Memory Flashcards

Question

What is the Visuo-spatial sketch pad

Answer 1

1. Visual cache- stores visual data- what objects look like e.g. shape and colour 2. Inner scribble- deals with spatial awareness e.g. arrangement of objects and locations and your movement within that space. Limited capacity of 3-4 objects

Answer 2

Brings material from other slave systems into one single memory store Provides a link between working memory to LTM- transferring information to and taking information from LTM

Answer 3

Studies of dual task performance support the existence of the Visio spatial sketch pad E.g. Baddeley found that participants had more difficulty completing two visual or verbal tasks together, compared to completing a visual and a verbal task at the same time. This is because both tasks compete for the same system (VSS) whereas there is no competition with a visual and verbal task. Suggests there must be a subsystem that proceeds visual information in STM and also a separate system for verbal processes which the WMM suggests. Support from case studies such as that of a patient known as KF Had amnesia. KF STM digits were very poor but good when they read them himself. Supports WMM as suggests the phonological loop which involves sound based information is separate from the VSS which has visual data. However can’t test his memory before the study so unreliable conclusion Support from PET scans For example braver gave P a brain scan and whilst scanning asked to complete tasks involving CE. They found high activity in left prefrontal cortex and activity increased as it got harder. Supports WMM as shows there is biologically based evidence and supports different components of WMM. Supports models prediction there will be more activity when moire demands placed upon it.

Answer 4

Psychologists know vert little about the central executive Argued the information we have on this component is very limited. All Baddeley and hitch state is that the capacity is limited and it controls other paths but don’t know more than this. Limitation as the WMM can be criticised for giving detail on other sections but not fully explaining the most important part therefore an incomplete theory

Answer 5

eposodic, semantic, procedural

Answer 6

that LTM as a unitary store was too simplistic and that there is three different LTM stores contaimimh different types of information

Answer 7

holds daily personal experiences e.g. remembering recent visit to dentist the memories are time stamped and have to make a conscious effort to recall them.

Answer 8

holds our knowledge of the world which is less personal than episodic memories and more facts/knowledge we all share. they are not time stamped so we can not pinpoint the time we learned the information e.g. knowing what a toothbrush and teeth are

Answer 9

holds memories for actions and skills, memories of how we do things these skills become automatic with practice without conscious recall e.g. knowing how to brush your teeth

Answer 10

episodic is available for concious recall and time stamped and right pre frontal cortex semantic can't be time stamped and left pre frontal cortex procedural isn't available for conscious recall

Answer 11

episodic was damaged- forgot experiences semantic was intact procedural was intact

Answer 12

p- there is case study evidence supporting the existence of different types of LTM e- for example HM was left with severe memory impairment after surgery, his episodic memory was damaged where his semantic and procedural memories were intact. c- this supports the view that there are different memory stores in LTM because one store can be damaged but other stores are unaffected. `if the MSM were true then the whole LTM should be damaged which isn't the case. c- however an issue of research with people with brain injuries is that `R lack control as they do not know anything about the persons memory before the brain damage and so limited what they tell us about LTM. p- understanding LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems, giving us real world application e- memory loss in old age seems to be specific to episodic therefore this can be targeted to improve memory. belleville devised an intervention for older people targeting episodic memory which improved their memory compared to a control group. c- this shows distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed, improving an individuals memory and QOL

Answer 13

p- there is conflicting research findings linking LTM to areas of the brain e- for example Buckner and Peterson reviewed evidence regarding location of semantic and episodic memory. They concluded that S memory is located on left side of PFC and episodic on right. however other research contradicts this suggesting that the left and right PFC are both linked to encoding and retrieval of episodic memory. c- this matters because it challenges any neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory as there is poor agreement on where each type may be located.

Answer 14

when forgetting occurs because one memory blocks another causing one or both memories to become distorted or forgotten

Answer 15

proactive retroactive

Answer 16

occurs when previously learnt (OLD) information interferes with later (NEW) learning

Answer 17

occurs when later (NEW) information interferes with previous (OLD) learnt information.

Answer 18

the more similar the information is the more likely it is to take place

Answer 19

1. what interference is 2.likely to happen with similar information 3. whether its retroactive/proactive link to scenario throughout

Answer 20

researchers investigated the idea that interference is worse when memories/learning are similar. they researched retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between the two sets of materials thatP had to learn. had to learn one list of words and then a second list and found people could recall less words when given with a similar list of synonyms.

Answer 21

P- there is research evidence from McGeoch and mc Donald E- they researched retroactive interference by changing the similarity between the two sets of lists p had to learn. It was found that they could recall less when they were synonyms of the previous list. C- this supports retroactive interference as the newer information caused forgetting of the original list and interference was strongest was strongest the more similar the information was to the original P- research evidence from baddeley and hitch in a more everday situation E- they asked rugby players to name teams they had played so far in the season. They found that accurate recall did not depend on how long ago the matches took place but the number of games they played meantime- more interference C-shows that interference operates in some everyday situations increasing the ecological validity C-however lack of control of extraneous variables meaning we cannot conclude that interference caused the difficulty with remembering the team names.

Answer 22

P- studies investigating the theory lack ecological vadility E- for example tasks often require Ps to learn lists of meaningless words/objects then soon after recall them only leaving relatively short amounts of time between learning and recall. IRL often learn something then recall after a long time e.g. revise for an exam- may be more interference. C- therefore everday forgetting may be explained better by other theories rather than interference theory e.g. retrieval failure due to a lack of cues.

Answer 23

That information might be forgotten because of insufficient cues that help us access a memory. The memory is still there but we don’t have the right cue.

Answer 24

A trigger for information that allows us to gain access to a memory

Answer 25

A cue for learning has to be present at encoding and retrieval. If the cues at encoding and retrieval are different or absent at retrieval then there will be some forgetting

Answer 26

Context depending forgetting (external) State depending forgetting (internal)

Answer 27

Occurs when the external cues (env you are in) were present at learning but not at retrieval E.g. learning info for exam in your room but recall in the exam hall forgetting may occur due to a lack of external cues.

Answer 28

Occurs when the internal cues e.g. cues within yourself such as mood were present at learning but not at retrieval. E.g. good mood when you learnt the info but a bad mood when you retrieve it- you are likely to forget

Answer 29

P- research to support context depending forgetting. E- conducted a study on water divers- where they learnt words in the same environment e.g on land and retreived on land too, recall was higher by 40% than when the conditions didn’t match e.g on land and retrieve in water. C-suggests retrieval failure was due to the absence of encoded context cues as the time of recall, meaning the material was forgotten. P-research to support state depending forgetting E- learn words on a drug or not on a drug and had to recall either on a drug or not on a drug. Where there was mismatch between internal states (learning on no drug and recalling on a drug) performance was worse. C-Shows when the state cues at encoding are absent at retrieval then there is more forgetting P- even though some research lacks EV there are still important applications to everday memory E- found that recalled more information when tested in the same room with the same teacher in comparison to a different teacher. Supports idea that learning and testing in the same environment prevents forgetting to some degree. C- shows retrieval failure can be applicable to help students with their examinations in everday life- learning and retrieving in the same room would be advantageous.

Answer 30

P- research into retrieval failure is not always reflective of real life forgetting E- argued when retrieval failure is studied in experiments the results indicate a far stronger forgetting effect that we experience in everyday life- vastly different states of context used e.g. on water vs on land. C-this is a limitation as it means retrieval failure due to a lack of contextual cues may not explain everyday forgetting

Answer 31

Evidence supplied by people who witness a specific event or crime relying on their memory

Answer 32

Misleading information Anxiety

Answer 33

Leading questions Post event discussion

Answer 34

A question which because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer

Answer 35

Students were shown clips of road traffic accidents and were asked to give an account of the accident. Asked how fast were the cars going when they _____ into each other? Found that verb smashed resulted in higher speeds and contacted resulted in lower speeds suggesting leading questions can clearly influence peoples perception of speed as more emotive words will give higher speeds.

Answer 36

Response bias explanation Substitution explanation

Answer 37

The wording of a question has no actual effect on a persons memory but instead influences how they decide to answer

Answer 38

The wording of a question actually does change a persons memory of an event

Answer 39

Followed up 1 week later and asked if they had seen any broken glass- there wasn’t any Those who were asked the speed question with the word smashed more recalled they saw glass. And less people recalled to see the glass with no question. The tidal verb in the question altered memory of the incident (substitution) so participants genuinely believed there was broken glass in the smashed condition

Answer 40

P- research is mostly conducted in labs, decreasing EV E- e.g P in Loftus and palmer study viewed a video clip rather than than a car accident IRL, someone would be very anxious witnessing the crime which cannot be replicated in a lab setting C- studies that use such artificial tasks may tell us very little about how leading questions affect EWT in the case of real accidents or crime. P-many answers given by the P may be due to DC E- are aware they are taking part in a research study and therefore may want to please the researcher and appear helpful- may watch video closely which they wont in a real situation C-reduces internal vadility of studies investigating EWT- results may be to DC not leading questions. P- results may be effected by individual differences E- woven tho the study was a lab study, EV such as age may account for results seen. Found that people who were old are less accurate at EWT reports. C-therefore as Loftus and palmer used students it’s hard to generalise the results or the whole population as different groups may give different results.

Answer 41

occurs when there is more than one witness to an event. those who have observed the event will discuss what happened with other co-witnesses

Answer 42

memory contamination memory conformity

Answer 43

when co witnesses discuss an event they mix the information they get from others with their own memory

Answer 44

people simply go along with what each other are recalling simply for social approval or because they believe the other person must have the right information

Answer 45

leading questions post event discussion

Answer 46

p-research support e-Gabbert et al paired participants together who watched a video of same crime but at different angles. they discussed what they saw before giving a recall test. 71% of p mistakenly recalled aspects they could not have seen. a control group had no errors. c- therefore it supports that PED can have negative impacts on EWT either through memory contamination or conformity. c- however this study lacks validity because P may have displayed demand characteristics by paying close attention to the video and please the researcher.

Answer 47

p- has important real life applications within the criminal justice system. e- LQ- the consequences of inaccurate EWT are serious. loftus argues police should be careful in phrasing questions because of distorting affects. PED- police should take measures to prevent discussion such as interviewing individuals in separate time slots with separate waiting areas. c- this matters because psychologists can improve how the legal justice system works and protect the innocent from faulty convictions based on unreliable EWT. has lead to improvement of the cognitive interview which is known to improve EWT.

Answer 48

a state of emotional and physical arousal to a stressful situation

Answer 49

research to prove BOTH possibilities

Answer 50

anxiety creates physiological arousal in our body which prevents us from paying attention to important cues in environment.

Answer 51

Johnson and Scott P thought they were taking part in a lab study and put in a waiting room 1. low anxiety group- quiet disagreement and a man left with a pen and grease on his hands 2.high anxiety group- heated argument and man leave with a knife and blood on his hands. had to identify man out of 50 photos. 49% in low anxiety group recalled man, only 33% in high anxiety group recalled man supports weapon effect and witnesses attention are towards the weapon as a source of danger and anxiety so did not take in other information of the scene.

Answer 52

the stress of seeing a crime/incident triggers fight-or-flight which increases alertness so we become more aware of our surroundings including cues/details of the situation.

Answer 53

Yuille and Cutshall studies real life robbery where owner shot thief dead 21 witnesses with some agreeing to take part interviewed 5 months later and compared recall to original account. asked to rate stress levels at the time on incident and if experiences emotional problems since. witnesses were very accurate in accounts with little change in accuracy. those with highest stress were most accurate in recall- 88%. and 75% for less stressed.

Answer 54

the inverted u- some anxiety increases the accuracy of EWT due to increasing attention up to an optimal point and after this strong anxiety has a negative impact on EWT.

Answer 55

P- studies have higher ecological validity as research often involves field or natural experiments E- for example Yuille and cutshalls natural experiment studies a real life robbery/shooting which could not be manipulated and the ps gave their genuine ratings of stress at the time of the incident rather than being controlled by the researcher. C-this matters because conducting studies using real crimes/eyewitnesses increase the generalisability of findings to real life- we can make conclusions about how anxiety affects EWT in the real world. C-however using real life crimes leads to a lack of control over extraneous variables for example post event discussion could have occurred during the 5 months in in Y+C study therefore could be other factors responsible for accuracy of EWT.

Answer 56

P- a limitation of the research into the effects of EWT is that it can be said to be unethical E- for example in Johnson and Scott’s study an ethical guideline broken is protection from harm as hearing an argument and a knife with a blood could cause distress to the Ps. Another guideline broken is deception as they are not disclosing the full features of the study and that the knife and blood was fake- told were waiting to take place in a lab study. C- this is a problem as unethical research can ruin the reputation of psychology messing that future studies into EWT are less likely to be funded or have willing participants. C- however deception is needed in this study to avoid demand characteristics so we can see true anxiety levels. P- another is that some studies in this area lack internal validity as they might not be actually testing anxiety E- highlighted in a study where they showed videos of a crime in hairdressers but offender held different items such as scissors, handgun and rubber chicken. Participants recall accuracy was poorer with items of poor unusualness (rubber chicken, gun) C- therefore this suggests that the weapon focus effect is more down to unusualness of the event rather than anxiety, therefore tells us nothing about the specific effects of anxiety on EWT.

Answer 57

Is a method of interviewing eye-witnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories/information about an event such as a crime or accident. Fisher and geiselman suggested that this technique should be based on psychological insight into how memory works.

Answer 58

Report everything Context reinstatement Reverse order Change perspective

Answer 59

Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event even if it seems irrelevant -irrelevant details could be importance and act as cues that trigger more relevant memories

Answer 60

This witness should return to the original crime scene in their mind and imagine the environment like weather and what they could see and their emotions like if they were happy or bored Why- based on concept of context/state dependent forgetting- cues from environment/state can trigger those memories

Answer 61

Events should be recalled in a different order from the original sequence for example from the final point back to the beginning. Why- this prevents dishonesty as its harder to keep a constant lie in reverse

Answer 62

Witnesses should recall the incident from other peoples perspectives. For example how it would have appeared to other witnesses or to the perpetrator. Why- it prevents the influence of expectations and schema on recall

Answer 63

P- there is significant evidence in support of the effectiveness of the enhanced CI E-for example kohnken et al conducted a meta- analysis of 50 studies finding that the enhanced CI consistently provided more correct information during recall than standard police interviews C- this shows that the CI is effective at helping the witnesses recall information that is available but not accessible. Shows that it gives the police a greater chance of catching and charging criminals which is beneficial to society as a whole. P- however there is evidence to suggest that the CI also increases the amount of inaccurate information as well as accurate information. E- e.g. found that 81% increase in correct information but also a 61% increase in incorrect information when the enhanced CI was used instead of the standard interview. C-therefore this warns us that not all information produced in a CI is likely to be accurate- if all information is seen as accurate then false conviction may occur

Answer 64

P- not all of its elements are equally effective or useful E- in a study found that all four elements were valuable, a combination of ‘report everything’ and ‘context reinstatement’ produced the best recall. C-therefore this casts doubt on the credibility of the overall CI because some of the techniques are less effective than others. P-police officers may be reluctant to use the CI because it takes more time and training than the standard police interview. E- e.g. more time is needed to build a relationship with the witness so they feel relaxed. The police must undertake special training before the technique is used. Since training police to use CI takes time and money, many police forces choose not to have their officers trained or only send then for a few hours of training due to cost. C- police may not be properly trained to elicit accurate EWT using the CI meaning some guilty suspects may not be identified and charged. Therefore it may be better to just focus on a few elements that are more effective (CR, RE)

Answer 65

what- what method of CI How- how will it be conducted- using the scenario Why- why will it help trigger memories

Answer 66

The CI is proven to be more effective for EWT than a standard interview- 50 studies found those using CI consistently recalled correct correct information about the crime whereas standard interview didn’t. CI is more time consuming than a standard interview as it requires more time and training and need to build up a relationship with the witness so they feel relaxed and learn the specific techniques of the CI e.g cognitive reinstatement.