Memory

Question 1

What is meant by “duration” ?

Answer 1

Duration is the length of time information can be held in memory.

Question 2

What is meant by “coding” ?

Answer 2

The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores.

Question 3

What is meant by “capacity” ?

Answer 3

The amount of information that can be held in a memory store.

Question 4

What is the short-term memory?

Answer 4

• The limited-capacity memory store.
• Coding is mainly in acoustic
• Capacity: 7 (+/-2 items)
• Duration: 18 seconds

Question 5

What is long-term memory?

Answer 5

• The permanent memory store
• Coding: semantic.
• Capacity: unlimited.
• Duration: up to a lifetime.

Question 6

Who conducted research on coding?

Answer 6

Baddeley (1966)

Question 7

Who researched capacity?

Answer 7

• Joseph Jacobs (STM)
• George Miller (STM)

Question 8

Who researched duration?

Answer 8

• Peterson & Peterson (STM)
• Bahrick et al. (LTM)

Question 9

Outline research on coding.

Answer 9

Baddeley gave a list of words to four groups of participants to remember.

• 1: Acoustically similar
• 2: Acoustically dissimilar
• 3: Semantically similar
• 4: Semantically dissimilar

Participants were shown the original words and asked to recall them in the correct order.
When they did this task immediately, recalling from STM, they tended to do worse with acoustically similar words.
When they recalled this after a time interval of 20 mins, recalling from LTM, they did worse with the semantically similar words.

This information suggests that information is coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM.

Question 10

Outline research on capacity.

Answer 10

Digit span:
Joseph Jacobs measured digit span.
The researcher reads out four digits and the participant recalls these out loud in the correct order. If this is correct, the researcher reads out five digits and so forth until the participant makes a mistake. This indicates the digit span.
Jacob found that the mean span for digits across all participants was 9.3 items.
The mean span for letters was 7.3

Chunking:
George Miller noted that things come in sevens based on every day observation.
From this, Miller believed that the span (the capacity) of STM was about 7 items, plus or minus 2 (+/-2).
Millers observations also extended, noting that people can recall five words as easily as they can recall five letters.
We do this by chunking - grouping sets of digits or letters into units or chunks.

Question 11

What was the mean span for letters and numbers.

Answer 11

• Mean Digit span: 9.3
• Mean letter span: 7.3

Question 12

What did Miller believe was the span / capacity of STM?

Answer 12

7 (+ or - 2) items.

Question 13

Outline research into duration of STM.

Answer 13

Peterson and Peterson tested 24 students in 8 trials each.
On each trial the student was given a consonant syllable to remember.
They were also given a 3-digit number.
The student was required to count backwards from this number until they were told to stop. The counting backwards was to prevent any mental rehearsal of the consonant syllable (which would increase the duration of STM memory).
On each trial they were told to stop after varying periods of time:
3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds (the retention interval).
The findings outlined:

• After 3 seconds: average recall was around 80%
• After 18 seconds: average recall was around 3%

These findings suggest that STM duration may be about 18 seconds, unless we repeat the information over and over.

Question 14

In Bahrick’s study, what was the percentage of recall in photo recognition after:
- 15 years
- 48 years

Answer 14

• 15 years: 90% accurate
• 48 years: 70% accurate

Question 14

Outline research into duration of LTM.

Answer 14

Bahrick et al. studied 396 American participants aged between 17-74.
High school yearbooks were obtained from the participants or directly from their schools.
Recall was tested in various ways:

• Photo recognition tests.
  These consisted of 50 photos, some from the participants high school yearbooks
• Free recall test.
  The participants were asked to recall all the names from their graduating class

Participants tested within 15 years of graduation were around 90% accurate in photo recognition. After 48 years, recall fell to about 70% for photo recognition.
Free recall was less accurate than recognition..
60% after 15 years that dropped to around 30% after 48 years.

This shows how LTM may last up to a lifetime for some material.

Question 15

In Bahrick’s study, what was the accuracy for free recall after:
- 15 years
- 48 years

Answer 15

• 15 years: 60%
• 48 years: 30%

Question 16

Evaluate Baddeley’s study on coding.

Answer 16

• Positive: Baddeley identified a clear difference between two memory stores.
  Baddeley had proved that STM uses mostly acoustic coding and LTM uses mostly semantic coding.
  This is salient as it has supported the understanding of the memory system, leading to the formation of the multi-store model.
• Negative: Use of artificial stimuli.
  Rather than meaningful material, Baddeley used artificial stimuli.
  For example, the word lists had no significant or personal meaning to the participants. This means that Baddeley’s research does not actually tell us about coding in different kinds of memory task, especially in real life.
  When processing more meaningful information, people are more likely to use semantic coding even for STM tasks.
  This suggests that Baddeley’s findings have limited application.

Question 17

Evaluate research on capacity.

Answer 17

• Positive: Jacobs study is valid.
  Jacobs study, despite being old and subject to lack of control, have been replicated. Considering the potential presence of confounding variables of distraction, Jacobs findings have been replicated in more modern and controlled studies.
  This suggests that Jacobs study is a valid test of digit span.
• Negative: Overestimation of STM capacity (Miller)
  Miller had based his claims on observation. Psychologists have reviewed other research and concluded that the capacity of STM may be closer to 4 (+/- 1) chunks.
  This suggests that the lower end of Millers estimate (5 items) is more appropriate than seven items.

Question 18

Evaluate research on duration.

Answer 18

• Positive: High external validity.
  Bahrick et al’s. study maintains high external validity.
  As researchers investigated meaningful memories, it allows a more realistic insight into the duration of LTM.
  When studies were on LTM were conducted with meaningless stimuli, recall rates were lower.
  This suggests that Bahrick et al’s. study reflects a more suitable and realistic estimate of the duration of LTM.
• Negative: Meaningless stimuli in STM study.
  The stimulus material in Peterson and Peterson’s experiment is artificial.
  The study is not completely irrelevant as we will try to remember fairly meaningless material such as phone numbers. Even so, recalling consonant syllables does not reflect most everyday memory activities where what we are trying to remember is meaningful.
  This means that this study lacks external validity.

Question 19

What is the sensory register in the multi-store model?

Answer 19

The memory stores for each of our five senses.
Examples of this are vision (iconic store) and hearing (echoic store).

Question 20

What are the three stores in the multi-store model?

Answer 20

• Sensory register
• STM
• LTM

(in order)

Question 21

What is the capacity of the sensory register?

Answer 21

Very high capacity:
There are millions of sensory neurons that are able to store data.

Question 22

What is the duration of the sensory register?

Answer 22

Less than half a second.

Question 23

What is the coding of the sensory register?

Answer 23

Coding in the sensory register is modality specific.

• The store coding for visual information is iconic memory
• The store coding acoustically is echoic memory.

Question 24

How does information pass from the sensory register to the STM?

Answer 24

Information only passes further if you pay attention to it.
(Attention is a key process)

Question 25

How is the STM coded?

Answer 25

Mainly acoustically.

Question 26

How long does the STM last?

Answer 26

Around 18 seconds, unless rehearsed.
This means that STM is more of a temporary store.

Question 27

What is maintenance rehearsal?

Answer 27

When we repeat (rehearse) material to ourselves over and over again.
We can keep information in our STMs as long as we rehearse it.
If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into LTM.

Question 28

How is the LTM coded?

Answer 28

Mostly semantically.

Question 29

What is the duration for the LTM?

Answer 29

Potentially up to a lifetime.

Question 30

What happens when we want to recall information from the LTM.

Answer 30

RETRIEVAL.
The LTM has to transfer the material back into the STM via a process known as retrieval.

Question 31

Evaluate the multi-store model (MSM).

Answer 31

• Research support.
  As studied earlier, Alan Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that are acoustically similar when we are using our STMs.
  When using our LTM, Baddeley found that we mix up semantically similar words
  This study shows clearly how STM and LTM are separate memory stores - confirming this part of the MSM.
• Potential for the existence of more than one STM store.
  This is proved by the case study of a client (KF) with amnesia.
  KF’s STM for digits was very poor when they were read out loud to him.
  When he read the digits to himself his recall was much better.
  This evidence suggests that the MSM is wrong in claiming that there is only one STM store that processes all types of information received from the sensory register.
• Elaborative rehearsal.
  Another limitation is that prolonged rehearsal is not needed for transfer to LTM.
  According to the MSM, what matters about rehearsal is the amount of it - the more something is rehearsed, the more likely it is to transfer into the LTM.
  The idea of elaborative rehearsal undermines this.
  Elaborative rehearsal is needed for long term storage.
  This occurs when you link information to your existing knowledge, or you think about what it means.
  This means that information can be transferred to LTM without prolonged rehearsal.
  This suggests that the MSM does not fully explain how long-term storage is achieved.
• Oversimplification of stores
  The MSM is based on research from the time that supported the LTM and STM being separated and independent from each other.
  There is research now that suggests that LTM and STM is more complex than a singular store. For example, current research suggests we have one LTM store for semantic memory (facts) and another for procedural (like riding a bike). This is combined with research for separate STM stores and more than one type of rehearsal, the MSM may be too simplistic to explain how memory works.

Question 32

What is elaborative rehearsal?

Answer 32

Where you link the information to existing knowledge, or think about the meaning of it.

Question 33

What is episodic memory?

Answer 33

A long term memory store for personal events.
These include memories of when the events occurred and the people, objects, locations and behaviors involved.
Memories of these have to be retrieved consciously and with effort.

Question 34

What is semantic memory?

Answer 34

A long term memory store for our knowledge and comprehension.
This includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean.
Like episodic memory, these need to be recalled deliberately.

Question 35

What is procedural memory?

Answer 35

A long term memory store for our knowledge of how to do things.
This includes our memories of learned skills.
These are hard to describe and we usually recall these memories without making a deliberate or conscious effort.

Question 36

What are the three types of LTM?

Answer 36

• Episodic memory
• Semantic memory
• Procedural memory

Question 37

What are features of episodic memory?

Answer 37

• They are complex (memories are interwoven to produce single one)
• They are time-stamped.
• They will contain several elements (people, place, objects etc..)
• You have to make a conscious and deliberate effort to recall these.
• More prone to being distorted and forgotten.

Question 38

What are features of semantic memory?

Answer 38

• They are NOT time stamped.
• Less personal and more about facts we share collectively.
• Is constantly being added to
• Less prone to distortion and forgetting

Question 39

What are features of procedural memory?

Answer 39

• We can recall these without conscious effort eventually
• It is hard to explain to someone else.

Question 40

Evaluate types of long term memory.

Answer 40

• Clinical evidence.
  Clive Wearing demonstrated how there are different types of LTM due to behaviors exhibited from his amnesia.
  Wearing’s episodic memory was heavily impaired by his amnesia, however, his semantic memory remained mainly unaffected.
  Clive maintained his procedural memory, still being able to read music, sing and play piano - despite this, he did not have the episodic ability to recall things that were said to him a short time before.
• Real-world application.
  Understanding different types of LTM allows psychologists to formulate treatments for those impacted by memory problems
  An example of this is how treatment was applied to the elderly.
  A psychologist devised an intervention to train episodic memory in older people.
  Those who underwent a training session performed better on a test of episodic memory compared to a control group who didn’t.
  This intervention demonstrates how distinguishing between different types of LTM can enable specific treatments to be developed.
• Studying those with brain injuries is not always effective.
  Clinical studies are not always perfect due to lack of control of variables.
  Brain injuries experienced by participants are usually unexpected meaning that the researcher had no insight into what their memory was like before for comparison purposes.
  Without this, it is difficult to measure how much worse memory is afterwards.
  This lack of control limits what clinical studies can show us about the different types of LTM.
• Conflicting neuroimaging evidence.
  There is conflicting evidence linking types of LTM to areas of the brain.
  When psychologists reviewed evidence regarding the location of semantic and episodic memory, they concluded that semantic memory is located in the left side of the prefrontal cortex and episodic is located on the right.
  However, other research links the left prefrontal cortex with encoding of episodic memories and the right side with episodic retrieval.
  Due to poor agreement of where each type may be located, this challenges evidence that supports types of memory.

Question 41

What is the working memory model and what does it suggest.

Answer 41

• The WMM is a presentation of the short term memory system.

It suggests that the STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using subunits coordinated by a central decision making system.

Question 42

What is the central executive?

Answer 42

The central executive (CE) is a component of the WMM that co-ordinates the activities of the three subsystems in memory.
It also allocates processing resources to those activities.

Question 43

What is the phonological loop?

Answer 43

The phonological loop (PL) is a component of the WMM that processes information in terms of sound.
This includes both written and spoken material.
It is divided into the articulatory processes and phonological store.

Question 44

What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 44

The visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS) is a component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial information in a mental space referred to as our inner eye.

Question 45

Who invented the working memory model?

Answer 45

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Question 46

What are the four main components of the WMM?

Answer 46

• Central executive
• Phonological loop
• Visuo-spatial sketchpad
• Episodic buffer.

Question 47

What is the episodic buffer?

Answer 47

The episodic buffer (EB) is a component of the WMM that brings together material from the other subsystems into a single memory.
It also provides a bridge between the working memory and LTM.

Question 48

What does the central executive do?

Answer 48

The CE monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocates subsystems to tasks.
The CE has a very limited processing capacity and does NOT store information.

Question 49

What does the phonological loop do?

Answer 49

The PL deals with auditory information (coding is acoustic) and preserves the order in which the information arrives.

Question 50

What is the PL subdivided into?

Answer 50

• The phonological store
  (Stores the words you hear)
• The articulatory processes.
  (Allows maintenance rehearsal, this is repeating the information in a ‘loop’ to keep them in the working memory until they are needed. The capacity of this loop is believed to be two seconds’ worth of what you can say).

Question 51

What does the visuo-spatial sketchpad do?

Answer 51

The VS stores visual and spatial information when required.
It has a limited capacity, estimated to be around 3-4 objects.

Question 52

What is the VSS divided into?

Answer 52

• The visual cache
  (Stores visual data)
• The inner scribe
  (records the arrangement of objects in the physical field)

Question 53

What does the episodic buffer do?

Answer 53

• The EB is a temporary store for information, integrating the visual, spatial, and verbal information processed by other stores.
• It maintains a sense of time sequencing - recording events (episodes) that are happening.
• It links the working memory to LTM and wider cognitive processes such as perception.

Question 54

What is the capacity of the episodic buffer?

Answer 54

About 4 chunks.

Question 55

Evaluate the working memory model.

Answer 55

• Clinical evidence.
  Studies surrounding KF, a patient who experienced a brain injury, supports the existence of the working memory model.
  KF had a poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally.
  His immediate recall of letters and digits was better when they he read them as opposed to when they were read to him.
  This implies that KF’s phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was still intact.
  This finding strongly supports the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores.
• Limitations of clinical evidence.
  It is unclear whether KF had any other cognitive impairments, apart from damage to his phonological loop, that may have impacted his performance on the memory test. His injury was caused by a motorcycle accident, this means that we can’t be sure whether the trauma involved affected his cognitive performance quite apart from any brain injury. This challenges clinical evidence of those with brain injuries as it may have impaired many different systems, as opposed to a single one.
• Counterpoint to clinical evidence.
  It is unclear whether KF had other cognitive impairments from his brain damage which may have affected his performance of memory tasks.
  As his brain damage was a result of a motorcycle accident, the trauma involved may have impacted his cognitive performance quite apart from any other brain injury.
  This challenges evidence from clinical studies of people who have supposedly experienced damage to different systems.
• Nature of the central executive.
  There is a lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive.
  Despite arguably being the most important component, the CE is not overly understood.
  From this, psychologists view this component of the WMM to be too simplistic due to the potential that the CE may contain subcomponents.
  As a result, this demonstrates that the CE is an unsatisfactory component in this theory, challenging the integrity of the WMM.
• Dual-task performance
  Dual task performance supports the existence of the VSS. When Baddeley’s participants carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time (dual task), their performance on each were similar when they carried out the tasks separately. In contrast, when both tasks were visual (or both were verbal), performance on these tasks declined substantially. This is because both visual tasks compete for the VSS, whereas there is no competition when performing a verbal and visual task together. This concludes that there must be a separate subsystem (VSS) that processes visual input, and one for verbal processing (the PL).

Question 56

What is interference?

Answer 56

Interference is when someone will forget a piece of information due to one memory blocking another.
This causes one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten.

Question 57

Define proactive interference.

Answer 57

Proactive interference (PI) is forgetting due to older memories, already stored, disrupt the recall of newer memories.

Question 58

Define retroactive interference.

Answer 58

Retroactive interference (RI) is forgetting due to a new memory disrupting the recall of older memories which are already stored.

Question 59

When is forgetting greater?

Answer 59

The degree of forgetting is greater when the two memories are similar.

Question 60

Outline research and findings into the effects of similarity on interference.

Answer 60

McGeoch and McDonald studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials.
Participants had to learn a list of words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy.
They were then required to learn a new list of words:

• Synonyms
• Antonyms
• Unrelated words
• Consonant syllables
• 3-digit numbers
• no new list (control)

Findings: The most similar words produced the worst recall.

Question 61

Who conducted research into interference?

Answer 61

McGeoch and McDonald.

Question 62

Explain the effects of similarity on interference.

Answer 62

• Proactive interference: previously stored information makes new similar information more difficult to store
• Retroactive interference: new information overwrites previous similar memories because of their similarity.

Question 63

Evaluate interference theory.

Answer 63

• Real world interference.
  In Baddeley’s study on rugby players, players were asked to recall the names of the teams they played against during rugby season. The players all played the same time interval, however, some players missed matches due to injury. The findings depicted that players who played the most games (more interference) had the poorest recall.
• Interference is temporary.
  Interference is temporary and can be overcome by using clues.
  Psychologists gave participants lists of words organized into categories, one list at a time. Recall averaged around 70% for the first list, but became progressively worse as more were added. Participants, following the study were given a cued recall test - being told the names of the categories. Recall rose again to 70%.
  This means that interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to the LTM, a finding not PREDICTED by interference theory.
• Validity issues.
  As experiments on interference theory were carried out in lab settings, there is a lack of real world applicability. Studies, such as McGeoch and McDonalds used artificial materials and unrealistic procedures in regards to how interference operates in real life. In everyday life we learn material with semantic significance and usually recall these at a later date (for example, in an exam) something not considered in lab studies.
• Unusualness of interference.
  Conditions necessary for interference to occur are relatively rare. This is very unlike lab studies where there is high control, creating ideal conditions for interference. Two memories have to have a high degree of similarity in order for interference to occur. It may happen in every day life (e.g: you revise similar subjects in a short amount of time) but it is not often. This suggests there may be better explanations for forgetting such as retrieval failure due to lack of cues.

Question 64

What are the two explanations for forgetting?

Answer 64

• Interference
• Retrieval failure

Question 65

What is meant by retrieval failure?

Answer 65

Retrieval failure is a form of forgetting. In this, we lack the necessary cues to access memory. The memory is still accessible, but only in the presence of a suitable cue.

Question 66

What is meant by a cue?

Answer 66

A cue is a ‘trigger’ of information that allows us to access a memory.
We forget information due to cues not being available to us when we want to recall that memory.
Cues are encoded at the time of learning information.

Question 67

What does the encoding specificity principle state?

Answer 67

A cue (if it is going to be helpful) has to be both…

1 - Present at encoding.
2 - Present at retrieval.

It also states that if the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different (or if cues are entirely absent at retrieval) there will be some forgetting.

Question 68

What are two non meaningful cues?

Answer 68

• Context dependant forgetting
• State dependant forgetting.

Question 69

What happens in context dependant forgetting?

Answer 69

Recall depends on external cues (example: weather or place)

Question 70

What happens in state dependant forgetting?

Answer 70

Recall depends on internal cues (example: physiological or mental state)

Question 71

Who conducted research into context dependant forgetting?

Answer 71

Baddeley and Godden. UNDERWATER :)

Question 72

Who conducted research into state dependant forgetting?

Answer 72

Carter and Cassaday. ANTI-HISTAMINES :)

Question 73

Outline research and findings on context dependant forgetting.

Answer 73

Baddeley and Godden studied deep-sea divers, aiming to investigate whether training on land helped or hindered their recall underwater.

Divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words in the same or different condition.
This created four conditions:

• Learn on land, recall on land
• Learn on land, recall underwater.
• Learn underwater, recall underwater.
• Learn underwater, recall on land.

Findings: If the environment they recalled the list under did not match the one where the word list as learned, accurate recall was 40% less lower than recall in matching conditions.

This concluded that external cues available at learning were different from the ones available at recall, leading to retrieval failure.

Question 74

Outline research and findings into state dependant forgetting.

Answer 74

Carter and Cassaday investigated internal cues impacts on forgetting, using anti-histamine drugs to demonstrate this.
Anti-histamines have a mild sedative effect, meaning it alters the internal physiological state of the participants.

The participants were required to learn a list of words and passages of prose and then recall the information again after creating four conditions:

• Learning on medication, recalling on medication.
• Learning on medication, recalling not on medication.
• Learning not on medication, recalling not on medication.
• Learning not on medication, recalling on medication.

Findings: In conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and at recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse.

This demonstrates that when cues are absent (in this case, being drowsy when recalling information but alert learning it) there is more forgetting.

Question 75

Evaluate retrieval failure theory.

Answer 75

• Real world application.
  Retrieval cues can help to overcome some forgetting in everyday situations. Although cues may not have a very strong effect on forgetting, Baddeley still maintains that they still hold purpose.
  For instance, when forgetting a purpose of an action such as entering a room to do something and forgetting - returning back to the previous room and then remembering, this shows the function of cues. This promotes the technique that you should make an attempt to recall the initial environment where the thought was learned to recall / remember, reducing forgetting.
  This shows how research can promote strategies usable in the real world to improve recall.
• Research support.
  There is extensive research to uphold the retrieval failure explanation. Studies by Carter and Cassaday alongside Baddeley and Godden’s experiment constitute two examples that show that lack of relevant cues can lead to context-dependent and state-dependent forgetting. Extending this, memory researchers argue that retrieval failure is perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM.
  This evidence conveys that retrieval failure occurs in real-world situations as well as highly controlled lab conditions.
• Research criticism.
  There is possibility that retrieval failure forgetting is overstated.
  Baddeley argued that contexts effects are actually not very strong, especially in relation to everyday life.
  Different contexts have to be substantially different to create an effect. For example, in Godden and Baddeley’s study, it would be hard to find an environment as different from land as underwater.
  In contrast, learning something in one room and recalling it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are generally not different enough.
  This means that retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cues may not actually explain much everyday forgetting.
• Recall vs recognition.
  One limitation is that context effects may depend substantially on the TYPE of memory being tested. Godden and Baddeley proved this via replicating their underwater experiment, using a recognition test as opposed to recall. Participants were required to state whether they recognized a word read to them from a list previously, instead of retrieving it for themselves. As opposed to retrieval, when recognition was tested, there was no context dependent forgetting as performance was the same in all four conditions.
  This proves that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting because it only applied to retrieval of information rather than recognition.
• Problems with the ESP.
  A limitation is that the ESP lacks the appropriate information to account for cue logistics. There is evidence that forgetting occurs due to a mismatch of cues.
  However, despite this, it is not fully possible to identify whether a cue has been encoded or not. The ESP is circular and based on assumptions.

Question 76

Who conducted a study into ‘The Leading Question’ in misleading information?

Answer 76

Loftus and Palmer.

Question 77

What is a leading question?

Answer 77

A leading question is where a question, because of the manner it is worded in, encourages a certain answer.
For example: ‘Was the knife in his left hand?’ leads the eyewitness to believe that this was where the knife was.

Question 78

Outline the experiment carried out on ‘the leading question’

Answer 78

Loftus and Palmer arranged for 45 participants to watch film clips of car accidents, then followed this up by asking questions.
In the CRITICAL question (the leading question) participants were asked to describe the speed the cars were travelling at.
The question was structured similar to “How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?”
In each group, the word hit was replaced by a similar verb: contacted, bumped, collided, smashed.

The findings were derived from calculating the mean speed estimate for each participant group.
The verb contacted resulted in a mean estimated speed of 31.4 mph whereas for the verb smashed, the mean was 40.5 mph.
This concluded that the leading question biased the eyewitnesses recall of an event.

Question 79

What was the mean speed estimate for ‘contacted’ vs ‘smashed’ in Loftus and Palmers study?

Answer 79

• Contacted: 31.4
• Smashed: 40.5

Question 80

How does the leading question affect EWT?

Answer 80

• The response bias explanation.
  This suggests that the wording of the question has no real effect on the participants memories, but just influences how they decide to answer.
  When a participant receives a leading question using the verb ‘smashed’ this incentivizes them to elect a higher speed estimate.

Loftus and Palmer conducted a second experiment that supported the substitution explanation. The substitution explanation proposes that the wording of the leading question alters or distorts the participants memory of the film clip .
This was shown from the participants under the ‘smashed’ condition were later more likely to report seeing broken glass (there was none) than those who heard hit.
The critical verb also altered their memory of the incident.

Question 81

List the two explanations that outline how the Leading question impacts EWT.

Answer 81

• Response bias
• Substitution

Question 82

Who conducted research into post event discussion?

Answer 82

Gabbert et al.

Question 83

What is post event discussion?

Answer 83

Post event discussion is where there is more than one eyewitness to an event. This is where witnesses may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses or with other people, influencing the accuracy of each witnesses recall of the answer.

Question 84

Outline Gabbert et al. experiment into ‘post event discussion’

Answer 84

Gabbert studied participants in pairs.
Each participant watched a video of the same crime event, however witnessed it from different perspectives.
This means that each participant could see aspects of the situation that the other could not.
(For example: only one participant could see the title of a book being carried by a woman).
Both participants discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall.

Findings:
The researchers found that 71% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not personally see, but picked up in the discussion.
This was compared to a control group that did not participate in post event discussion. Their recall of unseen aspects was 0%

Question 85

Compared to a control group, what percentage of participants in Gabbert et als. study on PED reported unseen information

Answer 85

71% recalled aspects that were said to them by the other participant.

Question 86

What 2 explanations explain why post event discussion affects EWT?

Answer 86

One explanation is memory contamination.
When co-witnesses are able to discuss the event with each other, their eyewitness testimonies may become distorted or altered.
This is because they combine (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories.

Another explanation is memory conformity.
Memory conformity occurs when witnesses go along with each other, either to win social approval or due to the belief that they had made a mistake and the other knows better.
Unlike with memory contamination, the memory remains unchanged.

Question 87

What are two explanations for the impact of post event discussion on EWT?

Answer 87

• Memory conformity
• Memory contamination

Question 88

Evaluate Misleading information’s impacts of EWTs

Answer 88

• Real world application.
  One strength of research into misleading information is that it maintains practical uses in the criminal justice system.
  Due to research conducted on the effects of the leading question, the findings encourage police interviews to word their questions carefully to minimize inaccurate information prompted by the wording.
  In addition, this has promoted the use of psychologists during trials to advise judges on the limitations of EWTs, improving the way the legal system functions.
• Evidence against substitution.
  EWT can be more accurate for some aspects than for others.
  Studies have outlined that recall can differ for central details compared to peripheral details. Presumably, witnesses attention could be focused on central features of the event - meaning that these memories are relatively resistant to misleading information.
  This suggests that the original memories for central details survived and were not distorted, an outcome not predicted by the substitution explanation.
• Demand characteristics.
  Most studies conducted into misleading information took place in a lab environment. It can be argued that, due to the setting, participants felt more inclined to give answers appeasing the researchers - showing the interaction of demand characteristics. Response to demand characteristics can be interpreted when participants will guess when they are asked a question they are unsure of to help the researcher.
• Criticism of studies (Loftus and Palmer)
  The practical applications of EWT may be affected by issues in research.
  For instance, Loftus and Palmers experiment included watching film clips in a lab, simulating a different experience than witnessing the event in real life.
  In the real world, the detail remembered may differ from those in lab studies due to the important consequences operating in real life situations. Oppositely, in a lab participants recall does not matter in the same way, making the participant less motivated to be accurate.

Question 89

What is meant by anxiety?

Answer 89

Anxiety is a state of emotional and physical arousal.

Question 90

Who conducted an experiment into anxiety having a negative effect? (weapon focus)

Answer 90

Scott and Johnson.

Question 91

Outline the procedure into Johnson and Scotts study on anxiety.

Answer 91

Participants were recruited under the belief that they were taking part in a lab study.
While seated in the waiting room, participants under the low-anxiety variable overheard a casual conversation in the next room and then witnessed a man walk past them carrying a pen with grease on his hands.
Participants under the high-anxiety variable overheard a heated conversation in the next room, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. A man walked out of the room, holding a knife and covered in blood.

Findings:
The participants were later required to identify the man from a set of 50 photos.
49% who had seen the man carrying the pen were able to recognize the man.
The corresponding figure for the participants who had seen the man holding the blood covered knife was 33%

The tunnel theory argues that people have enhanced memory for central events. Weapon focus as a result of anxiety can have this effect.
When facing a weapon, the participants under the high anxiety condition would disregard other details of the events such as the suspects face.

Question 92

Who conducted an experiment into anxiety having a positive effect on recall?

Answer 92

Yuille and Cutshall.

Question 93

What was Yuille and Cutshall’s procedure into anxiety’s positive effect on recall?

Answer 93

Yuille and Cutshall studied an actual shooting that had occurred in Vancouver, Canada.

• 13 witnesses took part
• They were interviewed 4-5 months after the incident
• These interviews were compared to the original police interviews.
• Accuracy was determined by the number of details reported in each account.
• The witnesses were also asked to rate their stress at the time of the incident on a 7-point scale and whether they had emotional issues following the event.

Question 94

What did Yuille and Cutshall find in their study on anxiety’s positive effect on recall?

Answer 94

• The witnesses were accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount recalled or accuracy after 5 months.
• Despite the amount of details remaining the same, there were some details that were less accurate such as colour of items and age/height/weight estimates.
• Participants who reported the highest stress rating were the most accurate (88% compared to 75% in the less stressed group)

This suggests that anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on accuracy of EWT in real world context, even enhancing it.

Question 95

What explains the contradictory findings in studies on anxiety?

Answer 95

The Yerkes-Dodson Law

Question 96

What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law?

Answer 96

The idea that performance (in memory) will increase with stress but only to a certain point, where it decreases drastically.

Question 97

Evaluate the effects of anxiety on EWT

Answer 97

• Unusualness not anxiety
  (Applies to Johnson and Scott study, reinforce with hairdressing salon study)
• Support for negative effects
  (Researchers measured heart rate in the London Dungeons, dividing people into high and low anxiety groups. Anxiety disrupted ability to recall details about the actor)
• Counteracting positive effects.
  (Psychologists may argue that due to the interviews happening later, the results could have been confounded by post event discussion and other variables)
• Support for positive effects
  (In a Swedish bank robbery, those bankers directly involved showed a better recall compared to bystanders)

Question 98

What are the components of the cognitive interview.

Answer 98

• Report everything
• Reinstate the context
• Reverse the order
• Change perspective

Question 99

What is meant by “report everything” in the cognitive interview?

Answer 99

Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even irrelevant aspects and things witnesses don’t feel confident about reporting.

These trivial details can be important and trigger other important memories.

Question 100

What is meant by “reinstate the context” in the cognitive interview?

Answer 100

The witness should return to the crime scene in their mind, imagining the environment and their emotions.
This relates to context-dependant forgetting.

Question 101

What is meant by “reverse the order” in the cognitive interview?

Answer 101

The events being recalled in a different order from the original sequence.

This is to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened.
It can also prevent dishonesty as it is hard for people to produce an untruthful story if reversed.

Question 102

What is meant by “change perspective” in the cognitive interview?

Answer 102

Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives (for example, the witnesses or perpetrator)
This, again, disrupts the effect of expectations and also the effect of schema on recall.

Question 103

What does the enhanced cognitive interview include?

Answer 103

• A focus on the dynamics of the interaction
• comfortable eye contact
• reducing eye witness anxiety
• minimising distraction
• getting witness to speak slowly
• asking open ended questions.

Question 104

Evaluate: improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony - cognitive interview.

Answer 104

• Support for the effectiveness of the CI
  Meta-analysis comparing the CI to standard police interviews saw a dramatic increase in accurate information provided by the CI.
• Some elements are more useful than others
  Not all of its elements are equally effective or useful. Studies found that using a combination of REPORT EVERYTHING and REINSTATE THE CONTEXT produced better recall than any other elements
  Casting doubt on the credibility of the overall cognitive interview.
• CI is time-consuming
  Police officers may be reluctant to use the cognitive interview due to its requiring more time and training compared to the standard.
  For example, time is needed to establish a rapport with a witness and allow them to relax. The CI requires special training which many do not have the resources for, making it an unrealistic method.
• May increase incorrect information
  Researchers have also found that this can create an increase in inaccurate information recalled by participants, particularly in the ECI. This is because the CI may sacrifice quality of EWT in favour of quantity (details). This means the CI should be taken w/ caution.

Question 105

Who created the cognitive interview?

Answer 105

Fisher and Geiselman