memory

Question 1

coding (A01)

Answer 1

way information is changed so that it can be stored in memory- thought that STM codes information acoustically whereas LTM codes information semantically

Question 2

research on coding (A01)

Answer 2

Baddeley gave different lists of words to four groups of Ps to remember-mistakes made show encoding in that part of memory:

Group 1 acoustically similar: words sounded similar

Group 2 acoustically dissimilar: words sounded different

Group 3 semantically similar: words with similar meanings

Group 4 semantically dissimilar: words that had different meanings

Question 3

research on coding study: STM (A01)

Answer 3

asked to recall words straight away group 1- acoustically similar words had WORST recall suggests that information is encoded acoustically in STM

STM gets confused when it must retrieve words which are acoustically similar and muddles them up resulting in fewer being remembered- can still retrieve semantically similar words because STM pays no attention to what words mean + therefore doesn’t become confused by words that mean same thing

Question 4

research on coding study: LTM (A01)

Answer 4

When asked to recall the words after 20 minutes group three- semantically similar words had WORST recall

suggests that information is encoded semantically in LTM
LTM gets confused by similar meanings same way that STM gets confused by similar sounds.

Question 5

research on coding: evidence from lab studies (A03) (1)

Answer 5

P: strength of research on coding is that research is often conducted in controlled laboratory conditions

E + E: eg. Baddeley’s study allowed for manipulation of the type of words presented to Ps + also allowed for control of extraneous variables such as noise level + how far away Ps were from screen

L: strength bc we can be confident that coding in STM is acoustic + semantic in LTM + thus research has high internal validity

Question 6

research on coding: may have not tested LTM (A03) (2)

Answer 6

P: weakness of research ion coding is that it is not clear how long we need to wait to test the LTM

E + E: Baddeley tested STM by asking Ps to recall a word list immediately after hearing it + LTM was tested by waiting 20 minutes

L: weakness bc perhaps we should have waited longer than this amount of time to measure LTM as there are much longer gaps between learning and recall in real life- putting into question whether coding of LTM is actually semantic

Question 7

capacity (A01)

Answer 7

how much information can be stored in each memory store research would suggest that capacity of STM is 5-9 items + capacity of LTM is potentially unlimited

Question 8

research on capacity JOSEPH JACOBS: STM procedure (A01)

Answer 8

technique to measure digit span of STM
researcher reads out 4 digits Ps then attempts to recall these digits in correct order out loud- if correct research then reads out 5 digits + so on until Ps cannot recall the order correctly-determines individual’s digit span

Question 9

research on capacity JACOBS: STM findings (A01)

Answer 9

Jacob found that mean digit span was 9.3 items- decreased to 7.3 when letters were used instead of numbers

Question 10

research on capacity MILLER: STM procedure (A01)

Answer 10

suggested that capacity of STM is about 7-plus or minus 2

Miller also noted that people expand this capacity by chunking or grouping sets of digits or letters to units or chunks

Question 11

research on capacity MILLER: STM findings (A01)

Answer 11

Information held in STM is in fragile state + will disappear quickly if it is not rehearsed

Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat material to ourselves over + over again

Maintenance rehearsal not only keeps information in our STM but if we rehearse something long enough passes it into LTM

Question 12

research on capacity: LTM (A01)

Answer 12

Wagenaar created diary of 2,400 events over 6 years + tested himself on recall of events rather than dates found he had excellent recall suggesting capacity of LTM is extremely large

Question 13

research on capacity: individual differences (A03) (1)

Answer 13

P: strength of research on capacity is that effects of age are acknowledged

E + E: eg. Jacobs tested individuals of ranging ages + found that digit span increases w/age as memory becomes more complex

L: strength bc estimate of capacity of STM accounts for people of all ages

Question 14

research on capacity: case studies (A03) (2)

Answer 14

P: weakness of research on capacity is that results are often based on case studies

E+ E: Wagenaar used his own memories in order to measure his long-term memory

L: weakness bc not only are memories not representative of general population but they are also subjective + may be difficult to apply to others

Question 15

research on duration of sensory store: findings (A01)

Answer 15

Group1 = 42% were recalled correctly
Group 2 = 75% were recalled correctly

Sperling multiplied amount recalled by 3 + estimated that people actually saw between 9 + 10 items out of 12

Question 16

duration (A01)

Answer 16

period of time information can last in the memory stores research would suggest that duration of STM is 18-30 seconds + duration of LTM is up to a lifetime

Question 17

research on duration of sensory store SENSORY REGISTER: procedure (A01)

Answer 17

Sperling demonstrated very brief duration of sensory register
Ps were shown grid of numbers and words for 50 milliseconds Ps were then divided into two groups:

Group 1 – Ps were asked to recall all 12 items
Group 2 - Ps were asked to recall one row Ps heard tone that indicated which row they needed to recall

HIGH tone meant that you should recall the TOP row
MIDDLE tone indicated the middle row
LOW tone indicated the bottom row

Question 18

research on duration of sensory store SENSORY REGISTER: conclusion (A01)

Answer 18

group 1 recall is poor as image of the items fades so rapidly that person can only report about 3 or 4 of them before remaining disappear

Question 19

research on duration JOHNSON+JOHNSON: STM procedure (A01)

Answer 19

24 student Ps took part in 8 trials each trial student was given trigram + 3 digit number to remember trigram is meaningless three-consonant syllables

student was then asked to count backward from the 3 digit number-counting backwards was to prevent rehearsal of the trigram
each trial they were told to stop counting after different amount of time – 3, 6, 9, 12 , 15 or 18 seconds

each trial they were told to stop counting after different amount of time – 3, 6, 9, 12 , 15 or 18 seconds

Question 20

research on duration JOHNSON+JOHNSON: STM findings (A01)

Answer 20

as retention interval increased the % of correctly recalled words decreased

Question 21

research on duration JOHNSON+JOHNSON: STM conclusion (A01)

Answer 21

study suggests that if rehearsal is prevented STM has a very limited duration

Question 22

research on duration JOHNSON+JOHNSON: LTM procedure (A01)

Answer 22

Bahrick at al investigated very long term memory- studied 392 Ps from Ohio, America, who were aged between 17 + 74

Ps high school yearbooks were obtained either from the Ps themselves or from their school Recall was tested in two ways:

1. Photo-recognition test – name as many of the individuals as you can from 50 yearbook photos
2. Free-recall test – recall all names from the individuals in yearbook without any cues

Question 23

research on duration JOHNSON+JOHNSON: LTM findings (A01)

Answer 23

found that photo recognition was 90% accurate after 15 years + 70% accurate after 48 years

free recall was 60% accurate after 15 years + 30% accurate after 48 years-suggests that the LTM has a very long duration perhaps even longer if appropriate cues are provided

Question 24

research on duration: meaningless stimuli (A03) (2)

Answer 24

P: weakness of research into duration is that it often makes use of artificial stimuli

E+ E: eg. Peterson & Peterson asked participants to remember nonsense trigrams

L: weakness bc stimuli lacked external validity as it did not reflect most real-life memory activities where what we are trying to remember is meaningful

Question 25

research on duration: high external validity (A03) (1)

Answer 25

P: strength of research into duration is that some studies use meaningful memories as stimuli

E+ E: eg. Bahrick asked Ps to recall yearbook photos of people they saw + went to school w/every day

L: strength bc everyday memories were represented-suggesting that study has high external validity + results can be generalised to real-life memories

Question 26

MSM model (A01)

Answer 26

Atkinson & Shiffrin’s multi store model was the first cognitive explanation of memory

model argues that memory is made up of three separate unitary stores

3 stores are Sensory Register, Short Term Memory and Long Term Memory

information to be retained as a memory processes of attention + rehearsal are required

Question 27

sensory register (SR) (A01)

Answer 27

Sensory Register receives huge amount of information through 5 senses but most of it receives little or no attention and is lost

sensory register can only hold information for a very short time- if person pays attention to information-transferred to the short-term memory store
1-2 seconds

Each 5 senses has its own sensory register research into sensory memory focuses on Iconic Memory + Echoic Memory senses

Question 28

short term memory (STM) (A01)

Answer 28

STM is for events in present or immediate past
STM codes all information acoustically that is according to sound
Visual information is transformed to its acoustic codes

capacity= 7 +-2
duration=18-30 seconds

Question 29

long term memory (LTM) (A01)

Answer 29

memory for events that have happened in more distant past is referred to as LTM

Information is coded into LTM using semantic coding required information to be meaningful in order for it is be stored

info is stored in LTM it is stored permanently -the model, any ‘forgetting’ at this stage is because of a failure to retrieve rather than an actual loss of the information

Question 30

MSM model: research support for the MSM (A03) (1)

Answer 30

P: strength of MSM is that it is well supported by range of research evidence

E: Glazner + Cunitz provide clear support for existence of STM + LTM as distinct memory stores
Ps heard a list of words + had to recall them immediately in any order

E: Ps had good recall for first part of the list + last part of list words in the middle of list had poorest recall

L: supports MSM as it suggests STM + LTM are distinct separate memory stores

Question 31

MSM model: STM is too simplistic (A03) (2)

Answer 31

P: weakness of the MSM is that it is too simplistic

E: MSM states that STM is unitary store in other words there is only one type of short-term memory However evidence from people suffering from a clinical condition called amnesia show that this cannot be true eg. Shallice + Warrington studied a patient with amnesia known as KF
Although KF’s memory for verbal material was poor his memory for visual information was unaffected

E: suggests that there may be more than 1 store for STM

L: very serious limitation of the MSM because it is another research finding that cannot be explained by the model
later memory models give a more accurate depiction of STM

Question 32

MSM model: rehearsal is less important (A03) (3)

Answer 32

P: limitation to MSM is that it overemphasises importance of rehearsal

E + E : MSM more you rehearse information more likely you are to transfer it to LTM and remember it for a long time-this is not always the case- often we able to recall information which we did not rehearse yet are unable to recall information which we have rehearsed

L: role of rehearsal as means of transferring from STM to LTM is much less important than Atkinson + Shiffrin claimed in their model

Question 33

MSM model: additional supporting research (A03) (4)

Answer 33

P: strength supported by scientific, brain scanning evidence

E + E: eg. Beardsley found pre-frontal cortex-active during STM tasks but not LTM tasks
Squire used brain scanning + found that hippocampus was active when LTM was engaged
STM + LTM located in different areas of brain

L: strength bc research scientifically demonstrates plausible of separate + LTM stores support the MSM

Question 34

types of LTM: episodic memory (A01)

Answer 34

our ability to recall events from our lives- imagine this as a diary of events the following features:

‘time-stamped’ so you will know when they happened-eg. I started my new job last Saturday.

single memories which include several elements such as places, people, objects and behaviours

make a conscious effort to recall episodic memories

Question 35

types of LTM (A01)

Answer 35

limitation of the MSM is its description of LTM as a single store psychologists now know that there are several long-term stores- is unsurprising when you consider the vast range of information we can remember in LTM

Tulving was 1 of first cognitive psychology to realise that MSM’s view of LTM was too simplistic

Tulving suggested that there are 3 LTM stores containing quite different types of information

Question 36

types of LTM: procedural memory (A01)

Answer 36

our memory for motor actions + skills memories can be recalled without conscious awareness or effort

eg. of procedural memory are riding a bicycle, driving a car or swimming

our ability to do all of these things relies on our procedural memory

Question 37

types of LTM: semantic memory (A01)

Answer 37

our knowledge of the world-may include facts + this memory is often likened to a dictionary or encyclopaedia eg. of semantic memories could be what different fruit tastes like, how to apply to university

memories are not ‘time-stamped’ and the memories are less personal-memory is constantly developing and being added to

Question 38

types of LTM: clinical evidence (A03) (1)

Answer 38

P: strength of theory of types of LTM comes in clinical evidence

E: case studies of HM and Clive Wearing support view that LTM is made of 3 different stores episodic memory in both men was severely impaired as consequence of amnesia

E: but, their semantic + procedural memories were relatively unaffected eg. they understood meaning of word knew how to tie their shoelaces + in case of Clive Wearing still knew how to read music + play piano

L: supports Tulving’s view that there are different stores in LTM this is clear evidence that not only are these types of memory different but they’re stored in different parts of the brain

Question 39

types of LTM: neuroimaging evidence (A03) (2)

Answer 39

P: strength of theory of types of long-term memory comes in evidence from neuroimaging techniques

E: eg. brain scan studies provide evidence that different types of memory are stored in different parts of the brain- Tulving et al got their Ps to perform various memory tasks while their brains were scanned using PET scanner-found that episodic + semantic memories were recalled from prefrontal cortex in brain

E: found procedural memory is linked to cerebellum which is involved in control of fine motor movement

L: objective evidence increases scientific validity of explanation for different stores in LTM

Question 40

types of LTM: 3 OR 2 types of LTM?
(A03) (3)

Answer 40

P: Cohen and Squire disagree w/ Tulving’s division of LTM

E + E: argue that episodic + semantic memories are stored together in one store they call declarative memory-contrast procedural memories are non-declarative

L: reduces reliability of Tulving’s theory that there are three stores in LTM + suggests there are two stores instead

Question 41

WMM: creation of model + duel task performance (A01)

Answer 41

Braddley + Hitch- said STM of MSM was too simplistic so made WMM- called slave systems

duel task performance-people able to do 1 visual task + 1 verbal task-peformance simultaneously not impaired

but when 2 visual OR 2 verbal tasks are done they are more difficult to perform

so this suggests that there is 1 store for visual processing + separate store for auditory processing

Question 42

WMM: central executive (CE) (A01)

Answer 42

main component of WMM- decides what we pay attention to makes decisions and allocates tasks to slave systems

CE has very little no storage capacity + can only pay attention to limited number of stimuli

Question 43

WMM: phonological loop (PL) (A01)

Answer 43

Loop deals w/auditory info e.g. spoken or written material + preserves the order in which information arrives

coding is acoustic PL plays a key role in learning of vocabulary particularly in early childhood years

phonological store is often referred to as ‘inner ear’ because it holds speech based information such as words we hear for 1-2 sec

articulatory control process silently repeats the words from the PS on loop to prevent them from decaying

Question 44

WMM: visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS) (A01)

Answer 44

stores + manipulates visual information from eyes or long-term memory- imagine an object + then picture it rotating you are using your VSS
visual cache – stores visual information eg. shape and colour

inner scribe - deals with spatial + movement information eg. how far or close objects are in relation to each other

Question 45

WMM: episodic buffer (EB) (A01)

Answer 45

Baddeley added third slave system to WMM EB is dedicated to integrating visual, spatial + verbal information from different slave systems into single unit of information eg.scene from TV programme will comprise of visual information, speech, sounds + movement EB joins this information together into memory episode

EB has limited capacity of about 3-4 chunks- buffer provides link between LTM and working member to LTM as it is able to assess information for LTM about time + order

Question 46

WMM: musical memory (A03) (3)

Answer 46

P: weakness of WMM is that it has it can’t account for musical memory

E: eg. Berz showed that Ps could listened to instrumental music w/x impairing performance on other acoustic tasks

E: suggests 2 auditory tasks can be completed at same time w/x impairment- but WMM is not possible if they use same store

L: weakness bc WMM expects Ps to not be able to complete both tasks as they use same store-undermining key component of WMM

Question 46

WMM: research support for the model (A03) (1)

Answer 46

P: strength of WMM is supporting research

E: Baddeley conducted an experiment in which Ps performed two tasks at same time Condition 1: Ps performed two visual tasks at same time
Condition 2: Ps tracked light whilst performing verbal task at same time

E: Ps found it more difficult to do two visual tasks at same time-both tasks were competing for same component of WMM showing their different roles

L: controlled findings support idea that STM has more than 1 component

Question 47

WMM: clinical evidence support the model (A03) (2)

Answer 47

P: WMM is further supported by clinical evidence

E + E: Shallice & Warrington studied KF whose brain was injured in a motorcycle accident- KF’s memory for verbal material was poor his memory for visual information was unaffected in WMM can be explained by damage to articulatory loop but with sketchpad remaining intact

L: case study supports that STM has more than 1 store in real life situations

Question 48

WMM: main component is vague (A03) (4)

Answer 48

P: weakness of the WMM is that explanation of CE is too vague

E + E: CE is the most important component of WMM but it is 1 we know least about- Eslinger + Damasio argue that notion of CE is wrong and that there are probably several components within CE eg. in case study of EVR he performed well on tests requiring reasoning but showed poor judgement

L: implies that CE is not unitary + its explanation is too simplistic

Question 49

interference (A01)

Answer 49

forgetting bc one memory blocks another causing 1 or both memories to be distorted or forgotten

Interference has been proposed mainly as an explanation for forgetting in LTM common everyday example of proactive interference is when you rearrange location of items in a room you may keep going back to place where items used to be instead of where they are now

Question 50

proactive interference (A01)

Answer 50

forgetting occurs when older memories already stored disrupt recall of newer memories degree of forgetting is greater when memories are similar

eg. your teacher has learned so many names in past that she has difficulty remembering names of her current class

Question 51

interferences: effects on similarities findings (A01)

Answer 51

when there was no type of interring material the recalled more words correctly however synonyms had the lowest number of correctly recalled words

Question 51

interferences: effects on similarities procedure (A01)

Answer 51

Ps had to learn list of 10 words until they could remember then w/100% accuracy- then learned new list- were 6 groups who had to learn different types of lists eg. words w/ similar meanings to originals, opposite meanings to originals nonsense syllables

Question 51

retroactive interference (A01)

Answer 51

forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt recall of older memories already stored degree of forgetting is again greater when memories are similar

your teacher has learned so many names this year that she has difficulty remembering names of the students last year

Question 52

interference: lots of supporting evidence (A03) (1)

Answer 52

P: strength of interference theory is that there is wealth of supporting evidence

E + E: interference in memory is probably 1 of the most consistently demonstrated findings in whole of psychology thousands of lab experiments have been carried out into this explanation for forgetting such as McGeoch + McDonald’s research above

L: strength bc lab experiments control effects of extraneous variables + thus give us confidence that interference is valid explanation for forgetting

Question 52

interferences: effects on similarities conclusions (A01)

Answer 52

supports theory that interference is strongest when memories are similar

Question 53

interference: artificial materials (A03) (2)

Answer 53

P: weakness of this is that materials used in research into interference theory are artificial

E: much greater chance that interference will be demonstrated in lab than in real-life situations because they typically involve using lists of words- everyday life, we are seldom required to learn lists of meaningless words real life memory tasks include remembering people’s names + faces, the food items we need in supermarket

E: Another disadvantage of research conducted in lab is that the tasks given to Ps occur in short period of time- the real world, learning of new material is more spaced out

L: limitation as such research cannot be generalised to forgetting in real life situations

Question 54

interference: real life research support (A03) (3)

Answer 54

P: not all studies conducted on interference take place in lab

E: eg. rugby players were asked to remember names of teams they had played in the season, week by week- most of the players had missed games for some the ‘last team’ they played might have been two weeks ago, or three weeks ago, or more

E: results very clearly showed that accurate recall didnt depend on how long ago matches took place Much more important was number of games they played in meantime So player’s recall of team from 3 weeks ago was better if they had played no matches since then

L: strength as it shows that interference can apply to at least some everyday situations

Question 55

interference: limited scope (A03) (4)

Answer 55

P: limitation of this theory is that it is limited

E: Tulving & Psotka gave Ps 5 lists of words to learn recall was high for the first list but fell as Ps were given more lists to learn presumably due to interference- end of test Ps were given cues eg. category names + recall rose again to 70% suggesting retrieval failure was cause of forgetting not interference- 1 prominent memory researcher Eysenck argues that retrieval failure is main reason for forgetting in LTM rather than interference

E: theory only can explain forgetting of similar material-means that there are many types of forgetting that are not explained by this theory also it seems that interference is not the most important explanation for forgetting

L: weakness as it reduces validity of this explanation for forgetting suggesting that retrieval failure may be better explanation in some situations

Question 56

retrieval failure (A01)

Answer 56

occurs when we do not have necessary cues to access memory when info is initially placed in memory associated cues are stored at same time- someone gives you cue then memory might pop back into your head, but in meantime, you are faced with a blank

‘cue’ therefore, is something that triggers memory- Cues can either be external or internal

Question 57

retrieval failure: encoding specificity principle (ESP) (A01)

Answer 57

Tulving reviewed research into retrieval failure + discovered consistent pattern to findings- summarised this pattern in what he called the ESP

states that if a cue is to help us to recall information then it must be present at encoding + retrieval follows from this that if cues available at encoding + retrieval are different there will be some forgetting

Question 58

retrieval failure: context dependant forgetting (A01)

Answer 58

context in which we experience or learn something is crucial many of us will have had experience of memories coming ‘flooding back’ when we return to old haunts such as your old Primary School

we may be able to recall the names of classmates who we have not seen for many years if we see an old school photograph

effect of context on forgetting is known as context dependent forgetting or cue dependent forgetting w/right external cues we can quickly recover memories as demonstrated by many experimental studies

Question 59

retrieval failure: context dependant forgetting findings (A01)

Answer 59

Ps recalled words better in place they had originally learnt the list of words

study clearly demonstrates usefulness of environmental cues in aiding recall + of course explains why police officers often use reconstructions in their investigations

Question 59

retrieval failure: state dependant forgetting (A01)

Answer 59

not only physical context that can affect memory retrieval recall is also impaired if we try to remember something when we are in a different physical or mental state

eg. if we were to learn something when we felt happy/sad/sleepy we could remember this information when we are in same state but have difficulty recalling it in different state

explain why we tend to remember more bad memories when we are in sad mood + we why remember fewer of these memories when we feel happy

Question 60

retrieval failure: context dependant forgetting procedure (A01)

Answer 60

Godden & Baddeley (1975) carried out an interesting study involving deep-sea divers

divers were required to learn list of words + then recall them either underwater or on land
4 conditions:
1. Learn on land – recall on land 2. Learn underwater – recall on land
3. Learn on land – recall underwater 4. Learn underwater – recall underwater

Question 61

retrieval failure: state dependant forgetting procedure (A01)

Answer 61

Goodwin found that people who drank lot forgot where they had put items when there were sober

they could recall the locations when they were drunk again

People who learned list of words while exercising on an exercise bike recalled more words when exercising rather than at rest

Question 62

retrieval failure: supporting evidence (A03) (1)

Answer 62

P: strength of this theory is supporting evidence

E: impressive range of research supports retrieval failure explanation for forgetting

E: Additionally prominent memory researcher Eysenck argued that retrieval failure is main reason for forgetting in LTM

L: increases validity of explanation especially true when evidence shows that retrieval failure occurs in real-life situation as well as in lab

Question 63

retrieval failure: doubts about context dependant forgetting (A03) (2)

Answer 63

P: limitation of this theory is that it may be limited

E+E : suggests that context only affects memory when it is very different at recall different contexts must be very different indeed before an effect is seen eg. it would be hard to find an environment as different from land as underwater In contrast learning something in one classroom + then recalling it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these contexts are not different enough

L: limitation bc it means that the presence or absence of cue only affects memory when you test it in certain way e.g. when you context is very different at learning + recall

Question 64

retrieval failure: recall vs recognition (A03) (3)

Answer 64

P: effect of context on recall may be related to kind of memory being tested

E + E: Godden & Baddeley replicated their underwater experiment but used recognition test instead of recall – Ps had to say whether they recognised word read to them from list instead of retrieving it themselves- when recognition was tested context did not have any effect on performance e.g. Ps performance was same in all 4 conditions

L: further limitation of context-dependent forgetting bc it means that presence or absence of cues only affects memory when you test it in certain way e.g. when you are tested recall rather than recognition of words

Question 64

retrieval failure: problem w/ encoding specificity principle (ESP) (A03) (4)

Answer 64

P: disadvantage of retrieval failure is that ESP is untestable

E + E: an experiment- if person can successfully recall word we presume that cue which triggered memory must have been present when person was learning the list of words-this is just an assumption – there is no way to independently establish where or not cue was ever encoded when information was learnt

L: W/x evidence to directly link forgetting to absence of cue that was encoded during learning it is impossible to verify validity of ESP. weakens theory of retrieval failure as a theory of forgetting

Question 65

eye witness testimony (EWT) (A01)

Answer 65

statement given to court of law by an eye witness who was at scene of crime under oath includes identification of perpetrators details of crime scene + any other relevant details that may have been seen by eyewitness

Psychologists have identified several psychological factors that are thought to affect the reliability of EWT such as:
Leading questions-any information that ‘leads’ you into giving a particular response- opposed to necessarily accurate response
Post-Event discussions
Anxiety/stress
Weapon Focus

Question 66

EWT: research into leading questions findings (A01)

Answer 66

Verb Mean Estimated Speed
(mph)
Smashed 40.8
Collided 39.3
Bumped 38.1
Hit 34.0
Contacted 31.8

Question 66

EWT: research into leading questions procedure (A01)

Answer 66

Ps watched film clips of car accidents + were then asked various questions about what they had seen- critical question Ps were asked: ‘About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’ leading question bc verb ‘hit’ suggests speed car was going

Question 67

EWT: research into leading questions conclusion (A01)

Answer 67

study suggests that wording of question could affect recall of memories from Ps

Question 68

why do leading questions affecting EWT: response bias (A01)

Answer 68

suggests that wording of question has no real effect on Ps’ memories, but just influences how they decide to answer

when P gets leading question using word ‘smashed’ this encourages them to choose higher speed estimate

Question 68

why do leading questions affecting EWT: memory is altered (A01)

Answer 68

wording of leading question eg.‘smashed’ changes person’s memory of film clip those asked critical question w/verb ‘smashed’ will remember accident as being more serious than someone asked same question w/verb ‘hit’ being used

Question 69

memory is altered LOFTUS + PALMER: procedure (A01)

Answer 69

1 week after 1st experiment Ps were asked whether they had seen any broken glass Ps who originally heard ‘smashed’ were more likely to answer ‘yes’ than those who had heard word ‘hit’

appears that critical question had altered their memory of car accident

Question 70

what can lower reliability of EWT GABBERT: post event discussion (PED) (A01)

Answer 70

occur when several eyewitnesses discuss the crime w/each other can cause eyewitnesses to combine incorrect information from other witnesses w/their own memories

Question 71

PED: procedure (A01)

Answer 71

Ps were paired up + then watched video of same crime but from different viewpoints meant that each P could see elements in event that other could not

eg. only 1 of the Ps could see title of a book being carried by young woman

Both Ps then discussed what they had seen before individually completing test of recall

Question 72

PED: findings (A01)

Answer 72

Gabbert found that 71% of Ps mistakenly recalled aspects of event that they did not see in video but had picked up in discussion comparison none of Ps in control group w/x discussion made same mistake

Question 73

PED: conclusion (A01)

Answer 73

suggests PED reduces reliability of EWT bc witnesses often go along w/each other in other to win social approval or because they believe other witnesses are right + they are wrong- called this phenomenon memory conformity

Question 74

research into misleading information: practical application (A03) (1)

Answer 74

P: strength of research into misleading information is that it has hugely practical uses in real world

E +E : possible applications could be adopted by legal profession from this research eg. in development of Cognitive interview- claimed leading questions can distort memory + therefore police are careful in phrasing of their questions

L: research into EWT is 1 area in which psychologists believe they can make an important positive difference by improving way legal system works

Question 75

research into misleading information: artificial tasks (A03) (2)

Answer 75

P: limitation of research into misleading information is that research uses artificial tasks

E: their Ps watched film clips of car accidents rather than witnessing real accidents

E: limitation bc studies that use such artificial tasks may tell us very little about how leading questions affect EWT in real life accidents or crimes- suggested that many answers Ps give in lab studies of EWT are result of demand characteristics + therefore lowers validity of research into misleading information

L: However witnesses were unaffected therefore suggesting that misleading information might not affect people in real life situations

Question 76

research into misleading information: individual differences are ignored (A03) (3)

Answer 76

P: limitation to this explanation is that individual differences are ignored

E + E: evidence that older people are less accurate than younger people when giving eyewitness reports- Anstasi + Rhodes found that people aged 18- 45 were more accurate than people aged 55-78 years

L: limitation as evidence fails to acknowledge such age differences + also tends to use younger people in their sample-mean that research findings should not be generalised to older people thus lowering validity of the research

Question 77

EWT JOHNSON+ SCOTT: anxiety has a negative effect on EWT findings (A01)

Answer 77

49% of Ps who had seen man carrying pen were able to identify him compared to only 33% who had seen man holding the knife

Question 78

EWT: anxiety (A01)

Answer 78

Anxiety has strong emotional + physical effects but it is not clear whether these effects make eyewitness recall better or worse research to support both possibilities

Question 78

EWT JOHNSON+ SCOTT: anxiety has a negative effect on EWT procedure (A01)

Answer 78

Ps were led to believe that they were going to take part in a lab study

While seated in waiting room Ps heard heated argument in next room followed by man walking through the waiting area

‘low-anxiety’ condition man who walked through waiting area was carrying a pen + had grease on his hands

‘high-anxiety’ condition man was holding knife that was covered in blood.

Question 79

EWT JOHNSON+ SCOTT: anxiety has a negative effect on EWT conclusions (A01)

Answer 79

suggests that anxiety can reduce reliability of EWT

Loftus claimed that Ps who saw the knife were less accurate bc they focused their attention on weapon rather than on surrounding events

Question 80

EWT YUILLE + CUTSHALL: anxiety has a positive effect on EWT (A01)

Answer 80

Anxiety is thought to increase accuracy of an eyewitness bc stress of witnessing crime or accident triggers fight-or-flight response

response increases our alertness which makes us more aware of what is happening in situation

Question 80

EWT YUILLE + CUTSHALL: anxiety has a positive effect on EWT conclusion (A01)

Answer 80

suggests anxiety can improve memory for EWT

Question 81

EWT YUILLE + CUTSHALL: anxiety has a positive effect on EWT procedure (A01)

Answer 81

real-life shooting in Canada shop owner shot thief dead -13 witnesses to event agreed to take part in the study.

Ps were interveiwed 4-5 months after incident and these were compared to original police interviews made at time of shooting

witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they felt at time of incident

Question 81

EWT YUILLE + CUTSHALL: anxiety has a positive effect on EWT findings (A01)

Answer 81

witnesses proved to be very accurate in their accounts Interestingly those Ps who reported highest levels of stress where most accurate

Question 82

EWT YERKES+ DODSON anxiety: explaining contradictory findings (A01)

Answer 82

relationship between arousal + performance is an inverted U

inverted U theory states that performance will increases w/stress-only to a certain point-decreases quickly

Question 83

EWT anxiety: problems w/inverted U theory (A03) (1)

Answer 83

P: although inverted U appears to be reasonable explanation of contradictory findings regarding both positive + negative effects of anxiety on recall it only focuses on physical arousal

E + E: issue as it ignores fact that anxiety presents in many different forms eg. it can also be cognitive

L: using inverted U theory we are oversimplifying relationship between anxiety accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Question 84

EWT anxiety: weapon focus effect is invalid (A03) (2)

Answer 84

P: Ps who saw knife in Johnson + Scott’s study may have had poorer recall because they were surprised rather than scared or anxious

E: Pickel Ps were shown video clip of a man walking up to hairdresser’s receptionist w/either pair of scissors, handgun, wallet or raw chicken- eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in high unusualness conditions

E: suggests that weapon focus is due to unusualness of object in the situation rather than anxiety/threat

L: suggests that weapon focus is an invalid explanation of eyewitness recall

Question 85

EWT anxiety: field studies lack control (A03) (3)

Answer 85

P: weakness of this explanation is methodology of supporting research

E + E: Field studies such as that performed by Yuille + Cutshall involve interviewing real-life eyewitnesses after an event-sorts of things could have happened to Ps before interview that researcher has no control over eg. they may have seen report of event on TV

L: limitation bc it is possible that these P variables may be responsible for accuracy of recall thus reducing validity of field research

Question 86

cognitive interview FISHER+ GEISELMAN (CI) (A01)

Answer 86

They thought that standard police interview improved if police used better techniques when interviewing witnesses

standard interview procedures involves period of free recall about an event followed by specific questions

CI is method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories

uses four main techniques all based on well-established psychological knowledge of human memory

Question 87

CI techniques: report everything (A01)

Answer 87

Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of event even though it may seem irrelevant

trivial details may be important + moreover may trigger other important memories

Question 88

CI techniques: reinstate the context (A01)

Answer 88

witness should return to original crime scene ‘in their mind’ + imagine the environment + their emotions

Question 89

CI techniques: reverse the order (A01)

Answer 89

Events should be recalled in different chronological order to original sequence eg. from final point back to beginning or from middle to beginning

prevent people reporting their expectations of how event might have happened rather than actual events

also prevents dishonestly as it is harder for people to produce an untruthful account if they have to reverse it

Question 90

CI techniques: change perspective (A01)

Answer 90

Witnesses should recall incident from other people’s perspectives eg. how it would have appeared to other witnesses or to perpetrator

done to prevent witnesses being affected by their expectations rather than what they actually saw

eg. if you failed to get a clear view of the purse-snatcher above, you may have presumed they were male which of course may be incorrect

Question 91

CI: research support the CI (A03) (1)

Answer 91

P: strength of cognitive interview is that it is well supported by psychological research

E + E: Geiselman showed Ps film of violent crime later interviewed using a cognitive or standard police interview Geiselman found that CI led to better memory for events w/witnesses able to recall more relevant information compared to the standard interview

Fisher et al conducted a field experiment w/actual interviews of real witnesses by serving Police detectives- detectives used standard police interview or CI Strong support was obtained for effectiveness of CI in field

L: breadth of data suggests that CI offers real practical benefits to police especially when enhanced version is used- improvements to way police interview witnesses will result in more criminals being caught + charged benefitting society

Question 92

CI: the CI is time consuming (A03) (2)

Answer 92

P: limitation to CI is that it is time-consuming

E: police may be reluctant to use CI bc it takes much longer than standard police interview-more time is needed to establish relationship w/witness + to allow them to relax

E: Additionally CI requires special training + many police forces do not have funds to provide necessary training

L: problem bc proper version is less likely to be used + specialist training causes an increased cost to economy

Question 93

CI: the CI produces an increase of inaccurate information (A03) (3)

Answer 93

P: techniques of CI aim to increase the amount of correct information recalled but recall of incorrect information may also be increased

E + E: Kohnken found that although CI produced massive increase in correct information- he also found 61% increase in incorrect information when enhanced CI was used compared to standard interview

L: suggests that police need to treat all information collected from CI with caution

Question 94

CI: there are individual differences in the effectiveness of the CI (A03) (4)

Answer 94

P: weakness of the CI is that it doesn’t improve recall in all cases

E + E: Geiselman reviewed many cases + found that in children under 6 recall of events was slightly less accurate possibly due to complexity of the instructions provided as part of Cognitive Interview

L: weakness bc it shows that cognitive interview is not effective at improving testimony in all situations