Memory Flashcards

Question

What is retrieval failure ?

Answer 1

This is where there is a lack of cues so you are unable to access memories

Answer 2

The encoding specificity principal suggests that cues help retrrieval if the same ones are present at encoding and retrieval otherwise forgetting can occur The links may need to be meaningful

Answer 3

State - recall depends on internal cue (feeling upset/drunk) Context - recall depends on external cue (weather/place)

Answer 4

1. sea divers were asked to learn word list and recall - learn on land - recall on land - learn on land - recall underwater (vice versa) - learn underwater - recall underwater Accuracy was 40% lower in mismatched contexts because of absence of encoded context

Answer 5

1. ppts learned word lists and had to recall - learn on drug - recall on drug - learn when on no drug - recall on no drug - learn on drug - recall when not on drug (vive versa) Recall worse when contexts different as there is mismatched cues

Answer 6

STRENGTH : Real world application - people go in one room and forget what they want but remember when they go back to original room - make the effort to recall the environment in which you learned it first - strategies we can use to improve recall STRENGTH : impressive range of supporting evidence - both dependent experiments show the lack of cues at recall lead to everyday forgetting - Eysenck and Keane argue that retrieval failure is the main reason for forgetting in ltm - evidence suggests rf occurs everyday even in labs LIMITATION : context effects vary in recall and recognition - Godden replicated underwater experiment using recognition instead of recall - No contexct dependent effect, findings were the same whether contexts for learning and recall matched or not - Suggest rf is a limited explanation as only applies when a person has to recall rather than recognise

Answer 7

This is where a questions phrasing can suggest a certain answer

Answer 8

1. 45 students watched film clipsof car accidents and answered questions about speed ' how fast were the cars going when they HIT eachother' 2. 5 groups of ppts were given a different verb eg hit, contact, bumped, collided, smashed 3. Contacted produced a mean spead of 31.8 but smashed priduced a speed of 40.5

Answer 9

1. Response Bias explanation : wording of a question has no effect on ewt memory but influences answer given 2. Substitute explanation : Wording interferes with original memory distorting accuracy

Answer 10

Witnessed discuss what they have experienced which could affect accuracy of recall

Answer 11

1. Paired ppts watched a video of the same crime but filmed so one could see something the other could not 2. Both ppts discussed what they had seen before completing a test of recall 3. 71% wrongly recalled aspects of event they did not see but heard Evidence of memory conformity

Answer 12

Memory contamination : When co witnesses discuss a crime they mix information from other witnesses with their own memories Memory conformity : Witnesses go along with eachother to win social approval

Answer 13

STRENGTH : Real world application in Justice system - Consequences of innacurate ewt as witnesses could distort memory - psychologists are expert witnesses in trials to explain limits of ewt - prevent faulty conviction HOWEVER - Loftus and palmer showed film clips so there is less stress so reserachers may be too pessimistic LIMITATION : Substituion explanation has evidence challenging it - Sutherland found ppts recalled central details better than peripheral even when asked misleading questions - Attention focuses in central features and resistant to misleading info - Original memory survived LIMITATION : Evidence does not support memory conformity - Skagerberg ppts discussed film clips of mugger ( one version had dark brown other had light) - PPts recalled a blend from what they seen and heard rather than one or ther other - Memory distorted through contamination by post event and not result of memory conformity

Answer 14

Where attention is focused on the weapon leaving less attention for other details

Answer 15

1. Low anxiety condition - man walked with pen covered in grease 2. High anxiety condition - heated argument and sound of breaking glass and then a man walked through holding a knife covered in blood Ppts were later asked to pick the man from a set of 50 photographs 49% of ppts in low anxiety condition and 33% of high anxiety ppts were able to identify the man TUNNEL THEORY : enhanced memory for central events

Answer 16

1. A gun shop owner shot a thief dead 2. Ppts were interviewed 4-5 months after the incident and was compared to the police interviews at the time of the shooting 3. Witnesses rated how stressed they felt at the time of the incident 4. Witmesses were very accurate and little change after 5 months 5. Ppts who reported highest levels of stress were most accurate (88%compared to 75% for low stress)

Answer 17

1. Inverted u theory : Yerkes and Dodson argue that a relationship between performance and arousal is an inverted u (increase with stress to a certain point) This explains how both high and low levels of anxiety can produce poor recall but optimum levels lead to good recall

Answer 18

LIMITATION : Anxiety may not be relevant to weapon focus - Johnson and Scott ppts may have focused on the weapon due to being surprised - Pickel found accuracy in identifying the criminal was poorest when object in hand was unexpected - Weapon focus due to unusualness STRENGTH : Supporting evidence for (-ve effects) - Valentine and mesout used heart rate to divide visitors to London dungeona into low and highanxity groups -High anxirty were kess accurate in describing the target person - Anxirty has a (-ve) effect on immediate ewt STRENGTH : Supporting evidence for (+ve) effects - Christianson interviewed wintnesses to bank robberies, the direct witnesses were high anxiety and bystanders low - 75% more accurate across akk - anxiety can enhance

Answer 19

This is how to improve EWT 1. Report everything : Every detail to trigger memories 2. Reinstate the context : Returns to crime scene in their mind to imagine environment and emotions 3. Reverse the order : Recalled in different order to stop basing it off expectations and prevent dishonesty 4. Change perspective : Recall from other views to prevent influence of expectations and scheme on recall

Answer 20

Focus on social dynamics - eye contact - minimise distractions - speak slower - open ended questions

Answer 21

strength : reserach support - meta analysis combined data comparing ci and eco - ci produced 41%C more than standard interview - ci effective in helping witnesses recall information however - increase in amount of inaccurate information esp in eco - need to be careful about how they treat ewt evidence limitation : some elements of ci more effective than others - milne and bull found each individual technique of ci alone produced more info than standard police interview - found that combining report and reinstante produced bettwe recall - casts doubt on credibility of overall CI limitation : ci is time consuming - more time than standard - special traning - not realistic