Memory Flashcards
What are the 3 types of recall + definition
Free recall (no help)
Cued recall (remembering with a hint
Recognition (remembering something because of options)
The 3 types of encoding + definition
Acoustic encoding (holding information through sound)
Visual encoding (remembering visually through a picture)
Semantic - (remembering through meaning)
What is episodic memory
Memories of personal experiences (eg a dream you had)
What is semantic memory?
Facts or knowledge (eg, capital of france)W
What is procedural memory?
Remembering how to do something (eg how to swim)
What were the 4 groups in baddeley’s encoding study
Acoustically similar (cap, hat)
Acoustically dissimilar (dad, book)
Semantically similar (big, large)
Semantically dissimilar (hot, pen)
What was done to baddeleys study so that difficulty wouldn’t change results
The words were simple and one syllable
Steps of the encoding study:
- Given 5 tasks, but only 4 were expected
- Had to recall their words in the right order
- Did an unrelated task
- Had to do it again
Encoding study results:
- STM encodes acoustically
- LTM encodes semantically
Strength and weakness of encoding study
Strength - lab study, well controlled
Weakness - he only waited 20 minutes before testing the LTM, much can be forgotten and could have still been in the STM
Describe the order of the multi store memory model
- Stimulus (sound)
- Sensory memory
- STM
- LTM
Sensory memory key features
- Large capacity, can hold millions of information
- Only stores information for 0.5 - 3 seconds
- If given attention will pass into STM
STM key features
- Will be passed to LTM with repetition
- Duration of 18 secs
- Holds 7+/2 items
- Mainly acoustic
LTM key feautures
- Processed through rehearsal
- Unlimited duration
- Unlimited capacity
Evaluate multi store memory model
Weakness - too simplistic, doesn’t mention separate acoustic/visual STM, or different LTM, eg episodic
Weakness - Research used artificial tasks, not entirely useful in understanding how memory works
What is murdock’s positional curve study
- Wanted to prove existence of STM and LTM
- Shown 20 words, 1 per second, had to recall as many as they could in 90 secs
- Found that words at the beginning and end were recalled best
- Provided evidence for multi store memory
- Concluded the first words went to the LTM, last words went to STM, and the middle words weren’t either so were easily forgotten
What is the primacy and recency effect
Primary - when words were recalled from the start of the list
Recency - when words were recalled from the end of the list
Evaluate murdock’s study
Strength - controlled, no extraneous variable, can be replicated, supports multi store memory
Weakness - artificial tasks, only represents a small part of our memory
What is the war of the ghosts study
- Done to see if memories are influenced by personal experiences
- Western participants were told a native american story, and had to recall it to others
- Small details were changed, such as canoes becoming boats, hunting becoming fishing
- The order of the story was changed
Evaluate the war of the ghosts study
Strength - revolved around telling a story, which is far less artificial than most memory studies, making it more realistic
Weakness - potential bias, bartlett recorded all the results, could have only recorded ones that supported his theory
What is effort after meaning
We focus on the meaning of events, then afterwards we interpret the meaning into familiar terms (making sense of “fragments”)
What is proactive interference
Old memories interfering with new ones
What is retroactive interference
New memories interfering with old ones
What is the interference study
- 12 participants learnt a list of 10 words
- Then were shown a new list (either synonyms, antonyms, unrelated words, nonsense syllables or 3 digit numbers)
- They were then retested on the first list
- The group shown synonyms of the original words had the worst recall
- Interference is strongest when the activities are similar
Evaluate interference study
Weakness - doesn’t represent real life tasks, can’t generalise
Weakness - interference may not always explain forgetting, could access “forgotten” information in a cued recall test
What is the context study
- 18 participants from a diving club
- Given a list of 36 random words
- 4 conditions (learned on land, tested on land, learned in water, tested in water, learned on land, tested in water, learned in water, tested on land)
- Those who were tested in the same environment recalled 40% more words
Evaluate context study
Weakness - artificial task, can only be applied to specific situations (exams)
Weakness - participants recalled words almost immediately, only testing STM
What is the false memory/mall study
- 24 participants (3 male, 21 female) ages 18-53
- Each one had a relative contacted
- Were all told stories that happened to them and had to identify the false one
- 6 participants recalled the false memory partially or fully
- Links to reconstructive memory
Evaluate lost in the mall study
Strength - can be applied to real world (e,g eye witness testimony)
Weakness - some participants now have a false memory, could be ethically wrong
Weakness - Study was mostly women, can’t generalise fully to men
