memory Flashcards

Question

what are the types of long term memory that Tulving (1985) proposed?

Answer 1

episodic memory semantic memory procedural memory

Answer 2

LTM store that refers to our ability to recall personal events from our lives time stamped: rmr when they happened and what happened includes (complex) memories of people objects places and behaviours involved memories have to be retrieved consciously and with effort

Answer 3

LTM store that contains our shared knowledge of the world less personal and more about the facts we all share (e.g meaning of words and hard concepts e.g animals and love) not time stamped tulving states it is less vulnerable to distortion and forgetting than episodic memory

Answer 4

LTM store for our knowledge of how to do things, contains memories of our learned skills recall these memories without conscious awareness or much effort e.g driving a car

Answer 5

strength: HM and Clive Wearing episodic memory were severely damaged due to brain damage but their semantic memories were unaffected (understood meaning of words e.g HM not recalling touching a dog 30 mins earlier but did remember the concept of a dog) and their procedural memory was intact (wearing still knew how to play piano and sing) supports that there are different types of LTM

Answer 6

limitation: lack of variables limits what CS can tell us abt different types of LTM researcher had no way of controlling what happened to the patient before or during the injury therefore the R has no knowledge of the individuals memory before the damage and it is difficult to judge exactly how much worse it is afterwards

Answer 7

there are conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain Buckner and Peterson (1996) concluded the semantic memory is located on the left side of the prefrontal cortex and episodic memory on the right but other researchers link the left prefrontal cortex with encoding of episodic melodies and the right with episodic retrieval challenging neuropsychological evidence to short toes of memory as there is poor agreement on where each type is located

Answer 8

understanding types of LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems belleville et al.did intervention to improve episodic memory in older people and the trained participants performed better than those w no training shows distinguishing the tween types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed

Answer 9

baddeley and hitch (1974) a representation of STM, suggests that it is a dynamic process of different types of information using subunits coordinated by a central decision making system central executive phonological loop Visio-spatial sketchpad episodic buffer

Answer 10

has a ‘supervisory’ role monitors incoming data and allocates subsystems to tasks Limited capacity, does not store information

Answer 11

deals with auditory information (coding is acoustic) and preserves the order in which info arrives subdivided into phonological store which stores the words that you hear articulatory process which allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating words to keep them in working memory while they are needed) the capacity of the loop is 2 secs worth of what you can say

Answer 12

stores visual and/or spatial info when required has a limited capacity which is about 3/4 objects subdivided into visual cache: stores visual data inner scribe: records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

Answer 13

addded in the model by baddeley in 2000 temporary store for info, integrating the visual, spatial and verbal info process by other stores and maintaining a sense of time sequencing seen as storage component of CE and has a limited capacity of 4 chunks

Answer 14

support from shallice and warrington (1970) suggests the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores KF poor STM ability for audio Ty info but processed visual info normal PL was damaged but VSS was still intact

Answer 15

supports separate existence of the VSS Baddeley carried out test: pots carried out both visual tasks the performance declined substantially as both tasks were competing for the same subsystem whereas there is no competition with a verbal and visual task together shows VSS is a separate subsystem

Answer 16

lack of clarity over the nature of the CE Baddeley said it is the most important but least understood component it needs to be more clearly specified and this challenges the integrity of the WMM Can be used as evidence to explain universal results for an experiment making the results not valid as it it not known how the CE truly functions

Answer 17

proactive interference retroactive interference

Answer 18

occurs when older memory interferes with a newer one e.g teacher has learned so many names in the past they have difficulty remembering names of their current class

Answer 19

when a newer memory interferes with an older one e.g teacher has learned so many new names this year, they forget the names of their old class

Answer 20

changed the amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials, pot had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember hem with 100% accuracy, then learned a new list (6 groups learned a diff type of new lists group 1: synonyms group 2: antonyms group 3: words unrelated to the original ones group 4: consonant syllable group 5: 3 digit numbers group 6: no new list, ppts just rested (control)

Answer 21

when the ppts were asked to recall the original list of words, the most similar material (synonyms) produced the worst recall showing that interference is strongest when the memories are similar could be due to PI, where the new similar information is hard to store or due to RI, new info overwrites previous similar memories

Answer 22

evidence of interference in more everyday situation baddeley and hitch (1977) asked rugby players to recall names of opposing teams they played number of intervening games varied but players who played the most games had the poorest recall (most interference for memory) shows interference can operate in at least some real world situations, increasing validity of the theory

Answer 23

it is unusual that interference may cause forgetting in everyday situations as conditions necessary for I to occur is rare in lab studies researcher can create ideal conditions for interference but in real life 2 memories have to be similar to interfere with each other (not often) shows most forgetting may be better explained by other theories e.g retrieval failure due to lack of cues

Answer 24

tulving and psotka (1971) gave ppts lists of words organised into categories, one list at a time (not told what categories were) recall averaged 70% but became worse as ppts learned an additional list at end, ppts were given a cued recall test where they were told the names of the categories and recall rose agin to 70% shows that interference caused a temporary loss of accessibility to material that is still in LTM, a finding not predicted by interference theory

Answer 25

retrograde facilitation: coenen and luijitelaar (1997) gave ppts a list of words and asked them to recall the list assuming the intervening experiences would act as interference but they found that when the words were learned under the influence of a drug diazepam, recall a week later was poor (compared with a placebo control group) when the list was learned before the drug was taken, a week later recall improved this suggests the drug prevents new information reaching part of the brain involved in processing memories so it cannot interfere retroactively with info already stored shows forgetting can be due to interference - reduce interference and forgetting is reduced as well

Answer 26

a form of forgetting where it occurs when we don't have the necessary cues to access memory

Answer 27

a cue has to be both present at encoding (when we learn material) present at retrieval (when recalled) there will be some forgetting

Answer 28

recall depends on external cue (weather or place)

Answer 29

recall depends on internal cue (feeling drunk/upset)

Answer 30

Godden and baddeley (1975) studied deep-sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land hindered or helped their work underwater learned a list of words under one of 4 conditions learn on land - recall on land learn on land - recall underwater learn underwater - recall underwater learn underwater - recall on land

Answer 31

accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions, concluding that the external cues available at learning were different from the ones available at recall which led to retrieval failure

Answer 32

carter and cassaday (1998) gave antihistamine drug to their ppts which had a mild sedative effect making the ppts slightly drowsy (created an internal physiological state different from the normal state of being awake and alert learnt a list of words under one of 4 conditions learn on drug - recall off drug learn on drug - recall on drug learn off drug - recall off drug learn off drug - recall on drug

Answer 33

in the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on memory test was significantly worse when cues are absent then tere is more forgetting

Answer 34

Baddeley suggests that when we have trouble remembering something, it is worth making the effort to recall the environment that we learned it in first (e.g forgetting why u went to a different room and when u go back to the first room, u remember) shows how research can remind us of strategies we use in real world to improve our recall

Answer 35

Godden + Baddeley, Carter + Cassaday studies show that a lack of relevant cues at recall can lead to context-dependent and state-dependent forgetting in everyday life Eysenk and Keane (2010) argue that retrieval failure is the main reason for forgetting from LTM evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in real world situations as well as highly controlled conditions of the lab

Answer 36

Baddeley (1997) argues that context effects are no that strong as different contexts have to be very different before an effect is seen. (hard to find an environment as different as land and underwater, in contrast = learning smth in one room and recalling it in another will not lead to much forgetting as the environments are not different enough) meaning retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cues may not actually explain much everyday forgetting

Answer 37

Godden + Baddeley (1980) replicated teir underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of recall when recognition was tested there was no contxext dependent effect so performance was the same in all conditions this suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting because it only applies when a person has to recall info rather than recognise it

Answer 38

the ability of people to remember the details of events which they themselves have observed

Answer 39

incorrect info given to an eyewitness usually after the event can take many forms e.g leading questions/ post-event discussion

Answer 40

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 thats where the knife was

Answer 41

loftus and palmer (1974) 45 participants (students) in 5 groups Participants were asked to watch film clips of car accidents and then they were asked questions about the accident that they had seen In the ‘critical questions’ (a leading question or a misleading question),the participants were asked to describe how fast the cars were travelling Each group was given a different verb in the question (eg hit, contacted, bumped, collided and smashed)

Answer 42

The mean estimated speed was calculated for each participant group When the verb ‘contacted’ was used the speed that they estimated was 31.8 mph, however when the verb ‘smashed’ was used, the mean was 40.5 mph shows the leading question biased the eyewitness's recall of an event

Answer 43

The response-bias explanation suggests that the wording of the question has no real effect on the participants’ memories. With words such as ‘smash’,it encouraged the participants to say that the collision was at a faster speed. loftus and palmer (1974) Conducted a second experiment, Supported the ‘substitution explanation’- suggests that the wording of the leading question changes the participants memory of the clip The ‘critical verb’ altered their memory of the crash

Answer 44

occurs when there is more than one witness to an event, where they discuss what they have seen with each other which may influence the accuracy of each witness's recall of the event

Answer 45

Fiona Gabbert et al. (2003) studied participants in pairs, where each watched a video of the same crime but filmed from different POV’s. This meant that each participant could see elements in the event that the other could not E.g only one participant could see the title of the book a women was carrying Both participants then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall

Answer 46

71% of participants mistakenly recalled elements of the video that they did not see in the video but had picked up in discussion. The corresponding figure in a control group, where there was no discussion, was 0% —> evidence of memory conformity

Answer 47

- memory contamination: When co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other, the eyewitness testimonies may become altered or distorted . This is because they combine (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories. - memory conformity: Gabbert et al. concluded 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. Unlike memory contamination, the actual memory is unchanged.

Answer 48

As the consequences of inaccurate EWT can be serious, loftus (1975) believes that leading questions have such a distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be careful on how their questions are phrased psychologists sometimes are asked to act as expert witness in court trails and explain the limits of EWT to juries 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

Answer 49

practical applications may be affected by issues with research e.g loftus and palmer ppts watched film clips in a lab, different from witnessing real events (less stressful) Rachel foster et al. point out that what eyewitnesses remember has important consequences in the real world, but ppts responses in research do not matter the same way ( so research ppts are less motivated to be accurate) suggests that researches such as loftus are too pessimistic about the effects of misleading information and EWT may be more dependable than studies suggest

Answer 50

Sutherland and Hayne (2011) showed ppts a video clip and when ppts were later asked misleading questions, their recall was more accurate for central details of the event than for peripheral ones (their attention was focused on central features of the event and these memories were relatively resistant to misleading information) suggests that original memories for central details survived and were not distorted, an outcome that is not predicted by the substitution explanation

Answer 51

skagerberg and wright (2008) showed their ppts film clips (2 versions: e.g a mugger's hair was dark brown in one but light brown in the other) ppts discussed the clips in pairs, each seeing diff versions, they often did not report what they had seen but a blend of the two (e.g common answer was medium brown, not light or dark) suggests that the memory itself is distorted through contamination by misleading post-event discussion rather than a result of memory conformity

Answer 52

a state of emotional and physical arousal emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension physical changes = increased heart rate and sweatiness

Answer 53

johnson and scott (1976) did research on how the presence of weapon creates anxiety and this leads to a focus o the weapon, reducing a witness's recall for other details in the event

Answer 54

Johnson and scott's (1976) ppts believed they were participating in a lab study ppts in a waiting room in the low anxiety condition: saw a man walk past with grease on his hands carrying a pen in the high anxiety condition: overheard a heated argument, the sound of glass breaking and saw a man holding a knife covered in blood

Answer 55

ppts later picked out the man from a set of 50 photos 49% who saw the man carrying the pen were able to identify him, whereas only 33% saw the man with the bloody knife the tunnel theory of memory argues that people have enhanced memory for central events and weapon focus as a result of anxiety can have this effect

Answer 56

anxiety triggers the fight/flight response, increasing alertness and may improve memory yuille and cutshall (1986) conducted a study of an actual shooting in a gun shop in vancouver canada where he owner shot a thief dead 13/21 witnesses took part and were interviewed 4-5 months later and compared to original police intervews at the time accuracy was determined by how many details were recalled and also were asked to rate how stressed they were on a 7 point scale

Answer 57

witnesses were v accurate although some details were less accurate such as recollection of colour items and age/height/weight estimates the ppts that ere the most stressed were most accurate (88% compared t less stressed 75%) suggests that anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on the accuracy of EWT

Answer 58

yerkes-dodson law (inverted U) when witnessing a crime, we experince anxiety (emotional) and fight/flight response lower levels of A = lower levels of recall accuracy, the memory becomes mor accurate as level of A increases but there is an optimum level of A, where if a person experiences more arousal/anxiety, recall declines

Answer 59

reason why ppts may have been focused on the weapon was because of UNUSUALNESS as they were surprised and not scared pickel (1998) conducted an experiment using scissors, handgun, wallet, raw chicken in a hairdressing salon (scissors = high anxiety low unusualness) eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in high unusualness suggesting weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/threat

Answer 60

valentine and mesout (2009) supports the research on weapon focus researchers used heart rate (objective measure) to divide ppts into high anxiety and low anxiety groups in this study anxiety disrupted the ppts' ability to recall details about the actor in the london dungeon labyrinth (17% of high anxiety group identified correctly, 75% correct identification by the low anxiety group) suggests high level of anxiety does have an negative effect on the immediate EW recall of a stressful event

Answer 61

christianson and hubinette interviewed 58 witnesses to actual bank robberies in sweden some witnesses were directly involved (bank workers) others were indirectly (bystanders) it was assumed that those directly involved would experience the most anxiety but recall was more than 75% accurate across all witnesses, direct victims, most anxious, were more accurate findings form actual crimes confirm that anxiety does not reduce the accuracy of recall from eyewitnesses and may even enhance it

Answer 62

a method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories 1. REPORT EVERYTHING witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail as it may be important and trigger other memories 2. REINSTATE THE CONTEXT witness should return to the original crime scene in their mind and imagine the environment and their emotions (related to context-dependent forgetting) 3. REVERSE THE ORDER events should be recalled in a different order, which is done t prevent the report their expectations of how the event must have happened and prevents dishonesty 4. CHANGE PERSPECTIVE witnesses should recall the incident from another perspective, done to disrupt the effect of expectations and the effect of schema (generates the expectations of what would have happened and is recalled instead of actual events)

Answer 63

fisher et al. developed additional elements: interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact and when to relinquish it includes: minimising distractions, getting witness to speak slowly, asking open-ended questions

Answer 64

meta-analysis done by köhnken et al. (1999) combined data from 55 studies comparing the CI with the standard police interview CI gave 41% increase in accurate info compared w the standard shows that the CI is an effective technique in helping witnesses to recall info that is stored in memory but not immediately accessible

Answer 65

köhnken et al. found an increase in the amount of inaccurate info recalled by ppts cognitive interview may sacrifice quality of EWT (accuracy) in favour of quantity (amount of details) means police officers should treat eyewitnesses evidence from CI

Answer 66

Milne and Bull (2002) found that each of the 4 techniques alone produced more info than the standard interview found that a combination of REPORT EVERYTHING and REINSTATE THE CONTEXT produced better recall confirmed police officers' suspicions that some aspects of the CI are more useful than others casts some doubt on the credibility of the overall CI

Answer 67

police officers may be reluctant as it takes more time and training this suggests that the complete CI is not a realistic method and it is better to focus on just a few key elements