memory

Question 1

What is memory

Answer 1

The ability to keep things in one’s mind and recall them at will

Question 2

What is long term memory

Answer 2

Long term memory lasts anywhere between 2 minutes to forever. It has unlimited capacity

Question 3

What is short term memory

Answer 3

Van not hold much information. STM lasts no more than a few seconds

Question 4

The stages of processing a memory

Answer 4

Encoding- where the memory is traced
Storage- where it is stored in the memory system
Retrieval- where the memory is recalled

Question 5

Differences in STM and LTM

Answer 5

Duration- LTM has unlimited duration whereas STM has duration of 10-20 seconds
Capacity- STM has very limited capacity whereas LTM has unlimited capacity
Encoding- STM tends to encoded acoustically whereas LTM tends to be encoded semantically

Question 6

What is encoding

Answer 6

Encoding is the memory trace. Relates to connections between neurons.
Acoustic coding is how it sounds, semantic coding is the meaning behind it.

Question 7

Jacob’s study of capacity

Answer 7

Aim: how much information can be stored in short term memory
Procedure: used a serial digit span. Participants are presented with digits and them asked to repeat it in the same order. A digit is added each time. When participant falls to 50% or less with correct recall, they have reached capacity.
Findings: Jacob found that participants could recall more digits than letters. The average span for digits was 9.3 items whereas letters was 7.3
Conclusion: STM has very limited capacity for 5 to 9 items

Question 8

Evaluation of Jacob’s study

Answer 8

Pro:
. Other studies found the same thing as Jacobs study. A word length and pronunciation have related to capacity of STM
Con:
. There are individual differences in digit span therefore this shows performance may also be affected by factors other than capacity

Question 9

Other research on capacity in STM

Answer 9

George Miller- ‘the magic number seven plus or minus two’. Concluded chucking is vital and allows us to remember more.
Simon- people remember more smaller chunks that bigger one. Word length effect.

Question 10

Capacity of LTM

Answer 10

Unlimited capacity. Cannot access all memories. Millions of gigabytes so lots of storage

Question 11

Peterson and Peterson aim

Answer 11

Investigate duration of stm

Question 12

Peterson and peterson procedure

Answer 12

24 students enlisted from university.
Nonsense trigram to the participant. Counting back in 3s and 4s from this number until told to stop. Asked to recall nonsense trigrams.
8 trials

Question 13

Results from Peterson and peterson

Answer 13

Participants remembered words more accurately when has a shorter retention interval. At 3 seconds the was a 90% recall. At 18 seconds, there was a 2% recall

Question 14

Criticisms

Answer 14

Not to real life
Students are a small sample

Question 15

Baddeley (encoding) aim

Answer 15

Whereas LTM was effected by acoustic confusion or if STM would be effected by semantic confusion.

Question 16

Baddeley procedure

Answer 16

List A- acoustically similar (man, cab, can, cad)
List B- accoustically dissimilar (pit, few, cow, pen)
List C- semantically similar (great, large, big, huge)
List D- semantically dissimilar (good, huge, soft, thin)

Testing STM:
75 young service men put into 4 groups. There was 4 trials. After each trial, shown a jumbled up word list and asked to recall them in the correct order. Acoustic confusion
Testing LTM:
72 participants were divided into 4 groups. Shown one list.time to recall wasnt immediate. 20 minute interval. Asked to recal list

Question 17

Baddeley results

Answer 17

Participants remembered more words each trial. In experiement 1 acoustically similar did worse at 55%. In experiment 2 semantically similar did worse at 55%.

Question 18

Baddeley conclusion

Answer 18

For STM people tend to remember acoustically. For LTM it is encoded semantically.

Question 19

Bahrick study aims

Answer 19

Set to see of study very long term memory within it’s natural context.

Question 20

Bahrick procedures

Answer 20

Nearly 400 participants aged 17-74. Number of tests including free recal test, photo recognition, name recognition.

Question 21

Bahrick result

Answer 21

Participants who were tested within 15 years of graduation had 90% accurate in identifying faces and names. 48 years went to 80% from name recognition.

Question 22

Criticisms to bahrick

Answer 22

Its a good way to test memory as it’s more true to life as it can be generalised so has greater validity.
Some aspects weren’t controlled for example they may see ex class mates regularly.

Question 23

The multi store model

Answer 23

Stimulus- sensory register- short term memory store- long term memory through rehearsal

Question 24

What is the sensory register

Answer 24

All of the senses. Main stores: iconic memory- visually coded, echoic memory- coded acoustically. Duration is less than half a second. Has a high capacity.

Question 25

Stm

Answer 25

Limited capacity store, only contains a certain number of things. Between 5-9 items are remembered. Lasts around 10-20 seconds. Maintainance rehearsal occurs when we repeat material to ourselves.

Question 26

Stm

Answer 26

Limited capacity store, only contains a certain number of things. Between 5-9 items are remembered. Lasts around 10-20 seconds. Maintainance rehearsal occurs when we repeat material to ourselves.

Question 27

Ltm

Answer 27

Potentially permanent memory. Rehearsed for a prolonged time. Capacity can be unlimited and last many years. Has to be transferred back ot the STM

Question 28

Evaluation of multi store model

Answer 28

Strengths:
-supporting evidence as it is based off case studies.
-case studies as psychologists have shown that different areas of the brain are involved in STM and LTM. Scoville and Milner removed hippocampus so couldnt form new memories.
Limitations:
-too simple as there is different types of LTM but it is all categorised into one.
-LTM is more than maintainance rehearsal as when things have a deeper meaning it is deeper processed which is believed to form more LTM

Question 29

Working memory model- baddeley and hitch

Answer 29

Focuses on short term memory. Consists of 4 main components- central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer.

Question 30

Central executive

Answer 30

Essentially an attentional process. Monitors incoming data. Allocates Slave systems to tasks. very limited capacity.

Question 31

Phonological loop

Answer 31

Auditory information and preserves order in which it arrives. Phonological store- stores words you hear.
Articulatory process- allows maintainance rehearsal. Capacity of this loop is 2 seconds worth of words.

Question 32

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 32

How you visualise things. Visual cache- which stores visual data. Inner scribe- records arrangement of objects in the visual field.

Question 33

Episodic buffer

Answer 33

Added to the model by baddeley in 2000. Temporary store for information. Has capacity of 4 chunks. Links the WMM to LTM

Question 34

Evaluation of working memory model

Answer 34

Pro: Research support- from dual task studies by baddeley, although such lab studies are artificial. K.F. could remember visual, but no verbal stimuli in STM so there must be at least 2 systems for STM
Cons: function of central executive has not been established by anyone. It is the most important component but no one knows what it is. So how can the whole system rely on a thing that no one knows if it exists.
Pros: physiological evidence as the working memory model has brain scan support. PET scans show the area of the brain while undertaking verbal and visual tasks.

Question 35

Evaluation of working memory model

Answer 35

Pro: Research support- from dual task studies by baddeley, although such lab studies are artificial. K.F. could remember visual, but no verbal stimuli in STM so there must be at least 2 systems for STM
Cons: function of central executive has not been established by anyone. It is the most important component but no one knows what it is. So how can the whole system rely on a thing that no one knows if it exists.
Pros: physiological evidence as the working memory model has brain scan support. PET scans show the area of the brain while undertaking verbal and visual tasks.

Question 36

How is long term memory spilt

Answer 36

Explicit or implicit. If explicit it is split into either the episodic memory if it is specific personal events or semantic memory that is just general knowledge. If it is implicit it goes into the procedural memory which is the performance of actions.

Question 37

Episodic memory

Answer 37

Knowing that. An event or group of events occurring as part of a larger sequence. Personal experiences.

Question 38

Semantic memory

Answer 38

Knowing that. Knowledge about the world shared by everyone. Generally begin as episodic as well learn through experience.

Question 39

Semantic memory

Answer 39

Knowing that. Knowledge about the world shared by everyone. Generally begin as episodic as well learn through experience.

Question 40

Procedural memory

Answer 40

Is concerned with skill. Remembering how to do something rather than knowing. Acquired through repetition

Question 41

Evaluation of different LTM

Answer 41

Pros: Evidence from brain scans- the distinction of 3 different memory is support by brain scans. Episodic associated with hippocampus. Semantic associated with temporal lobe.
Distinguishing procedural ane declarative memories- case of HM couldnt form new LTM due to hippocampus being destroyed but remembered old.

Question 42

Evaluation of different LTM

Answer 42

Pros: Evidence from brain scans- the distinction of 3 different memory is support by brain scans. Episodic associated with hippocampus. Semantic associated with temporal lobe.
Distinguishing procedural ane declarative memories- case of HM couldnt form new LTM due to hippocampus being destroyed but remembered old. Could still have procedure memoris but not episodic or semantic.
Con: distinguishing episodic and semantic memory- the relationship between episodic and semantic raises the question of semantic memories can be formed separately. Research said some people who have dementia could retain new episodic memories but not semantic.

Question 43

Retroactive interference

Answer 43

Georg Muller was the first to identify retroactive interference. Gave participants random list of syllables to learn for 6 minutes. After retention intervalmasked to recall list. Performance less good if participants had been given a retention break.

Question 44

Proactive interference

Answer 44

Benton Underwood. He analysed finding from a number studies and concluded that when participants have to learn a list of words they do not learn the lists of words encountered later in in the sequence. Participants who memorized 10 or more lists after 24 hours could only remember 20%. If they learnt one list they had a 70% recall.

Question 45

Proactive interference

Answer 45

Benton Underwood. He analysed finding from a number studies and concluded that when participants have to learn a list of words they do not learn the lists of words encountered later in in the sequence. Participants who memorized 10 or more lists after 24 hours could only remember 20%. If they learnt one list they had a 70% recall.