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A-Level Psychology AQA > Memory > Flashcards

Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

define memory

A

the process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past

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2
Q

what is coding?

A

the format in which information is changed so that it can be stored in the various memory stores

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3
Q

how does the stm code for information?

A

acoustically (based on how it sounds)

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4
Q

how does the ltm code information?

A

semantically (based on its meaning)

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5
Q

who carried out research into coding?

A

baddeley

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6
Q

outline the procedure of baddeleys coding experiment

A
  • gave different lists of words to four groups of participants to remember
  • group one had acoustically similar words (words that sounded similar)
  • group two had acoustically dissimilar words
  • group three had semantically similar words (had similar meanings)
  • group four had semantically dissimilar words
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7
Q

what were the findings of baddeleys coding experiment? explain the findings.

what do the findings suggest?

A
  • when asked to recall the words straight away, group one (acoustically similar words) had the worst recall and recalled the least amount of words. this suggests that information is encoded acoustically in the stm.
    this is because the stm gets confused when it has to retrieve words that are acoustically similar and muddles them up, resulting in fewer being remembered.
  • when asked to recall words after 20 minutes, group three (semantically similar words) had the worst recall and remembered the least amount of words. this suggests that information is encoded semantically in the ltm. this is because the ltm gets confused by similar meanings.
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8
Q

what is a strength of baddeleys coding research?

A
  • was conducted in a controlled laboratory condition. this means there was control over extraneous variables such as noise level, suggesting we can be confident that the coding in the stm is acoustic and the coding in the ltm is semantic. this is a strength because the research has high internal validity as we can establish cause and effect (manipulation of the iv caused the dv)
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9
Q

what is a weakness of baddeleys coding experiment?

A
  • its not clear how long we need to wait to test the ltm. for example, baddeley tested the ltm by asking participants to recall a list 20 minutes after it was learnt. perhaps, they should have waited longer before measuring the ltm as there are much longer gaps between learning and recall in real life. this is a weakness because the study lacks ecological validity, and questions whether the coding of the ltm is actually semantic
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10
Q

what is capacity?

A

how much information can be stored in each memory store

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11
Q

what is the capacity of the stm?

what is the capacity of the ltm?

A

5-9 items

unlimited

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12
Q

name the 2 researchers that investigated the capacity of the short term memory

A
  • jacobs
  • miller
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13
Q

describe jacobs’ procedure of researching the capacity of the short term memory

A
  • developed a technique called the digit span
  • researcher gave for example four digits to a participant, and then asked them to recall these in the correct order out loud. if they are correct, the researcher reads out five digits and so on until the participant cannot recall the order correctly. this determines the participants digit span.
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14
Q

what were the findings of jacobs’ research into the capacity of the short term memory

A
  • the average span was 9.3 for numbers and 7.3 for letters
  • 8 year olds could recall an average of seven digits, whereas 19 year olds could remember up to 9 digits
  • this provided evidence that the capacity of the stm is 5-9 items
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15
Q

what were the findings of millers research into the capacity of the short term memory?

A

found that people can remember five words as easily as they can remember five sentences, demonstrating the idea of chunking.

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16
Q

who was the researcher that investigated the capacity of the long term memory?

A

wagenaar

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17
Q

how did wagenaar investigate the capacity of the long term memory? desribe the procedure

A
  • created a diary of 2400 events that happened in his life over six years and tested himself on his memory of the events - not the dates
  • he did this in terms of 4 memory cues (who, what, where, when).
  • events were then rated on saliency (distinctiveness), emotional involvement, and pleasantness.
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18
Q

what were the findings of wagenaars investigation into the capacity of the long term memory?

A
  • he found that he had excellent recall, with no events being completely forgotten.
  • this suggests that the capacity of the ltm is very large
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19
Q

what is a strength of research into the capacity of the memory?

A
  • one strength is that the effects of age are acknowledged. this is because jacobs tested individuals of ranging ages and found that the digit span increases with age because the memory becomes more complex. this suggests that the estimate of the capacity of the ltm accounts for people of all ages. this is a strength because individual differences are taken into account, making the research more credible
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20
Q

what is a weakness of research into the capacity of the memory?

A
  • often based on case studies. for example wagenaar used his own memories to measure his own long term memory. thus, not only are his memories unrepresentative of the general population, but his rating of them is also subjective
  • this is a weakness because his study lacks population validity and the findings are difficult to generalise to others
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21
Q

what is duration?

A

the period of time that information can last in the memory stores.

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22
Q

what is the duration of the stm?

A

18-30 seconds

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23
Q

what is the duration of the ltm?

A

a lifetime

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24
Q

which researchers investigated the duration of the short term memory?

A

peterson and peterson

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25
Q

outline the procedure peterson and peterson used to investigate the duration of the short term memory

A
  • tested 24 students who each took part in 8 trials
  • on each trial, the student was given a consonant syllable (aka a nonsense trigram) to remember, along with a three digit number
  • student was then asked to count backwards from that three digit number until they were told to stop
  • this counting backwards was to prevent any mental rehearsal of the nonsense trigram
  • on each trial they were told to stop after a different length of time - 3,6,9,12,15, and 18 seconds
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26
Q

what were the findings of peterson and petersons investigation into the duration of the short term memory?

A

as time increased, the participants found it harder and harder to remember the trigrams, suggesting the stm has a very short duration, unless the item is rehearsed

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27
Q

who was the researcher that conducted an investigation into the duration of the long term memory

A

bahrick

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28
Q

describe bahricks procedure (investigating the duration of the ltm)

A
  • investigated very long term memory
  • studied 392 participants from ohio, aged between 17 and 74
  • the p’s yearbooks were obtained from either the p’s themselves or their schools
  • recall was tested using a photo-recognition test, where they named as many individuals they could from 50 yearbook photos, or a free-recall test, where they tried to recall all the names from the individuals in the yearbook without any cues
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29
Q

what were the findings of bahricks procedure investigating very long term memory duration?

A
  • photo recognition was 90% accurate after 15 years and 70% accurate after 48 years
  • free recall was 60% accurate after 15 years and 30% accurate after 48 years
  • this suggests that the LTM has a very long duration, and even longer if appropriate cues are provided
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30
Q

what is a strength of research into the duration of the memory?

A
  • strength is that some studies use meaningful memories as stimuli. for example, bahrick asked participants to recall yearbook photos of people they saw and went to school with everyday. this means that everyday memories were represented. this is a strength because the results can be generalised to real life memories, and so the study has high ecological validity
31
Q

what is a weakness into research on the duration of the long term memory?

A
  • sometimes makes use of artificial stimuli. for example, peterson and peterson asked participants to remember nonsense trigrams, which do not reflect real life memory activities. so, the findings cannot be generalised to duration in the real world, so the research lacks ecological validity.
32
Q

what is the multistore model of memory?

A

a representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, the short term memory and the long term memory, and how information is transferred between them.

33
Q

who proposed the multistore model of memory?

A

atkinson and shiffrin

34
Q

draw the multistore model of memory

A

the three stores (sensory register>stm>ltm)

between sensory register and stm is attention

between stm and ltm is rehersal

when information leaves the ltm its called retrieval faliure or interference (below ltm store)

when information leaves the sensory register and stm its called decay or displacement (below each of the stores)

35
Q

what is maintenance rehearsal?

A

the process of repeating an item over and over again in order to remember it

36
Q

what is the sensory register store?

A

the information at the senses

37
Q

how does information arrive at the sensory register?

A

through our senses - eyes, ears, skin, and tongue

38
Q

what are the two main stores within the sensory register?

A

the iconic memory (visual information) and the echoic memory (auditory information)

39
Q

what is the capacity of the sensory register? what is the duration of the sensory register?

A

capacity is very large, as there are over a hundred million cells in one eye that store data

  • the duration is very short, less than half a second.
40
Q

what is the short term memory store?

A
  • the store that holds information on events in the present or immediate past
41
Q

what is the capacity of the short term memory store?

what is the duration of the short term memory store?

A

5-9 items

18-30 seconds unless its rehearsed

42
Q

what is the long term memory store?

A

store that holds information about events in the more distant past

43
Q

what is the capacity of the long term memory store?

A

potentially unlimited

44
Q

what happens when we want to recall information from the long term memory store?

A

it has to be transferred back to the stm by retrieval

45
Q

what is a strength of the multistore model of memory?

A
  • a wide range of supporting research. for example, when researchers presented participants with a list of words for two seconds and asked them to recall the words in any order they liked, they discovered a primacy-recency effect. the primacy effect is when there is better recall of words at the beginning of a list because those words have been rehearsed in the stm and transferred to the ltm. the recency effect is when there is better recall of words at the end of a list because those words are still in the stm by the time the testing period is over. the words in the middle of the list are displaced from the stm before they could be rehearsed.
    this is a strength because it supports the existence of separate stm and ltm stores and therefore the MSM.
46
Q

what is a weakness of the MSM?

A
  • it states the stm is a unitary store, however evidence from case studies suggests this in accurate. for example, shallice and warrington found that after a bike accident, patient KF’s memory for verbal information was largely impaired (he couldnt remember information that was spoken to him), however his memory for visual information was unaffected (he could remember information when he saw it written down). this suggests that perhaps there is one stm store that processes visual information and one that processes auditory information. this is a weakness because it questions the validity of the MSM’s view of memory
47
Q

what are the three types of long term memory?

A

episodic memory
semantic memory
procedural memory

48
Q

what is the episodic memory?

A

a long term memory store for personal events and experiences that have happened in our lives. they require a conscious effort to be recalled

49
Q

what is semantic memory?

A

a long term memory store for facts and general knowledge of the world. these memories are not time stamped, and require a conscious effort to be recalled.

50
Q

what are the semantic and episodic memory sometimes collectively referred to as?

A

the declarative memory

51
Q

what is procedural memory?

A

a long term memory store for motor skills and actions, such as knowing how to drive a car or ride a bicycle. we can recall these memories without a conscious effort, and they are not time stamped.

52
Q

what is a strength of the types of long term memory?

A
  • theres supporting evidence from case studies. for example, in the case study of clive wearing, whilst his amnesia severely impaired his episodic memory, his semantic and procedural memories remained intact. this suggests that there are different stores for long term memory, as if only one is damaged the others can still remain intact. this is a strength as it supports the view that there must be different types of long-term memory
53
Q

what is a weakness of the types of long term memory?

A
  • research into the types of ltm is often conducted on individual patients. for example, the case study of clive wearing is unique case of long-term memory damage, and so it is inappropriate to assume that everybodys ltm is structured in the same way as a brain damage patient’s. this is a weakness because the findings cannot be generalised to other people.
54
Q

what are the two explanations of forgetting?

A
  • interference
  • retrieval faliure
55
Q

what are the two types of interference?

A

proactive and retroactive interference

56
Q

what is proactive interference?

A

when old learning affects the recall of new information, as an older memory interferes with a newer one.

57
Q

how has proactive interference been researched? describe the procedure and the findings

A
  • researchers replicated peterson and petersons experiment
  • the participants were presented with nonsense trigrams, at different intervals eg 3,6,9 seconds
  • to prevent rehearsal, participants had to count backwards in threes before recalling
  • they found that p’s typically remembered the trigrams that were presented first, irrespective of interval length
  • this supports proactive interference as memory of earlier trigrams, which had transferred to the ltm, was interfering with the memory of new trigrams due to the similarity of the information
58
Q

what is retroactive interference?

A
  • when the learning of new information affects the recall of old information.
59
Q

how has retroactive interference been studied? describe the procedure and the findings

A
  • researchers asked participants to recall street names they had learnt during childhood in their local neighbourhood
  • they found that as the number of times someone had moved house increased, so did the number of street names they had forgotten
  • this supports retroactive interference as learning of new street names when moving interfered with the recall of the old street names
60
Q

in both proactive and retroactive interference, when is recall the worst?

A

when the memories are similar

61
Q

how have researchers investigated how interference is affected by the similarity of memories? describe the procedure and the findings

A
  • research was conducted into retroactive interference
  • they changed the amount of similarity between two sets of materials
  • p’s had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy.
  • then, they learned a new list.
  • group 1’s new list was synonyms
  • group 2’s new list was antonyms
  • group 3’s new list was related words
  • group 4’s new list was consonant syllables
  • group 5’s new list was three digit numbers
  • group 6’s new list was the same list as the old one

they found that the most similar lists produced the worst recall. this shows that interference is strongest when the memories are similar

62
Q

what are the strengths of the interference theory?

A
  • supported by research conducted in control laboratory environments. for example, researchers demonstrated how retroactive interference can be heightened when memories are similar. this suggests that interference is likely to be one of the ways we forget information from the ltm
  • supporting research from baddeley and hitch who found that when rugby players were asked to recall the names of teams they had played throughout the season, those who had played more games had worse recall than those who had played less games. this suggests that the players who played all the games experienced more interference, as new team names caused older ones to be forgotten. this is a strength as findings are ecologically valid
63
Q

what are the weaknesses of the interference theory?

A
  • often conducted in lab environments which do not reflect where interference occurs in real life, or the time between learning and recall. for example, the amount of time researchers give between learning and recall is limited to a few minutes, compared to the months and even years in real life. this suggests that there is an attempt to induce interference in participants during lab studies = low ecological validity
  • another weakness is that the research conducted in lab environments often makes use of artificial materials. eg. researchers have used nonsense trigrams when testing interference. this is an issue as they should use real life memories to test interference, to make the findings applicable to real life. this is a weakness as there is a much greater chance of interference in a lab than in real life, therefore biasing results.
64
Q

what is retrieval failure?

A

a form of forgetting that occurs when information in the long term memory is available (present) but no longer accesible (we cannot reach it)

65
Q

why does retrieval failure happen?

A

because we dont have the necessary cues to access the memories

66
Q

what is the encoding specificity principle?

A

a principle that states if a cue is to help recall information, it must be present at encoding (when we learn the information) and at retrieval. if the cues at encoding and retrieval are different, or if a cue is absent at retrieval, there will be forgetting

67
Q

what are the two main types of cues?

A

internal = level of intoxication, mood etc

external = context, location etc

68
Q

what is context dependent forgetting?

A

occurs when the environment during recall is different from the environment you were in during learning

69
Q

who carried out research into context dependent forgetting?
what was the procedure?
what were the findings?

A

godden and baddeley
- asked experienced deep-sea divers to learn lists of words. the divers either learnt the words on land or underwater and then were asked to recall the words in either the same context or a different context. there were four conditions

  1. learn list on land recall list on land
  2. learn list on land recall list underwater
  3. learn list underwater recall list underwater
  4. learn list underwater recall list on land
  • they found that accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions where the context of recall was different to the context of learning. the external cues available at learning were different to the ones at recall and this lead to retrieval failure.
70
Q

what is state dependent forgetting?

A

occurs when your mood or physiological state during recall is different from the mood/state you were in when you were learning

71
Q

who carried out research into state dependent forgetting? what was the procedure? what were the findings?

A
  • carter and cassaday
  • asked participants to take ant-histamine drugs that had a mild sedative effect, and then learn a list of words and passages to recall. there were four conditions
  1. learn list on drug recall list on drug
  2. learn list on drug recall list when not on drug
  3. learn list when not on drug recall list when not on drug
  4. learn list when not on drug recall list when on drug
  • they found that performance on the memory test was significantly worse when there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and at recall.
72
Q

what are the strengths of the retrieval failure theory of forgetting?

A
  • supporting evidence from controlled laboratory experiments. eg. carter and cassaday demonstrated that state-dependent forgetting occurs due to the absence of internal cues. this is a strength because due to the controlled environment, they were able to establish cause and effect, which increases the validity of the findings.
  • supporting evidence from natural experiments eg. godden and baddeley found evidence for context dependent forgetting with deep sea divers both on land and in the sea, both natural environments. this suggests context dependent forgetting occurs outside the laboratory, and so is not solely an effect of demand characteristics. this is a strength because the study is high in ecological validity
73
Q

what is a weakness of the retrieval failure explanation for forgetting?

A
  • studies into state-dependent forgetting raise ethical issues. for example, during carter and cassaday’s study, p’s were required to take antihistamine drugs which led to drowsiness and other side effects. this was an artificial change to their internal states, which may have caused distress and a potential lack of protection from harm. this is a weakness as it questions the credibility of psychology as a discipline

A-Level Psychology AQA (9 decks)

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