Memory Flashcards

Question

The working memory model research: Brain damage patients :)

Answer 1

→ KF – damage to phonological loop following a motorcycle accident led to difficulty processing auditory information BUT not visual information → LH – performed better on spatial then visual imagery tasks supporting the view that there are separate visual + spatial systems → They provided evidence for the existence of the two main slave systems as well as the sub-systems within the visuo-spatial sketchpad → :( The process of brain injury is traumatic which may in itself change behaviour causing a person to perform worse in certain tasks – this therefore makes it difficult to generalise the findings to others because of the unique characteristics of each individual (they lack population validity)

Answer 2

− PET scans show that different areas of the brain activated when doing verbal + visual tasks which suggests that the phonological loop + visuo-spatial sketchpad are separate store as reflected in the biology of the brain – PET scans have also shown activation in the left hemisphere of the brain with visual tasks + activation in the right hemisphere with spatial information which supports the existence of the visual cache + inner scribe

Answer 3

− One advantage of the WMM compared to the MSM is that it explains how it is easier to do two tasks that are different (e.g. verbal + visual – tested using the dual-task technique) than two tasks that are similar (e.g. two verbal tasks) → Each slave system had a limited capacity so there is only so much information they can process at any one time → Two similar tasks would place too many demands on the same slaves system thus making it more difficult to process the information resulting in a slower processing speed

Answer 4

− Central executive – a vague concept → There are problems in specifying the precise function of the central executive – it isn’t clear what it is or how it works → Research into this component is lack despite it supposedly being the most important component → Critics dispute the idea of a single central executive +instead argue that there are probably several components → The central executive is perhaps better understood as a component controlling the focus of attention rather than a memory store like the PL + VSS

Answer 5

Working memory only concerns STM so it is not a comprehensive model of memory (as it does not include SM or LTM)

Answer 6

− Just as the working memory model demonstrates different type of short-term memory research also indicates that existence of different types of long-term memory each with a different function + a different area of the brain associated with its use

Answer 7

− This is the types of memory that provide us with an autobiographical record of our person experiences e.g. birthdays, wedding etc. − The strength of episodic memories is influenced by the emotions present at the time a memory is coded e.g. traumatic events are often recalled well due to their high emotional content − The strength of these memories is also influenced by the degree of processing of information at coding – highly processed episodic events are recalled more easily − It is thought that this type of memory helps individuals to distinguish the difference bet. real + imagined events − Episodic memories are associated with several areas of the brain: → The prefrontal cortex is associated with the initial coding of episodic memories → Consolidation (strengthening) of these memories is associated with the neocortex → Memories of different parts of an event are located in the different visual, auditory, olfactory etc. areas of the brain but are connected together in the hippocampus to create memory of an episodic rather than its remaining a collection of separate sensory memories

Answer 8

− Procedure: → 6 volunteers were injected with small amounts of radioactive gold + scanned to detect its location with a gamma ray detector → Each ppts performed 8 successive trails each lasting 80 secs, involving 4 semantic + 4 episodic topics in randomised order → Individual trails were separated by 2 mins of rest each – a ppts would lie face up on a couch with their eyes closed + indulge in either episodic or semantic LTM retrieval, the retrievals involved silent mental thought rather than physical stimulation or recording of behaviour, ppts decided what topics they would think about → At a signal from a researcher a ppts would start thinking about a topic − Findings: → 3 ppts produced inconclusive data → Ppts showed consistent differences in cortical blood flow patterns bet. semantic + episodic thinking – there was greater activation in the frontal lobes activation in the frontal lobes of the cortex during thinking about episodic memories + greater activation in the presterior region when retrieving semantic information − Conclusion: → Episodic + semantic LTMs appear to involve different brain areas + thus are separate forms of LTM → The fact that episodic + sematic memories involves different brain areas suggests a biological bias to difference in LTM

Answer 9

P: The extent to which episodic + semantic memory systems differ in unclear – although different brain areas are involved there is also a lot of overlap bet. the two systems E: Semantic memories often clearly originate in episodic memory (e.g. your memory of being taught something is episodic but what you learn may be semantic) C: It may be the case that an episodic memory can transform into a semantic memory however we cannot be certain whether this is what occurs

Answer 10

Research often uses advanced scientific techniques e.g. brain scans which are objective therefore increasing the reliability

Answer 11

− This type of memory is also explicit like episodic memory + contains all knowledge + facts that an individual has learned e.g. capital cities + names of colour − The strength of semantic memories is positively associated with the degree of processing occurring during coding − They often appear to be underpinned by episodic memories as there is an episodic memory of when the memory was acquired (the experience of learning it) − Over time there appears to be a gradual shift towards semantic memories with the knowledge/understanding becoming more divorced from the event or experience it was learned from − There are disagreement over the parts of the brain associated with semantic memory it seems that the hippocampus is involved but evidence also suggests that involvement of several other parts of the brain, coding is mainly associated with the frontal + temporal lobes

Answer 12

− Tulving − Vicari et al: → CL an 8 yr. old girl who suffered from brain damage from the removal of a tumour → She had deficiencies in her episodic LTM functions particularly creating new episodic memories – she was able to create + recall semantic memories → Therefore suggesting that episodic + semantic memory are separate systems using different brain areas with the hippocampus associated with episodic memories + the perithical cortex with semantic LTM

Answer 13

As is the case with evaluating episodic memory – there is some debate about the difference bet. semantic + episodic memory

Answer 14

P: It may be the case that semantic memory is not a single type of memory E: The fact that the damage to different areas of the brain can affect semantic memory supports the idea that semantic memory abilities are spread throughout brain structures C: Also suggesting that semantic memory may consist of several interrelated memory abilities + therefore not be a single type of memory

Answer 15

− This type of memory is a form of implicit memory that permits individuals to reform learned tasks with little conscious thought e.g. riding a bike + talking − Although seemingly easy to do procedural LTMs are difficult to explain in works (so are classes as ‘non-declarative) − Many procedural LTMs are acquired early in life – they are often concerned with the learning of important motor skills e.g. walking − Procedural LTM is also involved in language helping individuals to speak automatically using grammar + syntax without having to think about how to − This shows that procedural + semantic memories are likely to work together − As procedural memory does not require conscious thought it permits people to simultaneously perform other cognitive tasks that require attention (e.g. you can walk + hold a conversation at the same time) − Mainly associated with the primary motor cortex, cerebellum + prefrontal cortex − Unlike the explicit forms of LTM procedural memory does not require the hippocampus to function

Answer 16

− The case of Clive Wearing: → Clive Wearing was unable to form any new long-term memories after his hippocampus was destroyed by a viral infection however he was still able to sight read + play complex pieces on the piano → This suggests that his procedural memory was intact providing support for the idea that there are different types of long-term stores

Answer 17

P: The case study of HM provided support for procedural memory E: His ability to form new LTMs was severely affected by the destruction of his hippocampus but he retained his pre-existing LTM – although he appeared unable to form new explicit (declarative) memories he retained the ability to form new procedural memories C: e.g. he was able to learn how to draw a figure by looking at its reflection in a mirror (mirror drawing) – this is a procedural memory, however he had no memory that he had learned this (an episodic/semantic memory)

Answer 18

P: There is a general lack of research that can demonstrate which areas of the brain are associated with procedural memory E: What is needed are case studies of people with brain damage that affects procedural memory but not explicit memory (semantic + episodic memory) C: However such cases are rare

Answer 19

− Forgetting – the failure to retrieve memories with explanations varying bet. those that see information as no longer within storage + explanations that see forgetting as a failure to access stored information – a person’s loss if the ability to recall or recognise something that they have previously learned

Answer 20

− This theory sees forgetting as being due to information in the LTM becoming confused with or disrupted by other information during coding leading to inaccurate recall − Proactive interference (PI): → Works forwards in time → Occurs when information stored [previously interferes with an attempt to recall something else → E.g. the memory of an old phone number may disrupt an attempt to recall a new phone number − Retroactive interference (RI): → Works backwards in time → Occurs when new information disrupts information that is already stored in the long term memory → E.g. the new memory of a new car registration plate disrupts the memory of the old registration plate

Answer 21

− Procedure: → 211 ppts (11-79 yrs.) given a map of the neighbourhood where they had gone to school with street names replaced with number is + asked to remember as many as possible → Other info was collected with a questionnaire e.g. if they moved house, where they lived + for how long → The amount of retroactive interference was assessed by the number of time ppts moved (learnt new sets of street names → This measure was variable – 25% of ppts had never moved while 1% moved over 40 times − Findings: There was a positive association bet. the number of times ppts moved house outside of the neighbourhood + the number of street names forgotten − Conclusion: Findings suggest that learning new street names when moving house makes recalling older street names harder – retroactive interference does seem able to explain forgetting in real life situations

Answer 22

→ :) Extraneous variables that may have confused results – those who played in the neighbourhood or walked to school would probably have learnt street names to a better degree → :( Methodology used showed it is possible to conduct research on retroactive interference in real-life settings – could be easily adapted to test the influence of proactive interference too

Answer 23

− This explanation only really explains forgetting when the two pieces of information are similar to each other (e.g. two names or phone numbers) – it can’t explain all incidence of forgetting, it’s not particularly common to be presented with two very similar pieces of information so this theory cannot explain forgetting in the majority of real-life settings

Answer 24

− Evidence support comes from Braddeley + Hitch who got ppts who had played a varying number of rugby games to remember as many of the teams they had played against as possible, interference theory was tested by assessing how recall was affected by the number of games played – it was found that forgetting was due more to the number of games played supporting inference theory

Answer 25

Much research into the interference theory of forgetting is conducted under highly controlled conditions this means that the results have high internal validity + it is easier to establish a cause-effect relationship – :( BUT because they are artificial (tasks) taking place in an lab some suggest they are not very realists, it doesn’t really explain how we use our memory (+ how we forget) in everyday situations

Answer 26

Although there is strong evidence from research that interference is a real effect these studies do not + cannot identify the cognitive processes at work – we must make inference about what is happening within the memory to cause the disruption, it could be argued that this reduced the validity of the theory as there is no direct empirical evidence

Answer 27

− Occurs when information is still in the LTM but cannot be accessed − This theory sees recall (remembering) as being dependent upon retrieval cues – retrieval cues are things that serve as a reminder + aid recall, they may meaningfully link to the material to be remembered or they may not be meaningfully linked e.g. environment cues (a room) or cues related to your mental state (emotions that you felt at time of encoding) − Tulving proposed the encoding specificity principle – recall is likely to be poor if the context of recall is different to how it as during coding − It also suggests that effectiveness of a retrieval cue is dependent upon: → How overloaded it is (the fewer number of items associated with it the more effective the cue is) → How deep the processing of the cue was → How well the cue fits the information that is associated with it

Answer 28

− This occurs when the external environment is different at recall from where the information was originally learned − It is proposed that the environment is encoded with the information you learn + then can act as a trigger for recall − Research – Godden + Baddeley: → Asked scuba divers to learn material either in dry land or underwater → Recall was found to be poorer when they were testing in a different context to coding (different to where they’d learned the info) → This supports context-dependent forgetting because there was a lack of context dependent cues

Answer 29

− This occurs when internal retrieval cues (either your physical or emotional state) are different at the point at which information is learned + then recalled − Research – Overton: → Ppts learned material when drunk or sober → They had to recall the material – ½ were in the same state as they were when they learned the material (e.g. drunk both times or sober both times) ½ were in a different state (e.g. drunk then sober or vice-versa) → It was shown that those who were in the same state at coding + recall performed better in the recalled test

Answer 30

− Category headings often act as retrieval cues + help ppts to remember more words compared to free-recall − Research – Tulving + Pearlstone: → Gave ppts a list of 48 words to learn organised into 12 categories of 4 words each – at the top of each category was a one word heading (e.g. fruit) + ppts were instructed to learn the words but told they didn’t need to learn the headings → The ppts were tested ½ were presented with the category headings + ½ without → Those presented with the headings remembered more words – presumable as the headings acted as cues to trigger the recall of the 4 words

Answer 31

Much research into the cue dependent explanation of forgetting is conducted under highly controlled conditions this means that the results have high internal validity + it is easier to establish a cause-effect relationship – BUT because they are artificial (tasks) taking place in an lab some suggest they are not very realists, it doesn’t really explain how we use our memory (+ how we forget) in everyday situations

Answer 32

The idea of retrieval cues is in line with the levels of processing theory – levels of processing theory (LOP) suggests that information that is deeply processed at coding (e.g. how much thinking + what type of thinking occurs when processing the info) is less likely to be forgotten, this is because more links + associations are created bet. items in the LTM providing more retrieval cues

Answer 33

Real-world applications: one practical use of the knowledge + understanding gained by psychologists about cue-dependent forgetting is that of police reconstructions of unsolved crime – the aim is to jog the memory of witnesses by recreating the context of the incident through the use of retrieval cues, this shows that the theory has successful real world applications

Answer 34

− Godden + Baddeley’s findings only occurred when the divers had to free-recall the items they had learned – when asked to recognise the words they had been shown there was no context-dependent effect (being in the same underwater/on-land environment as where they learned the words did not reduce the number forgotten), this suggests that cue dependent forgetting can’t explain all forms of forgetting

Answer 35

− EWT is the evidence provided by a person who witnessed an event e.g. a crime or an accident − Stages in EWT: 1. Encoding of information in LTM 2. Retention of information – memories may be lost of become distorted during retention 3. Retrieval of information – accuracy may be affected by the questioned asked

Answer 36

− Leading questions: questions that increase the likelihood that an individual’s schema will be influenced to give a desired answer − Post-event discussion: concerns misleading information being added to a memory after the event had occurred – with research indicating that false memories can be stimulated by misleading post-event experiences/discussions

Answer 37

− Bartlett argued that memories are ‘reconstructions’ of events influenced by active schemas − Schemas can affect the reliability of memory because witnesses are reconstructing memories that may be biased by schema that are activated at the time or recall which can lead to false memories

Answer 38

− Procedure: → 45 students were shown 7 films of different road traffic accidents + asked a series of question about what they had seen in the films → The critical question asked was: “about how fast were the cars going when they ________ each other?” → Across the 5 groups the blank was filled in with different verbs: “contacted, collided, hit, smashed, bumped” − Findings: As the intensity of the verb used in the key question increases so did the estimation of the speed of the cars e.g. contacted = 31.8 mean mph, hit = 34 mean mph + smashed = 40.8 mean mph − Conclusion: Misleading information is the form of leading questions can affect memory recall of eyewitnesses + recall of misleading information is reconstructed with material from the original memory

Answer 39

− Criticism: The study was a lab experiment centred on an artificial task (watch videos) + as such lack relevance to real life scenarios therefore lacking ecological validity – witnessing real car crashed would have much more of an emotional impact + thus would affect recall differently

Answer 40

− Loftus +Palmer conducted a 2nd experiment to see if memory was distorted or changed by post event information: → A different set of ppts were divided into three groups + shown a film of a car accident + again they were asked how fast they thought the cars were travelling when they either “smashed” or “hit” (there was also a control group) → Ppts returned a week later + were asked if they saw any broken glass → The smashed group were more likely to say they saw broken glass - 16 from the smashed group said “yes” (they saw broken glass) compared to only 7 from the hit group

Answer 41

− In a study by Loftus (1979) ppts were exposed to as et od slides depicting the theft of a large red purse from a handbag of which 98% correctly remembered in an immediate recall test − When ppts were provide with an account where the purse was stated as being brown all but two of the ppts resisted this blatantly incorrect information + still correctly recalled the stolen purse had been red − This suggest that memory is not easily distorted by blatantly incorrect information but it may be more easily influence by subtle + plausible misleading information

Answer 42

− Gabbert el al put ppts in pairs + then showed them different videos of the same vent so that they saw different items – ½ of the pairs were then encouraged to discuss the event of the video before each partner individually recalled what they saw to the researcher − A very high number of witnesses (71%) who had discussed the event went on to mistakenly recall items acquired during the discussion

Answer 43

P: Loftus’ research was conducted under highly controlled lab conditions E: The risk of extraneous variable was therefore reduced C: This increases the internal validity of the study + also makes it possible for other researchers to replicated her research to check the reliability of her findings

Answer 44

P: Loftus’ research has highlighted how unreliably eyewitness accounts can be E: … which has been of benefit to the criminal justice system C: There is now more awareness of the problems with relying too heavily on eyewitness account especially when there is no other evidence to corroborate the account

Answer 45

P: Loftus’ research was conducted under artificial lab condition e.g. use of video clips E: These situation do not accurately represent real-life situations involving EWT because ppts may not take the experiment seriously or experience the same level of emotional arousal (anxiety) e.g. watching a real car crash would be more emotionally arousing C: This therefore decreases the ecological validity of the study making it difficult to generalise the findings

Answer 46

P: Ppts in Loftus’ study were aware that they were being studies which may have led to demand characteristics E: Therefore their behaviour may not have been entirely natural as they may have been behaving in such a way to please the experimenter C: This potentially reduced the internal validity of the study thus reducing the validity of the findings

Answer 47

P: Loftus’ research raises some important ethical issues E: Loftus deliberately misled her ppts which raised the issue of deception – furthermore some studies used potentially distressful stimuli e.g. video clips of a car crash which raised the issue of psychological harm C: This stimulus could be particularly distressing for these who have experience traumatic car accidents

Answer 48

− The ‘weapon focus’ affect is the idea that if there is a weapon present then individuals may pay more attention to the weapon that peripheral details e.g. the appearance of the perpetrator, the presences of a weapon may also significantly increase levels of anxiety experienced − The presence of a weapon is therefore thought to negatively affect an eyewitness ability to recall details about the culprit as it diverts their attention away from important aspects of the situation + narrows their focus of attention to the weapon

Answer 49

− Procedure: → Ppts sat in waiting room + overheard either a … a) Low key discussion in lab about equipment failure, a man then emerged holding a pen with greased hands (low anxiety condition) b) Hostile exchange, sound of breaking glass + crashing chairs, a man then emerged holding a bloodied paperknife (high anxiety condition) → Ppts were then presented with 50 photographs + asked to identify the man − Findings: Ppts were less accurate in identifying a man who had been seen earlier holding a bloodied paperknife (33%) compared with those who had seen the same man holding a pen (49%) − Conclusion: The weapon may have distracted the ppts attention away from the appearance of the person holding it

Answer 50

→ Loftus + Burns found that ppts were less accurate in recall when they saw a violent short film than those who watched a non-violent short film – this demonstrated support for Loftus (1987) as it shows that when ppl witness anxiety-provoking situations they are less likely to recall the event or the perpetrator accurately

Answer 51

− Yuille + Cutshall interviewed 13 eyewitnesses to a real-life shooting involving the owner of the shop + an armed thief (the storeowner was wounded, the thief was shot dead) – found that accurate accounts were given months later + that those in closer proximity gave more accurate account this suggests that high levels of distress increase accuracy of EWT which challenges Loftus’ findings − Foster investigated consequentiality + found that identification of the robber was more accurate for the group who thought they were witnessing a real event + told that their responses would influence the trail – suggesting that the consequence of identifying someone is an important factor with respect to accuracy of recall − The Yerkes-Dodson inverted-U hypothesis – this model suggests that moderate levels of anxiety promote accurate recall

Answer 52

− Inconsistency in research findings (lab studies vs real life study’s) – therefore it is somewhat unclear whether anxiety improves or decreases the accuracy of EWT

Answer 53

− Weapon focus might not be caused by anxiety → Pickel suggested that the reduced accuracy of identification due to the presence of a weapon might actually be due to surprise rather than anxiety → To test this she arranged for ppts to watch a thief enter a hairdressing salon carrying scissors (high treat, low surprise), a handgun (high threat, high surprise), a wallet (low threat, low surprise) or a whole raw chicken (low treat, high surprise) → Indication was the least accurate in the high surprise conditions rather than the high treat conditions → This supports the criticism that weapon focus is due to surprise rather than anxiety

Answer 54

− Ethical issues –ppts are fully informed + are deceived, potentially distressing situations which may cause high levels of psychological harm

Answer 55

Individual difference e.g. personality

Answer 56

− Geiselman et al proposed the cognitive interview schedule which was designed to be used by police investigations to elicit more accurate information from eyewitnesses − It consists of 4 techniques:

Answer 57

Mentally recreate the physical + psychological environment of the original incident – these act as contextual + emotional cues to retrieve memories E.g. weather, smells, lighting, other ppl, emotions – “what was the weather like?”

Answer 58

Even if it seems minor of insignificant as this could trigger the recollection of another memory as memories are often interconnected E.g. “please tell me everything that you can remember about the event, anything that pops into your head"

Answer 59

Not necessarily starting at the beginning perhaps recalling it in reverse order or starting from the most memorable aspect (disrupts the effects that schemas have on recall) E.g. “what is the very last thing you recall happening? What happened before that?”

Answer 60

Eyewitnesses are asked to imagine how the incident would have appeared to other witnesses present at the time (disrupts the effects that schemas have in recall) E.g. “try to recall the incident from the perceptive of another person, describe what he/she would have seen”

Answer 61

− Geiselman et al (1985) found that the CI procedure generated more accurate, detailed memory than the SPI technique + interviews conducted under hypnosis suggesting that CI techniques are effective − Kohnken et al found that there was an increases of 81% in the amount of accurate recall informational produced when using CI compared with standard interviewing techniques - however Cis also produced 61% more inaccurate info than the SPI, they also found that CIs generate more correct detail when used soon after a crime has been witnessed rather than a long time afterwards − Geiselman (1988) → Tested the effectiveness of the cognitive interview by comparing it against SPI techniques → Procedure: Showed a video of violent crime to 89 students + about 48 hrs later the students were interviewed using a CI or SPI technique the students recalled considerably more correct items in the CI than the SPI (41.5 vs 29.4), however the error rates were very similar − Holliday → Showed two groups of children aged 4-5 + 9-10 a 5 min video of a child’s birthday party → The next day the children were interviewed about what they had seen using with e standard interview or CI → They found the use of CI resulted in more correct details being recalled about the video compared with standard interviewing techniques

Answer 62

Milne + Bull found that when interviewing using a combination of the report everything + mental reinstatement components recalls were significantly higher than other conditions – this suggests that its only certain aspects of the CI that improve recall rather than the whole thing

Answer 63

→ Lack of constancy within interview techniques → Time consuming → Training issues – quality + quantity of training becomes a critical issue