Memory

Question 1

What is memory in cognitive psychology?

Answer 1

Memory is the process of retaining learned information and accessing it when needed.

Question 2

What are the three key processes in memory?

Answer 2

Coding, storage, and retrieval.

Question 3

What is coding in memory?

Answer 3

The way information is changed so it can be stored in memory.

Question 4

What is meant by storage in memory?

Answer 4

The retention of information in the memory system until it is needed.

Question 5

What is retrieval in memory?

Answer 5

Recovering stored information from memory when it is required.

Question 6

What are the three memory stores in the Multi-Store Model (MSM)?

Answer 6

Sensory Register, Short-Term Memory, and Long-Term Memory.

Question 7

How is information coded in the Sensory Register?

Answer 7

Modality-specific; each sensory input has a separate store.

Question 8

What is the duration of the Sensory Register?

Answer 8

About 250 milliseconds.

Question 9

What is the capacity of STM?

Answer 9

7 ± 2 items.

Question 10

How long does STM retain information?

Answer 10

18–30 seconds without rehearsal.

Question 11

How is STM primarily coded?

Answer 11

Acoustically.

Question 12

What is the capacity of LTM?

Answer 12

Potentially unlimited.

Question 13

What is the duration of LTM?

Answer 13

Potentially a lifetime.

Question 14

How is information coded in LTM?

Answer 14

Semantically.

Question 15

What is maintenance rehearsal?

Answer 15

Repeating information to keep it in STM or transfer it to LTM.

Question 16

What did Baddeley find about STM coding using word lists?

Answer 16

STM is coded acoustically because similar sounding words caused confusion.

Question 17

What did Baddeley conclude about LTM coding after a 20-minute delay?

Answer 17

LTM is coded semantically because semantically similar words were harder to recall.

Question 18

What method did Jacobs use to test STM capacity?

Answer 18

A digit span test using increasingly long sequences of letters/numbers.

Question 19

What were Jacobs’ findings on digit and letter span?

Answer 19

Average span was 9.3 digits and 7.3 letters.

Question 20

What did Miller suggest about STM capacity?

Answer 20

It is 7 ± 2 and can be expanded using chunking.

Question 21

What did Peterson & Peterson’s trigram study conclude?

Answer 21

STM lasts 18–30 seconds without rehearsal.

Question 22

What were the results of Bahrick’s study on LTM?

Answer 22

Recognition was 90% after 15 years and 70% after 48 years; LTM duration is potentially lifelong.

Question 23

What is episodic memory?

Answer 23

Memory for life events with contextual and emotional detail.

Question 24

What is semantic memory?

Answer 24

Memory for facts, general knowledge, and language.

Question 25

What is procedural memory?

Answer 25

Memory for motor skills and actions like reading or tying shoelaces.

Question 26

Who proposed the Working Memory Model and why?

Answer 26

Baddeley and Hitch, because STM is more complex than MSM suggests.

Question 27

What is the role of the Central Executive?

Answer 27

Directs attention, allocates resources, and handles decision-making.

Question 28

What are the two components of the Phonological Loop?

Answer 28

Phonological store ("inner ear") and articulatory loop ("inner voice").

Question 29

What does the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad do?

Answer 29

Processes visual and spatial information.

Question 30

What are the two subcomponents of the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad?

Answer 30

Visual cache (form and colour) and inner scribe (spatial relationships).

Question 31

Why was the Episodic Buffer added to the WMM?

Answer 31

To integrate information from all components and LTM.

Question 32

What does Interference Theory state?

Answer 32

Forgetting occurs due to conflict between similar memories.

Question 33

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 33

New information interferes with old memories.

Question 34

What is proactive interference?

Answer 34

Old memories interfere with new information.

Question 35

What is retrieval failure?

Answer 35

Inability to access information due to absence of retrieval cues.

Question 36

What are context cues?

Answer 36

Environmental factors at learning that aid recall if present during retrieval.

Question 37

What are state cues?

Answer 37

An individual’s physical or emotional state acting as a retrieval cue.

Question 38

What is EWT?

Answer 38

Testimony given by someone who has witnessed a crime.

Question 39

What are leading questions?

Answer 39

Questions that suggest a specific answer or influence memory.

Question 40

What did Loftus & Palmer’s car crash study find?

Answer 40

Leading questions altered participants' memory of the speed and presence of glass.

Question 41

What is the response-bias explanation?

Answer 41

Leading questions influence the answer but not memory.

Question 42

What is the substitution-bias explanation?

Answer 42

Leading questions distort the actual memory.

Question 43

What is post-event discussion?

Answer 43

Memory contamination or conformity due to co-witness discussions.

Question 44

What did Gabbert et al. find about post-event discussion?

Answer 44

71% recalled details they hadn't seen but learned through discussion.

Question 45

What is the weapon focus effect?

Answer 45

A weapon draws attention and impairs recall of other details.

Question 46

What did Loftus find in the bloody knife study?

Answer 46

High anxiety (blood condition) reduced recognition of the perpetrator.

Question 47

How did Yuille and Cutshall challenge Loftus’s findings?

Answer 47

Real-life witnesses gave accurate testimonies despite high anxiety.

Question 48

What are the four main techniques of the Cognitive Interview?

Answer 48

Context Reinstatement, Report Everything, Recall from Changed Perspective, Recall in Reverse Order.

Question 49

What does context reinstatement involve?

Answer 49

Recalling environmental and emotional details to act as retrieval cues.

Question 50

Why report everything in a cognitive interview?

Answer 50

Even trivial details may trigger important memories.

Question 51

What is the benefit of recalling from a changed perspective?

Answer 51

It reduces influence of schemas and gives a fuller picture.

Question 52

What is the purpose of reverse order recall?

Answer 52

Prevents schemas and improves accuracy.

Question 53

What is the Enhanced Cognitive Interview?

Answer 53

An improved version with added social and communication techniques.

Question 54

What are some enhancements in the Enhanced Cognitive Interview?

Answer 54

Relaxing the witness, avoiding distractions, using open questions.

Question 55

What is a common strength of lab experiments like Baddeley’s?

Answer 55

High control and replicability.

Question 56

What is a key weakness of lab-based memory studies?

Answer 56

Low ecological validity due to artificial tasks.

Question 57

What did Murdock’s serial position effect support?

Answer 57

The distinction between STM (recency) and LTM (primacy).

Question 58

How did case studies like HM and Clive Wearing support MSM?

Answer 58

Showed separation between STM and LTM.

Question 59

What’s a key criticism of the MSM?

Answer 59

It oversimplifies STM and LTM as unitary stores.

Question 60

Why is the WMM preferred over MSM by some researchers?

Answer 60

It offers a more detailed and functional explanation of STM.