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Psychology A-Level > Memory > Flashcards

Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

What is memory ?

A

the process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past.

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2
Q

What is short-term memory ?

A

the limited capacity memory store. Coding is mainly acoustic and is between 5-9 items on average. Duration is between 18-30 seconds.

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3
Q

What is long-term memory ?

A

Coding is mainly semantic it has unlimited capacity and can store memories for up to a lifetime

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4
Q

What are important studies conducted about memory ?

A
  • Peterson and Peterson
  • Baddeley
  • Jacobs
  • Miller
  • Bahrick
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5
Q

What did Peterson and Peterson study about the memory ?

A

they researched the duration of the STM.

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6
Q

How did Peterson and Peterson conduct their study ?

A

on each trial a student was given a constant syllable and a 3 digit number. The student was asked to countdown from that 3 digit number until told to stop. On each trial they were told to stop after a different amount of time, so 3,6,9,12,15.

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7
Q

What is an evaluation of the Peterson and Peterson study ?

A

*lack of realism
* lack of validity

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8
Q

What did Baddeley study about the memory ?

A

he researched coding in the STM

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9
Q

How did Baddeley conduct his study ?

A

he gave different list of words to four groups of participants to remember and then they had to immediately recite it back.

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10
Q

What is an evaluation of the Baddeley study ?

A
  • lack of external validity
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11
Q

What did Jacobs study about the memory ?

A

he wanted to test the capacity of the STM

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12
Q

How did Jacobs conduct his study ?

A

participants would recall 4 digits and then would add on a digit every time they got the sequence right until they make a mistake.

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13
Q

What is an evaluation of Jacobs study ?

A

not very reflective of what you would experience from a day to day basis

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14
Q

What did Miller study about memory ?

A

he researched the capacity of the STM

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15
Q

How did Miller conduct his study ?

A

he noticed how things were usually arranged in groups of 7.Therefore he thought that the capacity of the STM was about 7 or more items.

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16
Q

What is an evaluation of the Miller Study ?

A

not very realistic as not many people can remember 7 or more items

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17
Q

What did Bahrick study about the memory ?

A

he studied the duration of the LTM

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18
Q

How did Bahrick conduct his study ?

A

high school year books were collected from individuals and recall was tested in various ways: photo recognition and free call. The results showed that after 50 years people were about 90% accurate in photo recognition and with free call after 15 years this was about 60% accurate, dropping to 30% after 48 years.

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19
Q

What is an evaluation of the Bahrick study ?

A

some people could have potentially looked at their yearbook throughout the years, this could have contributed to their ability to recall and to recognise photos.

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20
Q

What are the 3 stages of the Multi-store model of the memory ?

A
  1. Sensory register
  2. Short-term memory
  3. Long-term memory
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21
Q

What is the function of the sensory register in the Multi store model of memory ?

A

it is our first storage system for memory. It stores all the information received from the environment. It encodes visual and auditory information and only last for half a second.

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22
Q

What are the 3 different types of LTM ?

A
  • episodic memory
  • semantic memory
  • procedural memory
22
Q

What is episodic memory ?

A

refers to the ability to remember events from our lives. For example I rode my first bike when I was 8.

23
Q

What is semantic memory ?

A

refers to our knowledge of the world including factual information. For example Europe is a continent.

24
Q

What is procedural memory ?

A

this is memory for how we do things such as skills and actions. An example of this is riding a bike.

25
Q

LTM Evaluation.

A
  • Clive Wearing study:
    he was a world class musician who suffered from brain damage. His episodic memory was severely impaired. However he still understood the meaning of words , therefore his semantic memory was still intact. In addition he could still walk, speak and play the piano brilliantly , therefore proving that his procedural memory was still intact. This case study proves that there are 3 different LTM’s as his episodic memory was not working but his semantic and procedural were working .This is good external validity.
  • Conflicting neuroimaging evidence:
    one limitation is that there are conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain. For example Randy Buckner and Steven Peterson reviewed evidence regarding the location of the semantic and episodic memory. They concluded that semantic memory is located on the left side of the prefrontal cortex and episodic memory on the right. However other research states that it is the opposite. This challenges any neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory as there is poor agreement on where each type might be located.
  • Another strength is that understanding types of LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems.For example as people age they experience memory loss and this is specific to episodic memory. So for example Sylvie Belleville devised a plan to improve episodic memories in older people.The trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training than a control group. This shows how distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed.
26
Q

What was the function of the central executive in the working memory model ?

A

monitors incoming information and makes a decision by sending it to the ‘slave systems’ .

27
Q

What is the function of the Visuo-spatial sketchpad in the working memory model ?

A

a second slave system which stores visual and spatial information

28
Q

What is the function of the Phonological loop in the working memory model ?

A

well there are two parts to the phonological loop:
* articulatory process
* phonological store
The function of the articulatory process is that it allows maintenance rehearsal, can keep information in a loop to keep them there while they are needed.
The function of the phonological store is that it stores the words that you hear

29
Q

What is the function of the episodic buffer in the working memory model ?

A

it is the third slave system, it is a temporary store which integrates all types of information.

30
Q

Give me an evaluation of the working memory model ?

A
  • patient KF had amnesia. He had a good visuospatial sketchpad , however he had a poor phonological loop. This proves how there are different slave systems in the WMM.
  • there is a lack of information about the central executive and how it works.
  • the studies of dual-task performance support the existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad.When Baddeley’s participants carried out a visual and a verbal task at the same time their performance on each was similar to when they carried out the tasks seperately.However when both tasks were visual performance on both declined substantially. This is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave subsystem, whereas there is no competition when completing a verbal and visual task together. This shows how there has to be separate slave systems.
31
Q

What is interference ?

A

this is when one memory blocks another memory, causing one or both memories to be distorted or completely forgotten.

32
Q

What are the two types of interference ?

A
  • Proactive interference : when an old memory interferes with a new memory being stored
  • Retroactive interference : when a new memory being learned interferes with an old stored memory
33
Q

What was the McGeoch and McDonald (1931) study ?

A

the aim of the study was to see if similarity affected interference. The method of this study was that participants learnt a list of words till they had 100 % accuracy. Then the participants had to learn another list of words: Synonyms, antonyms, unrelated words, nonsense syllables and 3 digit number strings. When participants recalled the original list of words, there performance depended on the nature of the second list. The most similar material (synonym) produced the worst recall.

34
Q

Give me an evaluation of the McGeoch and McDonald study ?

A

it lacked realism and validity because this sort of situation does not occur everyday.

35
Q

What does retrieval failure mean ?

A

a form of forgetting which occurs when we do not have the right cues needed to access a memory. The memory is available within your LTM.

36
Q

What does a cue mean ?

A

a trigger of info that allows us to access our memory.

37
Q

What is study about the context-dependant forgetting ?

A

this was study conducted by Godden and Baddeley. The method of this study was divers were taught information and told to recall in one of 4 conditions:
* learn underwater, then recall underwater
* learn on land, then recall on land
* learn underwater, then recall on land
* learn on land, recall on underwater
At the end of the study it was shown that recall rate was 40% lower on unmatched conditions.

38
Q

What is the study about state-dependant forgetting?

A

This study was conducted by Carter and Cassady. The method of this study was that people were taught information and asked to recall in one of the 4 conditions:
* learn on drug, then recall on drug
* learn of drug, then recall of drug
* learn on drug, recall of drug
* learn of drug, recall on drug
The study showed that recall was better when internal states were matching.

39
Q

Give me an evaluation of the retrieval failure.

A
  • One weakness is that Godden and Baddeley research is done in extreme conditions, which could have more impact on retrieval cues than an everyday situation .It is hard to generalise to every day life.
40
Q

What is an eye witness testimony ?

A

the ability to remember details of an event, such as accidents and crime, which they themselves have observed. Accuracy of EWT can be affected by factors such as misleading information.

41
Q

What is meant by leading questions?

A

a question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer.

42
Q

What is a study based around leading questions ?

A

Loftus and Palmer conducted this experiment and their aim was to the investigate the effects of different types of question on responses to speeds of crashing cars. Their method was participants watched film clips of car accidents and were given questions about the accident. Participants were asked a ‘ Critical question ‘ about how fast the cars were going when they ‘hit’ each other. Five groups were give different verbs: hit,contacted,bumped,collided and smashed.

43
Q

What is post event discussion ?

A

this is where there is more than one witness and witnesses may discuss the event with other witnesses , or with other people.This may influence the witness recalling of the event.

44
Q

What is the study based on post-event discussion ?

A

this was conducted by Gabbert. The method was that participants studied in pairs.They watched the same crime from different angles, therefore participants saw different elements.Then they discussed that events before recall.The study showed that 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects they did not see but picked up in discussion, compared to 0% in controled environment.Concludes witnesses go along with one another.

45
Q

What are the two explanations for post-event discussion ?

A
  1. Memory contamination:
    when co-witnesses to a crime discuss with it each other, their eye-witness testimonies may become altered and distorted.This is because they combine misinformation from other witnesses with their own memories.
  2. 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.
46
Q

Give me an evaluation for misleading information.

A
  • One weakness is that Gabbert’s study was in a lab setting. Watching videos of something such as a car crash is not the same as experiencing it first-hand because we experience no stress or emotions when watching these sorts of videos and emotions can play a huge role in memory. This point is well illustrated by Foster who argues that what you remember in real life has very serious consequences but in an artificial study, consequences dont exist, so you are going to remember as much.This means that Gabbert’s study lack external validity.
  • However one strenght is that misleading information has huge benefits in ensuring the criminal justice system is as fair as possible. Due to research such as Loftus, police are very aware of the need to avoid the use of leading questions and how they phrase questions as the way they phrase their questions can distort recall and this could have huge implications in court.
    *
47
Q

What is anxiety in relation to EWT ?

A

it is a state of physical and emotional arousal. Anxiety occurs naturally in terms of stress and can affect the accuracy of a eye witness testimony

48
Q

What were the two studies conducted around anxiety ?

A
  • Yuille and Cutshall
  • Johnson and Scott
49
Q

Give me a summary of the Yuille and Cutshall study ?

A

their aim was to see if anxiety had a positive effect on the accuracy of the recalling of an event. They used a real life shooting in Vancouver. Shot owner had shot a thief and killed him.21 witnesses were present and 13 agreed to take part in the study. Participants were interviewed 4-5 months after the original interview. Accuracy was determined by number of details recorded. The study showed that the participants accuracy of the recalling of the event was still quite accurate and only small details were forgotten and misplaced.

50
Q

Give me a summary of Johnson and Scott study ?

A

their aim of the study was to investigate if high levels of anxiety creates worse or better recall of an event. The method of the study was that while a group of participants were sitting and waiting in a room they could hear an argument next door. In the ‘low-anxiety’ condition a man then walked out holding a pen with grease on his hands. In the ‘high-anxiety’ condition a man walked out with a paper knife covered in blood. At the end of the study it was shown that 49% of participants were accurate with the low-anxiety condition when identifying the man from the photos and 33% for high-anxiety condition. This links to the tunnel vision theory and how the witnesses attention was narrowed down to the knife as that was the primary source of anxiety.

51
Q

Give me an evaluation of anxiety affecting EWT.

A
  • Demand Characteristics: Weakness
    links to Johnson and Scott study, it was artificial participants might figure out the true aim of the experiment and change their behaviour, this could also link to the Hawthorne effect .
  • Ethical Issues : Weakness
    links to Johnson and Scott study, creating intentional anxiety to participants might be risky, might cause psychological harm
  • Realistic: Strength
    links to Yuille and Cutshall study, this was a real life event. Therefore behaviour and reaction was natural , as it was carried out in a naturalistic setting.
52
Q

What were the 4 different stages of the Cognitive interview ?

A
  1. Report everything : the witness expresses everything that they can remember about a particular event that they have seen. Even if the witness finds it irrelevant.
  2. Reinstate the context : imagining the scene in their head: the environment, feelings, weather etc
  3. Reverse the order: recall event in different chronological order. Makes it harder for an individual to produce an untruthful event if they have to rehearse it. Prevents dishonesty.
  4. Change perspective: recall from other peoples perspectives
53
Q

Give me an evaluation of the Cognitive Interview ?

A
  • It is effective: Strength
    Geinter Kronkhen combined data from 55 studies comparing the CI with a standard interview. The CI gave an average 41% increase in accurate information compared with the standard interview.
  • It is time-consuming: Weakness
    takes longer to set up than a standard interview as you need special training to conduct this interview and some forces cannot provide that.
  • not all of the of the cognitive interview elements are equally as effective or useful: Weakness
    Rebecca Milne and Ray Bull in 2002 found that using a combination of report everything and reinstate the context produce better recall than any of the other elements or a combination of them. This casts some doubt on the credibility of the overall cognitive interview.

Psychology A-Level (7 decks)

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