Memory Flashcards
Talk about research on coding- BADDELEY
Baddeley gave different lists of words to four groups of participants to remember
1- acoustically similar ie cat, cab, can
2- acoustically disimilar ie. pit, few, cow
3- semantically similar ie. great, large, big
4- semantically disimilar ie. good, huge, hot
Participants were asked to recall them in the correct order
When they did this task immediatly, they did worse on the acoustically similar words. Therefore, the short term memory codes acoustically
However after a 20 minuite interval, they did worse on semantically similar words. Therefore, the long term memory codes semantically.
Evaluate the research into coding (baddeley).
Seperate Stores- One strength is baddeley identified a clear difference between the two memory stores. His researcg also stood the test of time as we still believe his findings today. it is also an important step in understanding memory and lead to the multi-store model. This shows it has value in psychological studies.
Artificial- One weakness is it uses artificial activities of reading word lists which has no personal meaning to participants. Therefore, it may not tell us much about coding in different memory tasks, escpecially in everyday life. This suggests that findings have limited application.
Talk about the coding of sensory memory.
The SM takes information from a sense organ and holds it in that form:
Iconic- Visual info from the eyes, things you see, stored as images.
Echoic- auditory input from the ears, things you hear, stored as sounds.
Talk about research on capacity- JACOBS, MILLER
DIGIT SPAN TEST- The researcher reads out four digits and the participants recall in the same order out loud. If this is correct the researcher reads out five and so on until recall fails. He found the mean span of digits was 9.3 and the letters was 7.3.
MEMORY SPAN- Made observations of everyday pracitices and found that things tend to come in sevens, ie. musical scale and days in a week. He concluded that the span of STM is about 7 items plus or minus 2.
He also concluded that this can be increased using chunking of things like letters into words and phone numbers into sections.
Evaluate reseach into capacity
Valid Study- His study has been replicated and found the same results roughly in better controlled studies. This suggests that his study has good validity and a valid test.
Overestimated STM Capacity- Cowan reviewd other research and concluded that the capacity is around 4 plus or minus 1 chunks, This suggests that Millers 5 estimate may be more truthful than his 7 estimate. This tests the validity f his study
What is the capacity of sensory memory?
Sperling presented a grid of letters for less than a second and asked to recall as many as possble. He found that the average was 4 letters.
Talk about the reseach into duration of STM.
PETERSON + PETERSON- Tested 24 students in 8 trials. In each, they were given a consanant syllable (such as YBD) to remember and also a three digit numer. The student had to count backwards from that number until told to stop after varying periods (prevented mental rehursal).
The average recall was about 80% after 3 seconds, and 3% after 18. This suggests that the average duration is arond 18 seconds (without verbal rehersal)
Talk about research into LTM.
BAHRICK ET AL.- Studied 392 Americans aged between 17 and 74 on their highschool graduate class. This was done in two ways- 1- photo recognition test, and free recall.
15 years after graduation had about 90% photo recall accuracy and 70% after 48 years. This was the same for free recall with 60% dropping to 30%. This shows that long term memory can last an extremely long time.
Evaluate research into Duration
Meaningless stimuli- Peterson and Perterson used artificial stimuli that doesnt refelect everyday memory tasks. This means the study lacks external validity.
High External Validity- Bahrick et al.s study however tests extremely meaninful stimuli. when tested on meaningless stumuli, rates dropped.
Control- However, extreneous variables werent controlled so recall couldve been practiced overtime which could reduce valiity.
What is the duration of sensory memory?
Information decays after about 2 seconds,
What is the Multi- Store Model and its key ideas?
Atkinson and Shiffrin developed the multi-store model of memory (MSM), which describes the linear flow between three unitary storage systems.
Atkinson and Shiffrin concluded that the multi store model is:
- Unitary- only one of each store
- Linear- STM cant be leapfrogged
- Rehearsal- the way information is retained in STM and passed to LTM
- Passive- no decision making or problem solving
Talk about the sensory register.
The sensory memory is where information from the senses is stored. It takes stimui from the environment and holds in one of the several registersbut only for up to three seconds before it decays. The coding in each of these stores is modality-specific for example iconic memory is stored from visuals and echoic memory is stored acoustically
Talk about STM.
However, if attended to, sensory information moves into the STM, where its encoded visually and acoustically and sometimes semantically. It can hold a capacity of 5 → 9 items for approximately 18 seconds, however this can be increased by chunking. Maintenance rehearsal can put information back into the STM, however it can decay and dissipate via information retrieval.
Talk about LTM
This is the potentially permanent store where information can be elaboratively rehearsed to move to LTM mainly semantically. Psychologists believe it can last a lifetime however if we want to recall, memories can be retrieved from LTM to STM to be rehearsed.
What is some research to support the MSM?
Brain Scanning Research- Further research from brain scanning techniques has supported the MSM and the idea of separate memory stores. STM lighted up and associated with activity in the prefrontal cortex and LTM with the hippocampus.
HM- Suffered very bad epilepsy from age 16, he had surgery to remove his hippocampus. This cured the epilepsy. His STM was normal and he could hold verbal memory for 15 seconds but he couldn’t transfer to LTM however his memory for new motor skills seemed unaffected
KF- He damaged his head in a motor bike incident ending with a poor STM (only 1-2 digits) but LTM was normal
What are some Limitations to the MSM and its supporting research.
There is evidence that there is more than one store of STM, like KF. He damaged his head in a motor bike incident ending with a poor STM. However, the defective was for verbal info however visual info was fine.
Research into the working memory model suggests there could be 4 stores in STM not one and 3 stores in LTM
What are the 3 types of LTM?
Tulving (1985) was one of the first cognitive psychologists to realise that the MSM’s view of LTM was to simplistic.
Episodic, Semantic, Procedural
What is the Episodic Memory?
- Personal memories of events i.e.. last birthday party
- Explicit Memory- it requires conscious thoughts to recall the memory which happens quickly but you’re still aware you are recalling the information
- These memories usually include details of the events, the context in which the event took place and the emotions associated with it.
- They are time stamped which means you can remember when they happened and they contain information about how events relate to each other in time
What is the Semantic Memory?
- Memory of facts and knowledge about the world
- less personal and more practical
- Explicit memory
- not time stamped, we dont usually remember where we first heard them
What is the Procedural Memory?
- Memory of actions and skills like how to do things like riding a bike.
- These memories require a lot of repetition and practice- implicit
- Normally hard to describe even if the actions are easy to perform
- automatic
- Recall the memories without conscience awareness
Evaluate the types of long-term memory.
One strength is the famous cases of HM and Clive wearing: The episodic memory in both men was severely impaired due to brain damage, However, their semantic memories were relatively unaffected. They still understood the meaning of words. Their procedural memories were also intact for example Clive Wearing could still remember how to play the piano. This is evidence to support there is different stores of LTM.
Heindal et al investigate learning in people with huntingtins disease (degenerative disease in the brain). They found that HD patients had no problems learning new facts and knowledge but severe problems learning new motor skills. This shows procedural and semantic are two different systems.
Tulving performed brain scans on 6 volunteers and found that the pps were using their episodic memory part of frontal cortex was active and when pp’s were using semantic, back cortex. Shows 2 separate systems.
Understanding the types of LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems for example as people age they experience memory loss but research has shown that this is specific to episodic memory as it becomes harder to recall memories of personal experiences that occurred recently, therefore the research has real life examples.
What is the working memory model?
BADDELEY AND HITCH:
Model explains how short term memory works. They said the multi store model was too simplistic, it had been developed to directly change the concept of a single unitary store. The evidence is based on dual task paradigms
What is the Central Executive and the evidence?
- The most important component- drives the system and is involved in problem solving/ decision making - ‘supervisory’ role
- It divides our attention and allocates ‘slave systems’ to tasks
- Has limited capacity and so can attend to a limited number of things at one time
- processes info from all the senses
Evidence- MRI scans were used to see which parts of the brain were most active when participants were doing two tasks (reading a sentence and recalling the final word in each sentence)
The same brain areas ( pre frontal cortex) were active in either dual or single task conditions, but there were significantly more activation in dual task condition- the CE is therefore working harder.
Talk about the phonological loop and evidence for it.
- Stores a limited number of speech based sounds for brief periods (auditory information)
- The phonological loop is split into the phonological store which stores the words you hear and the articulatory process allows maintainace rehearsal (repeating words in a loop to keep them in the working memory model).
- Two components: Acoustically coded inner ear, items stored 1-2 seconds. Articulately control process as inner voice, allows sub vocal repetition of the items stored in the phonological store.
Evidence- studies: condition 1 → 5 familiar and 1 similar word, condition 2 → polysyllabic words were harder as cant rehearse on the loop.
Supports the idea of a phonological loop we into only state for 2 seconds.
What is the video spatial sketchpad and evidence for it?
Holds visual (what things look like), and spatial (relationships between things) information for a very short time.
Used when planning a spatial tasks for example planning route from home to college.
- visual cache- visual data
- Inner Scribe- arrangement of object in the visual field
Evidence- pp’s were given a visual task: following a light with a pointer as it moved around a circular path all while doing 2 tasks: describe the angle of the letter F, perform a verbal task.
→ RESULTS- pp’s found it very hard to track the spot and classify corners, but easier to do the verbal task. This supports the existence of a separate slave system that deals with visual info, also shows the vss has a limited capacity
What is the Episodic Buffer?
General storage space for both acoustic and visual information. It integrates information’s from the central executive, phonological loop, visual sketchpad and LTM, basically recording events that’s are happening. Limited Capacity.
Evaluate the Working Memory Model
STRENGTH- KF supports as LTM was fine, STM damaged. Can recall visual memory (VSS) and verbal damaged (phonological loop). For instance, his immediate recall of letters and digits was better when he read them than if he was told them. This stronglysupports the existance of seperate visual and acoustic memory stores.
WEAKNESS- Low ecological Validity as experiments dont reflect everyday activities for example repeating ‘the’. Central Executive- other researchers have questioned whether it is single or has more than one store within.
Dual-Task Performance- supports the seperate existance of the visio-spatial sketchpad. Baddeley carried out both a visual and a verbal task and their performance was the same when they carried out the tasks seperatly however, if both the tasks were visual, performance decreased. This shows that they were competing for the same slave system and shows they must be seperate.
Based on evidence from lab, so variables can be controlled- High Internal Validity.
What is Interference Theory?
When one memory disrupts the ability to recall another. This might result in forgetting or distorting one or the other or both. This is more likely to happen if the memories are similar.
This has been proposed mainly for LTM stores as once information reaches it, it is more or less permanent. Therefore, forgetting is more likey to occur as we cant gaib access to memories even if they are available
What is Proactive Interference and evidence to support?
Proactive Interference- previously learnt information interferes with new information you are trying to store.
Evidence to support: PP’s were given 3 letter trigrams (THG) at different intervals and to prevent rehearsal, they had to count backwards.
FINDNGS- PP’s typically remembered trigrams that were presented first, irrespective of interval length. so Proactive interference took place as the first ones went into LTM however the new ones interfered and got confused as they’re similar.
What is retroactive interference and evidence to support it?
Retroactive Interference- A new memory interferes with old memories
Evidence to support: UNDERWOOD AND POSTMAN. PP’s were divided in two groups. A- asked to learn a list of double barreled words (i.e. cat-tree) and then a second list of words. B- only the first list. Both groups were asked to recall the first list of word pairs.
RESULTS- B more accurate than A
The reason similarities affects recall may be one of two reasons, due to previously stored information makes new similar info more difficult to store or, new information overriding the older stored informtion
Evaluate Interference Theory.
Real life situations- Baddeley and Hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams recently played, however many hadn’t played recently. Players who have missed some, had less interference meaning recall was bettter. This increases the validity of the study.
Cues- One limitation is that interference is temporary and can be overcome using cues . TULVING gave participants lists of words organised into categories one list at a time, Recall averaged around 70% for the first list and became increasingly worse- proactive interference. At the end, they were told the categories and recall rose to 70% again. This shows that interference is only temporary.
What is Retrieval Theory and the two types?
A form of forgetting which occurs when we dont have the necessary cues to access memory.
Encoding Specificality Principle- The idea that a cue or clue to a memory needs to be present when the material is learned (encoded) and when its recalled or retrieved.
TULVING (1979)- found that the closer the cue to the target word, the better our recall.
Context Dependent Forgetting- At recall, we lack the external cues that were present at learning.
State Dependent Forgetting- At recall, we lack the internal cues that were present at learning.
Talk about evidence to support context dependent forgetting.
Godden and Baddeley
AIM- To see if people who learn and are tested in the same environment will recall more than those who learn and are tested in different environments
Condition 1: underwater → underwater. 2: underwater → on land. 3: on land → underwater. 4 on land → on land.
RESULTS- Group 1 and 4 recalled 40% more words
CONCLUSION- Recall of information will be better if it happens in the same context that learning takes place in
Evaluate evidence supporting cue dependant forgetting
strength- More realistic- limited ecological validity as the environment was familiar to the divers but the task was artificial as we aren’t asked to read a list of words often
weakness- uses artificial materials like learning unrelated words so could be criticized for lacking mundane realism
Talk about evidence to support state dependent forgetting.
Goodwin et al
48 male medical students participated on day 1 in a training session and on day 2 in a testing. randomly assigned 4 groups:
Group 1: S,S. 2: A,A. 3: S,A. 4:A,S. S= Sober, A= Alcohol. 111mg all showed signs of intoxication.
The PP’s had to perform 4 tests; an avoidance task, verbal learning tasks, word association and picture recognition
They found that mismatched states was significantly worse than the same states. So when the same cues are absent, forgetting occurs more readily.
Evaluate Retrieval Faliure
Real-World Application- Can help us overcome spme forgetting in everyday situations. Although cues may not have a very strong effect on forgetting, Baddeley suggests they are still worth paying attention to for intance, thinking about a room when you are trying to remeber something. Reminds us of stratergies we use in the real world to improve recall.
Research to Support- Memory researchers arue that retrival faliure is probably the main reason for forgetting from LTM. This evidence shows that retrival faliure occurs in real life situatipns as well as highly controlled conditions. showing it has external validity.
Recall Versus Recognition- Context effects may depend on substantially on the type of memory. Godden and Baddeley replicated their underwater experiment but with a recognition test. Results showed that there was no contextual effects . This suggests that it is a limited explanation as it only applies when a peron has to recall info.
What is the Eyewitness Testimony?
Eyewitness Testimony (EWT) is the ability of people to remember the details of events such as accidents and crimes, which they themselves have witnessed.
Talk about leading questions and their research.
Leading Questions- questions which are phrased in a way which suggests a certain answer,
LOFTUS AND PALMER
prodedure- Arranged for 45 participants to watch clips of car accidents and then asked them questions about what thety just viewed. In the Critical (leading) question, participants were asked ‘How fast was the car going when they …. eachother?’ There were 5 different groups who were asked different verbs. Hit, contacted, bumped, collided, smashed.
Findings- The mean estimated speed was calculated for each group. The verb contacted was 31.8mph while the verb smashed was 40.5 mph. and the average increased as the severity of the verb increased.
This suggests that the wording of the question can influence how a person remembers an experience, however, the response-bias explanation claims that the wording of the question has no impact on a persons memory, just influences how a person decides to answer.
Talk about Loftus and Palmer’s other research
Loftus and Palmer conducted another experiment with the same participants to support their theory that the wording of a question changes a persons memory. They returned a week later and asked weather they saw any broken glass (there wasnt any).
In the smashed group, more people saw broken glass than the hit group.
Talk about Post-Event Discussion and research to support it.
Post-Event Discussion- PED occurs when there is more than one witness to an event. They can discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses.
GABBERT ET AL.
Procedure- Studied participants in pairs. Each participant watched a video of the same crime but filmed from different points of view so each perticipannt could see different elemetnts the other could not. Then they both discuissed what they saw and completed a recall test.
Findings- They found that 71% of particpants mistakenly recalled ascpects they did not see. The corr. esponding figure in a control group was 0%
