Memory Flashcards
Evaluate the key features of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s (1968) MSM, including the 3 components in relation to coding, capacity and duration
The model suggests that memories form sequentially and information is passed from one component to the next in a linear fashion
Sensory register:
-has an unknown but supposedly unlimited capacity
-very limited duration of about 250 milliseconds (less than one second)
-as information enters from all 5 senses, the coding is modality specific and said to be raw/unprocessed information
STM:
-information that is attended to is passed into the STM
-has a limited capacity of 7+/-2 chunks of information
-limited duration of about 20 seconds
-coded in an acoustic format (i.e. can be remembered by repeating it to yourself over and over)
LTM:
-rehearsed information is transferred to the LTM from the STM
-unlimited capacity
-lifetime’s duration
-coded semantically (by meaning) and can be retrieved from the LTM to the STM at any time
Define coding, capacity and duration in relation to memory
Coding refers to the way in which information is changed and stored in the memory
Capacity refers to how much information can be stored
Duration refers to the length of time that information can be stored in the memory
Explain and evaluate Peterson and Peterson’s (1959) investigation on the duration of STM
Aim: To investigate how different short intervals containing an interference task affect the recall of terms presented verbally, and to infer the duration of the STM
Method:
-24 male and female university psychology students participated
-48 three-consonant nonsense syllables (trigrams) were spelled out verbally, letter by letter
-the researcher spelled the syllable out and then immediately called out a 3-digit number
the participants had to count down backwards in groups of 3s from that number, which prevented repetition of the trigram
the participants had to recall the trigram first at 3 seconds, and then at 18 seconds
Results:
-the longer the interval, the less accurate the recall
-at 3 seconds, 80% of the trigrams were recalled correctly
-at 18 seconds, only 10% of the trigrams were recalled correctly
Conclusion:
-STM has a limited duration of about 18 seconds
-if we are unable to rehearse information, it will not be passed onto the LTM, which supports the idea of discrete components and the MSM of memory as a whole
Evaluation:
-sample of 24 psychology students, so they may have encountered the MSM of memory before, and tberefore displayed demand characteristics to change their behaviour
-psychology students are also more likely to have improved memory, as they could have studied memory strategies and therefore it becomes diffficult to generalise the results to non-psychology students who may not have encountered memory improvement strategies before
-low levels of ecological validity, as people are usually not required to recall trigrams as part of their daily lives. Therefore, it is not representative of everyay examples of what the STM storees. we are unable to conclude whether the duration of the STM would be longer for more common and more important details, such as phone numbers
-highly controlled and took place in laboratory conditions. Their high degree of control for extraneous variables, which makes the procedure easy to replicate to test reliability
-MSM is reductionist
-suggests memory is due to basic functions like rehearsal and paying attention, and stores are either short term or long term
-furthermore, nomothetic approach
Explain and evaluate Bahrick (1975) duration of LTM investigation
Aim: to investigate the duration of the LTM
Method:
-392 American university graduates were shown pictures of their high school yearbook
-they had to select a name from a list that matched the picture they were shown
Results:
-90% of the participants were able to match the right names to the photographs 14 years after graduation
-60% of the participants were able to match photographs to the right name 47 years after graduating
Conclusion:
-people could remember certain types of information such as names and faces, for almost a lifetime
-this supports the MSM and the idea that our LTM has a lifetime’s duration (at least 47 years), and is semantically coded
Evaluation: points
-sample = 392 american university graduates
-lacks population validity
-psychologists cannot generalise results to other populations (e.g. university graduates from the UK or Europe)
-impossible to conclude whether other populations would demonstrate the same ability to recall information after 47 years
-unable to explain whether the LTM becomes less accurate over time due to a limited duration, or if it gets worse with old age
-cannot conclude that the LTM has an unlimited duration (like the MSM suggests), as it is affected by other factors
-high levels of ecological validity, as the study used real-life memories
Outline the different types of LTM
Episodic memory:
-explicit memory
-memories of personal experiences (e.g. first day of school)
-3 specific elements are interwoven into one memory: details of the event, context, and emotions
-strength of episodic memories is determined by the strength of the emotions felt at the time of encoding
-a conscious effort is required to retrieve them
-associated with the hippocampus, but other brain regions are associated with encoding (prefrontal cortex, etc)
Semantic memory:
-explicit memory
-memory for knowledge, facts, concepts and the meaning of the world around us
-strength of semantic memories are determined by the emotions felt when coded, but is less personal and can often be quite abstract compared to episodic memories
-often start off as episodic memories, as knowledge is acquired from personal experiences, but they are not closely associated with a particular event
-semantic memories are generally stronger than episodic
-associated with the temporal lobe
Procedural memory:
-implicit memory
-memory of how to perform certain tasks, actions or skills (e.g. swimming and riding a bike)
-acquired through repetition and practice
-associated with the cerebellum and motor complex
–generally formed early in life, which allow us to focus our direct attention to everyday tasks
Explain what is meant by implicit and explicit memory
Implicit (non-declarative)long term memories are skilled behaviours , which are largely unconscious.
Explicit (declarative) memories are knowledge for events and facts
Evaluate the different types of LTM
Brain scans:
-research shows that different parts of the brain are active when accessing procedural, semantic and episodic memory
–supports the idea that there are at least 3 different categories of LTM
strength - research support for the distinction between implicit and explicit memory
-Milner (1962) found that Patient HM suffered from severe epilepsy
-underwent hippocampus removal to alleviate symptoms
-Milner discovered that HM’s STM remained intact but he had issues transferring some information to his LTM
-his implicit memory was unaffected as he was able to learn a mirror-tracing task, and retained that skill without forgetting
-however, he had no memory of completing the task, suggesting that he was unable to recall the experience explicitly
limitation - case studies are difficult to draw conclusions from
-both HM and Pm case studies must be treated with caution, as it is difficult to establish exactly which area is affected
-damage to a particular region does not mean that the area is particularly associated with a type of LTM
strength - research support for the distinction between implicit and explicit memory
-Finke et al. 2012 found evidence of a separate case study, where an individual suffered from amnesia due to a virus
-like Patient HM, he had no issue with his implicit memory (procedural), as he could still remember how to read and perform music
-however, his episodic and semantic memory was affected
Helpful real world applications:
-Belleville et al. 2006 compared performance of older people who received memory training for a mild cognitive impaired to a control group that did not
-participants in the experimental group performed better on a test of episodic memory
-therefore, being able to identify different types of LTM can help psychologists to devise appropriate treatments
Outline the key features of the Working Memory Model, in relation to its capacity and coding
-proposed in 1974 as a way of explaining some of the research findings that could not be accounted for by the Multi-store Model (e.g. dual task studies)
-focuses on STM and has 4 main components
Central executive:
-“boss” of the WMM
-can process information from any sensory modality
-controls attention and directs information to the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad
Phonological loop:
-temporary storage system for verbal information (speech-based form)
-made up of the articulatory control process (the ‘inner voice’) and the phonological store (the ‘inner ear’)
-the articulatory control process allows for subvocal repetition of acoustic information
-phonological store is a temporary storage space with a limited capacity for coding acoustic information
Visuo-spatial sketchpad:
-temporary storage system for visual/spatial information
-made up of the inner scribe and the visual cache
-inner scribe deals with manipulation of mental images
-visual cache has a limited capacity for coding visual and spatial information
Episodic Buffer:
-integrates information from all components and passes it to the LTM
-codes both visual and acoustic information, but has a limited capacity
Evaluate Baddeley and Hitch’s Working Memory Model
Strength - research support from study of Patient KF:
-Shallice and Warrington (1974)
-following his injury in a motorcycle accident, he could recall stored information from his LTM, but had issues with his STM
-could remember visual images (e.g. faces), but not sounds (acoustic information)
-suggests that there at least two components: one for acoustic information (phonological loop) and another for visual images (visuo-spatial sketchpad)
Strength - Dual task studies by Baddeley and Hitch (1976) provides support:
-participants must complete two tasks simultaneously
-when both tasks require the same component to be used, the ability to do this is impaired (weakened)
-when one task requires the phonological loop and the other requires the visuo-spatial sketchpad, ability is not impaired as the two tasks can be done simultaneously
-this proves the idea that the STM is multi-component
-however, these studies tend to lack ecological validity
artficial tasks cannot be gneralised to everyday examples of dual task activites
Limitation - only focuses on STM:
-link between WMM and LTM is not explained
-unknown how information is passed from STM to LTM and back again
-therefore, the WMM is an incomplete model and is overly simplistic
-other theories are needed to gain a complete picture of this complex cognitive phenomenon
-furthermore, reductionist?
State the 3 different explanations for forgetting
Proactive interference, retroactive interference and retrieval failure due to absence of cues (includes context-dependent and state-dependent forgetting)
Outline proactive interference and retroactive interference
Proactive interference:
-when old information stored in LTM interferes with the learning of new information
-usually when old and new information are similar
-e.g. struggling to remember a new phone number due to the existing memory of your old phone number
Key Study: Keppel and Underwood (1962):
Aim: to investigate the effect of proactive interference on LTM
Method:
-participants were presented with three-letter consonant trigrams
-had to recall at different intervals (e.g. 3,6,9 seconds)
-Participants had to count backwards in threes to prevent rehearsal
Results: Participants typically remembered trigrams that were learnt first, irrespective of interval length
Conclusion: The resuts suggest that proactive interference occurred, as memory of older trigrams which had transferred to LTM interfered with the memory of new trigrams, due to the similarity of consonants
Retroactive interference:
-when new information learnt interferes with the memory of old information
-e.g. it becomes difficult to remember your old phone number after learning your new one
Key Study: Baddeley and Hitch (1977)
Aim: to investigate retroactive interference in everyday memory
Method: Using a sample of rugby union players who played every match in the season and some who missed some matches due to injury, players were asked to recall the teams they had previously played against earlier in the season (length of the season was same for all players)
Results: players who had participated in most games forgot proportionately more than those who played fewer games
Conclusion: this was the result of retroactive interference, as the learning of new team names interfered with the memory of the names of teams they had played earlier
Evaluate interference as an explanation for forgetting
Strength - research support:
-McGeoch and McDonald (1931) gave participants 10 adjectives to learn (List A)
-then one of six other lists to learn (List B)
-which varied in similarity to the original
-found that recall was worse when lists A and B were closest in similarity
-supports idea of retroactive interference
-the more similar the new information to the old information, the greater the interference
Limitation - only explains a specific type of forgetting (memory for similar information):
-Keppel and Underwood used the recall of trigrams and Baddeley and Hitch used the recall of team names
-both of these highlight interference effects of very similar information
-limited in its real world application, as it is unable to explain forgetting in other stiuations
Limitation - lacks ecological validity:
-research is criticised for its artificial nature
-generally carried out in a laboratory (e.g. Keppel and Underwood (1962) and McGeoch and McDonald (1931), while using meaningless stimuli like simple word lists or consonant trigrams
-these findings do not represent everyday examples of forgetting, making it difficult to apply this to everyday human memory
Explain the encoding specificity principle
-proposed by Tulving and Thomson (1973)
-argued that memory is most effective when information that was present at the time of encoding is present at the time of recall
-two types of cues aid recall: environmental cues and mental cues
Outline and evaluate context-dependent forgetting
-when environmental cues (the room in which information is learnt) aid recall
Key Study: Godden and Baddeley (1975)
Aim: to investigate the effect of contextual cues on recall
Method: sample of 18 members of a university diving club (13 male and 5 female) were presented with 38 words that they heard twice before having to write all the words they could remember in any order, under 4 conditions:
-learning words on land and recalling on land
-learning words on land and recalling underwater
-learning words underwater and recalling underwater
-learning words underwater and recalling on land
-was a repeated measures design, as all participants took part in all conditions, over 4 separate days
Results: words learned underwater were better recalled underwater. Words learned on land were better recalled on land.
Conclusion: reasonable to conclude that environmental cues improve recall
Evaluation points:
Limitation: other variables were not controlled
-divers took part in the experiment at different times of the day and at different diving locations
-each diver may have experienced different contextual cues, which may have affected their memory
-therefore, we are unable to conclude whether the context-dependent forgetting is due to the land/underwater cues, or another contextual cue
Limitation: Repeated measures design
-possibility that divers worked out aim of experiment and displayed demand characteristics
-could have displayed practice effects where recall improved due to completing the experiment multiple times
-however, an independent measures design would have required more participants, which is difficult as they need to be trained divers
-furthermore, sample was just 18 divers, so conclusions should be treated with caution as it may not apply to a wider range of people
Limitation: Lacks ecological validity
-context/conditions were a bit extreme
-provides little insight into everyday examples of context-dependent forgetting
Limitation: Criticised for breaking ethical guidelines, particularly protection from harm
-one diver was reportedly almost run over by an ex-army amphibious DUKW
-more precautions should have been taken to ensure safety of participants
Outline and evaluate state-dependent forgetting
-when mental cues (e.g. the emotional state experienced when information is encoded) aid recall
-risk that state-dependent forgetting could occur when the same psychological state is not experience at the time of recall
-often seen with alcohol intoxication and the absence of accurate memories when sober
Key Study: Carter and Cassaday (1998)
Aim: to examine state-dependent forgetting using anti-histamine drugs (typically administered for hayfever relief but are also known for their sedating effects)
Method: Anti-histamine drugs make the individual feels drowsy and not as alert, providing a comparison to everyday non-drug-induced behaviour. Participants had to learn a list of words and excerpts from a text and then recall the information later. There were 4 conditions:
-learn information after taking anti-histamines and recall after taking anti-histamines
-learn information after taking anti-histamines and recall before taking anti-histamines
-learn information before taking anti-histamines and recall after taking anti-histamines
-learn information before taking anti-histamines and recall before taking anti-histamines
Results: memory was improved in the conditions where the learning and recalling state matched, whereas memory was poorer when the physiological state at the time of recall was different to that at the time of learning
Conclusion: state-dependent forgetting is likely to occur when the emotional cues during the time of learning information are absent at the time of recalling the information
Evaluation points:
Strength: Research support
-Goodwin et al. (1969) asked male volunteers to remember a list of words when they were either drunk or sober
-they then had to recall the words 24 hours later, while either drunk or sober
-results support Carter and Cassaday (1998) as words learned when drunk were better recalled when drunk, and words learned when sober were better recalled when sober
-therefore supports the idea of state-dependent failure
Strength: Further research support (wider range of substances)
-Darley et al. (1973) researched the impact of marijuana on memory
-individuals who were under the influence of marijuana when putting money in a ‘safe place’ were less likely to recall this location once they were no longer under the influence
-adds weight to the idea that the physiological state that a person is in at the time of encoding is important for retrieval
Strength: Independent Measures Design
-as participants did not do more than one condition, they are less likely to demonstrate practice effects, or to change their behaviour which would reduce the internal validity of the results
Limitation: issues with determining a cause and effect relationship with retrieval failure as an explanation of forgetting
-Nairne (2002) criticised research in this area and suggested that it merely shows a correlation between the cues present at the time of encoding and cues present at the time of retrieval
-further suggested that cues do not in themselves present retrieval failure/success, bur are simply associated with it
-psychologists are therefore unable to conclude whether a lack of cues actually causes retrieval failure
