

-limitation
-there is evidence of more than one STM store.
-Shallice and Warrington studied a client (KF) who had amnesia.
-KFS STM for digits was very poor when they were read out loud to him.
-But his recall was much better when he read the digits to himself.
-Further studies showed that there could even be another short-term store for non-verbal sounds (e.g. noises).
-This evidence suggests that the MSM is wrong in claiming that there is just one STM store processing different types of information

Question 33

evaluation 4- elaborative rehearsal (MSM)

Answer 33

-limitation
-prolonged rehearsal is not needed for transfer to LTM.
-According to the MSM, what matters about rehearsal is the amount of it
-Craik and Watkins found that the type of rehearsal is more important than the amount.
-Elaborative rehearsal is needed for long-term storage: occurs when you link the information to your existing knowledge, or you think about what it means.
-This means that information can be transferred to LTM without prolonged rehearsal
-This suggests that the MSM does not fully explain how long-term storage is achieved

Question 34

what are the 3 types of long term memory?

Answer 34

-Episodic
-Procedural
-Semantic

Question 35

what is Episodic memory and give examples?

Answer 35

-This is the part of LTM that relates to experiences a person has had or events from their life.
-Examples of episodic memory:
.A 16th birthday party
.The first time someone sees the sea
.Someone’s first psychology lesson

Question 36

what is Procedural memory and give examples?

Answer 36

-This is the part of LTM involved in knowing how to do certain actions or skills
-Examples of procedural memory:
.Knowing how to ride a bicycle
.Knowing how to swim
.Knowing how to make a cup of tea

Question 37

what is Semantic memory and give examples?

Answer 37

-This is the part of LTM that involves knowing and recalling facts, concepts and meanings
-Examples of semantic memory:
.Knowing that Paris is the capital of France
.Knowing that the number 3 is between the numbers 2 and 4
.Knowing that the word ‘bank’ has two meanings: A place where money is stored, or the edge of a river

Question 38

evaluation 1- clinical evidence ( types of long term memory)

Answer 38

-strength
-evidence from the famous case studies of HM and Clive Wearing.
-Episodic memory in both men was severely impaired due to brain damage
-But their semantic memories were relatively unaffected. They still understood the meaning of words.
-e.g. HM could not recall stroking a dog half an hour earlier but he did not need to have the concept of ‘dog’ explained to him.
-Their procedural memories were also intact : both still knew how to walk and speak
-Clive Wearing (a professional musician) knew how to read music, sing and play the piano.
-supports Tulving’s view that there are different memory stores in LTM - one store can be damaged but other stores are unaffected.

Question 39

evaluation 2-counterpoint of clinical evidence (types of long term memory)

Answer 39

-limitation
-clinical studies lack control of variables.
-The brain injuries experienced by participants were usually unexpected.
-The researcher had no way of controlling what happened to the participant before or during the injury.
-The researcher has no knowledge of the individual’s memory before the damage.
-Without this, it is difficult to judge exactly how much worse it is afterwards.
-This lack of control limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM.

Question 40

evaluation 3- conflicting neuroimaging evidence ( types of long term memory)

Answer 40

-limitation
-conflicting research findings
-e.g.Buckner and Petersen concluded that semantic memory is located in the left side of the prefrontal cortex and episodic memory on the right.
-However, other research links the left prefrontal cortex with encoding of episodic memories and the right prefrontal cortex with episodic retrieval (Tulving et al)
-This challenges any neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory as there is poor agreement on where each type might be located.

Question 41

evaluation 4- real world application (types of long term memory)

Answer 41

-strength
-understanding types of LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems.
-e.g. elders experience memory loss which seems to be specific to episodic memory
-Belleville devised an intervention to improve episodic memories in older people.
-The trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training than a control group.
-This shows that distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed.

Question 42

who proposed the working memory model?

Answer 42

Baddeley and Hitch

Question 43

What are the components of the WMM?

Answer 43

-Central executive
-Phonological loop
-Visuo-spatial sketchpad/scratchpad
-Episodic buffer

Question 44

what does the central executive do?

Answer 44

monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocates subsystems to tasks.

Question 45

what does the phonological loop do?

Answer 45

processes information in terms of sound. this includes both written and spoken material

Question 46

what is the phonological loop subdivided into?

Answer 46

-phonological store
-articulatory

Question 47

what does the phonological store do?

Answer 47

stores words you hear

Question 48

what does the articulatory process do?

Answer 48

allows maintenance rehearsal ( repeating sounds or word in a loop to keep them in working memory)

Question 49

what does the visuo-spatial sketchpad do?

Answer 49

stores visual and spatial information when required

Question 50

Robert logie subdivided the VSS into…

Answer 50

-visual cache
-inner scribe

Question 51

what does the visual cache do?

Answer 51

stores visual data

Question 52

what does the inner scribe do?

Answer 52

records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

Question 53

what is an episodic buffer?

Answer 53

-it is a temporary store for information
-links working memory to long term memory and wider cognitive processes such as perception

Question 54

evaluation 1- clinical evidence ( WMM)

Answer 54

One strength is support from Tim Shallice and Elizabeth

Warrington’s (1970) case study of patient KF (see also page 49).

After his brain injury, KF had poor STM ability for auditory (sound) information but could process visual information normally.

For instance his immediate recall of letters and digits was better when he read them (visual) than when they were read to him (acoustic). KF’s phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was intact.

This finding strongly supports the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores.

Question 55

evaluation 2- counterpoint of clinical evidence ( WMM)

Answer 55

However, it is unclear whether KF had other cognitive impairments (apart from damage to his phonological loop) which might have affected his performance on memory tasks. For example, his injury was caused by a motorcycle accident. The trauma involved may have affected his cognitive performance quite apart from any brain injury.

This challenges evidence that comes from clinical studies of people with brain injuries that may have affected many different systems.

Question 56

evaluation 3- dual task performance ( WMM)

Answer 56

Another strength is that studies of dual-task performance support the separate existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad.

When Baddeley et al’s (1975) participants carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time (dual task), their performance on each was similar to when they carried out the tasks separately. But when both tasks were visual (or both were verbal), performance on both declined substantially. This is because both visual tasks compete for the same subsystem (VSS), whereas there is no competition when performing a verbal and visual task together.

This shows there must be a separate subsystem (the VSS) that processes visual input (and one for verbal processing, the PL).

Question 57

evaluation 4- nature of the central executive ( WMM)

Answer 57

One limitation is that there is a lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive.

Baddeley (2003) himself recognised this when he said, ‘The central executive is the most important but the least understood component of working memory. The CE needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply ‘attention. For example, some psychologists believe the CE may consist of separate subcomponents.

This means that the CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the WMM.

Question 58

what are the two explanations for forgetting

Answer 58

interference theory and retrieval failure

Question 59

what is meant by interference

Answer 59

forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten

Question 60

that are the two types of interference ?

Answer 60

proactive and retroactive

Question 61

define proactive interference

Answer 61

where old learning prevents recall of more recent information (old memories disrupt new ones)

Question 62

define retroactive interference

Answer 62

happens a newer memory interferes with an older one ( new memories disrupt old ones)

Question 63

What is the procedure of research into effects of similarity ( interference theory)

Answer 63

-Studies retroactive interference by getting participants to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy and then learning a new list.
-There were six groups, who had to learn different types of words (synonyms, antonyms, three digit numbers)

Question 64

What were the results of effects of similarity -McGeoch and McDonald ( interference theory)

Answer 64

-When participants were asked to recall the original list of words, the most similar materials (synonyms) produced the worst recall.
-Showing that inference is strongest when the memories are similar

Question 65

Why does similarity affect recall? (interference theory)

Answer 65

Two possible reasons:
Proactive interference – previously stored information makes new similar information more difficult to store.
Retroactive interference – new information overwrites similar memories due to similarity.

Question 66

Outline retroactive interference as an explanation for forgetting. (3 marks)

Answer 66

-retroactive interference is where a newer memory disrupts an older memory: the older information is forgotten
-retroactive interference is greater when the two lots of information are similar
-retroactive interference is less likely to occur when there is a gap between the instances of learning.

Question 67

evaluation 1- real world application ( interference )

Answer 67

-strength
-there is evidence of interference effects in more everyday situations.
-Baddeley and Hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played against during a rugby season.
-The players all played for the same time interval but the number of intervening games varied because some players missed matches due to injury.
-Players who played the most games had the poorest recall.
-This study shows that interference can operate in at least some real-world situations, increasing the validity of the theory.

Question 68

evaluation 2- counterpoint of real world application ( interference )

Answer 68

-interference may cause some forgetting in everyday situations but it is unusual.
-This is because the conditions necessary for interference to occur are relatively rare.
-This is very unlike lab studies, where the high degree of control means a researcher can create ideal conditions for interference. -For instance, two memories have to be fairly similar in order to interfere with each other.
-This may happen occasionally in everyday life (e.g. if you were to revise similar subjects close in time), but not often.
-This suggests that most forgetting may be better explained by other theories such as retrieval failure due to a lack of cues

Question 69

evaluation 3- interference and cues ( interference )

Answer 69

-limitation
-interference is temporary and can be overcome by using cues
-Tulving and Psotka gave participants lists of words organised into categories, one list at a time
-Recall averaged about 70% for the first list, but became progressively worse as participants learned each additional list (interference).
-At the end of the procedure the participants were given a cued recall test - they were told the names of the categories.
-Recall rose again to about 70%.
-This shows that interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material that is still in LTM, a finding not predicted by interference theory.

Question 70

evaluation 4- support from drug studies ( interference )

Answer 70

Another strength comes from evidence of retrograde facilitation.

Anton Coenen and Gilles van Luijtelaar (1997) gave participants a list of words and later asked them to recall the list, assuming the intervening experiences would act as interference. They found that when a list of words was learned under the influence of the drug diazepam, recall one week later was poor (compared with a placebo control group). But when a list was learned before the drug was taken, later recall was better than placebo. So the drug actually improved (facilitated) recall of material learned beforehand. John Wixted (2004) suggests that the drug prevents new information (i.e. experienced after taking the drug) reaching parts of the brain involved in processing memories, so it cannot interfere retroactively with information already stored.

This finding shows that forgetting can be due to interference - reduce the interference and you reduce the forgetting.

Question 71

what is meant by retrieval

Answer 71

Recall of information previously stored in memory.

Question 72

what are cues

Answer 72

-a trigger of information that allows us to access a memory.
-Such cues may be meaningful or may be indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning

Question 73

How can forgetting occur ? ( retrieval failure)

Answer 73

Forgetting may be due to insufficient cues at the time of recall.
i.e. the memory has been stored, but you don’t have the right cues to access it again.

Question 74

What is encoding specificity principle ( retrieval failure)

Answer 74

Tulving found a consistent pattern:
-For a cue to be helpful, it has to be present at encoding (i.e learning) and retrieval (i.e recall).
-Cues are encoded at the time of learning.
-They can be meaningful (linked to the information being remembered) or indirect.

Question 75

what are the two examples of non-meaningful cues

Answer 75

Context-dependent forgetting, State- dependent forgetting

Question 76

what is context dependent forgetting

Answer 76

Recall depends on external cues
(Weather, sounds, smell)

Question 77

what is state dependent forgetting

Answer 77

Recall depends on internal cues
(Feeling upset, being drunk)

Question 78

What is the procedure of research into context-dependent forgetting and findings-
Godden & Baddeley ( retrieval failure)

Answer 78

-procedure= studied deep-sea divers to see how learning on land affected work under water.
Divers learned a list of words on land or underwater, then had to recall on land or underwater.
-findings=Accurate recall was 40% lower when learning and recall conditions did not match.

Question 79

What was the procedure and findings of research into state-dependent forgetting- Carter and Cassaday (retrieval failure)

Answer 79

-procedure=Gave participants antihistamine drugs – produced a slightly drowsy state (different to ‘normal’ state). Participants had to learn lists of words and prose passages, then recall them, in one of the two states.
-findings= When the state during learning was different to the state during recall, recall was significantly worse.

Question 80

evaluation 1- real world application ( retrieval failure)

Answer 80

-strength
-retrieval cues can help to overcome some forgetting in everyday situations.
-For instance, we have probably all had the experience of being in one room and thinking I must go and get such-and-such item from another room.
-You go to the other room only to forget what it was you wanted.
-But the moment you go back to the first room, you remember again.
-This shows how research can remind us of strategies we use in the real world to improve our recall.

Question 81

evaluation 2- research support ( retrieval failure)

Answer 81

-strength
-many researches that supports the retrieval failure explanation.
-The studies by Godden and Baddeley and Carter and Cassaday are just two examples because they show that a lack of relevant cues at recall can lead to context-dependent and state-dependent forgetting in everyday life.
-Eysenck and Keane argue that retrieval failure is perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM.
-This evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in real-world situations as well as in the highly controlled conditions of the lab.

Question 82

evaluation 3- counterpoint of research support ( retrieval failure)

Answer 82

-Baddeley argues that context effects are actually not very strong, especially in everyday life.
-e.g. it would be hard to find an environment as different from land as underwater (Godden and Baddeley).
-In contrast, learning something in one room and recalling it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are generally not different enough.
-This means that retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cues may not actually explain much everyday forgetting.

Question 83

evaluation 4- recall versus recognition ( retrieval failure)

Answer 83

-limitation
-context effects may depend on the type of memory being tested.
-Godden and Baddeley replicated their underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall - participants had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from a list
-When recognition was tested there was no context-dependent effect, performance was the same in all four conditions.
-This suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting because it only applies when a person has to recall information rather than recognise it.

Question 84

what are the two factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Answer 84

misleading information and anxiety

Question 85

what is misleading information

Answer 85

-Incorrect information given to an eyewitness usually after the event
-It can take many forms e.g. leading questions and post-event discussion

Question 86

what is meant by leading questions

Answer 86

-A question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer.
-e.g. ‘Was the knife in his left hand?’ leads a person to think that’s where the knife was.

Question 87

research on leading questions- procedure and findings

Answer 87

*Procedure
-Loftus and Palmer had 45 participants watch film clips of car accidents and then asked them questions about the accident.
-participants were asked to describe how fast the cars were travelling
-There were five groups of participants and each group was given a different verb in the critical question.
-One group had the verb hit, the others had contacted, bumped, collided, smashed.

*Findings
-The verb contacted resulted in a mean estimated speed of 31.8 mph.
-For the verb smashed, the mean was 40.5 mph T

Question 88

why do leading questions affect EWT

Answer 88

*response-bias
- wording of the question has no real effect on the participants’ memories, but just influences how they decide to answer.
-a leading question using the word smashed encouraged participants to choose a higher speed estimate.

*substitution
-wording of a leading question changes the participants memory of the film clip.
-participants who originally heard smashed were later more likely to report seeing broken glass (there was none) than those who heard hit.
-The critical verb altered their memory of the incident.

Question 89

what are post event discussions

Answer 89

-occurs when there is more than one witness to an event.
-Witnesses may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses or with other people.
-This may influence the accuracy of each witness’s recall of the event.

Question 90

research on post event discussion- procedure and findings

Answer 90

*Procedure
-Gabbert studied participants in pairs.
-Each participant watched a video of the same crime, but filmed from different points of view.
-each participant could see elements in the event that the other could not.
-e.g. one of the participants could see the title of a book being carried by a young woman and the other one didn’t
-Both participants then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall.

*Findings
-71% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion.
- The corresponding figure in a control group, where there was no discussion, was 0%.
-This was evidence of memory conformity.

Question 91

why do post event discussions affect EWT

Answer 91

*memory contamination
-When co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other, their eyewitness testimonies may become altered or distorted.
-because they combine information from other witnesses with their own memories.

*memory conformity.
-witnesses often go along with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right and they are wrong.
-the actual memory is unchanged.

Question 92

evaluation 1- real world applications ( misleading information)

Answer 92

-strength
-it has important practical uses in the criminal justice system.
-Loftus believes that leading questions can have such a distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be very careful about how they phrase their questions when interviewing eyewitnesses.
-Psychologists are sometimes asked to act as expert witnesses in court trials and explain the limits of EWT to juries.
-This shows that psychologists can help to improve the way the legal system works, especially by protecting innocent people from faulty convictions based on unreliable EWT.

Question 93

evaluation 2- counterpoint of real world applications ( misleading information)

Answer 93

-issues with research
-Loftus and Palmer’s participants watched film clips in a lab, a very different experience from witnessing a real event
-Foster et al. point out that what eyewitnesses remember has important consequences in the real world, but participants’ responses in research do not matter in the same way
-This suggests that researchers such as Loftus are too pessimistic about the effects of misleading information

Question 94

evaluation 3- evidence against substitution ( misleading information)

Answer 94

-limitation
-substitution explanation is more accurate for some aspects of an event than for others.
-e.g. Sutherland and Hayne showed participants a video clip.
-When participants were later asked misleading questions, their recall was more accurate for central details
-the participants attention was focused on central features of the event and these memories were relatively resistant to misleading information.
-This suggests that the original memories for central details survived and were not distorted, an outcome that is not predicted by the substitution explanation.

Question 95

evaluation 4- evidence challenging money conformity ( misleading information)

Answer 95

-limitation of the memory conformity
-evidence that post-event discussion actually alters EWT.
-Skagerberg and Wright showed their participants film clips.
-There were two versions, e.g. a mugger’s hair was dark brown in one but light brown in the other.
-Participants discussed the clips in pairs, each having seen different versions.
-both ‘blended’ the colour = common answer to the hair question was ‘medium brown’
-This suggests that the memory itself is distorted through contamination rather than the result of memory conformity.

Question 96

what is meant by anxiety

Answer 96

-A state of emotional and physical arousal.
-The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension.
-Physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweatiness.

Question 97

Anxiety has a negative effect on recall (weapon focus)- procedure and finding

Answer 97

*Procedure
-Johnson and Scott
-one group seated in a waiting room participants heard a casual conversation in the next room and then saw a man walk past them carrying a pen and with grease on his hands= low anxiety condition
-Other participants overheard a heated argument, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. A man walked out of the room, holding a knife covered in blood =high-anxiety condition.

*Findings and conclusion
-participants later picked out the man from a set of 50 photos
- 49% who had seen the man carrying the pen were able to identify him.
-participants who had seen the man holding the blood-covered knife was 33%. -The tunnel theory of memory= people have enhanced memory for central events

Question 98

Anxiety has a positive effect on recall- procedure and findings

Answer 98

*Procedure
-Yuille and Cutshall
-conducted a study of an actual shooting in a gun shop in Canada.
-The shop owner shot a thief dead.
-There were 21 witnesses - 13 took part in the study.
-They were interviewed four to five months after the incident and these interviews were compared with the original police interviews
-The witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they had felt at the time of the incident (on a 7-point scale)

*Findings and conclusion
-The witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount recalled or accuracy after five months
-Those participants who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate (about 88% compared to 75% for the less-stressed group)

Question 99

explaining the contradictory findings- effects of Anxiety on EWT

Answer 99

-Yerkes and Dodson= relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an inverted U
-there is an optimal level of anxiety, which is the point of maximum accuracy. -If a person (or eyewitness) experiences any more arousal, then their recall suffers a drastic decline.

Question 100

evaluation 1- unusualness not anxiety ( Anxiety)

Answer 100

-limitation
-Johnson and Scott (anxiety as a negative effect) may not have tested anxiety.
-The reason participants focused on the weapon may be because they were surprised at what they saw rather than scared.
-Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken as the hand-held items in a hairdressing salon video
-Eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in the high unusualness conditions (chicken and handgun).
-This suggests that the weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/threat

Question 101

evaluation 2- support for negative effects (Anxiety)

Answer 101

-strength
-evidence supporting the view that anxiety has a negative effect on the accuracy of recall.
-Valentine and Mesout supports the research on weapon focus, finding negative effects on recall.
-In their study anxiety clearly disrupted the participants’ ability to recall details about the actor in the London Dungeons’ Labyrinth.
-This suggests that a high level of anxiety does have a negative effect on the immediate eyewitness recall of a stressful event.

Question 102

evaluation 3- support for positive effects (Anxiety)

Answer 102

-strength
-evidence showing that anxiety can have positive effects on the accuracy of recall.
-Christianson and Hübinette interviewed 58 witnesses to actual bank robberies in Sweden.
-Some of the witnesses were directly involved and some were indirectly involved
-The researchers assumed that those directly involved would experience the most anxiety.
-recall was more than 75% accurate across all witnesses.
-These findings from actual crimes confirm that anxiety does not reduce the accuracy of recall for eyewitnesses and may even enhance it.

Question 103

evaluation 4- counterpoint of support for positive effects (anxiety)

Answer 103

-Christianson and Hübinette interviewed their participants several months after the event (four to 15 months).
-The researchers therefore had no control over what happened to their participants in the intervening time (eg, post-event discussion).
-The effects of anxiety may have been overwhelmed by these other factors
-Therefore it is possible that a lack of control over confounding variables may be responsible for these findings, invalidating their support.

Question 104

what is cognitive interview

Answer 104

A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories. It uses four main techniques, all based on evidence-based psychological knowledge of human memory - report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order and change perspective.

Question 105

what are the four main techniques that are used in cognitive interview and elaborate on them

Answer 105

1. Report everything
   -Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event
   -trivial details may be important and, moreover, they may trigger other important memories.
2. Reinstate the context
   -witness should return to the original crime scene in their mind’ and imagine the environment and their emotions
   -This is related to context-dependent forgetting
3. Reverse the order
   -Events should be recalled in a different order from the original sequence
   -This is done to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than reporting the actual events
4. Change perspective
   -Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives
   -is done to disrupt the effect of expectations and also the effect of schema on recall.
   -The schema you have for a particular setting generate expectations of what would have happened

Question 106

what is the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 106

-Fisher et al. developed some additional elements of the Cl
-e.g. the interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact and when to relinquish it.
-also includes ideas such as reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the witness to speak slowly and asking open-ended questions.

Question 107

evaluation 1- support for effectiveness of the CI ( cognitive interview)

Answer 107

-strength
-evidence that it works
-e.g. Köhnken et al. combined data from 55 studies comparing the Cl with the standard police interview.
-The Cl gave an average 41% increase in accurate information compared with the standard interview.
-This shows that the Cl is an effective technique in helping witnesses to recall information

Question 108

evaluation 2- counterpoint of support for effectiveness of the CI ( cognitive interview)

Answer 108

-Köhnken et al. also found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants.
-This was a particular issue in the ECl, which produced more incorrect details than the Cl.
-Cognitive interviews may sacrifice quality of EWT in favour of quantity
-This means that police officers should treat eyewitness evidence from Cl with caution.

Question 109

evaluation 3- some elements may be more useful ( cognitive interview)

Answer 109

-limitation
-not all of its elements are equally effective or useful.
-Milne and Bull found that using a combination of report everything and reinstate the context produced better recall than any of the other elements or combination of them.
-This confirmed police officers’ suspicions that some aspects of the Cl are more useful than others.
-This casts some doubt on the credibility of the overall cognitive interview.

Question 110

evaluation 4- the CI is time consuming ( cognitive interview)

Answer 110

-limitation
-police officers may be reluctant to use the Cl because it takes more time and training than the standard police interview.
-e.g. more time is needed to establish rapport with a witness and allow them to relax.
-The Cl also requires special training and many forces do not have the resources to provide more than a few hours
-This suggests that the complete Cl as it exists is not a realistic method for police officers to use