Memory

Question 1

What did Baddeley find about coding ?

Answer 1

STM worst recall = acoustically similar words.
LTM worst recall = semantically similar words.

Question 2

What did Jacobs find the average STM capacity was for digits and letters ?

Answer 2

Digits = 9.3 items
Letters = 7.3 items

Question 3

What did Miller find about capacity of STM ?

Answer 3

7 +/- 2
People recall 5 words as easily as 5 letters due to chunking.

Question 4

What did Margret and Peterson find about the duration of STM ?

Answer 4

STM duration around 18 seconds unless we use rehearsal. After 18s avg recall = about 3%

Question 5

What did Bahrick et al find about the duration of LTM ?

Answer 5

High school yearbook study. Photo recognition and free recall test.
Within 15 yrs 90% accurate photo recognition, 48 yrs 70%.
Within 15 yrs 60%, 48 yrs 30%.
So some LTM may last a lifetime.

Question 6

What is a strength of coding research ?

Answer 6

Baddeley identified clear difference between the two memory stores. STM being coded acoustically and LTM semantically helped create the multi store model of memory.

Question 7

What is a limitation of coding research ?

Answer 7

Baddeley used artificial stimuli eg. word list had no importance to pps so tell little about memory in every day life. When processing more meaningful info people may use semantic coding even for STM. So limited application.

Question 8

What is a strength of capacity research ?

Answer 8

Jacobs study replicated. Old study but findings confirmed by other more strictly controlled studies since eg. Bopp and Verhaeghen. So is valid test of digit span in STM.

Question 9

What is a limitation of capacity research ?

Answer 9

May have overestimated STM capacity. Cowan reviewed other research and concluded STM capacity is only about 4 +/- 1 chunks.

Question 10

What is a limitation of duration research ?

Answer 10

Meaningless stimuli in Petersons STM study, recalling consonant syllables doesnt reflect everyday activity. So lacks external validity.

Question 11

What is a strength of duration research ?

Answer 11

Bahricks study has high external validity, meaningful memories, when studies of LTM duration with meaningless pictures recall rates were lower (Shepard). So findings reflect a more real estimate of the duration of LTM.

Question 12

What does Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi store model of memory state ?

Answer 12

There are 3 stores of memory, sensory register, STM and LTM. Rehearsal of STM passes information into LTM. When recalling info, go back to STM via retrieval.

Question 13

Who was HM ?

Answer 13

Hippocampus removed to try stop epilepsy and then could not form new LTM.

Question 14

What is a strength of the MSM ?

Answer 14

Research support- Baddeley, acoustically similar words mess up in STM and semantically similar words mess up in LTM. Showing STM and LTM are separate stores as MSM suggests.

Question 15

What are limitations of the MSM ?

Answer 15

More than one STM store - Shallice and Warrington KF, had amnesia and STM for digits very poor when read out loud but better when read to himself. So there may be another store of STM for non verbal sounds.

Prolonged rehearsal not always needed for info to transfer into LTM. Craik and Watkins found elaborative rehearsal is more important (linking info into already existing knowledge). So info can be transferred into LTM without prolonged rehearsal.

Question 16

What are episodic, semantic and procedural LTM stores ?

Answer 16

Episodic = memory of when events occured and people, places and objects involved etc. Takes conscious effort to recall.

Semantic = Knowledge of world eg. facts. Take conscious effort to recall.

Procedural = Knowledge of how to do things and skills. Take no conscious effort to recall.

Question 17

What are strength of types of LTM ?

Answer 17

Clinical evidence - Clive Wearing, brain damage but semantic and procedural memories relatively unaffected. eg. still could play piano. So supports Tulving’s idea that there are many types of LTM and one type can be damaged while others remain unaffected.

Real world application - allows psychologists to help people with memory problems. eg. ageing can cause memory loss usually episodic. Belleville, trained elderly to have better episodic recall.

Question 18

What is a limitation of the types of LTM ?

Answer 18

Conflicting research - Buckner and Petersen, concluded semantic memory is located in the left side of the prefrontal cortex and episodic on the right side. However Tulving et al research contradicts. Therefore neurophysiological evidence is weak due to poor agreement.

Question 19

What did Baddeley and Hitch state about the WMM ?

Answer 19

Central executive = co-ordinates activities of the 3 subsystems and allocates processing resources to these.

Phonological loop = Processes sound info, written and spoken.

Visuo-spatial sketchpad = Processes visual and spatial info in mental space called inner eye.

Episodic buffer = Brings subsystems together into single memory and provides bridge between working memory and LTM.

(not detailed).

Question 20

What are strengths of WMM ?

Answer 20

Clinical evidence - KF, poor STM for sound but not visual info. Phonological loop damaged but Visuo-spatial sketchpad intact. Supports separate stores.

Dual task performance - Baddeley, visual and verbal task at same time. Performance similar to separately. But when both tasks visual or verbal both declined due to competition in slave systems.

Question 21

What is a limitation of WMM ?

Answer 21

Lack of clarity over the nature of CE, Baddeley said its most important but least understood. CE needs to be more specified than just for attention. Challenges integrity of WMM.

Question 22

What is pro active and retro active interference ?

Answer 22

Pro active = older memories disrupt newer.

Retro active = newer memories disrupt older.

Question 23

What did McGeoch and McDonald find in their interference study ?

Answer 23

When pps recalled og list of words, synonyms produced worst recall so interference is strongest when memories are similar. Could be due to PI or RI.

Question 24

What are strengths of interference as an explanation for forgetting ?

Answer 24

Real world - evidence in everyday life, Baddeley and Hitch, rugby players asked for names of teams they played in season. Ones who played most games had poorest recall. Increased validity of study.

Drug studies support - evidence of retrograde facilitation. Coenen and Luijtelaar, when list learned under influence of diazepam recall one week later was poorer. But when taken before recall was better than placebo. Wixted, drug prevents new info reaching parts of brain so cannot interfere retroactively with info already stored.

Question 25

What is a limitation of interference as an explanation for forgetting ?

Answer 25

Cues - interference can be overcome through use of cues. Tulving and Psotka, recall 70% on first list but got progressively worse after learning new lists. Cues given after test helped recall rise to 70% again. Therefore interference is only temporary loss of accessibility to info in LTM .

Question 26

What did Tulving say the encoding specificity principle was ?

Answer 26

A cue has to be both present at encoding and present at retrieval.

Question 27

What study was used for context dependent forgetting ?

Answer 27

Godden and Baddeley, deep sea divers, when learning on land and recalling in sea visa versa retrieval failure was stronger.

Question 28

What study was used for state dependent forgetting ?

Answer 28

Carter and Cassaday, antihistamine drugs, when mismatch between being on and off substance in retrieval and recall memory was worse.

Question 29

What are strengths of retrieval failure ?

Answer 29

Real world application - eg. going back to place you first remembered something to help recall what it was. Therefore strategy can be used in real life situations.

Research support - Eysenck and Keane, argue retrieval failure may be main reason for forgetting LTM.

However, Baddeley suggests context effects arent very strong because environments in everyday life not usually different enough.

Question 30

What is a limitation of retrieval failure ?

Answer 30

Recall vs recognition - Godden and Baddeley replicated underwater experiment but with recognition not recall, there was no context dependent forgetting. So limited explanation for forgetting because only applies when having to recall not recognise information.

Question 30

What did Loftus and Palmer research ?

Answer 30

Effects of leading questions on EWT. Car crash video, how fast were cars going when they …
contacted = 31.8mph
smashed = 40.5mph

Question 31

What did Gabbert et al research ?

Answer 31

Effects of post event discussion on EWT. Same crime different pov, 71% recalled things they didnt see but picked up in discussion.

Question 32

What is a strength of misleading information research ?

Answer 32

Real world application - practical uses in cjs, police have to be careful about how they phrase questions. Psychologists sometimes used in courts to explain limits of EWT.

However, practical applications may be affected by research issues eg. lab experiment.

Question 33

What are limitations of misleading information research ?

Answer 33

EWT is more accurate for some aspects of event than others eg Sunderland and Hayne, recall on vid more accurate for central details than peripheral ones. So og memories may not have been disrupted.

Blend memories not swap - post event discussion, Skagerberg and Wright two different clips, hair colour change. EWT usually blended hair colour not just saying what the other witness said. So it may be memory contamination not conformity.

Question 34

What did Johnson and Scott find about anxiety and EWT ?

Answer 34

Theres a negative effect. Physiological arousal in body leads to lack of paying attention to important cues.
Weapon focus, pen and grease on hands or knife and blood. 49% who saw pen could recognise him, 33% of knife.

Question 35

What did Yuille and Cutshall find about anxiety and EWT ?

Answer 35

Theres a positive effect. Flight/fight increases alertness.
Real shooting in gun shop, witnesses interviewed 5 months after and compared to og police interviews. Witnesses very accurate. Most stressed pps 88% accurate, least stressed pps 75% accurate.

Question 36

What is the Yerkes- Dodson law ?

Answer 36

Optimal level of anxiety for maximum accuracy.

Question 37

What is a limitation of Johnson and Scotts study ?

Answer 37

Tested with unusualness not anxiety - surprise not scared, Pickel, scissors, handgun, wallet or raw chicken in hairdressers. EWT worst in high unusual conditions eg chicken.

Question 38

What is a strength that anxiety has a negative effect on EWT ?

Answer 38

Research support - Valentine and Mesout, heart rate to show stress, group between low and high anxiety, Londons dungeons. High anxiety disrupted ability to recall details about actor in dungeons.

Question 39

What is a strength that anxiety has a positive effect on EWT ?

Answer 39

Research support - Christianson and Hubinette, real bank robbery interviews. Directly involved witnesses eg bank workers have greatest anxiety but best recall.

However, interviews were several months after event so not control over what happens to pps in this time like post event discussion. Lack of control over confounding variables

Question 40

What did Fisher and Geiselman say the 4 main techniques of cognitive interviews are ?

Answer 40

1. Report everything
2. Reinstate context
3. Reverse order
4. Change perspective

Question 41

What did Fisher add to the enhanced cognitive interview ?

Answer 41

Social dynamics eg. eye contact

Question 42

What is a strength of the cognitive interview ?

Answer 42

Research support - Kohnken et al, meta analysis CI = 41% more accurate than standard interview.

However, also found inc in inaccurate info from pps eg. ECI produces more incorrect details than CI. So may sacrifice quality for quantity.

Question 43

What are limitations of the cognitive interview ?

Answer 43

Some elements more useful than others - Milne and Bull, 4 techniques used alone produced more info than standard police interview. But combination of reinstate context and report everything combinatgion was best. So casts doubt to credibility of overall CI.

Time consuming - More training needed, more time eg. building rapport. So unrealistic for police to use.