Memory

Question 1

Bruce & Young Case-Study

Answer 1

Aim: To see if familiarity affects the accuracy of identifying faces.

Method: Psychology lecturers were caught on security camera at the entrance of a building. Participants were asked to identify the faces on the security camera.

Results: The lecturers students made more correct identifications than other students and experienced police officers.

Conclusion: Previous familiarity helps when identifying faces.

Question 2

Lofts & Palmer Case-Study

Answer 2

Aim: To see if asking leading questions affects the accuracy of recall.

Method: Participants were shown a video of a car crash and were then either asked “how fast was the car going when it hit the other car” or “how fast was the other car going when it smashed the other car”.

Results: The participants that heard ‘smashed’ gave a higher estimate of how fast the car was going than those who heard ‘hit’

Conclusion: Leading questions affect the accuracy of recall. The word “smashed” led participants to believe the car was going fast.

Question 3

Murdock Case-Study

Answer 3

Aim: To provide evidence to support the multi-store explanation of memory.

Method: Participants were given a list of words presented one at a time for 2 seconds per word and were then asked to recall the words in any order.

Results: Words at the end of the list were recalled really well, this is known as the recency effect. Words at the beginning fit he list were also recalled really well, this is known as the primary effect. The word from the middle of the list, however, were not recalled very well.

Conclusion: This provides evidence for the STM and LTM store, Murdock claimed that the recency effect was evidence that the last few words from the list flew into the STM store and the primary effect was evidence the first few words flew into the LTM store.

Question 4

Encoding

Answer 4

Changing information so that it can be stored.

Question 5

Storage

Answer 5

Holding information in the memory system.

Question 6

Retrieval

Answer 6

Recovering information from storage.

Question 7

Multi-Store

Answer 7

The idea that information passes through a series of memory stores.

Sensory store
Short term store
Long term store

Question 8

Sensory-Store

Answer 8

Holds information received from the senses for a very short period of time.

Question 9

Short-term-store

Answer 9

Holds approximately seven chunks of information for a limited amount of time.

Question 10

Long-term-store

Answer 10

Holds a vast amount of information for a long period of time

Question 11

Bartlett Case-Study

Answer 11

Aim: To see if people, when given something unfamiliar to remember, would alter the information.

Method: Participants were asked to read a story called ‘war of ghosts’ which was a Native American legend. Later they were asked to recall the story as accurately as possible. This reselling took place several time in the weeks that followed.

Results: Bartlett found that the participants changed the parts that concerned spirits so that it made more sense to them. They changed the story more and more with each retelling.

Conclusion: Bartlett concluded that our memory is influenced by our beliefs.

Question 12

Reconstructive memory

Answer 12

Altering our recollection of things so that they make more sense to us.

Question 13

Structural processing

Answer 13

Thinking about the physical appearance of words to be learnt.

Question 14

Phonetic processing

Answer 14

Thinking about the meaning of words to be learnt.

Question 15

Levels of processing

Answer 15

The depth at which information is thought about when trying to learn it.

Question 16

Interference

Answer 16

Things we have learnt that make it difficult to recall other information we have learnt.

Question 17

Retroactive interference

Answer 17

When information we have recently learnt hinders our ability to recall information we have learnt previously.

Question 18

Proactive interference

Answer 18

When information we have already learnt hinders our ability to recall new information.

Question 19

Context

Answer 19

The general setting or environment in which activities happen.

Question 20

Amnesia

Answer 20

Memory loss caused by physical injury to the brain; it can also be caused by a traumatic or emotional event.

Question 21

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 21

Being unable to learn new information after suffering brain damage.

Question 22

Hippocampus

Answer 22

A brain structure that is crucial for memory.

Question 23

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 23

Loss of memory for events that happened before brain damage occurred.

Question 24

Underwood & Postman Case-Study

Answer 24

Aim: To see if learning interferes with previous learning

Method: Participants were divided into two groups

• Group A were asked to learn a list of word pairs and then another list of word pairs.
• Group B were asked to learn the first list of word pairs only

Both groups were then asked to recall the first list of words.

Results: Group B’s recall of of the first words was more accurate than group A’s.

Conclusion: New learning interfered with the participants ability to learn the first list.

Question 25

Godden & Baddeley Case-Study

Answer 25

Aim: To see if people who learn and tested in the same environment recall more than those who learn and are tested in a different environment.

Method: The participants were deep sea divers. They were divided into 4 groups. Each group was given the same list of words to learn.

• Group 1 had to learn underwater and recall underwater
• Group 2 had to learn underwater and recall on shore
• Group 3 had to learn on the shore and recall on the shore
• Group 4 had to learn on shore and recall underwater

Results: Group 1 & 4 recalled 40% more words than groups 2 and 4.

Conclusion: Recall of information will be better if it happens in the same context that learning takes place

Question 26

Reliability

Answer 26

In the context of eyewitness testimony, the extent to which it can be regarded as accurate.

Question 27

Leading questions

Answer 27

A question that hints a particular type of answer is required.

Question 28

Cognitive Interview

Answer 28

A method that is used to question witnesses that involves recreating the context of an event.

Question 29

Stereotype

Answer 29

An oversimplified and generalised set of ideas that we have about others, for example head teachers are

• male
• strict
• scary

Question 30

Gieselman et al. Case-Study

Answer 30

Aim: To see if reinstating context of an event will affect the accuracy of witnesses’ accounts.

Method: Participants were shown a police training film of a violent film. Two days later they were interviewed about what they had seen. For half the participants the context had been reinstated during the interview. For the other other half of participants, standard interview techniques were used.

Results: The participants that had context recreated recalled more information accurately about the violent crime than other participants.

Conclusions: Recreating context during interviews will increase accuracy of recall. This is known as a cognitive interview.