Memory Flashcards

Question

What are the 2 sub-stores of the Visuospatial sketchpad?

Answer 1

1. The Visual Cache, which stores information about form and colour. 2. The Inner Scribe, which deals with spatial and movement information. It also rehearses information in the visual cache and transfers information to the central executive.

Answer 2

It is a a “backup” store which acts as a communicator between the Central Executive and LTM

Answer 3

There is evidence to support that there are separate stores. Shallice and Warrington's (1970) case study was of a patient, KF with brain damage. After this damage, KF had poor STM ability for verbal information, but can process visual information (he had difficulty with sounds but recall letters and digits shown to him) This suggests that just his phonological loop had been damaged leaving other areas of memory intact. This supports the existence of a separate visual and acoustic store

Answer 4

The role of the Central Executive is unclear. Psychologists suggests that the CE is unsatisfactory and doesn't really explain anything. Baddeley himself recognised that the CE is the most important part but least understood part of WMM. It needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply 'attention' This is a problem as it can't be a full explanation for how STM works and therefore psychologists should be careful when using it to justify their claims. Further research should investigate falsifying the claims made of this store

Answer 5

procedural (implicit), semantic and episodic (explicit)

Answer 6

A type of explicit memory, which includes the memory of personal experiences (e.g. details of an event) These memories have 3 specific elements, including the details of the event, the context, and emotions The strength of episodic memories are determined by the strength of emotions experienced when the memory is coded, and they are associated with the hippocampus

Answer 7

A type of explicit memory for facts/general knowledge and the roles of language. They often fist start as episodic memories, as we acquire knowledge based on personal experience. They are also determined by the strength of emotions, but they are generally stronger in comparison to EM, and associates with the temporal lobe.

Answer 8

A type of implicit memory of skills/actions or muscle memories (e.g. swimming/writing) They're unavailable for conscious inspection and so are difficult to explain verbally. They're also more resistant to forgetting. They reside in our motor cortex region of the brain and are associated with the limbic system and basal ganglia.

Answer 9

There are different types of LTM, and there are case studies of brain damaged patients to support this. The case studies of CW and HM showed that although both men had problems with their episodic memory their memories and procedural memories were intact. So they may know what a dog is but would not remember ever owning a dog or stroking one an hour earlier. This suggests that the theory holds validity as the evidence to support the semantic and procedural memory comes from those who have experienced memory loss in real life

Answer 10

Interference Theory (Retroactive Interference and Proactive Interference) and Cue-Dependent Forgetting (Context Dependent Forgetting and State Dependent Failure)

Answer 11

The inability to recall information

Answer 12

This is when LTM becomes confused with/disrupted by other information during coding, leading to inaccurate recall We forget because the 2 type of information are similar to each other, there are 2 types: Proactive interference and Retroactive interference

Answer 13

When you can't learn a new piece of information because of an old one. What we already know is interfering with what we are currently learning

Answer 14

When you forget a previously learnt task or a piece of information due to the learning of a new one. In other words, later learning interferes with earlier memories

Answer 15

Schimidtt et al (2002) aimed to find out whether interference could be shown in real world scenario. P's were asked to identify as many of the street names on a map of the area they went to school in as they could. The retroactive interference was assessed by the # of times the individual had moved to other cities or neighbourhood There was a positive associated between the # of times p's had moved houses and the # of street names forgotten

Answer 16

There is evidence from lab experiments to support the theory. Postman found that p's were more accurate at recalling a list of words if they didn't have to also learn a second word list. This suggests that the theory holds validity. However, studied like this have received criticism for being artificial and therefore not representing real life memory.

Answer 17

The theory is not a full explanation for forgetting, it only accounts for forgetting when information is similar, suggesting it can't be the only reason. Therefore we should be careful when applying the theory of forgetting as it may be more complicated than the theory suggests.

Answer 18

The theory states that forgetting occurs when there is not enough information or 'cues'. There are 2 types: Context-Dependent Failure and State-Dependent Failure

Answer 19

When forgetting occurs when the external environment is different to the one you learnt it in (e.g. getting fewer marks in a test that you took in a different room that you learnt the info in)

Answer 20

When forgetting occurs when the internal cues are dissimilar at recall compared to encoding (e.g. trying to recall a stressful event when you are happy is difficult)

Answer 21

Researchers asked 18 deep sea divers to remember a list of 30 unrelated words of 2-3 syllables. One group did this one the beach and the other group underwater. They found that p's were more likely to forget the words if they learnt the info in a different place to where they recalled it.

Answer 22

Overton asked 46 male medial students to remember a list of words when they were either drunk or sober. P's were more likely to forget when they were in a different state to when they learnt the words in

Answer 23

it suggests that recall depends upon accessing information by remember the retrieval cue. The more deeply processed and relevant the cue is to the information, the more likely you are to remember it

Answer 24

There are practical applications for the theory. It suggests that having the right cues can help to recall info, so associating key pieces of revision to external cues will aid recall. It has also been used to support police interviews as it can help increase the recall of eye-witnesses. This is useful as it suggest that cue-dependent forgetting has a basis in the real world and therefore is worth understanding and researching more to help improve our memories. Thus, benefitting society and justifying funding for further research into this area

Answer 25

Much of the research conducted into cue-dependent forgetting relies on lab experiments. Experiments such as those conducted by Godden and Baddeley where the stimuli are word lists with no meaning. This means we are likely to encode the information differently to real life. Therefore, we can't use these studies as justification for forgetting in the real world as the studies have low external validity.

Answer 26

A question which because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer (according to the response-bias explanation, this isn't because the wording has changed their memory : it just influences how they choose to answer)

Answer 27

Schemas enables us to make assumptions about what we will experience in a given situation based on what we already know. (e.g. if we think we have seen a robber, we are more likely to presume they are wearing dark clothes, because of that, our schema for robbers means that sometimes our memory of an event s inaccurate)

Answer 28

To investigate the effect of leading questions on the accuracy (reliability) of eyewitness testimony

Answer 29

Their sample consisted of 45 American students, who were divided into 5 groups of nine. All of the p's watched a video of a car crash and were then asked a specific question about the speed of the cars. Loftus and Palmer manipulated the verb used in the question, for example: "Hoe fast were the cars going when they smashed/collided/bumped/hit/contacting with each other?"

Answer 30

They found that the estimated speed was affected by the web used. For example, p's who were given the verb "smashed" reported an average speed of 40.5 mph, where p's who were given the word "contacted" reported an average speed of 31.8 mph, an overall difference of 8.7mph

Answer 31

The results clearly show that the accuracy of eyewitness testimony is affected by leading questions and that a single word in a question can significantly affect the accuracy of our judgements

Answer 32

They repeated the original study using just 2 of the verbs (hit and smashed). They then asked a series of questions about the incident including: "did you see any broken glass". There was no broken glass in the video clip

Answer 33

They found that 32% of the p's who were questioned previously using the verb "smashed" reported seeing it compared to 14% of the p's who heard the verb "hit". 12 p's in the control group thought they had seen broken glass

Answer 34

1. High level of control: The experiment had high control over the cofounding variables. As the study was lab-based, the researchers could ensure that a range of factors (age of participants, incident viewed, environment, etc). 2. Practical applications: The theory is very useful, and can be applied in formulating guidelines for police questioning witnesses and suspects. The conclusion that leading questions can affect memory has important implications for interviewing witnesses, both by police immediately or soon after an event and also by lawyers in court sometime later. Interviewers should avoid leading questions and be careful to word questions in a way that does not suggest an answer to the person they are interviewing.

Answer 35

1. Low Ecological Validity: it lacked mundane realism/ecological validity. P's viewed video clips rather than being present at a real-life accident. As the video clip does not have the same emotional impact as witnessing a real-life accident, the participants would be less likely to pay attention and less motivated to be accurate in their judgments. 2. Conflicting Research: Yuille and Cutshall (1986) found that misleading information did not alter the memory of people who had witnessed a real armed robbery. This implies that misleading information may have a greater influence in the lab rather and that Loftus and Palmer’s study may have lacked ecological validity. He was especially interested in the characteristics of people whom he considered to have achieved their potential as individuals.

Answer 36

This is when a witness to a crime discusses it with another witness or someone else, which can affect the accuracy of EWT

Answer 37

To investigate the effect of post-event discussion on the accuracy of EWT, specifically the post-event discussion effect in eyewitnesses

Answer 38

Her sample consisted of 60 students from the University of Aberdeen and 60 older adults recruited from a local community. Some p's watched a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet. The p's were either tested individually (control group) or in pairs (co-witness group) The p's in the co-witness group were told that they had watched the same video, however they had in fact seen different perspective of the same crime and only 1 group had actually witnessed the girl stealing. P's in the co-witness group discussed the crime together. All of the p's the completed a questionnaire, testing their memory of the event, they were asked details such as what the person was wearing, what happened during the study and whether or not they thought the participant had stolen the money

Answer 39

She found that 71% of the witnesses in the co-witness group recalled information they had not actually seen and 60% said that the girl was guilty, despite the fact that they had not seen her commit a crime. A control group was also used to check that it was not difficult to see, 6.67% of people gave a guilty verdict when there was no discussion, suggesting that it was relatively clear

Answer 40

The results highlight the issue of post-event discussion and the powerful effect this can have on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Answer 41

Highly Controlled in Laboratory setting: she used a control group to highlight the significant impact of post-event discussion and to ensure it was not to challenging to see the theft. This suggests the study had high internal validity and therefore, we can be sure it accurately measured the effects of post-event discussion on eye-witness testimony

Answer 42

They are unable to conclude why the distortion occurs: it could be the result of poor memory, where people assimilate new information into their own accounts of the event and are unable to distinguish between what they have seen and what they have heard. On the other hand, it could be that the distortion occurs due to conformity and the social pressure from the co-witness

Answer 43

A state of emotional and physical arousal. The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension. Physical changes include having an increased heart rate or sweating.

Answer 44

It effects EWT by impairing memory recall and causing witnesses to focus on irrelevant details or it can also lead to alertness with increases the accuracy of memory recall.

Answer 45

It suggests that those who are anxious are usually in the fight or flight response. This response makes you more alert to your surroundings and therefore will increase the accuracy of EWT as you are paying attention to the person committing the crime and anything else going around you

Answer 46

Loftus suggested that anxiety can be an issue in crimes involving a weapon. This is because seeing a weapon focuses all your attention on the weapon itself and therefore you do not see peripheral details such as what else is going on, or what the perpetrator looks like

Answer 47

It suggests that arousal (anxiety) has a negative effect on performance (such as memory recall) when it is very low or very high, however, moderate levels are actually beneficial

Answer 48

Deffenbacher argues that it can explain the inconsistent findings from the studies. His meta-analysis of 21 studies found that 10 were linked to high arousal and low accuracy and 11 linked to low arousal and low accuracy. Suggesting that this effect might be the best explanation for the results

Answer 49

1.Further research from Deffenbacher supports the suggestion that anxiety affects the accuracy of EWT. He concluded from meta-analysis that anxiety levels that are too low or too high negatively affect EWT accuracy suggesting that eyewitness testimony is impaired if a person becomes too anxious. This is positive because it is further evidence that high levels of anxiety can result in a false eyewitness testimony, as found in Loftus’ research, supporting the theory that anxiety affects EWT accuracy.

Answer 50

1. Research has contradicted Loftus’ study suggesting that anxiety can improve the accuracy of EWT. For example, Christianson and Hubinette studied the recall of witnesses to real bank robberies. They found that increased arousal led to improvements in the accuracy of recall. This is a weakness as it goes against Loftus’ finding that anxiety reduces EWT accuracy and suggests that anxiety-creating situations don’t always divert attention from important features of the situation. 2. Loftus’s study can be criticised as being unethical. For example, participants in condition 2 witnessed quite a disturbing scene the confederate leaving the office holding the blood stained knife. This is a weakness because the studying can be seen to be breaching the BPS guidelines as Loftus hasn’t protected her participants from harm such a scene may cause the participant a great deal of distress.

Answer 51

Report Everything, Reinstate the Context, Reverse the Order, and Change the Perspective

Answer 52

Asks the eye-witness to report everything that they remember, without interruptions from the interviewer Memories are inter-connected with one another, so one memory might cue another. Additionally, the recollection of small details, from several witnesses might be able to be pieced together. This is because often people think you already know information so don't tell you it

Answer 53

The interviewer encourages the eye-witness to mentally recreate the physical and psychological environment of the incident. This may include sounds they heard, particular details of the environment, etc This is useful as memories are often not accessible without the right retrieval cues (cue-dependent forgetting)

Answer 54

Changing the order of the description of the events, start and the end and end at the beginning This is in order to disrupt our schema's to stop us relying on these for the information, as this would make it less accurate

Answer 55

Recalling the event from a different person viewpoint e.g. another eye-witness who was facing a different way This is in order to disrupt the schema because you are not relying on what you should have seen as you have having to think about someone else

Answer 56

1. There is research to support the use of the cognitive interview from a meta-analysis. Kohnken et al conducted a meta analysis of studies into the effectiveness of the technique. He found an increase of 34% in the amount of correct information generated, compared to the standard police interview. This means that it increases the accuracy of EWT, and has practical advantage of using it in interviews 2. It may be particularly effective when interviewing older witnesses. A study was conducted with different aged witnesses and found that it improved the accuracy of EWT in older adults (mean age of 72). This suggests that it is particularly useful in increasing the accuracy of EWT in older people, so we could consider using this where older adults are concerned

Answer 57

1. The measure of effectiveness is associated with quantity over quality. The success is based on the amount of info we gain from them in comparison to the standard interview, however, quality and accuracy of the information is more important than the amount. This suggests that cognitive interview is less effective than first suggested, so it should be considered carefully before being used in the police force 2. The amount of time needed to for training: Officers are not allowed to ask leading questions, and the have to be specially trained in order to get the most accurate information out of eye-witness. This means it has economic implications, such as the cost and time needed to complete these interview