memory Flashcards
Memory variables
Three variables that can be used to describe the stores information passes through.
Coding- process of changing information from the environment to store it in memory
Capacity- the amount of information that can be stored
Duration- the amount of time information can be held in the memory stores
Sensory memory
Comes from the sensory register getting information from all our senses around us: sights, smells,sounds and textures
Duration: very quick 0.5 seconds
Capacity: large (all sensory experiences we encounter everyday)
Coding: specific to each sense
The information is either sent to short term memory or disposed off
Short term memory
-attention from the sensory memory
could be connected by something in your long term memory
duration: 18-30 seconds
capacity: 7 plus or minus 2 items
coding: acoustic
decay from running out of space and displacement can make us forget things
rehearsal can help us transfer information from short term to long term which is called memory consolidation and maintenance rehearsal
Long term memory
The continuous storage of information
Not all LT memories stored equally as strong and sometimes takes prompts or memory cues
Duration: lifetime
Capacity: potentially infinite
Coding: semantic
The Multi-store memory model
Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968
Model used to explain memory and the processes of remembering things:
Environmental stimuli is alerted to the sensory memory where it can be lost in decay
With attention is put into short term memory where it can be lost through decay or displacement
With maintenance rehearsal is put into long term where it can be lost by interference or retrieval failure
The model also lists how they are coded and what there duration and capacity is
The specific claims made were:
Short term and long term were two separate stores and singlular stores
Short term information had to be rehearsed to make it to long term
Evidence for and against The multi-store memory model
FOR:
- Clive Wearing – a man with an extreme form of amnesia which means that he can make new STMs but then he cannot turn them into LTM- proves they are two separate stores
-Beardsley– found that the prefrontalcortex is active during STM tasks but not LTM tasks- proves they are two separate stores
-Baddeley– found that STMs are coded acoustically and LTMs are coded semantically. Participants made more errors on acoustically-similar words when tested immediately-proves they are two separate stores
AGAINST:
Patient KF– he had a motorcycle accident and afterwards suffered damage to his STM. He had a
normal digit span for visual information (e.g. pictures)but a severely limited digit span for verbal information (e.g. words spoken to him)
Patient HM– had his hippocampus removed and afterwards was unable to make new explicit LTMs (e.g. new events or facts) but could learn new procedural LTMs (he could learn new skills)
Each piece of evidence proves that the model is too simple
-each piece of information is based on interference we can’t see this all exactly because it’s memory
-
Different types of long term memory
EXPLICIT
consciously recalling and remembering memories- declarative
Semantic-memories of facts and meanings we didn’t experience first hand eg. Who was the first prime minster of UK?
Episodic- information about an event we have personally experienced, recollection of visual imagery and feeling of familiarity
IMPLICIT
memories we unconsciously remember formed from behaviours- non declarative
Procedural- memories of how to carry out tasks and skills unconsciously
eg. How to breathe, how to ride a bike
Evidence for and against three different LTM
AGAINST
-could be more than three types eg. Classical conditioning
-priming- the theory our behaviour can be affected subconsciously without our knowledge eg. A logo being changed slightly
FOR
-patient HM, patient who got his hippocampus removed and couldn’t create LT recall old skills explicit but could implicitly
-evidence from brain scans show that different areas of the brain are activated in long term memory
Working memory model
Baddeley and Hitch 1974
Thought the MSM was too simplistic
sensory input goes into the central executive
central executive receives the environmental stimuli and directs it to the appropriate store- makes the model active rather than passive
if the information is verbal it goes to the phonological loop
phonological loop-processes verbal and auditory information, Is split into two sub-categories:
Articulatory loop – inner voice, which repeats verbal information for approx. 3 seconds
Phonological store – inner ear, which processes the information being repeated by the articulatory loop-Data processed is then sent either back to the CE or on to LTM
If the information is visual it goes to the visuospatial sketch pad
Processes visual and spatial information and Is split into two sub-categories:
Visual cache – keeps the visual picture of information
Inner scribe – recalls the arrangement of objects in a room (spatial info)
Data processed is then sent either back to the CE or on to LT
Episodic buffer
Synthesises (puts together) all of the various
kinds of information provided to it by the CE
Puts the information into chronological order
Helps to make sense of data for the LTM
Can also communicate with the LTM to make sense of new information
Evidence for and against WMM
AGAINST:
-Patient HM- could make new procedural LTM but not episodic LTM showing how LTM is more than one store
-Lieberman points out blind people have spatial memory (how to not bump into things with knowledge of where they are) without having any visual information. argues that the visuospatial sketch pad should have two components- visual+spatial memory
-too simple and reductionist- too simple explanation of STM and LTM
-brain scans show different parts of the brain being used when testing LTM- different types of LTM
FOR:
-Patient KF has normal visual STM but reduced verbal STM- short term memory is more than one store
-Clive Wearing- had some long term memories but couldn’t create new LTM but could create new STM- shows they are different parts
-Beardsley shows how different parts of the brain is used when testing for STM and LTM showing how they are different stores
Explanations for forgetting: 4
Decay: overtime memories fade and become less accessible leading to forgetting
Motivated forgetting:people intentionally or unintentionally forgetting information as it’s emotionally difficult or conflicts with their self image
Retrieval failure: when you cannot remember something because of the lack of cues to remember
These cues can be
External Context-the environment acts as a cue eg. School
Internal state- how we feel acts as a cue
Interference theory is when we forget something because we become confused with other similar information
Proactive- old information affects the ability to learn new information
Retroactive-new information makes us forget old information
Evidence for and against the reasons for forgetting
INTERFERENCE THEORY
FOR:
-underwoods experiment- asked participants to remember a list of words and found they were better at remembering the earlier words in the list compared to the older which supports proactive because the earlier information effects the ability to recall later information
-muller and pilzeckar- participants split into two groups, bith groups asked to learn and recall nonsense syllables, one group had a distraction inbetween learning the list , the group with the distraction performed worse- supports retroactive because the new distraction affected the ability to recall old information
AGAINST:
-research is artificial- all the studies in support are carried out in a lab and have no real world application to real life memory situations
-memories aren’t specially lost
RETRIEVAL FAILURE
FOR:
-Godden and Baddley-participants learned a list of words either underwater (scuba) or on land, then asked to retrieve them either on land or underwater. The recall was worse if the environment had changed, supports context dependant forgetting and context cues
-Goodwin-participants learnt word lists sober or drunk and were asked to recall them either sober or drunk. Recall was worse if they were in a different state, supports state dependent forgetting and state cues
AGAINST:
-retrieval cues don’t always work-even if recall is improved we cannot be certain it was caused by the cue. It is impossible to know which cues were coded along with the information because there’s so many different cues you can intake at once.
Goodwin
RETRIEVAL FAILURE
-Goodwin-participants learnt word lists sober or drunk and were asked to recall them either sober or drunk. Recall was worse if they were in a different state, supports state dependent forgetting and state cues
eye witness testimony: what is response bias explanation
Wording of a question has no enduring effect on an eyewitness’s memory of an event, but influences the kind of answer given
eye witness testimony: what is substitution explanation
The wording of a question does affect eyewitness memory; it interferes with its original memory, distorting its accuracy.
