Memory Flashcards
What is a memory?
Refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain and then retrieve information
What is the definition of coding?
The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores
What is the definition of capacity?
The amount of information that can be held in a memory store
What is the definition of duration?
The length of time that information can be held in the memory
What was Jacob’s study?
.Jacobs was measuring the digit span of a persons memory.
.The researcher read out 4 digits and the participant had to repeat them back out loud to the researcher. If they got them correct then the researcher would read out 5,6,7 etc until the person failed.
What were the findings from Jacob’s study?
.Mean digit span-9.3
.Mean letter span-7.3
What is a strength of Jacobs study?
Even though it was carried out in 1887, latter research has proved Jacob’s findings to be correct.
What is a limitation of Jacob’s study?
Findings may lack validity as he didn’t take into account factors such as age (8 years-6.6 digits. 19 years-8.6 digits)
What was miller’s study?
Muller claimed the STM could hold 7+-2 pieces of information.
He said that by ‘chunking’ long numbers into short pieces they would be easier to recall (phone numbers etc)
What is a strength of Miller’s study?
None
What are limitations of millers study?
Cowan (2001) showed that the capacity of the STM was 4 chunks of info
Simon(1974) showed the STM could hold 5 chunks of information.
What’s is the capacity of the STM
9.3 digits and 7.3 letters
What is the capacity of the LTM
Limitless
What was Peterson and Peterson’s study?
They have 24 undergraduate students a consonant trigram (CVC) to remember and a random 3 digit number to count back from for 3,6,12,15,18 seconds
What were the findings of Peterson and Peyerson’s study?
Correct recall after 3 seconds- 80%
Correct recall after 6 seconds- 50%
Correct recall after 18 seconds- 3%
What is a strength of Peterson and Petersons study?
Good ‘generalisability’ - We do have to try to remember some ‘meaningless’ things in life such as phone numbers
What’s a limitation of Peterson and Petersons study?
Lacks ‘mundane realism’- the information that the students were asked to recall was ‘artificial’ and does not show him memory works in the real world
What was Bahricks study?
A longitudinal study where he got 392 Americans between the ages of 17 and 74 to remember high school classmates through free recall and identifying photos.
What were the results of bahricks study?
Photo recognition:
.90% accurate within 15 years
.70% accurate after 48 years
Free recall
.60% accurate within 15 years
.30% accurate after 48 years
What is a strength of bahricks study?
High mundane realism- a meaningful stimuli was used that reflects how memory works irl
What is a limitation of bahricks study?
Failure to control ‘confounding variables’- some participants may look through their yearbook regularly while others never did
What were the findings of Baddelys study?
Info in STM coded acoustically
Info in LTM coded semantically
What was a strength of Baddelys study?
Important step in understanding the memory system, helped to develop MSM
What’s a strengths of the MSM?
Good supporting evidence- Baddely proved STM is coded acoustically and LTM is coded semantically
More supporting evidence- HM had hippocampus removed and lost LTM but STM was fine-could not transfer info from LTM to STM- could remember his parents etc but if he met a new person they would always remain a stranger to him.
What are limitations of the MSM?
Evidence that proves it wrong- KF had amnesia and proved the STM had separate stores for auditory and visual information.
Lacks mundane realism- most of the evidence used to support it used random letters and numbers.
What are the different types of LTM (Tulving 1985)
Declarative- semantic, episodic
Implicit- procedural
What is the episodic memory?
-the ability to recall events from our lives
-they are time stamped
- Includes many details
- have to make a conscious effort to recall them
What is the semantic memory?
-memories that relate to knowledge of the world
-not time stamped
- less personal
- have to make a conscious effort to recall.
What is procedural memory?
-memories of how we do things (ride a bike etc)
-acquired through repetition and practice
-doesn’t involve conscious thought
What are strengths of the types of LTM (Tulving 1985)?
Supporting evidence- HM proves there are separate stores in LTM
Physical evidence- Tulving used PET scanners when testing participants
What’s a limitation of types of LTM (Tulving 1985)?
Unreliable evidence- lots of case studies used (HM) which may be unique
What are the Strengths of WMM?
Supporting evidence- KF could not process auditory info but could process visual info.
Supporting evidence- Baddelys dual-performance task- two visual talks at once=hard, visual + auditory take at once = easy.
What is a limitation of WMM?
Not properly understood- ‘the CE is the most important but least understood component of the WMM’ Baddely.
What is interference
The idea that one memory has been blocked by another causing one or both to be forgotten or distorted. (Proactive and reteroactive)
What is proactive interference?
Post learning interferes with current learning (calling partner by ex’s name)
What is retroactive interference
When current learning interferes with past learning (not being able to remember new teachers name after getting a new one)
What are the strengths of the theory of interference?
Real world evidence- baddely and hitch asked rugby players which teams they played that season, players which played less games remembered more.
Supporting evidence- multiple highly controlled lab studies showed this theory to be correct.
What is a limitation of the theory of interference?
Other explanations can be used for forgetting- for interference to be a problem two pieces of information must be very similar, which is not common.
What is retrieval failure?
When the information is presented in the LTM but cannot be accessed because retrieval cues aren’t present.
What is Tulving’s ‘encoding specificity principle’
States that if a cue is going to help us it must be present both at learning and at retrieval
What is ‘context-dependant forgetting
Recall depends on EXTERNAL cues such as the weather or the place
What is state-dependant forgetting
Recall depends on INTERNAL cues such as being drunk or upset
What was Godden and Baddleys experiment on retrieval failure
People were asked to learn wordlists either on land or underwater and then recall them on land or underwater (4 groups)
What were the results of godden and baddelys experiment?
Recall was 40% lower in non matching conditions (context-dependant forgetting)
What was carter and Cassidy’s (1998) experiment on retrieval failure?
Similar to godden and baddely but with anti-histamine drugs.
What were the results of carter and cassidys experiment?
Recall significantly lower in non-matching conditions.
What are the strengths of retrieval failure as an explanation of forgetting?
Supporting evidence- godden and baddely and carter and Cassidy experiments.
Supporting evidence- Eysenck- said RF is the main reason for forgetting. (2010)
What is a limitation of retrieval failure?
Low generalisability- you would never be in a situation where you learn and recall words underwater and on land
What are the factors that affect EWT?
-misleading info: leading questions, post event discussion
-anxiety: negative, positive
What was loftus and palmers experiment on EWT?
45 American students divided into 5 groups.
All watched the same clip of a car accident and when asked about it verb used was changed for each group
Smashed, hit, contacted etc
What were the results of loftus and palmers research
Smashed= 40.5 mph
Contacted=31.8 mph
What were the two explanations for loftus and palmers results?
Response bias- the verb didn’t alter the students memory
Substitution explanation- the verb did alter the students memory
What was loftus and palmers follow up research done on substitution explanation.
They asked if the student remembered seeing broken glass (there want any)
Results
Smashed- 32% saw broken glass
Hit- 14% saw broken glass
Control group- 12% saw broken glass
What was Gabberts experiment on post event discussion?
Made participants watch a crime from spectate angles so some would see details others would not. He then let some witnesses converse after and some not.
What were the results of Gabberts experiment?
71% of people who conversed after witnessing the crime recalled details that they did not see.
0% did this when they didn’t converse
What is a strength of the idea of misleading information in EWT
Real world application- car crash experiment can have a positive impact on how EWT are taken
What are limitations of the idea of misleading information on EWT?
Low generalisability- watching a video is very different to witnessing an actually crime
Demand characteristics- Forster (2004) proved participants were more likely to identify a robber if they thought the scenario was real.
What was Johnson and Scott’s experiment on anxiety?
Participants thought they were waiting for a lab study but there was a loud argument next door and one group saw a man walk out holding a bloody knife while the other group saw him holding a pen with grease on his hands.
Results
Pen and grease- 49% identified culprit
Blood and knife- 33% identified culprit
What was Yuille and cutshalls experiment on anxiety?
Interviewed witnesses to a shooting 4-5 months after it happened and asked them to rate the stress they felt from 1-7.
Results
Higher stress- 88% accurate
Lower stress- 75% accurate
What is the Yerkes Dodson law?
Graph that shows that too low and too high anxiety levels mean low arousal and there is an optimum point in the middle
What is a strength for negative anxiety?
Supporting evidence- Valerie and Ames out used heart rate monitors to measure stress, and people who were more stressed were worse at identifying culprit
What is a limitation of negative anxiety
Contrary evidence- surprise may be as important as anxiety. Pickel showed that if culprit held raw chicken as opposed to pen and grease recognition would also drop
What is a strength of positive anxiety?
Supporting evidence- Christian and Hubinette interviewed witnesses of a real bank robbery and more stressed people had better recall
What is a limitation of positive anxiety?
Yuille and Cutshall interviewed witnesses long after event which may decrease validity (post event discussion etc)
What are the errors with normal police interviews?
-Interviewer does most of the talking
-Multiple choice questions
-Leading questions
-Interviewee told not to say ‘irrelevant’ info
-Memory may be contaminated
What makes up the cognitive interview (Fisher and Geiselmen)?
-report everything (memories interconnected)
-reinstate the context (cues may help retrieval)
-reverse the order (stops schema)
-change the perspective (stops schema)
What is a strength of the cognitive interview?
Supporting evidence- Kohnken probed 41% more correct info was obtained when CI was used.
What is a limitation of the cognitive interview?
Too complex- takes too long for the police and isn’t achievable
describe the central executive
boss- directs attention to particular tasks, determines how the three slave systems are allocated
coded-every sense
capacity- 4 pieces of info
describe the phonological loop
about- deals with auditory info. split into phonological store which stores the words you hear and articulatory process- maintenance rehearsal (inner voice)
coded- auditory
capacity- 2 seconds
describe the visuospatial sketchpad
about- helps us to navigate and interact with our environment. Logie suggested split into- VISUAL CACHE, stores visual info such as shape and colour. INNER SCRIBE- stores the arrangement objects
coded- visually
capacity- 3 or 4 objects
describe the episodic buffer
about- store for CE. temporarily stores info. integrates infofrom other slave systems. maintains sense of time sequencing
coded- visually and acoustically
capacity- 4 chunks
what is research evidence for the CE
Baddely found participants found it hard to generate a list of random numbers while simultaneously switching between letters and numbers on a key board-suggesting both were fighting for CE resources.
what is research evidence for the PL
Badly gave participants 5 single syllable words and 5 multi-syllable words to recall ignorer. single-syllable words recalled more effectively
what is research evidence for the VSS
Vogel showed participants a visual display of 3-12 objects for 900 milliseconds before switching to another display that was either identical similar. performance was good up to 4 pieces of info but then declined
describe the sensory register in MSM
coding- modality specific
duration- half a second
capacity- very high, millions of cells in each eye
attention must be payed to transfer info to STM
describe the STM in MSM
coding- acoustic
duration- 18-30 seconds
capacity- 9.3 digits 7.3 letters
prolonged rehearsal needed to get info to LTM
describe the LTM in the MSM
coding- semantic
duration- limitless
capacity- limitless
maintenance rehearsal to transfer info back to STM
what contradictory evidence did Watkins find for MSM
elaborative rehearsal needed not prolonged rehearsal to get info from STM to LTM
what are the strengths of the types of LTM
supporting evidence- HM and Clive Wearing
RWA- Bellevile found technique to improve EM in elderly. when tested group who did exercise performed better in memory test than control group
supporting evidence- Hodges and Patterson found that some people with Alzheimers could form new EM but not SM
what are the limitations of the types of LTM
conflicting evidence- Buckner and Peterson said EM located on left of PFC. Tulving said EM was on right of PFC
what is the real world application of retrieval failure (A03)
Badly said it is worth paying attention to cues was they can aid remembering in real world situations
what is the contrasting evidence for retrieval failure found by golden and baddely (AO3)
redid water land experiment but participants had to recognise initial words they learnt- context dependant forgetting not an issue
what is the real world application of misleading info effecting EWT
psychologists often stand in front of jury to educate them on how EWT may be contaminated
what is the evidence against substitution theory (misleading info AO3)
sutherland and Hayne found that misleading info only effects peripheral memories not central ones
what is evidence against conformity in post event discussion
skangberg and wright had two groups watch same mugging but women mugged had dark brown hair or light brown hair. after post event discussion most said she had medium brown hair
what is the function of repeat everything
triggers more memories
what is the function of reinstating the context
aids context dependant forgetting
what is the function of reversing the order
prevents dishonesty
what is the function of changing the perspective
prevents effects of schema
what was the 'enhanced cognitive interview'
fisher proposed this
included things like when the interviewer should maintain and break eye contact and how anxiety etc can be reduced
what did kohnken find about the CI and ECI
CI produces more errors than normal interview
ECI produces more errors than CI
what contradictory evidence did Milne and bull find about the CI
combining reporting everything and reinstating the context was more effective than using all four elements
what is a limitation of interference
contradictory evidence- tucking and ptsoka gave people multiple word lists to learn- recall started at 70% then kept on dropping. however, a cued test for all words was given at the end and recall rose to 70% again- shows interference is only short term loss of accessibility to info in the LTM- this is not predicted by the theory
what is a strength of interference
supporting evidence- found that if words were learnt before diazepam was taken recall was higher than if a placebo was taken. this iOS because the drug prevents info reaching parts of the brain involved with processing memory.
what was mcgeoch and mcdonalds research into interference.
6 groups had top learn a list of words. 5 were then given another list to learn. found that the group who were given a new list of synonyms to previous words had the worst recall
