Memory Flashcards
Gabbert et al 2003
Participants were shown the same crime from different perspectives and then discussed what they saw
71% recalled aspects they hadn’t seen
60% said the girl was guilty even though they hadn’t seen her commit a crime
There was 0% false recall in the control group
This shows that memories are easily influenced by post event discussion
They explained this as memory conformity
But these results do not reflect everyday examples of crime
Misleading information
Can lead you to give a particular response instead of an accurate one
What are the two types of misleading information?
Leading questions - suggest a desired answer
Post event discussion - can influence memory
Schemas
Memory is reconstructive meaning the original perception of an event is retrieved through schemas (mental framework)
Memories can be altered during pot event discussion
The memory process is easily corrupted and contaminated
Godden and Baddeley 1975
18 deep sea divers learnt a list of unrelated words on land and underwater and were then tested on land and underwater
Recall was most accurate when the context at recall matched that at acquisition
Recall was 40% lower in the 2 non matching conditions
Strengths of retrieval failure
Lots of evidence to support it
Controlled lab studies have high internal validity
Field studies have high external validity
Findings are consistent therefore reliable
Real world applications (reminiscence therapy is used to treat dementia)
Smith 1979 - mental reinstatement (recalling in the same room)
Baddeley and Hitch 1977
Rugby players were questioned on the names of teams they had played that season
Those who played regularly forgot proportionally more names than those who missed games due to injury or suspension
This supports retroactive interference
High mundane realism and ecological validity
Less control (individual differences between players)
Schmidt et al 2000
700 former Dutch students were randomly selected and asked to recall as many of the local street names as they could and the number of times they had moved was recorded
The more times they had moved the fewer street names they remembered
This supports retroactive interference as the new information disrupts the old
McGreoch and McDonald 1931
Participants learned a list of 10 words by heart and were then split into 6 groups and were asked to learn a new second list the recall the original list
Participants in group 1 who learnt similar words had the worst recall and those in group 5 had the best aside from the control group
This supports retroactive interference and presents that the effect is strongest for familiar material
Weaknesses of retrieval failure
Difficult to test scientifically
Nairne 2002 - relationship between cues and retrieval cannot be proven
Smith and vela 2001 - when learning meaningful material the effects of cues are significantly reduced
Application to all learning may be limited
Goodwin et al 1969
Participants learnt words while sober and drunk and recall accuracy was recorded
The state we learnt in is the best state to recall in
This supports context dependent forgetting
Abernethy 1940
Students were taught as usual but one group in the teaching room and one in the hall
The group tested in the same room recalled better and this affected the ‘weaker’ students more
What is context dependent forgetting?
When we forget due to the absence of environmental cues such as location
Tulving and Pearlstone 1966
Asked participants to learn words from different categories, when asked to recall those who were given category names recalled better
What is mood state dependent memory?
Current mood state is stored in the memory trace and recall is better when the mood is the same at retrieval
Tulving and Pearlstone
What are external cues?
Based on context - the setting or situation the information was learnt
Context also includes information presented, whether the words are printed, spoken or sung
Retrieval is more likely when the context at encoding matches the context at retrieval
What is retrieval failure?
The information is in the LTM but cannot be accessed because the retrieval cues are not present
These can be external (smell or place) or internal (emotions)
The encoding specificity principle
Forgetting is an accessibility issue rather than an availability issue
Tulving (1973-1983): cues aid retrieval if they were present at acquisition, the more similarity between cues the more likely recall is
What are cues?
Cues are triggers for information that are encoded at learning
Activating the memory of the cue helps activate the memory
Underwood 1975
Participants were given successively more words to recall each after 24hrs and percentage accuracy was recorded
Accuracy decreased with the more lists they got
This supports proactive interference (old disrupts new)
Lab study - high control but low ecological validity
Artificial task - lacks ecological validity
What is interference?
An explanation for forgetting LTMs which states that forgetting occurs because memories interfere with one another
The more similar the information the greater likelihood of interference effects occurring due to competition
What is interference theory?
Forgetting occurs when one memory disrupts or blocks another causing one or both memories to become distorted or forgotten
Proactive interference
Occurs when you cannot learn a new task because of an old task that has been learnt
(Old disrupts new)
Retroactive interference
You forget a previously learnt task due to the learning of a new task
(New disrupts old)
What is displacement?
Forgetting through the removal or replacement of a memory trace due to the limited capacity
What is decay?
Forgetting due to the deterioration of a memory trace over time
A/A* evaluation of the WMM
Braver et al (1997) gave logic and reasoning tasks while brain scanning
They found that the left pre frontal cortex was highly active, more so the harder the task
When completing visual tasks the right side of the occipital lobe was active
Weaknesses of the WMM
The central executive is limited and lacks credibility, we don’t know how it works or what it does
Not a comprehensive model, doesn’t include SM or LTM
Doesn’t explain changes in processing that happen over time as a result of rehearsal
Strengths of the WMM
Supported by dual task study, brain scanning evidence and case studies (CW and KF)
Applies to real life tasks
Reading - phonological loop
Problem solving - central executive
Navigation - visual and spatial processing
Shows that there are separate STM components for visual and verbal information
Episodic buffer 2000
Baddeley added the episodic buffer in 2000 after the model failed to account for some results
It was added to act as a backup store and communicates with both of the other components
What is the phonological loop?
A temporary store of auditory information
Deals with spoken and written materials
Phonological store - inner ear, holds information in a speech based form
Articulatory processor - inner voice, processes speech production and rehearses info from the phonological store
Can hold 2 seconds of speech
What is the visuospatial sketchpad?
Temporary store of visual and spatial information and processes in that form
Limited duration and capacity (4 items)
Visual cache - visual data
Inner scribe - spatial arrangement
What is the episodic buffer?
Integrates all forms of information and maintains sequencing
Limited to 4 chunks
What is the central executive?
The director of attention and decision maker
Has a small capacity
Working memory model Baddeley and Hitch 1974
ABC-121314
Participants recalled stimuli before they enter the STM disproving the MSM
Features of the levels of processing theory
It is non structured
Memory is a by product of depth of processing
Levels of processing theory
Crack and Lockhart 1972
Flashbulb memory
Brown and Kulik 1977
Exceptionally vivid memories
Usually of important events with emotional significance
Resistant to forgetting over time
Henry Molaison (HM)
He suffered damage to his LTM but his STM was intact but he cannot recall the doctors he has been seeing for years
He was taught mirror drawing showing he still has procedural memory
Clive Wearing (CW)
He suffered damage to his LTM meaning he couldn’t form new LTMs
His STM is very short
He still has his procedural LTM and can play piano
Asch trait study
When given two lists of the same characteristics participants chose the list with better characteristics at the top
Serial position effect
Glazner and Cuntiz showed that when presented with a list of words participants remember the first few and the last few
This supports the idea of separate memory stores
The first few go into the LTM - primary effect
The last few go into the STM - recency effect
The multi store model
Bahrick’s research - findings
Long term memory model
Loftus and Palmer 1974 - variation
150 American students were shown a 1 minute film of a traffic accident and were then questioned (question was the IV)
50 asked how fast was the car going when they hit
50 asked how fast was the car going when they smashed
50 not asked any questions
One week they were asked if there was any broken glass (there was not)
Participants who were asked how fast the cars were going when they smashed were more likely to say yes to broken glass
This suggests the effect is not just due to response bias because the leading questions alter the memory
Deffenbacher 1983
The evidence is inconsistent, to a point high anxiety has a positive effect on memory but it can also have a negative effect. This led to Deffenbacher arguing that the best way to show this is a curve called Yerkes and Dodson Law, moderate anxiety is good for memory but very low or extreme anxiety reduces performance
Catastrophe model
At high cognitive anxiety there is a catastrophic drop off in performance
Individual differences also mean that it is difficult to achieve a general theory since personality differs so much between individuals
