Memory

Question 1

STM coding, capacity and duration

Answer 1

Coding - acoustically
Capacity - 7 +-2
Duration - 18 to 30 seconds

Question 2

LTM coding, capacity and duration

Answer 2

Coding - Semantically
Capacity - Unlimited
Duration - Up to a lifetime

Question 3

Coding research

Answer 3

Baddeley - Acoustically similar words or dissimilar
Semantically similar words or dissimilar
Immediate recall worse with acoustically similar words
STM is acoustic
Recall worse after 20 mins worse with semantically dissimilar words
LTM is semantic

Question 4

Capacity research

Answer 4

Jacobs - Digit span : Researcher reads 4 digits and increases until the pts cannot recall the order correctly
Average pts could repeat 9.3 numbers and 7.3 letters
Peterson and Peterson : Students had to recall combinations of 3 letters (trigrams), after longer and longer intervals
Students were prevented from rehearsing by a counting task
After 18 secs, fewer than 10% recalled correctly
After only 3 secs, 80% recalled correctly
STM fades in under a half a minute if we are not rehearsing it

Question 5

Duration research

Answer 5

Bahrick et al - 392 Americans aged 17 and 74 - recognition test - 50 photos from pts high school yearbook
free recall test - pts listed names of their graduating class
90% accuracy for remembering faces and names 34 years after graduation
Declined after 48 years 70%

Question 6

What is the multi store model

Answer 6

Atkinson and Shiffrin - 3 separate memory stores
information from sense organs - sensory register -attention- short term memory -rehearsal-retrieval- long term memory

Question 7

Sensory register

Answer 7

Info from environment
Sensory input- receive info from senses
Coding - Sensory register - modality specific, encodes based on what info is (iconic memory, visual info from the eyes) (echoic memory, auditory input from the ears)
Capacity - Very high
Duration - 0.5 secs, unless we pay attention to the information

Question 8

Long term memory

Answer 8

Rehearsed enough, moves into LTM
Stored potentially indefinite period of time
Coding - Semantically
Capacity - Potentially unlimited
Duration - Up to a lifetime

Question 9

Short term memory

Answer 9

When we pay attention info, we move it from the sensory register into short term memory
Coding - Acoustically
Capacity - 7 +-2
Duration - less than 30 seconds without rehearsal
Rehearsed, can be retained for longer, consistent rehearsal is shown by the rehearsal loop

Question 10

AO3 for Multi store model

Answer 10

+ Supporting evidence, research for coding, capacity and duration, all supporting evidence for the MSM as they show that the STM and LTM are separate stores
- Too simplistic a model, Working memory model suggests that STM is divided into a number of different stores
Different types of LTM
- Not all memories need to be rehearsed, flashbulb memories

Question 11

Different types of LTM

Answer 11

Tulving - MSM too simplistic and inflexible proposed 3 LTM stores :
Episodic memory - memory for events from your life, memory for things you have done and experiences you have had, time stamped (recall the time and place of those episodes)
Semantic memory : Meaning, meaning of everything you know, knowledge you share with other people, not time stamped, declarative - make conscious effort to remember them
Procedural memory - muscle memory, remembering how to do things, recall memories without conscious awareness, skills are difficult to explain to someone
Implicit memories - Procedural
Explicit memory - semantic and episodic

Question 12

AO3 for the different types of LTM

Answer 12

+Clinical evidence, HM and Clive Wearing affected episodic memory but semantic and procedural memories in tact
+Clinical evidence, K.C memory impairment, incapable of recalling personal events
- Case studies, cannot be replicated for practical and ethical reasons, cannot be generalised to the wider population

Question 13

Working memory model

Answer 13

Central executive
- Phonological loop : Primary acoustic store, Articulatory control process
- Episodic buffer
- Visuo- Spatial Sketchpad : Inner scribe, visual cashe
LTM

Question 14

Central executive

Answer 14

Considered the most important part of working memory, it controls attention and coordinates the actions of other components
Briefly store info, has a limited capacity
Modality free, means that it can store info in any sense form, coding is flexible

Question 15

Phonological loop

Answer 15

Consists of two parts, articulatory control system and the phonological store - deals with auditory info and preserves the order in which the info arrives
Phonological - words you hear
Articulatory - allows maintenance rehearsal
Coding - acoustic
Capacity - 2 seconds what you say

Question 16

Visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 16

Stores and manipulates visual and spatial information when required
Input from the eyes or LTM
Logie subdivided it into :
Visual cache - stores visual information
Inner scribe - records arrangements of objects in visual field

Question 17

Episodic buffer

Answer 17

added by Baddeley in 2000
Temporary store for info
integrates visual, spatial and verbal info from other stores
Maintains sense of time sequencing - recording events that are happening
Links to LTM
Coding is flexible
About 4 chunks

Question 18

AO3 working memory model

Answer 18

+ case study support, K.F whose short term forgetting auditory info was greater than visual
restricted to phonological loop not visuo- spatial sketchpad
+ Dual task studies, Hitch and Baddeley, pts were slower in a dual task that involves the central executive and articulatory loop, comparison to a task which requires just the articulatory loop
- Central executive, case of EVR suggests that the idea of a single CE is wrong because preformed well on tests requiring reasoning whereas spend hours making simple decisions, cerebral tumour

Question 19

What is interference ?

Answer 19

When two memories conflict with one another and cause forgetting of one or both
In LTM
Disrupt one another
Distortion in memory
Accessibility theory of forgetting - the memories are there, cannot gain access to them because there is an interference between the memories

Question 20

Types of interference

Answer 20

Retroactive - later learning interferes with the recall of earlier learning
Proactive - Earlier learning interferes with the recall of later learning

Question 21

Interference key study

Answer 21

McGeoch and McDonald - see if similarity between two activities cause a greater amount of interference than activities were very different
Changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials
12 pts had to learn a list of words until they could remember them 100% accuracy
learned a new list
six groups of pts who had to learn different types of lists
1- Synonyms
2- Antonyms
3- Words unrelated to the original ones
4- Nonsense syllables
5- three digit numbers
6- No new list
The performance depends on the nature of the second list
The most similar material produced the worst recall
Pts were given different material, mean number of items increased

Question 22

AO3 for interference theory of forgetting

Answer 22

• Use of artificial material
• Interference effects may be overcome using cues
• Time allowed between learning

Question 23

retrieval failure

Answer 23

An explanation of forgetting based on the idea that we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory
Cue - A trigger of info that allows us to access a memory external or internal
Info initially placed in memory, associated cues are stored at same time
Cues not available at time of recall, might not be able to access memories that are there
Certain triggers are encoded in memory at the time of learning.

Question 24

what is the encoding specificity principle

Answer 24

Tulving reviewed research and discovered if a cue is to help recall info, needs to present at encoding, and at retrieval
If cues are different at encoding and retrieval, forgetting occurs

Question 25

What are the different types of forgetting ?

Answer 25

Context dependent forgetting - when memory retrieval is dependent on an external/ environmental cue State dependent forgetting - when memory retrieval is dependent on an internal cue, state of mind

Question 26

Retrieval failure research

Answer 26

Godden and Baddeley - is recall better when the learning context is present 18 scuba divers, four conditions asked to learn then recall a list of 36 words List to words either on the beach or under about 10 feet of water Divers were tested after 4 minutes to see how many words they could recall Group 1 - wet, dry - 8.5 Group 2- dry, wet - 8.6 Group 3 - wet, wet - 11.4 Group 4 - dry, dry - 13.5 This suggests that the context of learning acts as a trigger or cue when trying to remember the info Context enhances the accuracy of memory

Question 27

AO3 of retrieval failure

Answer 27

- Context effects are not very strong in real life, Baddeley - different contexts have to be very different before an effect can be seen +Real world application, police around the world uses the cognitive interview, cognitive reinstatement - Not an accurate test of recall, recall the words almost immediately, only tests STM not LTM

Question 28

What is eyewitness testimony

Answer 28

the evidence given in court or in police investigations by someone who has witnessed a crime or accident

Question 29

Factors affecting EWT - misleading information

Answer 29

Supplying info that may lead a witness memory for a crime to be altered leading questions - a question that either by its form or content, suggests to the witness what answer is desired or leads to the desired answer Response bias explanation - wording of a question has no enduring effect on an eyewitness memory of an event but influences the kind of answer given Substitution explanation - Wording of a question does affect eyewitness memory, it interferes with its original memory, distorting its accuracy

Question 30

Key study for misleading information

Answer 30

Loftus and Palmer - To see the effect of leading questions on memory of an event, in order to see if EWT is reliable 45 pts watched film clips of car accidents and then answer questions about speed 5 groups of pts Each group given a different verb in the question - hit/contacted/ bumped/ collided/ smashed estimations of speed were recorded pts were asked to describe the event in their own words The leading question biased eyewitness recall of an event. Verb smashed - 40.5 suggested a faster speed of the car than contacted 31.8 = Difference of 9 miles

Question 31

Variation 2 of Loftus and Palmer

Answer 31

3 groups shown film of car accident lasting 1 minute asked questions about speed Pts asked to come back one week later Asked 10 questions about the accident did you see any broken glass ? Smashed condition - 16 yes out of 50 Control - 6 out of 50 shows that the leading question did change the actual memory a pts had for an event Use of verb smashed distorts memory of an event - supports substitution explanation

Question 32

What is post event discussion ?

Answer 32

memory contamination - when co witness discuss a crime, they mix misinformation from other witnesses with their own memories memory conformity - witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right

Question 33

Key study for post event discussion

Answer 33

Gabber et al - Paired pts watched a video of the same crime, filmed so each of the pts could see elements in the event that other could not Pts discussed what they had seen on the video before individually completing a test of recall 71% of the pts mistakenly recalled aspects of the events that they did not see but had picked up in the post event discussion In control group there was no discussion and no errors

Question 34

AO3 for factors affecting accuracy of EWT

Answer 34

+Real life applications - useful for guidelines for police questioning of witnesses and suspects - Individual differences, age +Ecological vaildity, pts watched film clips of car accidents, wouldn't experience the same emotions as in real life

Question 35

Research that suggests that anxiety has a negative effect on recall

Answer 35

Johnson and Scott - investigate the effect of weapons on accuracy of recall Pts thought they were taking part in a lab study, whilst waiting they overheard an argument Condition 1 - man came into a room holding a pen Condition 2 - man came into a room after a heated discussion with a knife covered in blood Condition 1 - 49% pts correctly identified the man from 50 photos 33% accurate in condition 2 Weapon focus affect - focused on the weapon rather than the individual

Question 36

Research that suggests anxiety has a positive effect on recall

Answer 36

Yuille and Cutshall - real life crime gun shop owner shot a thief dead 21 witnesses, 13 agreed to participate Pts were interviewed 4-5 months after incident Accounts compared with police interviews Witnesses rated how stressed they felt at the time of the incident Witnesses were very accurate and there was little change after 5 months Pts who reported to the highest level of stress were the most accurate 88% compared to 75% for less stressed group

Question 37

Explaining the contradictory findings

Answer 37

Inverted U theory = Yerkes and Dodson - The relationship between performance and arousal is curvilinear Deffenbacher - Lower level of anxiety produce lower level of recall memory, recall accuracy increases with anxiety up to an optimal point, drastic decline in accuracy is seen when an eyewitness experiences more anxiety than the optimal points

Question 38

AO3 for EWT anxiety

Answer 38

- Fields studies lack of control of variables - Demand characteristics may affect lab studies of anxiety - Ethical issues in this research area

Question 39

What is a cognitive interview ?

Answer 39

Uses technique that encourage witnesses to a crime to recreate the original context in order to increase the accessibility info Fisher and Geiselman - used techniques based on psychological insights into how memory works Improve the effectiveness of interviewers when questioning witnesses memory is not like video camera but an active process

Question 40

Cognitive interviews 4 stages

Answer 40

Report everything - trivial details may be important, could cause triggers Reinstate the context - context dependent forgetting Reverse the order - prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than reporting the actual events Change perspective - disrupt the effect of expectations and schema on recall

Question 41

AO3 for cognitive interview

Answer 41

- Time consuming, police personnel trained this can be expensive and time consuming, police relcutant to use technique as it takes longer than standard police interview + Research support into the effectiveness of cognitive interview - Kohnken et al - Meta analysis on 50 studies, 34% increase in amount of correct information generated in cognitive test Milne and Bull - Found that they used a combination of report everything and mental reinstatement pts recall was significantly higher