Memory Flashcards
Memory
Process by which we retain information about events that happened in the past
Definition of Short term memory
Memory for events in the present or immediate past
Definition of Long term memory
Memory of events in the more distant past
Draw the multi- store model
come back too!
Limitation of MSM
- Evidence of more than one STM store
- Shallice and Warrington studied KF who had amnesia
- KF’s STM- digits was poor when they were read out loud to him, but recall was much better when he read the digits himself
- Could be another short- term store for non- verbal sounds
- Suggests MSM is wrong in claiming that there is just 1 STM store processing different types of information
Outline a criticism of a study into short- term memory
Peterson and Peterson
- A criticism into short- term memory is Peterson and Peterson’s nonsense trigrams
- This is a weakness because it is not realistic in real life so short term memory may be better as they also used students who have better memories
Outline a criticism of a study into short- term memory
External validity
- A criticism is that the research exploring the multi-store model of memory often lacks external validity
- This is due to the artificial nature of research conducted in a lab-based setting
- Therefore, the findings may not be fully representative of everyday memory.
Coding, capacity and duration of SHORT term memory
- Coding is mainly acoustic (sounds)
- Limited- capacity memory store. Capacity is between 5 and 9 items on average
- Duration is about 18 seconds (Up to 30 seconds)
Coding, capacity and duration of LONG term memory
- Coding is mainly semantic (meaning)
- Permanent memory store- potentially unlimited capacity
- Store memories for up to a lifetime
Coding
Format in which information is stored in the various memory stores
Capacity
Amount of information that can be held in a memory store
Duration
Length of time information can be held in memory
Draw the working memory model
Discuss the role of the Central Executive
- Main component of WMM
- Data arrives from senses or LTM, acts as a conductor
- Direct attention to particular tasks + allocates data to different subsystems
- Limited capacity
Discuss the role of the Phonological loop
Subdivided into 2 parts
Phonological store:
- Holds information in a speech form
- Allows acoustically encoded items to be held for a brief period of time
Articulatory Process:
- Allows sub- vocal repetition of items stored in phonological store- form of maintenance rehearsal
- Limited capacity
Discuss the role of the Visuo- spatial sketchpad
- Used when you have to mentally plan a special task
- Stores visual and spatial information
- Responsible for setting up and manipulating mental images
- Has limited capacity
Subdivided into 2 parts:
Inner scribe:
- Acts as a rehearsal mechanism- controls spatial awareness
Visual cache:
- Deals with storage of information- stores visual data
Discuss the role of the Episodic buffer
- Limited capacity
- Integrates information from all components of WMM and LTM
- Store that can deal with different types of information
- Baddeley added Episodic buffer as the model needed a general store
Episodic memory
- Explicit
- Time- stamped
- Refers to our ability to recall events
Semantic memory
- Explicit
- Not time- stamped (Can remember when something happened- but don’t put a time against it)
- All our knowledge about the world
Procedural memory
- Implicit- non- declarative- can’t describe them
- Concerned with how to do things/ skills
- Acquired through experience and practice
- Less aware of these memories as they become automatic with practice- IMPORTANT as it focuses our attention on other tasks
***Evidence from brain damaged patients (Strength- Dual- task performance)- (6 points to be made)
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- Support the separate existence of the visuo- spatial sketchpad
- Baddeley’s participants carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time
- Their performance on each was similar to when they carried out the tasks separately
- When both tasks were either visual or verbal, performance on both declined substantially
- Because both visual tasks compete for the same subsystem → VSS, whereas there is not competition when performing verbal and visual task together
- Shows there must be a separate subsystem one that processes visual input (VSS) and one for verbal processing (PL)
Evidence from brain damaged patients (Weakness- Central Executive criticism) (4)
- Lack of clarity over nature of the C.E
- C.E needs to be more clearly specified
- Psychologists believe the C.E may consist of separate subcomponents
- Means C.E is an unsatisfactory component and challenges integrity of WMM
When does Interference occur?/ What is Interference?
When 2 pieces of information conflict with each other, causing one or both to be forgotten, or in some distortion of memory
Proactive interference
Older memory interferes with a new memory
E.g when you can’t remember your new password but can only remember your old password
Retroactive interference
Newer memory interferes with an older memory
E.g- When you have learned a new mobile number, it is often very difficult to recall your old number.
Strength of interference
Generalising to real life:
- Interference we see in the lab studies is because the memories are available but we cannot retrieve them without cues
- When cues are available in real life we remember information.
Retrieval failure
When the memory may be there and available but it is just not accessible however if you are given a cue you are more likely to remember it
Research on context- dependent forgetting (Retrieval Failure)
Godden + Baddeley studied deep sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land helped or hindered their work underwater.
The divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land
4 conditions created:
- Learn on land- recall on land
- Learn on land- recall underwater
- Lean underwater - recall on land
Learn underwater - recall underwater
Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non- matching conditions. They concluded that the EXTERNAL CUES available at learning were different from the ones available at recall and this led to retrieval failure
Eyewitness testimony
When you witness a crime you give an eyewitness testimony, they’re important in criminal trials however they can be unreliable and wrongful convictions may result
Leading question
Question suggests the answer- trying to get the witness to say something particular
Misleading information: Leading question- experiment
Loftus & Palmer
Sutdied- 45 students
- Participants were shown film clips of automobile accidents.
After each clip the participants had to write an account of what they had seen
- They also had to answer some questions, some of which were filler questions → so they don’t work work out the aim
- The critical question was ‘About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’
- There were 5 conditions: smashed (suggests they were going fast), collided, bumped, hit, contacted (suggests they were going slow)- (5 groups of participants getting a different question.)
Verbs used had an effect on their estimate of speed- this could be due to either their memories were distorted or they were responding to demand characteristics
Strength of misleading information (3 points)
- Has important practical uses in criminal justice system (CJS)
- Loftus believes that leading questions can have such a distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be careful about how they phrase their questions when interviewing eyewitnesses
- Psychologists can help to improve the way the legal system works, by protecting innocent people from faulty convictions
Weakness of misleading information
- Practical appliances of eyewitness testimonies may be affected by issues with research
- Loftus and Palmer’s participants watched film clips in a lab which is a different experience to real life- less stressful
- Researchers like Loftus are too pessimistic about effects of misleading information
Post- event discussion (PED)
When eyewitnesses may discuss their experiences and memories with each other
Research on Post- event discussion (PED)
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Gabbert (2003) studied participants in pairs. Each participant watched a video of the same crime, but filmed from different points of views.
This meant that each participant could see elements in the event that the other could not.
(E. g only 1 of the participants could see the title of the book being carried by a young woman)
- Both participants then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a recall test
Findings:
- Researchers found that 71% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion
Why does PED affect eyewitness testimony?
- Memory Contamination:
- Co- witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other
- Their eyewitness testimonies may become altered or distorted
- They combine misinformation from other witnesses’ memories with their own memories. - Memory Conformity:
- Gabbert concluded that 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
Cognitive interview
Psychological insights into how memory work, there are 4 techniques
1st technique of cognitive interview
REPORT EVERYTHING:
- Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even if it’s irrelevant.
(E.g Can you tell us everything that you witnessed even if you think they are irrelevant?)
2nd technique of cognitive interview
REINSTATE THE CONTEXT:
- Witness should return to original crime scene in mind and imagine environment and emotions
(E.g What was the weather like? How were you feeling?)
3rd technique of cognitive interview
REVERSE THE ORDER:
- Events should be recalled in a different order from original sequence
- Prevent dishonesty- harder to produce an untruthful account if they have to rehearse it
(E.g Can you describe what you saw from when you first called the police to when you saw the offender?)
4th technique of cognitive interview
CHANGE PERSPECTIVE:
- Witness should recall incident from other people’s perspectives
(E.g Imagine you’re the victim can you describe everything you saw)
Enhanced Cognitive Interview ideas (ECI)
- Eyewitness anxiety
- Minimising distractions
- Getting witness to speak slowly
- Asking open- ended questions
Strength of Cognitive Interview (CI)- Support for Effectiveness of CI
- CI works
- Köhnken combined data from 55 studies comparing the CI and the ECI with the standard police interview. CI gave an average 41% increase in accurate information
- CI is an effective technique in helping witnesses to recall information that is stored in memory
Weakness of Cognitive Interview- Counterpoint
- Köhnken found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants
- Particular issue in the ECI, produced more incorrect details than the CI
- Police officers should treat eyewitness evidence from CIs/ ECIs with caution
Research of anxiety on accuracy of eyewitness testimonies- Deffenbacher study
Deffenbacher study:
- Carried out meta- analysis on 18 studies that looked at effects of heightened anxiety on eyewitness recall
- High levels of stress have a negative impact on accuracy of eyewitness recall
WEAKNESS:
- Many witnesses are recalling traumatic events.
- Criminal Justice System (CJS) should be aware that this may have a negative impact on the accuracy of their memories
Research of anxiety on accuracy of eyewitness testimonies- Christianson & Hubinette study
Christianson & Hubinette study:
- Questioned real witnesses to bank robberies
- Found that those who had been threatened in some way were more accurate in their recall and remembered more details and were less emotionally aroused.
WEAKNESS:
- Real- life scenario- anxiety may increase memory for an event
- Lack of control of extraneous variables
- (Those who had been threatened may have discussed their ordeal more or read more newspaper reports -> Post- event discussion?
