MEMORY

Question 1

Define memory

Answer 1

The process by which we retain and recall information about events that have happened in the past.

Question 2

What are the two main memory types?

Answer 2

• Short term (memory for immediate events, which disappears if not rehearsed)
• Long term (memory for events that have happened in the past from anywhere between 2 minutes and 100 years ago)

Question 3

What is the sensory register?

Answer 3

Stores a huge amount of information from our senses for a very brief amount of time (about half a second)

Question 4

What are the three features of memory?

Answer 4

Capacity, coding and duration

Question 5

Define capacity as a feature of memory

Answer 5

The amount of information that can be stored

Question 6

Define duration as a feature of memory

Answer 6

The length of time information can be held in the memory store

Question 7

Define coding as a feature of memory

Answer 7

The format in which information is stored in the memory stores. It’s the process of converting information from one format to another.

Question 8

What are the two main types of coding?

Answer 8

• Acoustic (short term)
• Semantic (long term)

Question 9

Who studied capacity for short term memory?

Answer 9

Jacobs

Question 10

Outline Jacob’s research procedure and findings

Answer 10

Researcher gives four digits and the ppt is asked to recall these in the correct order out loud. Digits are added until the ppt can no longer recall them (which determines the individuals digit span). Jacob’s found that the mean span for digits was 9.3 and letters was 7.3.

Question 11

Give a weakness for Jacob’s study?

Answer 11

The study was conducted a long time ago. Early research in psychology often lacked adequate control e.g., some ppts may have been aware they were being tested so they didn’t perform as well as they might. This would mean that the results might not be valid because there were confounding variables that weren’t controlled.

Question 12

Give a strength of Jacob’s study

Answer 12

The results had been supported in other research, supporting its validity.

Question 13

What is the capacity of long term memory?

Answer 13

Potentially unlimited.

Question 14

Who studied the duration of STM?

Answer 14

Peterson and Peterson

Question 15

What was the procedure and findings of Peterson and Peterson’s study?

Answer 15

Lab experiment, 24 undergraduate students took part in 8 trials. On each trial they were given a trigram and a three digit number. They were asked to count backwards from the number in either 3s or 4s until they were told to stop (to prevent maintenance rehearsal), and asked to repeat the trigram. They found that the longer the interval delay the less trigrams were recalled. Participants were able to recall 80% of trigrams after a 3 seconds delay. However, after 18 seconds less than 10% of trigrams were recalled correctly.

Question 16

Give a weakness for Peterson and Peterson’s study

Answer 16

The stimulus material was artificial. Trying to memorise consonant syllables does not reflect most real life memory activities where what we are trying to remember is meaningful. So we might say that the study lacked external validity.

Question 17

Who investigated the duration of LTM?

Answer 17

Bahrick et al

Question 18

What was the procedure and findings of Bahrick et al’s study?

Answer 18

392 American ex-highschool students aged 17-74. Free recall test (ppts recalled the names of as many of their former classmates as possible), after 15 years it was 60% accurate, dropping to 30% after 48 years. Photo recognition test (identify former classmates in a set of 50) was 90% accurate after 15 years and declined to 70% after 48 years.

Question 19

Evaluate Bahrick et al’s study

Answer 19

This study has higher external validity as real-life memories were studied. When studies on LTM have used meaningless pictures, recall rates were lower. The downside of such real-life research is that confounding variables are not controlled e.g. participants may have looked at their yearbook photos and rehearsed their memory over the years.

Question 20

Who investigated coding in both STM and LTM?

Answer 20

Baddeley

Question 21

Give the procedure and findings of Baddeley’s study

Answer 21

Gave different lists of words to four conditions of ppts to remember:
1. acoustically similar
2. acoustically dissimilar
3. semantically similar
4. semantically dissimilar
When ppts had to recall the words immediately after hearing it, they tended to do worse with acoustically similar words (suggests that info is coded acoustically in the STM)
If ppts were asked to recall the word list after 20 minutes, they did worse in the semantically similar words (suggests that info is coded semantically in LTM).

Question 22

Evaluate Baddeley’s studies into the coding of STM and LTM

Answer 22

However, the study used quite artificial stimuli rather than meaningful material. The word lists had no personal meaning to participants. This means that we should be cautious about generalising the findings to different kinds of memory task e.g. when processing more meaningful information, people may use semantic coding even for STM tasks. This suggests that the findings from this study have limited application.

Question 23

What is a model in psychology?

Answer 23

A model of memory is a representation of memory. It is based on available evidence. A model provides us with an analogy of how memory works.

Question 24

What did Atkinson and Shiffrin propose?

Answer 24

Memory is made up of three unitary stores:
- The sensory register
- STM
- LTM
(multistore model of memory)

Question 25

Outline the sensory register and its role in the MSM

Answer 25

Memory stores for each of our senses (so is coded according to the sense).
An environmental stimulus passes into the sensory register, to which it receives all information (high capacity) and holds it very briefly (duration of less than half a second).

Question 26

What do you have to do to allow information to pass from the sensory register to the STM?

Answer 26

Pay attention to it

Question 27

Outline the STM’s role in the MSM

Answer 27

The STM is acoustically coded, with a capacity of 9.3 for numbers and 7.3 for letters. Its duration is 3-18 seconds. Information leaves the STM through response. Information moves from the STM to the LTM though prolonged rehearsal, maintained through maintenance rehearsal.

Question 28

Outline the LTM’s role in the MSM

Answer 28

The LTM is semantically coded, with a potentially unlimited duration and capacity. Information moves from the LTM to the STM through retrieval.

Question 29

Give a piece of supporting evidence for the MSM (HM)

Answer 29

HM underwent brain surgery to relieve his epilepsy which involved removing his hippocampus. When his memory was assessed, he failed to remember the year as well as his age. His LTM was tested over and over but never improved with practice, and couldn’t recall what he had eaten earlier in the same day. However, he performed well on tests of immediate memory span (STM). This supports that STM and LTM are two unitary stores that are qualitatively different, as proposed by the MSM. They may even be stored in different parts of the brain.

Question 30

Give a strength of the MSM (Baddeley)

Answer 30

Baddeley found that we tend to mix up acoustically similar words when we are using our STMs and mix up semantically simular words when we are using our LTMs. This clearly supports that coding in STM is acoustic and LTM is semantic, which supports the view that these two memory stores are separate (unitary) and qualitatively different as proposed by the MSM.

Question 31

Give a piece of undermining research for the MSM (KF)

Answer 31

Shallice and Warrington studied a patient with amnesia called KF. They found that his STM for digits was poor when read aloud, but recall was better when he was able to read them himself. Further studies of KF and other people with amnesia suggest that there could be another short term store for non-verbal sounds. This is a limitation of the MSM because research suggests that there must be at least one short term store to process visual information and one to process auditory information, which undermines the unitary store of STM proposed by the MSM. The WMM includes these separate stores of STM.

Question 32

What are the three types of LTM?

Answer 32

Episodic, semantic and procedural

Question 33

Outline the episodic memory

Answer 33

• Refers to our ability to recall personal life events
• They are time-stamped
• Less resistant to amnesia/forgetting
• Recalled with conscious effort

Question 34

Outline the semantic memory

Answer 34

• Knowledge of the world. This includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean
• Can be expressed verbally (conscious recall)
• Not time stamped
• Less resistant to amnesia/forgetting

Question 35

Outline the procedural memory

Answer 35

• Knowledge of how to do things. It is our memory for learned actions or motor skills
• Difficult to explain verbally (recall without conscious awareness)
• Not time stamped
• May be more resistant to amnesia/forgetting

Question 36

Give one piece of supporting evidence for the different types of LTM (Clive Wearing)

Answer 36

Clive Wearing suffers from severe amnesia, which has damaged his hippocampus and other areas. Clive can still play the piano well, and conduct a choir but cannot remember his musical education. He knows he has children, but cannot remember their names. He recognises his second wife and greets her joyously every time they meet, believing that he has not seen her for years. He has no problem understanding the meaning of words and can carry out a conversation. This suggests that his procedural and semantic memories are intact, whereas his episodic memory is damaged. This supports Tulving’s view that there are different memory stores in the LTM.

Question 37

Give a weakness of the supporting evidence for the different types of LTM

Answer 37

The evidence is based on unique case studies of brain damaged individuals. Therefore, the research isn’t strong support for the different types of LTM.

Question 38

Give one real world application to support the different types of LTM

Answer 38

Being able to identify different aspects of LTM allows psychologists to target certain kinds of memory in order to better people’s lives. Research has found that episodic memories could be improved in older people who had a mild cognitive impairment. The trained ppts performed better on a test of episodic memory than a control group. This supports the view that there is a physical reality to the different types of LTM within the brain. It has also been confirmed many times in later research studies, further supporting the validity of this finding.

Question 39

Give a one sentence summary of the WMM

Answer 39

Representation of how short term memory is organised and how it functions. It was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974 as an updated version of STM, which suggests that the STM is an active processor of different types of information using sub-units that are coordinated by a central decision making system.

Question 40

Outline the central executives role in the WMM

Answer 40

• Coordinates the activities of the three sub-systems in the memory.
• Limited processing capacity
• No capacity for storing data
• Can process information from any sensory modality

Question 41

Outline the role of the phonological loop in the WMM

Answer 41

• Processes information and temporarily stores in terms of sound
• Acoustically coded
• Capacity = 2 seconds worth of what you can say

Question 42

What are the two sub-systems of the phonological loop?

Answer 42

• Phonological store (stores words you hear)
• Articulatory process (used for words that are heard or seen. Allows for maintenance rehearsal)

Question 43

Outline the role of the visuo-spatial sketchpad in the WMM

Answer 43

Processes and temporarily stores visual and spatial information.
- Limited capacity (three-four objects)
- Coding = visually

Question 44

What are the two sub-stores of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 44

• Visual cache (stores visual data)
• Inner scribe (records the arrangement of objects in the visual field)

Question 45

Outline the role of the episodic buffer in the WMM

Answer 45

Brings together material from the other slave systems into a single memory rather than separate strands.
Coding = Visually and acoustic
Capacity = Limited to around 4 chunks

Question 46

Give a piece of supporting evidence for the WMM (KF)

Answer 46

KF had suffered brain damage. After this damage, KF had poor STM ability for verbal information, but could process visual information i.e., he had difficulty with sounds but recall letters and digits shown to him. This suggests that just his phonological loop had been damaged leaving other areas of memory intact. This supports the existence of a separate visual and acoustic store.

Question 47

Give a weakness of the supporting evidence for the WMM

Answer 47

Evidence from brain-damaged patients may not be reliable because it concerns unique cases with patients who have had traumatic experiences. Therefore, the results may not generalise to others and so can’t provide strong support for the WMM.

Question 48

Give a piece of supporting evidence for the WMM (Braver et al)

Answer 48

Braver et al gave their ppts a task that involved the central executive while they were having a brain scan. They found greater activity in the prefrontal cortex and that this activity increased as the task got harder. This makes a lot of sense in terms of the WMM, as the demands on the central executive increase, it ahs to work harder to fulfil its function. This supports the existence of the central executive as a supervisory component as proposed by the WMM.

Question 49

Define interference

Answer 49

Interference is where two lots of information become confused in memory. One memory disrupts another, causing one or both to be forgotten or distorted.

Question 50

Why is forgetting likely according to interference theory?

Answer 50

We can’t access the memories even though they are available. Interference between memories makes it harder for us to locate them, and we experience this as forgetting.

Question 51

Define proactive interference

Answer 51

Where old learning/memories affect the recall of new information

Question 52

Define retroactive interference

Answer 52

Where new learning/memories affect the recall of old information

Question 53

Give a piece of supporting evidence for interference theory (McGeoch and McDonald)

Answer 53

McGeoch and McDonald found that when ppts learned two lists of words, their recall of the original list depended on the nature of the second list. The most similar material (synonyms) produced the worst recall. This supports the idea of forgetting in LTM occurring due to retroactive interference as proposed by the theory because the newer information affected the ability to recall the older information affected the ability to recall the older information. It also supports that interference is strongest when the memories are similar to each other as proposed by interference theory, suggesting it is a valid explanation of forgetting.

Question 54

Give a strength of McGeoch and McDonald’s study (interference theory)

Answer 54

A strength of M and M’s study was that it was a laboratory experiment and so extraneous variables could be controlled. For example, distractions when the participants are learning the words, such as background noise or unnecessary interruptions, which could affect their ability to memorise the lists. This supports the idea of forgetting in LTM, because McGeoch and McDonald can be certain that what they’re intending to measure is because of the interference, and not from distractions (internal validity). This supports the idea of retroactive interference, because the interference has distorted the older memory of the original list of words, meaning that their study is strong support for interference theory as it has high internal validity.

Question 55

Give a piece of undermining evidence for interference theory (Tulving and Pstoka)

Answer 55

The loss of the information may only be temporary. Interference theory suggests that the information is still available, it is just inaccessible. This lack of accessibility may be temporary. For example, Tulving and Pstoka (1971) also found that when they gave participants a cued recall test (telling the names of the categories to act as a trigger to access the memories), recall rose to about 70%. This suggests that interference only causes a temporary loss of accessibility to the material that is still available in LTM, which suggests that interference is not a true explanation of forgetting.

Question 56

What is retrieval failure

Answer 56

This theory argues that forgetting occurs in the absence of appropriate cues. The memory is inaccessible due to the lack of cues but the memories are available

Question 57

What is the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 57

This argues that for a cue to be helpful in recall, it has to be present at encoding and retrieval. If the cues at encoding and retrieval are different, or the cues are completely absent at retrieval, there will be some forgetting

Question 58

What are the two types of forgetting due to the absence of cues according to the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 58

1. Context-dependent forgetting (different place)
2. State-dependent forgetting (different mood/state of arousal)

Question 59

Give a piece of supporting evidence for the retrieval failure theory (G and B)

Answer 59

Godden and Baddeley carried out a study of deep sea divers working underwater. The divers learned a list of words either on land or underwater, and then were asked to recall the words either on land or underwater. They found that accurate recall was 40% lower than in the non-matching context conditions. The external cues available at learning were different from those at recall which led to retrieval failure. This supports that forgetting can occur due to context-dependent forgetting, as the place at encoding (cue) is different to that at retrieval. This suggests that retrieval failure is a valid explanation of forgetting.

Question 60

Give a weakness of the supporting research for the retrieval failure theory of forgetting

Answer 60

Baddeley argues that the context effects are not strong, especially in real life. Different contexts have to be very different indeed before an effect is seen e.g., it would be difficult to find an environment as different from land as underwater whereas learning something in one room and recalling it in another in unlikely to result in much forgetting because the environments are generally not different enough. This suggests that retrieval failure due to the absence of contextual cues may not really explain much forgetting.

Question 61

Give a real world application for the retrieval failure theory of forgetting

Answer 61

It has been shown that eyewitness testimony can be improved using a technique called the cognitive interview. This technique has a number of stages, one of which is asking the eyewitness to reinstate the context by returning to the original crime scene in their mind, and imagine the environment (such as the weather, what they could see) and their emotions (such as what were their feelings). The cognitive interview has been successful with many studies reporting an increase in correct information after use of the technique. Additionally, we can use the research to improve recall when we need to e.g. when taking exams. It may be unrealistic to learn the information in the exam hall, but research has shown that just thinking of the room where you did the original learning was as effective as actually being in the same room at the time of retrieval. This is a strength of the explanation because it suggests that knowledge of the explanation is useful in real-life situations, and therefore supports the external validity of the explanation.

Question 62

What is an eyewitness?

Answer 62

Someone who has seen or witnessed a crime, usually present at the time of the incident. They use their memory of the crime to give their testimony or a ‘reconstruction’ of what happened

Question 63

What is an eyewitness testimony?

Answer 63

The ability of the person who saw the crime to remember the detail of the events they have observed. They provide this evidence in court, with a view to identifying the perpetrator. Their accuracy can be affected such as misleading information and anxiety.

Question 64

What is misleading information?

Answer 64

Incorrect information given to an eyewitness after the event which affects the accuracy of their testimony. It can take many forms e.g., leading questions and post event discussion between co-witnesses or other people

Question 65

What is a leading question?

Answer 65

a question which because of its phrasing suggests a certain answer. This can then affect the accuracy of the EWT.

Question 66

What is post-event discussion

Answer 66

When there is more than one witness to the event, they may discuss what they have seen with each other or other people. This may influence the accuracy of their recall of the event. This is because the witness combines (mis)information but other witness with their own memories.

Question 67

Give a piece of supporting evidence for factors affecting EWT (Loftus)

Answer 67

Loftus and palmer arranged for ppts to watch film clips of car accidents and then gave them questions about the accident. In the critical question, ppts were asked to describe ‘how fast the cars were going when they hit each other?’ This is a leading question because the verb ‘hit’ suggests the speed the car was going. There were 5 groups, each with a different verb in the critical question. The mean estimate speed for contacted was 31.8mph whereas for smashed it was 40.5mph. This therefore means that the leading question biased the eyewitness’ recall of the event.

Question 68

Give a weakness of the supporting evidence of the factors affecting EWT

Answer 68

There is evidence that older people are less accurate than younger people when giving eyewitness reports. Research has found that people in 18-25 and 35-45 year age groups are more accurate than the 55-78 year age group. However, all age groups were more accurate when identifying people their own age. As studies tend to use younger confederates as the target to identify, this may mean that some age groups appear less accurate when in fact this may not be true. Therefore, the studies may tell us little about the effects of misleading information on EWT.

Question 69

Give a weakness of the supporting evidence for factors affecting EWT

Answer 69

The results of the lab experiments on EWT may be the result of demand characteristics. Ppts usually don’t want to let the researcher down and want to appear helpful and attentive. So, when asked a question where they don’t know the answer, they may be more inclined to guess than they would in a real life situation. This suggests that the studies may lack internal validity and so tell us little about how misleading information affects EWT in cases of real accidents or crimes.

Question 70

Define anxiety

Answer 70

State of emotional and physical arousal. The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension. physical changes involve an increased heart rate and swearing

Question 71

How does anxiety have a negative effect on recall?

Answer 71

It creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse

Question 72

How does anxiety have a positive effect on recall?

Answer 72

The physiological arousal from anxiety triggers the fight or flight response which increases our alertness and improves our memory for the event because we become more aware of cues in the situation.

Question 73

What happened in Johnson and Scott’s study?

Answer 73

Ppts were left in a waiting area whilst waiting for the ‘real’ study to start. In the first situation (low anxiety), they overheard a discussion in the lab about equipment failure, followed by a mean leaving the lab holding a pen with greasy hands. In the second situation (high anxiety), ppts overheard a heated discussion in the lab with the sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs, followed by a man leaving the lab carrying a paper knife covered in blood. The ppts were later asked to identify the man from a set of 50 photos. 49% correctly identified the man holding the pen, 33% correctly identified the man with the knife.

Question 74

What happened in Chistianson and Hubinette’s study?

Answer 74

58 witnesses of 22 real life bank robberies in Sweden were interviewed after bank robberies. Some of the witnesses had been onlookers or customers in the bank (low anxiety), and others were bank employees who had been directly threatened or subjected to violence during the robberies (high anxiety).
They found that all witnesses showed generally good memories for details of the robbery itself (better than 75% accurate recall). Those witnesses who were most anxious had the best recall of it.

Question 75

What is tunnel theory? What does it lead to?

Answer 75

Argues that a witness’ attention narrows to focus on a weapon because it is the sources of the anxiety. This leads to the weapon-focus effect where this tunnel focus then negatively affects the recall of the overall event.

Question 76

What does the Yerkes-Dodson Law state?

Answer 76

Performance improves with an increase in arousal up to some optimal point and then declines with further increases.

Question 77

Give a piece of undermining evidence for Johnson and Scott’s study on anxiety

Answer 77

Johnson and Scott’s study is testing surprise rather than anxiety. The reason why ppts focus on the weapon may because they are surprised at what they see rather than because they are scared. Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors, a hand gun, a wallet or raw chicken as the handheld items in a hairdressing salon video. They found that EW accuracy was poorer in the high unusualness conditions (raw chicken and handgun). This suggests that there may be an alternative explanation for the weapon-focus effect. Therefore, the study may not actually tell us anything about the effects of anxiety on EWT at all and so can’t be taken as strong support for the theory.

Question 78

Give a weakness of the studies supporting anxiety’s affect on EWT

Answer 78

In field and natural experiments, researchers usually interview real life EW sometime after the event. In this time, all sorts of things could have happened that the researcher has absolutely no control over, such as accounts in the media, interviews by police, post event discussion etc. These EVs may be responsible for the accuracy of recall. The effects of anxiety may be overwhelmed by these factors and impossible to test by the time the ppts are interviewed. Therefore, the studies can’t provide particularly strong support for the effects of anxiety on EWT.

Question 79

What study can you use as supporting evidence for the effect of anxiety on recall?

Answer 79

Christianson and Hubinette
Johnson and Scott

Question 80

Define ‘report everything’ as an element of the cognitive interview

Answer 80

The witness is encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even if they seem irrelevant or trivial

Question 81

Why is report everything an important stage of the cognitive interview

Answer 81

Witnesses might not realise that some details are important, and these may trigger other important memories

Question 82

Define reinstate the context

Answer 82

Witness should ‘imagine’ the crime scene, and imagine the environment and their emotions (context-dependent forgetting)

Question 83

Why is reinstate the context an important aspect of the cognitive interview?

Answer 83

This is important, because it reinforces the key memories, and can potentially lead to witness remembering other key details due to cues

Question 84

Define reverse the order

Answer 84

Events should be recalled in a different order from the original sequence

Question 85

Why is the reverse order important in the cognitive interview

Answer 85

This is done to prevent reporting of their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than reporting the actual events. This prevents dishonesty as it is harder to lie when you have to explain something backwards.

Question 86

Define change the perspective

Answer 86

Witnesses should recall the incident from the perspective of someone else

Question 87

Why is change the perspective an important aspect of the cognitive interview?

Answer 87

This disrupts the effect of expectations and schema on recall. The schema you have for a particular setting (e.g., going into a shop) generate expectations of what would have happened and it is the schema that is recalled rather than what actually happened.

Question 88

What is the cognitive interview and hoow does it differ from the standard interview?

Answer 88

Method of interviewing EW to help them retrieve more accurate memories using 4 techniques that are based on psychological insights. It differs from the SI in a number of ways e.g., a SI may just ask the witness to recall the event, but the CI could ask them to recall the context in which it occurred.

Question 89

Give a piece of supporting evidence for the CI

Answer 89

Using a combination of report everything and reinstate the context produced better recall than any of the other conditions. This confirmed police officers’ suspicious that some aspects of the CI are more useful than others. This supports that at least these two elements should be used to improve police interviewing of EW even if the full CI isn’t used. This in turn increases the credibility of the CI amongst those who use it - police officers.

Question 90

Give a weakness of the CI (police)

Answer 90

Police may be reluctant to use the CI because it takes much more time than the SI. E.g., more time is needed to establish a rapport with the witness and allow them to relax. The CI also requires special training and many forces have not been able to provide more than a few hours. This means that it is unlikely that the ‘proper’ version of the CI is actually used, which may explain why more police have not been that impressed by it. Therefore, the CI may be effective when used correctly, but it is often not.

Question 91

Give a piece of supproting evidence for the CI (Kohnken)

Answer 91

Kohnken et al combined data from 50 studies in a meta-analysis. The enhanced CI consistently provided more correct information than the SI used by police (81% increase in correct information). This is a strength because such studies indicate that there are real practical benefits to the police using the enhanced version of the CI. This research suggests that it gives the police a greater chance of catching and charging criminal, which is beneficial to society as a whole.