Memory Flashcards
What is capacity?
the amount of information that can be held in a memory store
What is the capacity of the sensory register?
unlimited
What is the sensory register?
memory store for each of our 5 senses
- Iconic; see
- Echoic; hear
- Tactile; feel
- Gustatory; taste
- Olfactory; smell
What are the key researchers for the capacity of STM?
Jacobs (1887)
Miller
What was Jacobs research?
Digits span technique, reciting numbers or letters when the sequence increased by 1 each time
What was Jacobs findings?
found the mean span for digits was 9.3
found the mean span for letters was 7.3
What did Miller observe?
things that come in 7s, for example, days of the week, colour of the rainbow, music scales
What idea did Miller propose?
Chunking - when you group things together so you remember the chunks instead of the individual items
What is the capacity of STM?
7 (+2/-2) items
What is the capacity of LTM?
unlimited
What is duration?
the length of time information can be held in your memory
What is the duration of the sensory register?
250ms, if attention is not paid to information; less than 1/2 a second
Who are the key researchers in the duration of STM?
Peterson + Peterson (1959)
What was Peterson + Peterson’s research?
NONSENSE TRIGRAM, given a consonant syllable like LCG to remember and a 3 digit number that they had to count back from till were told to stop (eliminate mental rehearsal) then asked what the 3 letters were.
What was the findings of Peterson + Peterson’s study?
as retention intervals increases, the percentage of correct responses decrease
What is the duration of STM?
18-30sec
Who is the key researcher of duration for LTM?
Bahrick et al (1975)
What was Bahrick’s research?
used year book photos to test PHOTO RECOGNITION and FREE RECALL to remembering their school classmates 15 or 48 years after graduation
What was Bahrick’s findings?
Photo recognition, 90% corrected after 15 years. 70% correct after 48 years
Free recall, 60% after 15 years, 38% after 48 years
What is duration of LTM?
Forever; unlimited
What is coding?
the format in which information is sorted in the various memory stores
What is the coding of the sensory register?
Modality specific
Who was the key research for coding?
Baddeley
What was Baddeley’s research?
Gave different lists of words to 4 groups of participants to remember:
1) acoustically similar words, e.g. cat, cab, can
2) acoustically dissimilar words, e.g. pit, few, cow
3) semantically similar words, e.g. large, big, colossal
4) semantically dissimilar words, e.g. good, huge, hot
What was Baddeley’s findings?
recalling words immediately - semantically similar words was recalled better
recalling words after completing a 20mins task - they did worse with semantically similar words
What is the coding of STM?
Acoustic
What is the coding of LTM?
Semantic
What is the Multi-store model?
a representation of how memory works where LTM and STM are unitary stores in which information is passed between them in a linear way
Who created the Multi-store model?
Atkinson & Shiffrin
How does the Multi-store model work?
1) stimuli enters the sensory register
2) if attention is paid, info will enter STM
3) through maintenance rehearsal or elaborative rehearsal info can be taken form STM to LTM
4) we then must retrieve the info form LTM to STM if we want to recall it
What does maintenance rehearsal mean?
it is repeating information over yourself with your inner voice
What does elaborative rehearsal mean?
understanding information to something existing in the LTM (assign meaning to it)
What is the case study of HM?
had his hippocampus removed, could not form new LTM, but performed well in STM memory tests
What is the case study of Clive Wearing?
viral infection, cannot form new LTM, can play the piano, has an STM but only lats 30 sec, cant remember his wedding but can remember his wife
What is the case study of KF?
motorcycle accident, heard numbers he was poor at recall, read the numbers he was strong at recall
Who was the key psychologists for types of long-term memory?
Tulving (1985)
What are the 3 types of LTM?
Episodic
Semantic
Procedural
What is episodic memory?
episodes form our life, personal memories that are different for everyone
What is semantic memory?
knowledge of the world and facts, memories that are often the same for multiple people
What is procedural memory?
actions, skills, or how we do things
Is semantic memory explicit or implicit?
explicit, which requires conscious recall
Is episodic memory explicit or implicit?
explicit, which requires conscious recall
Is procedural memory explicit or implicit?
implicit, it uses unconscious recall
Who created the Working memory model?
Baddeley & Hitch (1974)
What is the Working memory model?
a explanation of how STM is organised and how it functions
What are the 5 features of the WMM?
Central executive
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
Episodic buffer
Phonological loop
Long-term memory
What is the phonological loop and its capacity and coding?
deal with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives
capacity = 2 seconds worth of info
coding = acoustic
What are the two subdivisions of the phonological loop and what do they do?
Phonological store - stores the words you hear
Articulatory process - allows maintenance rehearsal
What is the central executive and its capacity and coding?
is a filter and decides what information is attended to reasoning and decision making
capacity = limited
coding = modality free
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad and its coding and capacity?
to hold static images to manipulate them
capacity = can hold 3-4 objects
coding = visual
What are the two subdivisions of the visuo-spatial sketchpad and what do they do?
Visual cache - literal imagery, what it looks like
Inner scribe - spatial element, where things are in comparison to each other (arrangement of objects)
What is dual task performance?
process information from lecturer (PL) and play candy crush (VSS) as different stores. Cannot listen to lecturer and talk to friend as both in PL
What are the 2 explanations for forgetting?
Interference
Retrevial failure
What is interference?
forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten
What is proactive interference?
an old memory blocks your ability to remember something new
What is retroactive interference?
a new memory blocks your ability of remembering an old memory
Who studied retroactive interference?
McGoech & McDonald
What was McGoech and McDonald’s procedure?
they changed the amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials, learn a list of 10 words till the participants remembered them with 100% accuracy. Then they learned a new list
What was McGoech and McDonald’s findings?
when participants were asked to recall the original list of words, the most similar material produced were the worst recall, showing the interference is strongest when the memories are similar
What is retrieval failure?
Forgetting occurs because of a lack of sufficient cues to access stored memories.
What is context-dependent forgetting?
Forgetting that occurs when external cues (environment) during encoding are absent during recall (e.g., taking a test in a different room from where you learned).
What is state-dependent forgetting?
Forgetting when the emotional or physiological state during encoding differs from that during recall (e.g., learning information while happy but trying to recall it while sad).
How does anxiety affect eyewitness testimony (EWT)?
Anxiety can impair memory accuracy, often in an inverted-U relationship (Yerkes-Dodson curve). Moderate anxiety can enhance recall, while very low or very high anxiety reduces recall accuracy.
What is the effect of leading questions on eyewitness testimony?
Leading questions can distort memory, as shown by Loftus and Palmer’s study, where different verbs (e.g., “smashed” vs. “contacted”) altered participants’ memory of the speed of cars.
What is post-event discussion?
When co-witnesses discuss an event, it can lead to contamination of memories, resulting in false details being introduced.
What was the aim of Gabbert et al.’s study on post-event discussion?
To investigate the effect of post-event discussion on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
What were the findings of Gabbert et al.’s study on post-event discussion?
71% of participants in the co-witness group reported details they had not actually seen, suggesting that post-event discussion can significantly alter memory.
What are the four main techniques used in the Cognitive Interview?
- Context Reinstatement
- Report Everything
- Recall from a Changed Perspective
- Recall in Reverse Order
What is the principle behind “Context Reinstatement” in the Cognitive Interview?
Asking the eyewitness to mentally recreate the environment and emotional state they were in during the event to trigger more accurate memories.
What is the principle behind “Report Everything” in the Cognitive Interview?
Eyewitnesses are encouraged to recall all details, even those that may seem irrelevant, as this may lead to important information being retrieved.
What is the principle behind “Recall from a Changed Perspective” in the Cognitive Interview?
Eyewitnesses are asked to recall the event from another person’s viewpoint (e.g., what the cashier saw during a robbery).
What is the principle behind “Recall in Reverse Order” in the Cognitive Interview?
Eyewitnesses are asked to recall events in reverse order to prevent them from relying on their expectations or prior knowledge of the event.
