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Psychology AQA A-Level Year 1 & AS > Memory > Flashcards

Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

What is cognitive psychology interested in?

A

Mental process and the way these affect behaviour

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2
Q

What is memory?

A

1) process of retaining information about the past

2) process of accessing information when needed

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3
Q

What is coding?

A

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

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4
Q

What is storage?

A

Keeping information within the memory system until it is needed

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5
Q

What is retrieval?

A

Recovering information stored in the memory system when it is required

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6
Q

What is the sensory register?

A

1) contains unprocessed information from senses

2) separate store for each sensory input (iconic store=visual information)(echoic store=auditory information)

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7
Q

What is short-term memory?

A

Temporary store for information received from the sensory register

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8
Q

What is long term memory?

A

Permanent store holding limitless amounts of information for long periods of time (potentially a lifetime)

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9
Q

What is capacity?

A

The amount of information that can be held in memory before new information displaces it

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10
Q

What is duration?

A

The amount of time information can be held in a memory store before it is list due to decay

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11
Q

How is information coded into the sensory register?

A

Each sensory store codes differently - modality specific

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12
Q

How is information coded into the short-term memory?

A

According to how it sounds - acoustically

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13
Q

How is information coded into the long-term memory?

A

According to its meaning - semantically

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14
Q

How did Baddeley (1966) investigate coding in short-term memory?

A 
1) gave participants 4 lists of words:
list A=similar sounding words
list B=dissimilar sounding words
list C=words with similar meanings
list D=words with dissimilar meanings
2) recall of list A was worse than B
3) no difference in recall of lists C+D
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15
Q

How did Baddeley (1966) investigate coding into long-term memory)?

A

1) repeated short-term memory experiment
2) tested participants recall after 20 minute delay to ensure information passed into long-term memory
3) no difference in recall of lists A+B
4) recall of list C was worse than D

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16
Q

What is the capacity of the sensory register?

A

Unlimited

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17
Q

What is the capacity of short-term memory?

A

7 +/- 2 pieces of information

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18
Q

What is the capacity of long-term memory?

A

Unlimited

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19
Q

How did Jacobs (1887) test the capacity of short-term memory?

A

1) participants presented with string of letters/digits
2) participants asked to repeat string in same order immediately after giving it
3) strings got longer by 1 item each time until the participant failed to recall the sequence correctly

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20
Q

What is chunking?

A

Grouping large amounts of information into smaller groups

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21
Q

What is the duration of the sensory register?

A

250 milliseconds

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22
Q

What is the duration of short-term memory?

A

18-30 seconds

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23
Q

What is the duration of long-term memory?

A

Lifetime

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24
Q

How did Peterson and Peterson (1959) test for the duration of short-term memory?

A

1) participants shown nonsense trigrams
2) asked to recall after 3/6/9/12/15/18 seconds
3) during the pause, participants had to count backwards in 3s from 100

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25
Q

What were the results of Peterson and Peterson (1959)?

A

1) after 3s recall was accurate 80% of the time

2) after 18s recall was accurate 10% of the time

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26
Q

What is a nonsense trigram?

A

3 random consonants

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27
Q

How did Bahrick (1975) test for the duration of long-term memory?

A

1) 392 people asked to list the names of their ex-classmates
2) participants shown photos + asked to recall names of people shown/given names + asked to match them to a photo of classmate

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28
Q

What were the results of Bahrick (1975)?

A

1) after 15 years, free-recall=90%
2) after 30 years, free-recall = 60%
3) after 48 years, name recognition=80%
4) after 48 years, photo recognition=40%

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29
Q

What is the multi-store model of memory?

A

A model explaining how information flows from one memory store to another, and how information is lost from them

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30
Q

How is information lost from the sensory register?

A

Decay

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31
Q

Why can information in short-term memory be displaced?

A

The capacity is limited to 7 +/- 2 pieces of information

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32
Q

What is maintenance rehearsal?

A

Repeatedly verbalising or thinking about the information

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33
Q

What is elaborative rehearsal?

A

When information is organised in a meaningful way

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34
Q

How can information be kept in short-term memory?

A

Maintenance rehearsal

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35
Q

How can information be transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory?

A

Elaborative rehearsal

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36
Q

Why can we sometimes not access information from long-term memory?

A

Retrieval failure

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37
Q

What did Scoville (1957) do?

A

Attempt to treat a patient (HF) by removing several brain areas, including his hippocampus

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38
Q

What happened to HM?

A

Unable to code new long-term memories although short-term memories were unaffected

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39
Q

What does the case study of HM show?

A

Short-term + long-term memory stores are separate and distinct

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40
Q

What did Shallice and Warrington (1970) report?

A

The case study of KF

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41
Q

What happened to KF?

A

1) as a result of a motorbike accident KF has a reduced short-term memory of 1/2 digits
2) long-term memory was unaffected
3) short-term memory was poor for verbal task but not for visual tasks

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42
Q

What does the case study of KF show?

A

1) short + long-term memory stores are separate and distinct
2) suggests there is more than one type of short-term memory (contradicts multi-store model of memory)
3) long-term memories were unaffected even though short-term memories were damaged (contradicts multi-store model of memory)

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43
Q

What are the limitations of the multi-store model of memory?

A

1) information is transferred from short-term to long-term memory ugh rehearsal but in real life people don’t always spend time rehearsing, yet they still transfer information into long-term memory
2) some items can’t be rehearsed (smell)
3) model is oversimplified - assumes there is only one short-term + long-term store

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44
Q

What does the working memory model propose?

A

Short-term memory is an active store containing several different stores instead of being a single store

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45
Q

What is the central executive?

A

1) drives whole model
2) allocates data to slave systems
3) deals with cognitive tasks (mental arithmetic/reasoning/problem solving)
4) limited capacity
5) less demand from automated tasks

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46
Q

What is the phonological loop?

A

Holds speech-based information

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47
Q

How many sub-components does the phonological loop have?

A

2

48
Q

What are the sub-components of the phonological loop?

A

1) phonological store

2) articulatory loop

49
Q

What is the phonological store?

A

1) (inner ear)
2) speech perception
3) hols information in speech-based form for 1-2 seconds

50
Q

What is the articulatory loop?

A

1) (inner voice)
2) speech production
3) used to rehearse + store verbal information from phonological store
4) repeats information

51
Q

How many slave systems are there in the central executive?

A

3

52
Q

What are the salve systems of the central executive?

A

1) phonological loop
2) visuo-spatial sketchpad
3) episodic buffer

53
Q

What is the visuo-spacial sketch pad?

A

1) (inner eye)
2) temporary storage of visual and spatial information
3) used for navigation

54
Q

How many sub-components does the visuo-spacial sketchpad have?

A

2

55
Q

What are the sub-components of the visuo-spacial sketchpad?

A

1) visual cache

2) inner scribe

56
Q

What is visual cache?

A

Stores visual material about form + colour

57
Q

What is the inner scribe?

A

Handles spatial relationships

58
Q

What is the episodic buffer?

A

1) limited capacity store
2) stores + integrates information from central executive/phonological loop/visuo-spatial sketchpad/long-term memory
3) forms complete scenes/‘episodes’

59
Q

How many types of long-term memory are there?

A

3

60
Q

What are the types of long-term memory?

A

1) episodic memory
2) semantic memory
3) procedural memory

61
Q

What is episodic memory?

A

Events that you have experienced

62
Q

Give an example of an episodic memory.

A

1) concert
2) visit to a restaurant
3) first day of school
4) family holiday
5) last birthday

63
Q

How is information in episodic memory organised?

A

1) details of what happened
2) context - time and place
3) emotions you felt at the time of the event

64
Q

Where are episodic memories stored?

A

Hippocampus

65
Q

What is semantic memory?

A

1) facts + general knowledge
2) related to functions of object/appropriate behaviour in events/abstract concepts (mathematics/language)
3) no knowledge of context of where you learn the information

66
Q

Where are semantic memories stored?

A

Temporal lobe

67
Q

Give an example of a semantic memory.

A

1) the capital of England is London

2) 2+2=4

68
Q

What is procedural memory?

A

1) motor skills + actions
2) acquired through practise + repetition
3) automatic
4) unavailable for conscious inspection - difficult to explain verbally

69
Q

Where are procedural memories stored?

A

Cerebellum

70
Q

Give an example of a procedural memory.

A

1) tying shoelaces
2) driving
3) reading
4) riding a bicycle

71
Q

Why is it important that procedural memories are automatic?

A

So that we can focus our attention on other tasks while performing these everyday skills

72
Q

What is forgetting?

A

When learnt information can’t be retrieved

73
Q

What is interference?

A

When two lots of information become confused in memory and forgetting occurs

74
Q

How many types of interference are there?

A

2

75
Q

What are the types of interference?

A

1) retroactive interference

2) proactive interference

76
Q

What is retroactive interference?

A

When new information interferes with the ability to recall older information

77
Q

What is proactive interference?

A

When old information interferes with the ability to recall new information

78
Q

What type of interference did Underwood (1957) investigate?

A

Proactive interference

79
Q

What did Underwood (1957) find?

A

1) participants who learned 10 or more lists of words recalled 20% the next day
2) participant who learned 1 list of words recalled 70% the next day

80
Q

What is a practical application of interference theory?

A

Students can revise similar material at different times so interference is less likely to occur

81
Q

What is retrieval failure?

A

Forgetting occurs when the appropriate cue isn’t available

82
Q

What is cue-dependent learning?

A

Remembering more if you are in the same context/mood as you were when you coded the original information

83
Q

What happens when cues are not available at the time of recall?

A

1) you cannot access the information

2) appears as if you have forgotten the information

84
Q

What is state-dependent forgetting?

A

Physical state can affect recall

85
Q

What is context-dependent forgetting?

A

The environment in which the material is learnt can act as a cue

86
Q

What is a weakness of retrieval failure?

A

1) might not explain all types of memory - may not be relevant to procedural memory
2) any evidence is artificial + lacks meaning in the real world
3) impossible to test whether information in long-term memory is accessible or just waiting for the right cue

87
Q

How did Darley et al (1973) show the importance of state-dependent cues?

A

Participant who hid money in large warehouse under the influence of cannabis were more likely to recall hiding place under similar drugged state

88
Q

What is eyewitness testimony?

A

The evidence given by people who witnessed a crime, based on their memory of the incident

89
Q

Give an example of eyewitness testimony.

A

1) sequence of events
2) crime scenes (time/date/location)
3) descriptions of criminals (hair colour/height)

90
Q

What are leading questions?

A

Questions phrased in such a way as to encourage a witness to give a certain answer

91
Q

What does the response-bias explanation argue?

A

Leading questions do not affect memory, only the answer a person chooses to give

92
Q

What does the substitution-bias explanation argue?

A

Leading questions distort memories because they contain misleading information

93
Q

What was the procedure for Loftus and Palmer (1974)?

A

1) showed participants film of car crash
2) asked participants to estimate speed cars was travelling upon crashing
3) different verbs used depending on condition (contacted/hit/bumped/collided/smashed)
4) a week later, participants asked if they saw any glass

94
Q

What were the findings of Loftus and Palmer (1974)?

A

1) ‘contacted’=31mph speed estimate
2) ‘smashed’=41mph speed estimate
3) ‘smashed’=yes for broken glass
4) control condition= no broken glass

95
Q

What does Loftus and Palmer (1974) show?

A

1) leading questions have a significant impact on recall

2) leading questions change entire memory of an event

96
Q

What is a weakness about Loftus and Palmer (1974)?

A

1) questionable ecological validity - participants watched video of crash whereas people who witness a real crash may be more emotionally connected to the event and not as susceptible to leading questions
2) lacks population validity - consisted of american students (less experienced drivers) and so cannot generalise results to other populations

97
Q

What is a strength about Loftus and Palmer (1974)?

A

Laboratory experiment:

2) highly controlled - reduced chance of extraneous variables
3) increased validity of results
4) easy for psychologists to replicate research - reliable

98
Q

What factors can affect the accuracy of recall in eyewitness testimony?

A

1) misleading information
2) leading questions
3) post-event discussion

99
Q

How can post-event discussion affect the memory of an event?

A

1) misinformation through discussing events

2) desire for social approval can lead participant to come to a consensus of what happened

100
Q

What was the procedure of Gabbert et al (2003)?

A

1) put participants into pairs
2) made participants what different video of same event - different details
3) condition 1 - participants discussed event before recall
4) condition 2 - participants did not discuss before recall

101
Q

What were the findings of Gabbert et al (2003)?

A

71% participants mistakenly recalled details they learned from their partner

102
Q

What is a weakness of post-event discussion?

A

1) lacks ecological validity - participants knew they were taking part in an experiment and so could have paid more attention to details
2) results do not reflect real life

103
Q

What is a strength of post-event discussion?

A

1) population validity - no difference between students + older adults when compared
2) post-event discussion affects younger + older adults in a similar way

104
Q

What is anxiety?

A

A state of apprehension/uncertainty/fear resulting from a threatening situation

105
Q

What is the weapon focus effect?

A

Witnessed who see a violent crime involving a weapon can often describe a criminal’s weapon in great detail, but they cannot recall much about the criminal themselves

106
Q

How did Loftus (1979) investigate the weapon focus affect in eyewitness testimony?

A

Experimental condition:
1) participants to overhear heated argument between 2 people + furniture being overturned + broken glass
2) man emerged carrying letter opener covered in blood
3) participants asked to identify man from 50 photographs
Control Condition:
1) participants overhear conversation about laboratory equipment failure
2) man emerged with a pen + grease on hands
3) participants asked to identify man from 50 photographs

107
Q

What were the findings of Loftus (1979)?

A

1) 33% in bloody letter opener condition identified correct photo
2) 49% in pen condition identified correct photo
3) participants in bloody letter opener condition focused more on weapon than person

108
Q

Why was the cognitive interview technique developed?

A

To try and increase the accuracy of witnesses’ recall of events during police questioning

109
Q

Describe a standard interview?

A

1) brief/fact-based/closed questions
2) witnesses often interrupted
3) witnesses not allowed to expand upon answers

110
Q

How many stages are there in the cognitive interview?

A

4

111
Q

What are the stages of the cognitive interview?

A

1) context reinstatement
2) report everything
3) recall from changed perspective
4) recall in reverse order

112
Q

What happens in context reinstatement?

A

1) witness mentally recreates image of situation - details of environment (weather/emotional state/feelings)
2) may act as retrieval cues

113
Q

What happens in report everything?

A

1) interviewer encourages witness to recall all details about event (even if unimportant)
2) may highlight overlooked details + trigger other memories

114
Q

What happens in recall from changed perspective?

A

1) witness mentally creates situation from different points of view
2) provides more holistic view + reduces influence of schemas

115
Q

What is a schema?

A

Mental structure of a preconceived idea

116
Q

What happens in recall in reverse order?

A

1) witness asked to recall scene in different chronological order
2) should verify witnesses’ account + reduce possibility that influence is influenced by schemas/expectations

117
Q

What additional guidelines did Fisher (1987) add to the cognitive interview?

A

1) encourage witness to relax + speak slowly
2) avoid distractions
3) use open-ended questions
4) offer comments to help clarify witness statements

Psychology AQA A-Level Year 1 & AS (7 decks)

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