Memory

Question 1

Describe STM using capacity, duration and encoding

Answer 1

duration of 30 secs
Limited capacity

Question 2

Describe LTM using capacity, duration and encoding

Answer 2

encoding and retention of past events
unlimited capacity
unlimited duration

Question 3

sensory register

Answer 3

the information collected by your senses (eyes, ears, nose, fingers etc)

Question 4

short term memory

Answer 4

your memory for immediate events, STM lasts for a very short time and disappear unless they are rehearsed. STM has limited duration and capacity

Question 5

long term memory

Answer 5

your memory for events that have happened in the past. This lasts anywhere between 2 minutes and 100 years. The LTM store has potentially unlimited duration and capacity

Question 6

encoding

Answer 6

the act of getting information into our memory system through automatic or effortful processing

Question 7

storage

Answer 7

creation of a permanent record of information

Question 8

retrieval

Answer 8

point of finding the memory (giving information out of memory storage and back into consciousness awareness)

Question 9

duration of STM (peterson)

Answer 9

-Investigate the duration of short term memory

-Lab experiment conducted in which 24 participants had to recall meaningless syllables e.g TGH

-These syllables were presented one at a time and had to be recalled after intervals of 3.6.9.12.15 and 18 seconds after each trial

-After heating this, participants were asked to count backwards from a random digit till they saw a red light

-Results –> after 3 seconds 80% were recalled correctly, after 6 seconds this fell to 50% and after 18 seconds this dropped to less than 10%

Question 10

LTM Bahrick

Answer 10

-Investigated the duration of long term memory using 392 American university graduates. The graduates were shown photographs from their highschool yearbook and for each photograph participants were given a group of names to match

Results –> 90% of participants could match the names and faces. 14 years layer only 60% could.

Conclusion –> people could remember certain types of information such as names and faces for almost a lifetime

Question 11

capacity of STM

Answer 11

-Capacity refers to how much information can be held in memory stores. It is measured in terms of bits of information e.g number of digits recalled

-Miller 1956 –> We can hold 7 items in short term memory plus or minus 2. People can recall 5 words as well as they can recall 5 letters. Chunking is to group sets of digits or letters into units. Short term memory stores chunks information rather than individual numbers or letters

-Jacobs 1887 (digit span test) –> Short term memory has a capacity of between 5 items of information, He presented participants with sequences of digits that were increasing in length, as age increases we develop better strategies of recall

Question 12

Coding in STM

Answer 12

-Encoding refers to how memories are changed so that it can be stored.

-Stored in various forms; visual codes, acoustic forms (sound), semantic forms (meaning)

-In STM we usually encode information acoustically

-Baddeley 1996 found that participants presented with words that sound similar found it harder to recall them immediately because information in STM is represented as semantics (hence harder to differentiate)

Question 13

Coding in LTM

Answer 13

-Baddeley concludes that LTM encodes semantically, at least primarily.

-this is why LTM gets confused when it has to retrieve the order words which are semantically similar

-LTM has no problem retrieving acoustically similar words because LTM pays no attention to how words sound

-In most conditions the participants LTM gets a bit of help from STM

Question 14

Baddeley

Answer 14

-showed groups a slideshow with 10 words that were displayed 3 seconds each

-4 levels of IV –> acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar, semantically dissimilar

-Findings –> acoustically similar words were harder to recall than dissimilar . Semantically similar words harder to recall than dissimilar.

Relation to memory –> LTM coded semantically

Question 15

encoding, capacity, duration

Answer 15

Encoding –> raw information that is connected to storing and retrieving (20 mins after recall) -> Baddeley

Capacity –> volume of information which can be kept in a memory store (7 +-2) –> Miller

Duration –> amount of time that information can be stored (30 secs) –> Peterson

Question 16

advantages and disadvantages of coding

Answer 16

Advantage –> separate memory stores –> Baddeley identified clear differences between STM and LTM. Important in understanding the multi store model

Disadvantage –> Artificiality – words had no meaning in Baddeleys study. Does not tell us about coding (limited research application)

Question 17

advantages and disadvantages of capacity

Answer 17

Advantage –> Validity –> Jacob’s study replicated and came to the same conclusions. Original study is therefore reliable and findings are valid

Disadvantage –> Cowan reviewed and research and found out the capacity of STM is 3-5 chunks

Question 18

advantages and disadvantages of duration

Answer 18

Advantage –> High ecological validity –> real findings (Bahrick)

Another strength of the study is that the findings are reliable. For example, Sebrechts et al 1989 asked pp to unexpectedly recall words either immediately after seeing them or some time after seeing them. The pps were not expecting to to have to recall the words so should not have been rehearsing them. It was found that recall was zero even after 4 seconds. Whilst this study shows that the STM has a much shorter duration than suggested by Peterson and Peterson it does support the overall idea that the duration of STM is very limited when rehearsal is prevented.

Disadvantage –> Low external validity

Peterson and peterson -> A final limitation of the study is that it lacks population validity.This is because the participants were all students. Therefore, the findings may not generaliseto the wider population. It should also be considered that the sample size was also fairly small which again limits the ability to generlise the findings.

Question 19

what is the the multi store model of memory

Answer 19

-The multi store model was the first theory that attempted to explain how we retain information in our memory and why we forget information and remember other information for a long period of time

Question 20

order for multi store model

Answer 20

Environmental stimuli –> encode –> sensory register/memory –> attention –> short term memory –> maintenance rehearsal –> information retrieval –> transfer –> long term memory –> retrieval/rehearsal –> output

Question 21

Long steps to multi store model

Answer 21

-Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) put forward the multi store model of memory. This model of memory consists of 3 memory stores (sensory, STM and LTM). This model explains how information is processed and transferred between each distinct store

-The encoding of information in the sensory register tends to be modality specific, has unlimited capacity and limited duration (0.5-2 seconds) before it fades out. Information quickly fades if attention is not given to it. If attention is given then it is transferred to the STM.

-For information to be effectively transferred from the sensory register to STM it needs to be encoded acoustically. Rehearsal must take place. If information is not encoded correctly or maintenance rehearsal does not take place the information will fade quickly (18 seconds)

-STM has a limited capacity (5-9 pieces of information) but can be increased by breaking down information

-elaborate rehearsal is the means by which information is transferred from the STM to LTM. This means that information has been verbally rehearsed in a meaningful way.

-LTM memory is unlimited duration possibly lasting a lifetime

Question 22

clive wearing

Answer 22

-He lost his memory after contracting virus encephalitis. The disease resulted in one of the most severe cases of amnesia ever recorded. Today he lives in an assisted living facility

-Wearing contracted a form of viral encephalitis caused by herpes which attacked his CNS and caused significant brain damage. His hippocampus was removed

-He was unable to rehearse LTM

Question 23

strengths to MSM

Answer 23

acknowledges the qualitative differences between STM and LTM by representing them as separate stores. E.g STM is located acoustically and LTM located semantically

-supporting research evidence (Baddeley)

Question 24

limitations of MSM

Answer 24

-MSM states that STM is a unitary store (only one type) but evidence from people suffering w amnesia shows this cannot be true. For example shallice and warrington studied a patient with amnesia and his recall was good when reading to himself but poor when read information outloud

-Reductionist –> there is more than one type of rehearsal

Question 25

patient HM

Answer 25

lost memory due to removal of hippocampus (experienced loss of conscious memories and retrograde amnesia)

Question 26

MSM

Answer 26

The multi store of memory is a structural model of memory. It is comprised of 3 unitary stores (STM, LTM, SR). Information passes from store to store in a linear way. Environmental information arrives via your sensory register. If attention is not paid then information will decay rapidly. Paying attention causes the transference of information to STM. The original model suggests rehearsing information in STM causes it to transfer to your LTM.

Question 27

why is it difficult to process two conversations simultaneously such as talking on the phone and listening to a friend at the same time

Answer 27

-they interfere with eachother and performance is reduced
-the phonological and visual sketchpad are separate systems within the working model and cannot operate at the same time

Question 28

Working memory model steps

Answer 28

1) Central Executive –> component of the working memory model co-ordinates the activities of the three subsystems in memory. Allocates processing resources to those activities.

2) Episodic buffer –> component of the WMM that brings together material from the other subsystems into a single memory rather than separate strands. Provides a bridge between working memory and LTM.

3) Visuospatial sketchpad –> processes visual and spatial (location) information in a mental space often called the inner eye

4) Phonological loop –> processes information in terms of sound. Included both written and spoken material. Divided into the phonological store and acoustic store

5) Articulatory loop –> allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating words or sounds)

Phonological store –> stores the words you hear

Question 29

central executive

Answer 29

limited processing capacity + process and monitors incoming data/makes decision

Question 30

phonological loop

Answer 30

2 seconds –> deals with auditory information and presents order of information

Question 31

visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 31

limited capacity (3 or 4 objects) –> stores information when required

Question 32

episodic buffer

Answer 32

temporary store of information (limited capacity – 4 chunks)

Question 33

dual task experiment
(WMM)

Answer 33

-demonstrated the existence of a visuo-spatial pad by using a dual task paradigm. Asked participants to do 2 tasks that would utilise the visuo-spatial sketch pad

Findings –> if one store is used for both tasks then performance is poorer than when completed separately. If tasks require difference stores than performance would be unaffected

Question 34

strengths of working memory model

Answer 34

-High internal validity –> model was developed based on evidence from lab experiments. Confounding variables controlled to produce reliable results. Has ability to be replicated

-Supporting evidence –> Baddeley and Hitch. Conducted an experiment involving a repeated list of numbers. Concluded these results suggested verbal reasoning using the central executive.

-Studies of dual task information –> , where each participant must undertake a visual and verbal task simultaneously, shows decreased performance for such tasks and so supports the idea that the central executive has a very limited processing capacity (as predicted by the WMM) and that the slave systems are in competition with each other for these tasks and resources.

-Neuroscanning evidence –> such as that provided by Braver et al, has demonstrated a positive correlation between an increasing cognitive load processed by the central executive (as marked by increasing task difficulty) and increasing levels of activation in the prefrontal cortex. This supports the idea that the central executive has the role of allocating tasks to slave systems and has a limited processing capacity, as reflected by the increased brain activation levels, thus suggesting that the WMM is accurate in its mechanism of the central executive.

Question 35

limitations of working memory model

Answer 35

-Low ecological validity –> lab experiment lacks practical applications.

-Too simplistic and vague –> the WMM has been critised for being too simplistic and vague, unclear what the central executive is or its true role in attention

Question 36

what are the three types of memory

Answer 36

recognition
recall
reminder/remembrance

Question 37

what does case study patient HM provide evidence for

Answer 37

multi store model
-he had his hippocampus removed

Question 38

duration of memory

Answer 38

STM = Peterson
LTM = Bahrick

Question 39

what is needed for information to be converted from sensory register to STM

Answer 39

attention

Question 40

how is information transferred from STM to LTM

Answer 40

rehearsal

Question 41

true or false - the multi store of memory is unitary

Answer 41

true (linear)

Question 42

what does the working memory model show

Answer 42

STM
(Baddely and Hitch)

Question 43

clive wearing

Answer 43

STM was damaged

Question 44

Shallice and Warrington (KF)

Answer 44

Shallice and Warrington studied KF a man whose brain had been injured in a motorcycle accident. KF’s LTM functioned normally but his STM was severely impaired. 1-2 chunks only. Further investigation showed that KF forgot letters and digits much faster when he received them auditorily than visually. KF also had normal STM span for meaningful sounds.

—> KF = working memory model (separate slave stores)

Question 45

subdivisions of LTM

Answer 45

-The WMM shows that the MSM is an over-simplified explanation of memory. There is more than one type of short-term store and the situation is the same with LTM. Research indicates the existence of several types

-The main sub-division of the LTM is into explicit and implicit

Question 46

episodic LTM

Answer 46

-personal recollections

-LTM store for personal events. It involves memories of when events occurred and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved

-conscious and time stamped

Question 47

semantic LTM

Answer 47

-general knowledge

-LTM store for our knowledge o the world. Includes facts and our knowledge of what worlds and concepts mean

-not time stamped and conscious

Question 48

procedural LTM

Answer 48

knowing how

-LTM store for our knowledge of how to do things

-includes our memories of learned skills

-not conscious and not time stamped

Question 49

who came up w the idea of types of LTM

Answer 49

Tulving et alt

Question 50

testing episodic and semantic memories

Answer 50

episodic –> ask questions about events from earlier

semantic –> ask questions about knowledge of the world e.g who composed a specific piece of music

Question 51

why does clive wearing play the same type of music again and again

Answer 51

-procedural LTM was intact
-cannot form new memories as episodic LTM was damaged so thus cannot remember playing the same piece of music the previous time

Question 52

evaluation episodic LTM (4 marks)

Answer 52

Strength = real life applications = Clive wearing

Question 53

who demonstrated that semantic memories were recalled from the left prefrontal cortex

Answer 53

Peterson et al (different neurological bases)

Question 54

classic research (types of LTM)

Answer 54

Patient HM and Clive wearing produced clinical evidence in which both their episodic memory was severely impaired but for different reasons (amnesia). They couldn’t recall memories from the past but semantic memories were unaffected. Supports Tulving’s view that there are different memory stores in LTM in different parts of the brain

-Baddedly

Question 55

contemporary research (types of LTM)

Answer 55

Brain scan studies show different types of memory are stored in different parts of the brain e.g tulving et al got participants to perform memory tests while brains were scanned using PET scanner. E.g episodic and semantic memory in prefrontal cortex (right vs left)

-Hodges and Patterson –> found that some people with Alizhimer’s could form new episodic memories but not semantic memories

Question 56

psychology in the real world (types of LTM)

Answer 56

Belleville et al (2006) demonstrated that episodic memories could be improved in older people who has mild cognitive impairment. Trained participants performed better in a test of episodic memory after training than control group

-types of LTM enabled specific treatments to be developed

Question 57

HM + dog

Answer 57

could not recall stroking a dog but he understood the concept and meaning of a dog

Question 58

LTM

Answer 58

Both Clive wearing and patient HM had procedural memories for example, they both knew how to tie their shoelaces, walk, speak and wearing could play the piano but lost their semantic/episodic memories

LTM memory is more complex than a unitary store

Question 59

neuroimaging evidence

Answer 59

Frontal lobe –> stores semantic and episodic memories

Motor cortex –> storing procedural memories

Prefrontal cortex –> storage of short term memories

Temporal lobe –> storage of LT semantic and episodic memories

Amygdala –> formation of new emotional memories

Hippocampus –> formation of new LT semantic and episodic memories

Cerebellum –> important role in storage of procedural memories

Question 60

Explain what is meant by procedural LTM

definition + example

Answer 60

-knowledge of learned skills
-e.g how to ride a bike
-not conscious and not time stamped

Question 61

evaluate episodic LTM

Answer 61

-strength = research evidence e.g clive wearing
-highlights separate memory stores

Question 62

interference

Answer 62

Interference is one explanation for forgetting (where the memory for one thing disrupts the recall of another)

-Forgetting/distortion of memory due to interference (two pieces of information conflict w eachother)

Question 63

types of interference

Answer 63

proactive interference
retroactive interference

Question 64

proactive interference

Answer 64

-old memory is remembered but not new memory

-old memories affect the ability to remember new memories

-information learnt interferes with information that is new

Question 65

retroactive interference

Answer 65

-new memory is remembered but not old memory

-new information interferes with the retrieval of old information

-e,g cant remember names from last year but can remember from this year

Question 66

Muller + Pilzeker (retroactive)

Answer 66

-first to identify retroactive interference

-gave ppts nonsense syllables to learn for 6 mins and recall lists

-performance was less good if ppts were given an intervening task between initial learning and recall

-interfering task produced as a later task was affected by previous learnings

Question 67

Underwood (proactive)

Answer 67

-effect of proactive interference on LTM

-experiment resembles Peterson and Peterson study (meaningless syllables)

-participants typically remembered trigrams presented irrespective of interval length

-probability of recall decreased from 80 when there was no list to 20 following 20 lists

-proactive interference occurred as memory from earlier constants interfered LTM for new consonants

Question 68

McGeoch and McDonald (1931)

Answer 68

-effects of similarity on interference

-studied retroactive interference by changing similarity between two sets of materials

-participants had to learn a list of 10 new words until they could 100% remember it. They then learned a new list

-6 groups with categories e.g synonyms/antonyms

-When participants recalled original lists of words their performance depended on nature of 2nd list

-most similar material produced the worst recall

Question 69

strengths - interference

Answer 69

-lab experiments + consistent results

-research evidence

-Baddely and Hitch –> in a group of rugby players who had to recall their last game and the number of games they’d played that season (which would be different for each player), the number of games they’d played since was more important than the total time they’d been playing for. This can be explained in terms of interference, where the more games each player had played, the more likely the memories of these newer games would interfere or block the recall of older games i.e. retroactive interference.

Question 70

limitations - interference

Answer 70

-artificial stimulus –> low mundane realism + lacks personal meaning

• that they are often conducted in very short spaces of time, with participants recalling their words 1 or 2 hours after they have learnt them. This does not reflect the normal passage of time in everyday life, where we often find that several days pass until we need to recall such information e.g. in the case of an exam. Therefore, this suggests that interference is unlikely to be a valid explanation for forgetting from the LTM.

Question 71

Describe how retrieval failure due to absence of cues leads to forgetting (6)

Answer 71

-context dependent forgetting
-state dependent forgetting
-trace decay
-encoding specificity principle
-baddeley and godden
-carter and cassaday

Question 72

types of cue dependent forgetting

Answer 72

-context –> external environmental cues

-state –> internal cues

Question 73

context dependent forgetting

Answer 73

-improved recall of specific episodes of information when contextual cues relating to the environment are the same during encoding and retrieval

-more likely to remember something learned if in the same environment

Question 74

state dependent forgetting

Answer 74

-forgetting which occurs because the emotional or physical state of recall is different to that of the time of learning

Question 75

trace decay

Answer 75

-learned memories in our brain eventually fade overtime if not rehearsed or retrieved (automatic function)

-suggests limited duration of the STM

Question 76

encoding specificity principle

Answer 76

Encoding specificity principle –> the greater the similarity between the encoding event and the retrieval event, the greater the likelihood of recalling original memories

Question 77

godden and baddely (context dependent forgetting)

Answer 77

-asked deep sea divers to learn a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall words

-4 conditions –> underwater learning, land learning, recall in same context, recall in opposite context

Findings:

-accurate recall was 40% lower than in non-matching conditions because encoding event and retrieval event were not similar so reduced likelihood of reducing learnt information

-correlation between environment and effectiveness of retrieval

Question 78

carter and cassaday (state dependent forgetting)

Answer 78

-Looked at the effect of anti-histamines on participants

-made participants slightly drowsy –> created an internal physiological state different from normal state of being awake and alert

-participants had to learn a list of words and passages of prose and then recall information in 4 conditions

Group 1 –> learning w drug, recall w drug

Group 2 –> learning without drug, recall without drug

Group 3 –> learning w drug, recall without drug

Group 4 –> learning without drug, recall w drug

Findings:

-in the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on memory test was significantly worse as physiological state was affected

-when cues are absent e.g drowsy then there is more forgetting

-hard to control for extraneous variables as drowsiness could not be to the drug but due to fatigue etc

Question 79

strengths of retrieval faliure

Answer 79

-research evidence to support context dependent forgetting (Baddeley and Godden)

-research evidence to support for state dependent forgetting (Carter and Cassaday)

Question 80

limitations of retrieval failure

Answer 80

-very little direct support for decay theory as an explanation for loss of information from STM to LTM. Decay theory is more or less impossible to test. If you prevent rehearsal there will be interference. Therefore not enough scientific evidence to draw valid conclusions

-studies lack ecological validity e.g Baddley and Godden argued that it is difficult to find polar conditions in real life; retrieval failure is associated with more abnormal conditions

-Context isnt very strong in real life

Question 81

Explain how anxiety might have affected eyewitness testimony of this event

Answer 81

-Define EWT and anxiety
-scenario
-positive effect on recall
-research evidence = yuille and cutshall

Question 82

Eye witness testimony and its uses

Answer 82

-Eye witness testimony –> ability of people to remember the details of events such as accidents and crimes which they themselves have observed. Accuracy is affected by misleading information, leading questions and anxiety

-Eye witness testimony uses –> recorded in a police statement, verbal testimony to be used in court of law

Question 83

anxiety

Answer 83

-unpleasant emotional state where we fear that something bad is about to happen. Stress/fear accompanied by physiological factors such as increased heart rate

Question 84

tunnel theory of memory

Answer 84

the superior recognition and recall of central, emotion-arousing details in a traumatic event as shown in previous research on emotion and memory. When you can focus on a traumatic event that has happened and remember the details but miss other information around

Question 85

anxiety has a negative effect - Johnson and Scott

Answer 85

-Aim –> effect of weapons (which create anxiety) on accuracy of recall of the witness. More focus on weapon = less recall

Procedure –> IV = type of argument (high or low anxiety condition) DV = accuracy of recall

-Participants were led to believe they were going to take part in a lab study. Participants heard and argument in the next room and a man walked out with a pen and greasy knife. Another argument had participants hearing glass breaking and man walked out holding paper knife covered in fake blood

-Results –> participants later had to pick out a picture of the man from a set of 50 photos. 49% could identify the man. 33% of participants had said they had seen a man holding bloody knife

Conclusion –> overall anxiety has a negative effect of recall because tunnel theory of memory…

Question 86

positive effects of anxiety (Yuille and Cutshall)

Answer 86

-Aim –> stress of crime / anxiety and effect on physiological arousal. Fight or flight response on recall and memory cues

Procedure –> study of real life shooting in shop in Vancouver

IV = time of report

DV = number of details recorded into the account and stress rating

-shop owner shot a thief dead. 21 witnesses. 13 agreed to take part in study and interviews. Interview 4-5 months after accident

Witnesses also had to rate stress levels on 7 point scale

-Results –> witnesses were accurate in their accounts and their was little change in accuracy after 5 months though some things were lost. 88% when stressed, 75% for less stressed group

Conclusion –> more stressed you are the more likely you are to recall and remember things

Question 87

Yerkes and Dodson

Answer 87

Yerkes and Dodson (1908):

-believe the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an inverted u

Question 88

Deffenbacher

Answer 88

Deffenbacher applied the Yerkes-Dodson law to EWT:

-lower levels of anxiety = produce lower levels of recall accuracy

-after optimal levels are reached and witness continues to experience high levels of stress, the accuracy EWT decreases

Question 89

strengths EWT

Answer 89

-Research support + positive effects which adds credibility to eyewitness testimony

Question 90

limitations EWT + anxiety

Answer 90

-Weapon focus may not be relevant –> Potentially Johnson and Scott’s study may be a test or surprise rather than anxiety. Ppts may focus on weapon bc they don’t expect it. Similar research has found that when in that crime situation ppts had poor EWT due to focusing on handheld items including rubber chicken as much as they did a gun

-Inverted-u explanation is too simplistic –> only assumes that one factor it linked to poor performance (physical arousal) rather than other factors. Anxiety is very difficult to define and measure accurately as it has many elements. Therefore, a more complex and detailed explanation for performance link to physiological arousal should be developed as level of performance is not only affected by one thing

-Field studies sometimes lack control –> Yuille and Cutshall. Extraneous variables may have been responsible for the recall and is overwhelmed by other factors

-Ethical issues –> Johnson and Scott experiment inflicted real psychological harm. Perhaps interviews of real incidents should be done instead.

Question 91

misleading information

Answer 91

-Incorrect information given to the eyewitness usually after the event (post-event). It can take many forms such as leading questions and post-event discussion between co-witnesses and/or other people

Question 92

leading questions

Answer 92

Leading questions –> A question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer e.g was the knife in the accused’s left hand, suggesting the answer is in the left hand

Question 93

response bias explanation

Answer 93

Response-bias explanation –> suggests that the wording of the question has no real effect on the participant’s memories but just influences how they decide to answer

Question 94

substitution explanation

Answer 94

Substitution explanation –> the wording of a leading question actually changes the participants memory

Question 95

Loftus and palmer experiment 1

Answer 95

-Aim = accuracy of memory after witnessing a car accident in particular to see if leading questions distorted the accuracy of eyewitness’s immediate recall

-Procedure –> 45 college students were shown 7 films of different traffic accidents. After each film participants were given a questionnaire which asked them to describe the accident and then answer specific questions about it. “How fast were the cars going when they ___ eachother”.5 groups in total with different verbs –> smashed, collided, bumped, hit, contacted

-Mean speed estimate was calculated for each group:

Results: smashed = 40.8 mph

Collided = 39.3 mph

Bumped = 34.0 mph

Hit = 38.1 mph

Contacted = 31.8 mph

DV = questionnaire but limitation is that it can be subjective and thus not generalisable

Conclusions = EWT is unreliable

Question 96

loftus and palmer - experiment 2

Answer 96

-Aim = to see if indeed memory was altered by misleading post-event information

-Procedure = new set of participants divided into 3 groups and shown a film of a car accident lasting one minute. Group 1 was given verb smashed, group 2 = hit, group 3 control group not having question abt speed of car. The participants returned one week later and were asked 10 questions with the critical question “Did you see any broken glass”.

-Results = participants gave higher speed estimates in the smashed condition and were more likely to think they saw broken glass for smashed condition

Smashed = 16 yes 34 = no

Hit = 7 yes 43 = no

Control = 6 yes 44 = no

Question 97

strength -> misleading information

Answer 97

Strength:

-Research = real life applications –> improve the way legal systems work, police officers need to be more careful in the way the phrase information

Question 98

Limitation - misleading information

Answer 98

-Research is lab based so lacks ecological validity = cannot be generalisable to everyday life = experiment 1 for Loftus and Palmer. Participants lack physiological arousal brought be a real life traumatic situation

-Real life applications show that EWT can be unreliable (Ryan Ferugson case)

• The artificial tasks and stimuli used by both Loftus and Palmer, alongside Gabbert, reduces the ecological validity of the findings and the mundane realism of the methodology. For example, the film clips of the car crashes do not expose participants to the anxiety of experiencing a real-life car crash. This anxiety may either have a negative (Johnson and Scott) or positive (Yuille and Cutshall) effect on the accuracy of EWT, thus biasing the findings.

Question 99

Fisher and Giesman –> cognitive interview

Answer 99

-Fisher and Geiselman et al (2003) developed the cognitive interview which aimed to reduce the impact of misleading information and poor interview technique on eyewitness accounts

-Research identified that leading questions can affect the way in which participants recall and EWT. Participants who are guided towards an answer which indicate that something occurred are more likely to believe they saw something which didnt happen

-The use of leading questions can be highly influential and is something that can be controlled

-Cognitive interview aims to reduce errors in accuracy with EWT

Question 100

Ryan Ferguson case

Answer 100

role of misleading information and leading questions

Question 101

steps for cognitive interview

Answer 101

1) Report everything –> witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event even if it seems irrelevant or the witness is not confident about it –> this helps trigger important memories/cues to reinstate information

2) Reinstate the context –> Witnesses should return to original crime scene in their mind and imagine the environment –> related to context dependent forgetting

3) Reverse the order –> events should be recalled in a different chronological order for the original sequence –> this prevents people reporting their expectation of how the event might have happened (prevents dishonesty)

4) Recall from a changed perspective –> Witnesses should recall the incident from other peoples perspectives –> disrupts expectations and schema or recall

Question 102

enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 102

-focus on interactions between interviewer and interviewee (social dynamics)

-Involved reducing EWT/anxiety, minimizing distractions, asking open ended questions, asking questions slowly

Question 103

Strengths of the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 103

-accurate and has real life applications –> Fisher found that witnesses reported greater detail in accounts of crime when American detectives used this technique as it is more structured and thorough

-supporting evidence –> Kohnken et al conducted a meta analysis to show the enhanced cognitive interview improved consistency and correct information = practical benefits which increase credibility

-The entire CI need not be used to reap the benefits, as Milne and Bull (2002) suggested, where
context reinstatement and report everything produced the greatest accuracy of recall of correct
information as compared to any other combinations of steps. This means that even if police forces do
not have enough time to train the entire force for all of the 4 steps involved in the CI, even gradual
changes from the standard police interview can increase the accuracy and reliability of eyewitness
testimony

Question 104

Limitations of the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 104

-Time consuming and long to conduct –> rapport must be published and requires specialist training of police officers. Kebbell and Wagstaff found many police offices did not use this technique in less serious crimes bc they had less time

-Increase in inaccurate information –> 81% in correct information but also 61% in inaccurate information compared to standard interview. Lacks reliability and objectivity

Question 105

declarative vs non declarative memory

Answer 105

declarative = consiously recall
non decalarative = unconsciously recall

Question 106

subcomponents of the phonological loop

Answer 106

-primary acoustic store
-articulatory process

Question 107

primary acoustic store

Answer 107

-filter out auditory information that is not needed
-store auditory information for 1-2 seconds

Question 108

articulatory process

Answer 108

the capacity of the articulaory process is determined by how many words we can say in 2 seconds

Question 109

LTM declarative vs non declarative

Answer 109

procedural = non declarative

episodic and semantic = declerative

Question 110

how is LTM created

Answer 110

through maintenance rehersal

Question 111

what part of LTM memory did clive wearing and patient HM damage

Answer 111

episodic not procedural or semantic

Question 112

central executive

Answer 112

co-ordinates slave systems and allocates resources
limited storage

Question 113

episodic buffer

Answer 113

integrates processing of slave systems and records order of events
linked to LTM

Question 114

Tulving and Potska

Answer 114

Tulving and Psotka’s study supports interference theory because in the free recall condition, the results showed that the more participants had to learn, the less they remembered. This is evidence of retroactive interference, where new memories interfere with similar, older memories. The study also supports cue-dependent theory because participants in the cued condition recalled more words overall than those in the free recall condition. This is evidence that external cues helped participants to recall information.

Question 115

declarative memories

Answer 115

things that we can recall out loud