Memory Flashcards
How is STM coded
Acoustically
How is LTM coded
Semantically
Who conducted a study into how STM and LTM are coded?
Baddeley
Outline Baddeleys findings into coding for STM and LTM
Baddeley found that more mistakes were found when recalling acoustically similar words straight after learning them, where as more mistakes were made when recalling semantically similar words 20 minutes after learning them.
Who conducted a study into the capacity of STM
Miller
What did Miller state the capacity of STM is?
7 +/- 2 items
Outline Millers research into STM
- Miller reviewed existing research on the capacity of memory and hypothesised that STM has a capacity of 5-9 items.
- He stated that we recall this through chunking, which is when we group related items together so they can be remembered easier
Who’s research supports millers hypothesis?
Jacobs
Outline Jacobs research into capacity of STM
- He asked ppts to recall a list of digits or letters straight after learning them
- he found that the mean score for recalling letters was 7.3 and the mean digit recall was 9.3
- this supports the fact of STM having a capacity of 5-9 items
Who conducted a study into the Duration of STM?
Petersen
What did petersen find about the duration of STM
That the duration of STM is 18-30 seconds
Outline Petersen’s study into the duration of STM
- Asked ppts to recall a given consonant whilst counting down from a 3 digit number at different intervals after learning it
- found that after 18 seconds the recall rate was only 2%
- this shows STM has a low duration
Why were ppts asked to count down from a 3 digit number in Petersens study
To prevent maintenance rehearsal
Who conducted a study into the duration of long term memory?
Bahrick
What did Bahrick find about the duration of LTM
That is is unlimited
Outline Bahricks study into LTM
- asked 400 high school graduates to recall different faces from their yearbook after different time intervals from graduating
- Found that photo recognition of classmates only dropped from 90% to 70% accuracy after 15 years and 46 years of graduating
Who found individual differences in STM capacity?
Jacobs
What did Jacob find about individual differences in STM capacity?
Found that digit recall increases steadily with age, 8 year olds could remember 6.6 digits whereas 19 year olds could remember 8.6 digits
- this shows that the capacity for STM is not fixed
What is one weakness into the research into Duration of STM?
- The tasks that they were asked to complete were very low in mundane realism
- they were remembering meaningless consonants that didn’t have any context attached to them
What is one criticism of Baddeleys research into coding for STM and LTM?
He may not have properly tested LTM
- he only waited 20 minutes after the ppts had learnt the word list before asking them to recall it
- it is questionable wether this is long enough for the words to be placed into long term memory
Who proposed the Multi store model of memory?
Atkinson and Shiffrin
Outline the Multi store model of memory
1- environmental stimuli enters the sensory register which is where information from the senses is held
2- if attention is given to one of the senses then the information from that will be transferred into STM
3- Information is held in the STM for immediate tasks, STM has a limited duration and capacity so information can be lost if not rehearsed or it can be displaced by other information
4- Maintenance rehearsal is the repetition that transfers information into LTM
5- information is stored in LTM and has an unlimited duration and capacity, if information is to be retrieved then it must be processed back into STM for it to be recalled
Who found supporting evidence for the MSM of memory using brain scans?
Beardsley (1997)
Outline Beardsleys study into the MSM of memory
Used brain scanning techniques to find that the pre-frontal cortex is active during STM but it isn’t during LTM
- this provides support for there being multiple stores of memory
Name one case study that supports the MSM of memory
HM
Outline the HM case study
- HM had his hippocampus Surgically removed to treat his severe epilepsy
- his personality and intellect remained in tact however he could not form new LTMs even though he could still recall LTMs from before the surgery
Why does HMs case study provide support for the MSM of memory?
It supports the idea that there are separate stores as HM was unable to transfer information from STM to LTM but was still able to retrieve information from before his surgery
What is one criticism of the MSM of memory?
It suggests that STM and LTM are both unitary stores however other research such as the Working memory model suggests that there are multiple stores within STM memory
Who proposed the working memory model?
Baddeley and Hitch
What are the 4 main components of the working memory model
- Central executive
- phonological loop
- Visuo-spatial sketch pad
- Episodic buffer
What is the role of the central executive?
The central executive directs attention to particular tasks, determining where the brains resources should be allocated. These resources that the CE allocates from are the 3 other sub systems in the WMM
Outline the phonological loop
Deals with auditory information and preserves the order of information
What are the two sections of the phonological loop
- the phonological store (inner ear)
- articulatory process (inner voice)
What does the phonological store (inner ear) do?
Holds the words that you hear
What does the articulatory process (inner voice) do?
Silently repeats words that are heard or seen, this acts as a form of maintenance rehearsal
What is the role of the Visuo-spatial sketch pad?
Allows us to visualise the physical relationship between objects that we have remembered
Outline the role of the episodic buffer
It integrates information from both the VSS and the Phonological loop in order for them to be transferred into LTM. Effectively records events (episodes) that are happening
Who researched dual task performance as support for the working memory model?
Baddeley and Hitch
Outline Baddeley and Hitch’s study into dual task performance
Asked Ppts to complete two different tasks simultaneously. When the tasks occupied the same sub system of working memory the task was completed much slower compared to when the tasks occupied different subsystems
Who conducted a case study to provide support for the Working memory model?
Shallice and Warrington
What was the name of the person Shallice and Warrington conducted a case study on?
KF
Outline the KF case study
- a study on an individual with brain damage
KF had much worse short term forgetting of auditory information compared to visual information. Most of his auditory forgetting problems came from verbal material - this supports that there are different memory stores within working memory
Who criticised the WMM’s explanation for the central executive
Elslinger and Damasio
Who did Elsinger and Damasio conduct a study into to research the central executive?
EVR
Outline Elslinger and Damasio’s case study into EVR
- studies EVR who had a cerebral tumour removed
- he performed well on reasoning tests which would suggest his central executive was in tact
- however he had very poor decision making skills and would spend hours making simple decisions which would suggest his central executive was not in tact
- this conflicting evidence suggests that the central executive is much more complex than Baddeley and Hitch first proposed
What are the three types of long term memory?
- Episodic
- Semantic
- procedural
What is episodic memory?
Personal memory of events
What are three elements of episodic memory?
- the specific details of the event
- the context in which the event occurred
- associated emotions with the event
What is semantic memory?
Facts or knowledge, not exclusive to a singular person
What are procedural memories?
Memory for how to complete certain tasks, for example riding a bike
- they are often automatic and don’t require thought
What experimental method supports the three different LTM stores?
Brain scan research
What part of the brain is associated with episodic memory?
The hippocampus
What part of the brain is associated with semantic memory?
The temporal lobe
What part of the brain is associated with procedural memory?
The cerebellum and the motor cortex
How does the HM case study provide support for the three types of LTM?
- His hippocampus was removed, also parts of his temporal lobe were destroyed
- he could still form new procedural memories for example the ability to draw a figure by looking at its reflection in the mirror, a skill called mirror drawing
- but he could not form new episodic or semantic memories
What is interference
An explanation for forgetting where one memory disrupts the recall of another
When is interference most likely to occur?
When two memories have some similarity
What is proactive interference?
When an old memory interferes with a new memory
What is retroactive interference?
When new memories interfere the recall of old memories
Who conducted a study into retroactive interference?
Müller
Outline Müllers study into retroactive interference
- two groups
- asked both groups to learn a list of nonsense syllables for 6 minutes
- one group then had to complete a task of describing 3 paintings
- then both group were asked to recall the list of syllables
- the group who didn’t have an intervening task had a much better recall of the syllable list
Explain the conclusion of Müllers experiment in terms of retroactive interference
The task of describing the paintings caused retroactive interference as the latter task interfered with the syllable list that they had previously learned
Who conducted research into proactive interference?
Underwood
Outline Underwoods research into proactive interference
- he analysed findings from a number of studies
- he concluded that when ppts have to learn a series of word lists then they do not learn the latter lists as well as the lists they learnt first
- this provides support for proactive interference, as the previous learning of information effects the ability to learn latter information
What is one problem with the studies into interference?
- Within the studies the ppts are asked to remember random words/ nonsense syllable
- This doesn’t relate to everyday use of memory and could therefore lead to lower recall scores
- this would lead to the effects of interference being exaggerated
Who conducted research into the real world application of interference?
Danaher (2008)
Outline Danahers findings into the application of interference to advertising
- Found that both recall and recognition of an advertisers message were impaired when ppts were exposed to two adverts of competing brands within a week
- This led to the strategy of companies running multiple adverts over one day instead of spreading them out over the week
What is the general basis of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting?
That we do not forget memories because we lose the information, but because we cannot recall them, and things such as contextual cues can help this
What is the encoding specificity principle?
The idea that memory is most effective if information that was present at encoding is also present at the time of retrieval
Which two types of forgetting relate to the encoding specificity principle?
- context dependant forgetting
- state dependant forgetting
Who conducted a study into context dependant forgetting?
Godden and Baddeley
Outline Godden and Baddeley’s study into context dependant forgetting
- used scuba divers and either taught them a set of words either on land or underwater
- then they were tested these words either on land or on water, having 4 experimental conditions
- the best recall was found to be those who were tested in the same context that they learnt the words
What is one weakness of baddeley and goddens research into retrieval failure?
- The tasks may lack ecological validity
- As learning a list of words underwater is not a normal task and is therefore a very very strong contextual cue
- so this May overstate the importance of contextual cues affecting the retrieval of LTM
