memory Flashcards
input
sensory information in the environment
encoding
turning sensory information into a form that can be stored
acoustic encoding
storing sounds in memory
visual encoding
storing visual information
semantic encoding
storing meaningful information
output
recalling information
when was the MSM made
1968
sensory register
if you think about all of the sensory information around you in your environment (everything you see, touch, hear, taste smell) you can understand that we register a lot of information briefly
short term memory
information that we pay attention to gets transferred to our short term memory
if we have too much information in our short term store then the older information is pushed out (displaced)
if we rehearse the information we are able to store it for longer, and if the information is rehearsed long enough then it gets transferred to the LTM
long term memory
information can be retrieved from the LTM so we are able to recall things from the past. however, if memories aren’t accessed then we can lose them, which is called decay.
attention
taking notice of an event or information
rehearsal
repeating information to increase the duration of a memory
retrieval
recalling a memory
decay
forgetting information in the LTM as it is broken down
displacement
forgetting information in the STM due to incoming information
capacity, duration, and encoding of sensory store
capacity: limited to 1 sensation
duration: 0.5s
encoding: sense-specific
capacity, duration, and encoding of the short term memory
capacity: 7+/-2
duration: 15-30s
encoding: mainly acoustic
capacity, duration, and encoding of the long term memory
capacity: unlimited
duration: unlimited
encoding: mainly semantic
strengths of the MSM
has support: case studies of patients with amnesia show distinct separate STM and LTM stores
is useful: it gives a good structure of the short term memory which researchers can expand and improve on
weaknesses of the MSM
no freewill: not all information is rehearsed and transferred to the LTM, it can decay and displace
reconstructive memory
reconstruction means that our memories are not exact copies, but are influenced by our prior knowledge and expectation known as schemas
schema
a packet of knowledge about an event, person, or place that influences how we perceive and remember
how are schemas formed
1) personal experience
2) stereotypes
3) culture
omissions
we leave out unfamiliar, unpleasant, or irrelevant details
transformations
details are changed to make them more rational
familiarisation
we change unfamiliar details to align with our own schema
rationalisation
we add details to our recall to give a reason for something that may not have originally fitted with a schema
strengths of reconstructive memory theory
Real world application: The theory has helped the police understand that eye witness testimony is unreliable. This meant that the police can change the way that they interview witnesses to ensure they are consistent.
Ecological validity: Bartlett conducted his research using folk stories and images, often asking participants to remember them hours, days, or even years later. His methods can be viewed as a test of memory because remembering stories is a realistic use of memory.
weaknesses of reconstructive memory theory
Subjective: Bartlett developed his theory by reading through and interpreting pictures and stories produced by participants. He analysed each story and picture himself and gave his own interpretations of the material the participants recalled. This means that the data could be subjective which is seen as unscientific.
Unscientific: Bartlett was not particularly scientific in his procedures. He was interested in each participant’s unique memory, rather than the use of standardised procedure and controls. This may weaken the research that was used to form the memory.
amnesia
amnesia is characterised by forgetting or memory loss, particularly after a brain injury
retrograde anmesia
inability to recall information from before a brain injury
antretrograde amnesia
inability to recall information from after a brain injury
aim of peterson and peterson’s (1959) study
to test the duration of the STM
procedure of peterson and peterson’s (1959) study
Experiment 1:
24 students
Repeat out loud trigram
Count backwards in 3s from 400
When signalled by red light the student had to recall the trigram
Each student read aloud eight times with time delays
The procedure was repeated 48 times using different trigrams
Experiment 2:
Same tasks but participants were given time to repeat the trigram before counting.
results of peterson and peterson’s (1959) study
Experiment 1: The longer each student counted backward, the less able they were to accurately recall the trigram. 80% correctly recalled trigrams after 3 seconds. Less than 10% accurately recalled them after 18 seconds.
Experiment 2: The extra time increased the frequency to recall. However, they showed a decline over time.
conclusion of peterson and peterson’s (1959) study
Information fades rapidly from the STM with accurate recall decreasing rapidly over the duration of 18 seconds. Therefore, short term memory has a limited duration (about 18 seconds)
strengths of peterson and peterson’s (1959) study
Reliability: The study used fixed timings when they counted backwards. The research can be said to have good control and makes sure the participants experience the same process.
Validity: They used nonsense trigrams for participants to remember because real words could have personal meaning for some participants which makes them more memorable.
weaknesses of peterson and peterson’s (1959) study
Validity: The study could be said to lack mundane realism, since it used nonsense trigrams which is not an accurate test for memory.
Generalisability: The participants used were all students which means that their memory doesn’t truly reflect the wider population as they may be able to remember more as their brains are still developing and learning.
aim of bartlett’s war of ghosts (1932) study
to test if personal schemas influence the retelling of a story
procedure of bartlett’s war of ghosts (1932) study
Participants read the WOG study twice. They then had to recall the story using serial reproduction and repeated reproduction.
Serial reproduction: A technique where participants retell stories to each other to form a chain.
Repeated reproduction: Where participants retell a story over and over again.
Serial reproduction had to retell it 15-30 minutes later. Repeated reproduction had to write out the story 15 minutes later, then recall it after days, hours, months, or years.
results of bartlett’s war of ghosts (1932) study
Bartlett using qualitative analysis. For both types of recall, participants were found making changes and connections (rationalisation) and omissions.
conclusion of bartlett’s war of ghosts (1932) study
participants did not recall accurately but were influenced by schemas and altered details to fit their schema
strengths of bartlett’s war of ghosts (1932) study
Ecological validity: Remembering a story is an everyday test of memory, meaning that the procedure is naturalistic.
Reliability: The study was replicated and the same results found using various studies.
Validity: Results were gathered using qualitative analysis, which can be seen as a strength since the real nature of reconstructive memory can be understood through its meaning.
weaknesses of bartlett’s war of ghosts (1932) study
Validity: The story was not familiar, illogical, and contained strange words which could be a reason why participants were unable to remember it. Therefore, participants could have changed their answers because the task was too difficult, not because they couldn’t remember. So, this was not an accurate test of memory.
Reliability: Participants read the story at their own pace and recalled their version after different timed intervals. This means that Bartlett’s study lacks controls and was unscientific, therefore people who took longer to read the story may have performed better as they had longer to remember it.
Validity: Results were gathered using qualitative analysis which is considered unscientific because Bartlett interpreted the recalled stories and may be biased towards his theory, so it is subjective.
reductionism
Reductionism is the scientific theory of describing something using its basic parts or the simplest explanation. In psychology, reductionism means the belief that the best way to understand how cognitive processes work is to break them down into their simplest parts. If we break behaviour into small parts this may help us to understand cause and effect.
reductionism in terms of research methods
Reductionism is associated with lab experiments. This is because the controlled conditions of lab experiments mean that we can control variables and therefore be more certain of cause and effect.
strengths of reductionism
-It uses the scientific method. This helps us establish cause and effect.
- It can be appropriate in circumstances where there is a clear, simple explanation for behaviour.
weaknesses of reductionism
-It may result in an overly simplistic explanation of a behaviour, we might ignore other important factors.
-There might also be interactions between different factors which may be ignored.
holism
It is a way of trying to understand behaviour by considering the whole behaviour rather than its parts, and by trying to understand the whole person and everything that affects them. This theory argues that you need to understand all of the factors affecting a person and their behaviour in order to be able to explain it.
holism in terms of research methods
the holistic approach is associated with qualitative methods to gain greater insight into the causes of behaviour and the whole person
strengths of holism
-It helps us understand the whole person and all the factors which might be affecting their behaviour.
-By using qualitative methods, we get lots of detailed information and each person is treated as an individual.
weaknesses of holism
-By focusing on individuals, this approach might mean that the results are not generalisable to anybody else, and so it can be considered unscientific.
-It can be difficult to achieve a holistic approach as it means investigating lots of variables at the same time.
