memory Flashcards

Question

What is meant by retroactive interference?

Answer 1

current attempts to learn something interfere with past learning e.g. learning a new number and then forgetting your old number

Answer 2

-Lab experiments to come up with the theory use artificial material (list of words) that are unlike real life - unlikely we remember word lists in daily life -limitation because the use of artificial material makes interference much more likely in the lab, so may have low ecological validity as we do not know how far this explanation can be generalised for real life situations -Lots of research has been conducted into interference in memory so there is lots of evidence -most of these lab experiments show that interference is likely to be a very common way we forget info in LTM -this is a strength as lab experiments have high control over extraneous variables, meaning they can test cause + effect - means highly valid results -

Answer 3

Occurs when we don't have the necessary cues to access memory. The memory is available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided cue - a 'trigger' of information that allows us to access a memory. Such cues ma be meaningful or may be indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning. For example, cues may be external - context dependent (environmental context), or internal - state dependent (mood)

Answer 4

External cues - Godden & Baddeley - divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then asked to recall the words either underwater or on land. These were the 4 conditions -Learn on land > recall on land -Learn on land > recall underwater -Learn underwater > recall on land -Learn underwater > recall underwater Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions. The external cues were different from those at recall and this led to retrieval failure Internal cues - Carter & Cassaday -Gave anti-histamine drugs to pps. This created an internal physiological state different from the 'normal' state of being awake and alert. Pps had to learn lists of words and then recall the info, again creating 4 conditions -Learn on drug and recall on it - Learn on it and recall not on it - Learn not on drug - recall on it - Learn not on drug and recall not on it Memory was significantly worse where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall. So when cues are absent, then there is more forgetting

Answer 5

Baddeley argues that context effects are actually not very strong, especially in real life. The contexts must be very different for an effect to occur, like land and underwater. This is a limitation because real-life application of retrieval failure due to contextual cues don't actually explain much forgetting.

Answer 6

Misleading information - incorrect info given to the eyewitness usually after the event. usually in the forms of leading questions and post-event discussion can affect how accurate the eyewitness recalls the event Leading questions- a question which because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer e.g. 'Was their a knife in the accused left hand?' suggests the answer is yes Post-event discussion - occurs when there is more than 1 witness to the event. Witnesses may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses, which may influence the accuracy of each witnesses' recall of the event

Answer 7

Loftus & Palmer 45 students shown 7 clips of road traffic accidents. After watching each clip, pps had to write an account on what they had just seen and to answer questions about the accident. The critical question was "About how fast were the cars going when they ' ' eachother?" 5 conditions to this question, pps only assigned 1 each. The blank space varied between 5 verbs (contacted, bumped, hit, collided, smashed) Findings: Contacted - 31.8 mph Bumped - 34 mph Hit - 38.1 mph Collided - 39.3 mph Smashed - 40.8 mph This shows the way questions are worded can significantly affect recall of events in witnesses.

Answer 8

Response-bias explanation: -suggests the wording of the question has no real effect on pps memories, but influences how they decide to answer. When a pp gets a leading question using the word 'smashed', this encourages them to choose a higher speed estimate Substitute explanation: -Loftus & Palmer conducted a second experiment that supports this explanation. The wording of a question actually changes the pps memory of the clip. Demonstrated because pps who heard 'smashed' later were more likely to report seeing broken glass (there was none) than those who heard 'hit'. The verb altered their memory of the incident

Answer 9

Watching clips are car accidents is artificial - lacks the stress + anxiety of actually witnessing the crash. Low ecological validity - may not be able to be generalised to real life crimes as the results may not be valid PPs may show social desirability as they do not want to let down the researchers - influenced by demand characteristics - results may lack validity and therefore may not be able to be applied to real life situations

Answer 10

Gabbert et al When post-event discussion occurs, memories may become contaminated by the other witnesses information and become combined. In pairs, each pp watched a video of the same crime, but filmed from a different pov. Each pp could see elements of the event that the other could not. Both pps then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a recall test Found 71% of pps mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but picked up from the discussion 0% of pps mistakenly recalled the event in the control group, where a discussion did not take place. Concluded that witnesses often go along with eachother to win either social approval or because they believe the other witness to be correct and themselves wrong. Links to Asch's study and normative/informational social influence

Answer 11

A strength of the research is that it has practical uses in the real world, where there are real consequences of inaccurate EWT Loftus believes leading questions in particular have a distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be aware of when phrasing questions to witnesses. This research can make a positive difference to peoples lives, improving the legal system. Evidence that older ppl are less accurate than younger people when giving EWT Anastasi & Rhodes found people aged 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate than those aged 55-78. However, all groups were more accurate when identifying people their own age

Answer 12

A state of emotional and physical arousal. The emotions include having worried thoughts and feeling tense. Physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweatiness. It is a normal reaction to stressful situations, but can affect the accuracy and detail of EWT.

Answer 13

Johnson & Scott Anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us from paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse. PPs believed they were going to take part in a lab study. While seated in a waited room, pps heard an argument in the next room Low anxiety condition- a man walked through the waiting area, carrying a pen with grease on his hands High anxiety condition - also heard breaking glass. A man walked through with a paper knife covered in blood The pps later picked out the man from a set of 50 photos 49% of pps in low anxiety condition could identify him 33% of pps in high anxiety condition could identify him The tunnel theory of memory suggests a witness' attention narrows to focus on a weapon, because it is a source of anxiety

Answer 14

The fight-or-flight response is triggered which increases our alertness and improves our memory for the event because we become more aware of cues Study conducted on a real life shooting in a gun shop in Canada. The shop owner shot a thief dead. Of the 21 witnesses, 13 agreed to take part in the study. Interviews were held 4-5 months after the incident and these were compared with the original police interviews made at the time of the shooting. Accuracy was determined by the number of details reported in each account. Witnesses asked to rate how stressed they felt during the incident on a 7-point scale, and if they had any problems since the event such as sleeplessness Found witnesses were very accurate and there was little changes in accuracy after 5 months. Those who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate highest stress levels - 88% accurate lowest stress levels - 75% accurate

Answer 15

Pickel proposed that reduced accuracy of identification due to the weapon focus effect may be due to surprise rather than anxiety. Arranged for pps to watch a thief in a salon carrying scissors (high threat, low surprise), gun (high threat, high surprise), wallet (low threat, low surprise), and a raw chicken (low threat, high surprise). Identification was least accurate in high surprise conditions rather than high threat - supports the view that weapon focus is related to surprise rather than anxiety Ethical issues as pps are being placed into stressful situations, causing them anxiety without their full consent.

Answer 16

a method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories. It uses four main techniques.

Answer 17

1. Report everything - encouraged to include every single detail even if it seems insignificant or the witness is not confident on it, as this can help trigger other important details 2. Context Reinstatement - witness should return to the scene in the mind and imagine their environment and emotions at the time (links to context-dependent forgetting) 3. Recall in reverse order - events are recalled in a different order to how they happened. Stops people from reporting expectations of how the event should happen, more likely to be accurate recall of events rather than a pre-scripted story - improves validity of recall 4. Recall from a changed perspective - witnesses should recall the incident from other people's perspectives. done to disrupt the effect of expectations and schema on recall

Answer 18

Developed version of the CI to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction. The interviewer is specially trained to know exactly when to give eye contact and when to stop it. The enhances CI also includes ideas such as reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, and asking open-ended questions

Answer 19

Time-consuming - takes longer than standard police interviews. must establish a relationship so witness feels comfortable. requires officers to be trained - expensive Milne + Bull believe each CI element is crucial = does lead to discovery of new information however, a combination of 'Recall everything' and 'Context reinstatement' produced better recall than any other condition These findings are a strength as even if full CI is not used, using some elements of CI can help to improve recall