memory

Question 1

what is coding and research into it?

Answer 1

coding is the format information is stored.
Baddeley gave different word lists to groups - g1 acoustically similar, g2 acoustically dissimilar, g3 semantically similar and g4 semantically dissimilar.
participants were shown the lists and asked to recall them in the correct order. recall was straight after to test short term memory and pts did worse on acoustically dissimilar words showing recall is acoustic in stm.
if recall was after 20 minutes to test long term memory, they did worse on semantically dissimilar meaning ltm is stored semantically.

Question 2

evaluate the coding research

Answer 2

weakness - the artificial stimuli of word lists means they had no personal meaning to the pts. this means we have to be cautious about generalising findings to different kinds of memory tasks, so if we process meaningful info then we may use semantic in stm which suggests these findings have a limited application

Question 3

what is capacity and research into it?

Answer 3

capacity is the amount of info a store can hold.
stm was tested by Jacobs 1887 who developed a technique to measure digit span. he gave pts a four digit number to recall in the correct order. if they got it correct the researcher gave them 5 digits and kept adding digits till they got it wrong. they found an average of 9.3 for digits or 7.8 for letters.
stm was also tested by miller 1956. its described as millers magic 7s. he observed that things often came in sevens like the days of the week or notes on a musical scale. this suggests stm has a capacity of around 7. he also found people recalled 5 words as well as 5 letters through chunking.

Question 4

evaluate capacity research

Answer 4

a weakness of jacobs study was that it lacks validity due to it being a long time ago (1887). this means it lacks adequate control, for example the pts could have been distracted so they didnt perform at their best. this means the results may not be valid.
a weakness of millers study is that he may have overestimated the capacity of stm. Cowan 2001 reviewed other research and found stm may only have a capacity of 4 chunks, so the lower end of millers estimate (5) may be more appropriate than 7.

Question 5

explain research into stm duration

Answer 5

duration is how long info is held in a store.
stm was tested by peterson and peterson 1959. they testes 24 undergrad students in 8 trials. each trial they were given a trigram (random 3 letters) to remember. they were told to count back from a 3 digit number in to avoid any rehearsal of the trigram. they had to stop after 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds (the retention interval). the results showed stm has a short duration unless we rehearse.

Question 6

explain research into ltm duration

Answer 6

ltm was tested by barrack 1975 who studied 392 pts from ohio aged 17-74. they had the yearbook for each pts and recall was tested in two ways - photo recognition where they were shown 50 photos from the yearbook to identify or free recall where they had to recall names of their graduating class.
if they were in 15yrs of graduation around 90% accurate in photo recognition and 60% in free recall. if they were within 48yrs of graduation in photo rec they were 70% accurate and in free recall they were 30%. this shows ltm has a long duration.

Question 7

evaluate duration research

Answer 7

a weakness of peterson and peterson is it had artificial stimuli as remembering trigrams doesn’t reflect real life memory use. we are normally remembering meaningful things so it lacks validity.
a strength of bahrick is it has high external validity. they studied meaningful real life memories. studies of ltm with meaningless pictures has lower recall (Shepard 1961)
a weakness of bahrick is it had confounding variables that werent controlled, participants may have looked or not looked at their yearkbook and rehearsed their memory over they years

Question 8

what are tulvings three types of long term memory?

Answer 8

tulving proposed three types. episodic is our memory of events and its timestamped. it includes details like people or places and includes the memory of our first concert.
semantic is our knowledge of the world and is described as a combination of a encyclopedia and a dictionary. it includes facts, knowledge of things and memory of words. its not time stamped and includes things like the location of the eiffel tower.
procedural is for actions or skills like tying our laces. recall has no conscious effort or awareness and is difficult to explain to people.

Question 9

evaluate tulvings types of long term memory

Answer 9

all three evaluations are strengths.
a strength is clinical evidence from clive wearing whos episodic was damaged due to amnesia from a brain infection. his semantic and procedural was unaffected so clive could remember how to play piano and sing. supports tulvings views of different stores as it shows one can be damaged but others arent.
another strength is evidence from neuroimaging that shows different types of memory are stored in different parts of the brain. tulving 1994 got pts to do various memory tasks when being scanned by a pet scanner. found episodic and semantic recall was from different sides of the preforntal cortex which supports view of different types of memory and other studies confirm it supporting validity of this finding.
another strenght is real life application. identifying different aspects of the ltm means psychologists can target different memory areas to better lives. belleville 2006 showed episodic memoeries on older people with cognitive impairment can be improved. shows benefit of this discovery of different types of memeory can allow specific treatments to be developed.

Question 10

describe how the multi store model works

Answer 10

the multi store model is a way of explaining how the memory process works.
it starts with information from the environment being taken in through the sensory register.
this has 2 main stores - iconic (visual) and echoic (auditory). this has a duration of about 0.5secs and has a very high capacity.
if we pay attention it gets moved to the short term memory which has a capacity of 7+/-2 pieces, a duration of about 30 seconds and its coded acoustically.
decay occurs if theres no rehearsal.
if we do maintenance rehearsal (so repeating the info over and over) the info moves to the long term memory with an unlimited duration and capacity, its also stored semantically.
we can use retrieval to transfer information back to the stm and use it.

Question 11

what is the strength of the multi store model?

Answer 11

a strength is that its supported by studies that show stm and ltm are different. baddeley found we mix up similiar sounding words in stm but in ltm we mix up words with similar meaning which shows coding in stm and ltm are different and supports multi store model idea of seperate stores.

Question 12

what are the weaknesses of the multi store model?

Answer 12

a weakness is that multi store model says stm is unitary store but evidence from amnesia patient kf shows this isnt true. found kf had poor stm when reading digits out loud but recall improved if he read the digits. this shows that multi store model unitary stm isnt accurate and there must be at least one store for visual and one store for auditory info.
another weakness is that theres more than one type of rehearsal. sulti store model says the amount of rehearsal you do is what matters but Craik and Watkins 1973 found thus is wrong. what actually matters is the type of rehearsal. they found 2 types maintenance or elaborative rehearsal. this is a limitation as it shows theres more research that cant be explained by the model.

Question 13

explain the working memory model and the central executive

Answer 13

this represents stm and has 4 elements.
the central executive is an attentional process that monitors incoming data, makes decisions and allocates tasks to slave systems (pl, vs,eb) . it has a limited processing capacity.

Question 14

explain the phonolgical loop (wmm)

Answer 14

this is a slave system. the phonological loop deals with auditory information. it has a phonological store (for words we hear) and an articulatory process (allows maintenance rehearsal in a loop of about 2 seconds).

Question 15

explain the visuo spatial sketchpad

Answer 15

the visuo spatial sketchpad stores visual or spatial information like if you are asked how many windows are on your house, you visualise it. it has a limited capacity (baddeley 2003) of 3-4 objects. Logle 1995 divided it into a visual cache for visual data, and an inner scribe that records arrangement of objects in the visual field.

Question 16

explain the episodic buffer (wmm)

Answer 16

epsiodic buffer was added in 2000 by baddeley. its a temporary store of information and maintains a sense of time sequencing (records events). its the storage compinent of central executive and the capacity is lmited to about 4 chunks. it links working memory to ltm and wider cognitive processes like perception.

Question 17

what are the strength of the working memory model?

Answer 17

a strength id clinical evidence from patient kf who had brain damage. after the damage kf had a poor stm for verbal info but visual was fine. this suggests only his phonological loop had been damaged. it supports the exixtence of seperate visual and acoustic stores but this evidence isnt as reliable as its a uique case with a traumatic experience.
another strength is studies of dual task performance support the existence of visuospatial sketchpad. baddeley 1975 showed that pts had more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks than doing one visual and one verbal at the same time. this increased difficulty is because both visual task compete for tehsam slave system but with verbal and visual theres no competition. must be a seperate slave system that processes visual input.

Question 18

what is the weakness of the working memory model?

Answer 18

the wekaness is that theres a lack of clarity on the central executive. cognitive psychologists suggest this compnent of the wmm is unsatisfactory and doesnt explain anything. baddeley recognised this and said the central executive is the least understood component. some psychologists believe it may have seperate components so this means the wmm has not been fully explained.

Question 19

what is inference?

Answer 19

inference is when one memeory blocks another causing forgetting or distortion. two explanantions for forgetting in ltm are proative and retroactive interference.

Question 20

what is proactive interference?

Answer 20

proactive is when an older memory interfers with a newer one (e.g. learning French then spanish and struggle with the spanish)

Question 21

what is retroactive interference?

Answer 21

retroactive is when newer info interferes with older info (e.g. teacher learning current students names so cant recall names from last year)

Question 22

desribe mcgeogh and mcdonalds study into interference

Answer 22

they studied retroactive interference. pts learnt a list of words till they were 100% accurate then learned a new list in 6 groups. g1 wwas synonyms, g2 was antonyms, g3 was words unrelated to og list, g4 was consonants, g5 was 3 digit numbers and g6 was no new list. when pts were recallling the og list their performamce depepnded on the nature of the second list. synonyms produced worst recall which shows interference is worse with similar memories.

Question 23

what are the two strengths of interference theory?

Answer 23

the first strenght is that evdience from lab studies show that both interference types are liekly to be common ways of forgetting from ltm. lab experiments are very controlled so we can be sure the explanantion is valid.
the second strength is there are some real life studies like baddeley and hitch asked rugby players to remember the names of teams they had played that season week by week. some missed games that last team they played couldve been some time ago. their results showed accurate recall didnt depend on time since matches but the number of games in the meantime was more important. recall from 3 wekks ago was better if there were no matches since. this study shows interference explanations can apply to some everyday situations.

Question 24

what is the weakness of interference theory?

Answer 24

the weakness is that we normally use word lists as its done in labs. this isnt realistic as we arent normally memorising words. limitation as it means interference may not be as likely in real life.

Question 25

what is retrieval failure theory?

Answer 25

retrieval failure is a form of forgetting when we dont have the necessary cues to access memory. encoding specificity principle is when a cue to help us recall info has to be there at encoding and retrieval. cues can be linked to the material in a meaningful way like mnemonic techniques. there are two types - context dependent forgetting or state dependent forgetting.

Question 26

what is context dependent forgetting?

Answer 26

gooden and baddeley studied this with divers in 4 groups. they had to learn a word list. g1 learnt and recalled underwater, g2 learn and recalled on land, g3 learnt underwater and learnt on land, and g4 learnt on land and recalled underwater. recall accuracy was decreased by 40% in non matching conditions where external cues where different at learning and recall.

Question 27

what is state dependent forgetting?

Answer 27

carter and cassidy 1998 gave antihistamines to pts with a mild sedative so they became drowsy. there internal physiological state was different from the normal awake/ alert one. learnt words and prose then recalled them. g1 learnt and recalled on drug, g2 learrnt and recalled not on drug, g3 learnt on drug recalled not on drug and g4 learnt not on drug but recalled on it. they found if they were non matching states then performance was worse.

Question 28

what is the strength of retrieval failure theory?

Answer 28

supporting evidence from gooden and baddeley, and carter and cassidy. this is a strength as it raises validity. evidence also shows retrieval failure in real life and lab conditions

Question 29

what are the two weaknesses of retrieval failure theory?

Answer 29

a weakness is questioning of context effects. baddeley argues they are not strong. context has to be very different for any effect which is rare. e.g. two different rooms arent enough. this means real life application due to contextual cues doesnt explain much forgetting.
another weakness is that context effect could be linked to the kind of memory being tetses. godden and baddeley replicated their underwater test with a recognition test not recall. they found no context dependent forgetting and recall was the same in all four conditions. this is a weakness as it means presence or absence of cues only affect memory if they are tested in certain ways.

Question 30

desribe misleading information as a factor affecting eyewitness testimony - leading questions

Answer 30

loftus and palmer 1974 got students to watch clips of car accidents and then gave them questions to answer. critical (leading) question was about the speed of the cars.
used different verbs in each of the 5 groups - hit, contacted, bumped, collided and smashed.
they calculated the mean speed in each group.
‘contacted’ was 31.8mph but ‘smashed’ was 40.5mph,
repsonse bias explanation suggests wording has no real effect on pts memories, it just influences their answer,
they did a 2nd experiment and found people who heard ‘smashed’ were more likely to report broken glass then ‘collided’.

Question 31

desribe misleading information as a factor affecting eyewitness testimony - post event discussion

Answer 31

this is where witnesses discuss events together menaing testimonies can be contaminated.
gabbert 2003 studied pts in pairs. they each had to watch a video of the same event but at different angles e.g. one could see title of book carried by lady but other couldnt.
pairs then discussed what theyd seen and individually completed a recall test.
71% mistakenly recalled aspects they didnt actually see. the correpsonding figure ina control group with no discussion was 0%.

Question 32

what is the strength of misleading information?

Answer 32

the strength is it has real life application in situations where innacurate ewt can be very bad. loftus says police need to be very careful about how they phrase questions. research for ewt can help improve the way the legal system works.

Question 33

what are the two weaknesses of misleading information?

Answer 33

one weakness is that loftus and palmers study used a film clip. this is very different to seeing reall accidents as clips lack feel of stress. uses artificial tasks that may not tell us how leading questions actually affect ewt.
another weakness is that individual differences like older people are less accurate than younger people. anastasi and rhodes 2006 found people aged 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate then ages 55-78. but all age groups were more accurate if identifying people in their age group. research often uses younger people as the target to identify so may mean some age groups appear less accurate which isnt true.

Question 34

explain how anxiety can have a negative effect on recall

Answer 34

anxiety has strong emotional and physical effects.
the negative effect is that anxiety creates a state of physiological arousal that prevents us from paying attention so recall is worse.
johnson and Scott 1976 did research on this. they told pts they were in a lab study and made them wait in a waiting room where they heard an ‘argument’.
the ‘low anxiety’ condition a man came out of a room with a pen and greasy hands. the ‘high anxiety’ condition a man came out the room covered in blood and holding a knife.
the pts then had to pick out the man from 50 photos. in the low anxiety 49% were accurate but high anxiety 33% accurate.
tunnel theory says focus on weapon as its the source of anxiety.

Question 35

explain how anxiety can have a positive effect on recall

Answer 35

fight/ flight response increases alertness.
yuille and catchall 1986 conducted real life study on a shooting in a gun shop. there were 21 witnessed but only 13 took part in the study.
they were interviewed 4-5 months after the incident and comapred with the original incident. accuracy was determined by the number of details in each account. they had to rate tress at the time of the incidengt on a 7 point scale.
overall they were very accurate and the more accurate, the higher stress rating a pts gave.
if had high stress, 88% accurate and low stress was 75% accurate.

Question 36

explain yerkes and Dodsons curve

Answer 36

they said emotional arousal and performance relationship is a inverted ‘u’.
lower anxiety equals lower recall.
accuracy increases with stress but tehres an optimal anxiety level so anythng more than that recall declines.

Question 37

what are the three weaknesses of the effect of anxiety on eyewitness testimony?

Answer 37

one wekaness is that weapon focus effect may test suprise not anxiety. the reason we focus on pts is as we are suprised not scared. pickel 1998 did an experiment using different hand held items in the background of a hairdressing video, like scissors, handgun, wallet, raw chicken etc. eyewitness accuracy decreased in unusual conditions suggesting weapon focus effect isnt from anxiety.
another wekaness is that field studies can lack control. we interview pts after the event so researchers have no control over whats happened to pt e.g. media, talking to people about the event etc. effect of anxiety can be overwhelmed by other factors and so is impossible to assess by the time pts are interviewed.
the last weakness is that theres ethical issues in inducing anxiety as it subjects people to psychological harm for research.

Question 38

who came up with cognitive interviews?

Answer 38

fisher and geiselman came up with me as they said eyewitness testimonies can improved if police use better techniques. it was based on psychological insight into how memory works.

Question 39

what are the 4 techniques in cognitive interviews and enhanced cognitive interviews?

Answer 39

1. reinstate context (return to crime scene in mind and imagine emotions/ environment)
2. change perspective (recall from someone else to disrupt effects of schemas or expectations)
3. reverse order (like back to front to prevent reports of expectations so more honesty)
4. report everything (even if seems irrelevant)
   fisher also came up with the enhanced cognitive interview which focuses on social dynamics of an interaction like eye contact, getting witness to speak slower or asking open ended questions

Question 40

what are the two strengths of cognitive interviews?

Answer 40

a strength is milhe and bull found using a combo of report everything and context reinstatement gave better recall than any other conditions. this is a strength as it shows at least 2 elements can be used to improve ewt. it increases credibility among those who use it.
another strength is that research suggest enhanced cognitive interviews can give benefits. meta analysis by konkhen 1999 used data from 50 studies that showed enhanced cognitive interviews gave more correct info than standard interviews. this is a strength as it means theres real practical info of its benefits in catching/ charging criminals.

Question 41

what is the weakness of cognitive interviews?

Answer 41

the weakness is that cognitive interviews are time consuming compared to standard interviews e.g. relaxing the witness. cognitive interviews needs special training and forces often cant give more than a few hours so its unlikely teh proper version is used so explains why police may not be impressed.