memory Flashcards
what is the role of the central executive in the working memory model
attentional processes that ministers incoming data, makes decisions and allocates tasks
what is the role of the phonological loop in WMM
deals with auditory information and preserves word order
what is the role of the visual spatial sketch pad
stores visual or spatial information
what is the role of the episodic buffer in WMM
temporary store for information, interesting visual and spatial information processed by other stores
what is episodic long term memory
-long term memory store for personal events
what is semantic long term memory
long term store for our knowledge of the world
what is procedural long term memory
long term store for our knowledge of how to do things
what types of LTM are a conscious effort to retrieve
episodic and semantic
what type of LTM is unconscious to retrieve
procedural
is episodic LTM time stamped
yes
is semantic LTM time stamped
no
is procedural LTM time stamped
no
what is interference
an explanation for forgetting in terms of one memory disrupting the ability to recall another
what is proactive interference
where past learning interfere with current attempts to learn (old interrupts new)
what is retroactive interference
where current attempts to learn something interfere with past learning (new interferes with old)
what was Mcgeoch and McDonalds research about (interference)
- pp’s had to learn a list of 10 words
- then were shown a new least
- each group (6 groups) was shown different words
- synonyms, antonyms, consonant syllables, 3 digit numbers
- they then had to recall the original list of words
what were the findings of Mcgeoch and McDonald findings
- when recalling the original list of words synonyms producers the worst recall, showing interference is strongest when memories are similar
what was the conclusion of Mcgeoch and Mcdonald’s research
- recall of old list was worse when pp’s learnt a new list showing retroactive interference
evaluation of Mcgeochs and Mcdonald’s study
lacks ecological validity as it was conducted in a lab so an artificial environment
what did Tulving find
pp’s who were given a cue after their interference task has increased recall- interference is only temporary so not an explanation for forgetting
what is meant by eye witness testimony
a legal term that refers to an account given by people of an event they have witnessed
three stages of eyewitness testimony
- witness encoded into LTM detail of event and the persons involved
-witness retains information for a period of time, memories could be lost or modified during retention - witness retrieves memory from storage
what is a leading question
a question that is asked in a way to receive a certain answer
What is the procedure it Loftus and Palmer leading questions study
- 45 students shown 7 films of different traffic accidents
- they were then given a questionnaire
- one question was how fast were the cars going when they hit eachother
- the verb hit was changed to: smashed, collided, bumped or contacted
what were the findings of the leading questions study by loftus and palmer
group who heard smashed said the cars were faster than the other groups
what the the response bias explanation suggest
the wording of the question has no real effect on the pp’s memories but just influence how they decide to answer
what does the substitution explanation mean
proposes that the wording of a leading question changes the pp’s memory of the film clip
what are post even discussions
memory of an event may also be altered or contaminated through discussing events with others and/or being questioned multiple times. co-witnesses may reach a conscious view of what actually happened
what does source monitoring theory suggest
memories of the event are genuinely distorted, eyewitness can recall information about event but they can’t recall where it came from (source confusion)
what is the conformity theory
eyewitness memories aren’t distorted by post event discussion but instead the recall changes because they go along with the accounts of the co witness
what was the procedure of Gabberts study in post event discussion
- pp’s were in pairs, each partner watched a different video of the same event (viewed unique items)
- one condition was encouraged to discuss event before each partner individually was present called the event they watched
what was the findings of gabberts study on post event discussion
high number of witnesses (71%) who had discussed events went on to mistakenly recall items acquired during the discussion
what is anxiety
an unpleasant emotional state where we fear that something bad is about to happen. anxiety is accompanied with physical arousal
what is the weapon focus effect
in violent crimes, arousal may focus the witness on more central details of the attack (weapon) than the more peripheral details
what was the procedure of Johnson and scott’s study on factors affecting accuracy of EWT
- pp’s waited outside lab + overheard conversation
- one group heard an amicable discussion about equipment failure + men came out holding a pen
- other group heard a hostile exchange + men came out holding a bloody knife
- both groups had to identify man who left
what was the findings of the johnson and scott study on anxiety
- those who witnessed a pen identified target 49% of the time
-those who witnessed a knife identified target 33% of the time
what were the conclusions of the Johnson and scott study on anxiety
- weapon focus affect caused eye witnesses to focus less on peripheral details and more on the weapon
- anxiety has a negative effect on
what was the procedure of the Yuillr and Cutshall study on anxiety
- shop owners shot thief dead, 22 witnesses, 13 took part in study
- pp’s interviews 4/5 months later and compared with original police ones
- accuracy was tested based on number of details reported
- pp’s rated how stressed they felt on a scale
what was the findings of the Yuille and Cuthsall study on anxiety
- major details of reports stayed the same and minor ones changed
- anxiety experienced at time of even had no effect on memory of event
what was the conclusion of the Yuille and Cutshall study on anxiety
- anxiety has no effect on
- disproves weapon focus effect as memory wasn’t effected because of weapon
what was Baddeleys research into coding in the STM and LTM
- split pp’s into 4 groups
- 1: acoustically similar words
-2; acoustically dissimilar words
-3: semantically similar words
-4: semantically dissimilar words - pp’s then had to recall the lists in the correct order
what was the findings into Baddeleys research on coding in the STM
when STM was tested, pp’s did worse on acoustically similar words, so there was we acoustic confusion in the STM
what was the findings of baddeleys research into coding of the LTM
- pp’s did worse on semantically similar words which shows semantic confusion in the LTM
conclusions of Baddeleys research into coding of the LTM and STM
STM: coding is acoustic
LTM : coding is semantic
summarise peterson and peterson research into duration of STM
- 24 students had 8 trials
- given a constant syllable to remember and a 3 did hit number
- they had to count back from 3 digit number
- on each trial they had to stop after different amounts of time
conclusion of peterson and peterson study on duration STM
STM has a short duration unless we repeat something over and over again
Explain Bahricks key study on duration of LTM
- studied 382 pp’s 17-74
- asked who they could recall from year books
- one by photo recognition and one by free recall
findings of babricks study on duration LTM
free recall was worse than face recognition
explain research on capacity of STM jacob’s
- researcher gives x amount of digits
- pp has to recall in correct order
- if correct the researcher reads out x+1 and so on until pp’s can no longer recall order correctly
what is retrieval failure?
when you cannot retrieve a memory that is there (lack of accessibility rather than availability). it occurs when there’s a lack of cues
Godden and Baddeley (1975) retrieval failure procedure
researchers recruited scuba divers and arranged for them to learn a set of words either on land or on water.
their ability to recall them in each environment was tested
findings of godden and baddeley
highest recall occurred when the initial context matched the recall environment
- this shows importance of context in recalling information
A03 of Godden and Baddeley study
- study is only applied to scuba divers so can’t be generalised so lacks validity
- study shows that context is important for recalling information so therefore supports the idea of retrieval failure
what is state dependent forgetting?
mental state at time of learning can act as an internal cue- if the mental state changed we may forget
Godwin et Al (1969) - state dependant forgetting
- male volunteers were tasked with remembering a list of words while either drunk or sober
- After 24 hours they had to recall the lists, some in the same state and others in a different state
findings of Godwin et al (1969)
- Study found that the recall was better when participants were in the same state as when they learned the information
- Shows the significance of emotional state in learning and memory recall
AO3 of Godwin et al 1969
- only male participants so can’t be generalised - lacks validity
