Memory Flashcards
1
Q
What is coding?
A
the form information is stored in
2
Q
what is duration?
A
how long information lasts in your memory
3
Q
what is capacity?
A
how much information can be stored in your memory
4
Q
what is short term memory (STM)?
A
items your using now
5
Q
what is long term memory (LTM)?
A
stored items you can access again
6
Q
what is retrieval?
A
accessing information from your LTM
7
Q
what is attention?
A
mental focus on an object
8
Q
what is episodic memory?
A
memory that has a narrative
9
Q
what is semantic memory?
A
memory that has a meaning
10
Q
what is acoustic memory?
A
memory based on sounds/words/rhythms
11
Q
what is rehearsal?
A
attending to information so that it stays in your memory
12
Q
what type of psychology was memory originally based upon?
A
cognitive psychology
- “the amazing brain” (Craik, 2001)
13
Q
what type of coding is used in your STM?
A
acoustic
14
Q
How is information kept in your STM?
A
using rehearsal
15
Q
what is the capacity of your STM?
A
limited capacity, between 5-9 items on average
16
Q
what does your STM allow you to do?
A
process and recall information straight away
17
Q
when does information enter the LTM?
A
information goes here after the STM to be stored more permanently
18
Q
what type of coding is used in your LTM?
A
semantic
19
Q
what is the capacity of your LTM?
A
LTM has potentially unlimited capacity and can hold information for years
20
Q
how long can you keep information in your STM for?
A
18-30 seconds
21
Q
how long can you keep information in your LTM for?
A
a potential lifetime
22
Q
What did Miller (1956) argue and conclude?
A
- argued most things come in 7’s
- concluded that on average we can recall 7 items (7 plus or minus 2 items (5-9))
23
Q
What else did Miller (1956) discover?
A
we can remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters through chunking
24
Q
Who conducted the digit span test?
A
Jacobs (1887)
25
Give the method of the digit span test in two steps
1. researcher gives a number of digits and participants has to recall them all in order
2. researcher then increases amount by one digit and participant has to recall again until they cannot recall the correct order - this determines their digit span
26
What were the results (means) of Jacobs' (1887) digit span test using digits and letters?
mean digits = 9.3 items
mean letters = 7.3 letters
27
What did Peterson and Peterson (1959) study?
the duration of short term memory (STM)
28
Who participates in the Peterson and Peterson (1959) study?
24 students - each participant tested over 8 trials
29
describe the method in the Peterson and Peterson (1959) study in 3 steps
1. in each trial participants were given a constant syllable and a 3 digit number (eg. THX 512)
2. they were then asked to recall these over different intervals
3. during the interval they had to count backwards from their 3 digit number
30
What were the results of the Peterson and Peterson (1959) study?
- participants on average were 90% correct over 3 seconds, 20% correct over 9 seconds and only 2% correct over 18 seconds
- they concluded that the short term memory (STM) duration was less than 18 seconds
31
What did Bahrick (1975) study?
the duration of LTM - tested 400 people on memory of past classmates
32
Describe Bahrick's (1975) study in 3 steps
1. photo recognition test consisted of 50 photos from high school year books
2. participants asked to recall their classmates names
3. participants all tested between 15-48 years of graduation
33
What were the results of the Bahrick (1975) study?
- participants tested within 15yrs of graduation = about 90% accurate identifying faces
- participants tested within 48yrs of graduation = 70%
- participants after 15yrs with free recall = 60% accurate
- participants after 48yrs with free recall = 30% accurate
34
What did Baddeley (1966) study?
used word lists to test the effects of acoustic and semantic similarity on long term memory (LTM) and short term memory (STM)
35
What did Baddeley discover about the effects of acoustic and semantic similarity on long term memory (LTM) and short term memory (STM) in his (1966) study?
- found participants had difficulty remembering acoustically similar words in the short term memory (STM) but not in the long term memory (LTM)
- whereas semantically similar words posed little problem for short term memories (STMs) but led to muddled long term memories (LTMs)
36
What was the conclusion Baddeley's (1966) study?
suggested that the short term memory (STM) is largely encoded acoustically whereas the long term memory (:TM) is largely encoded semantically
37
Who created the Multi-store model of memory in 1968?
Atkinson and Shiffrin
38
What did Sperling (1960) study?
sensory memory (SM)
39
Describe Sperling's (1960) study in two steps
1. participants were given a grid of digits and were shown it for 50 milliseconds
2. participants were either asked to write down all 12 digits in the grid or just one row of the digits (eg. high, medium or low)
40
What were the results of Sperling's (1960) study?
- whole grid - 5 items recalled = 42% accurate
| - one row - 3 items recalled = 75% accurate
41
What two things did Sperling conclude in his (1960) study?
- participants didn't remember all 4 in a row = suggests sensory memory (SM) cannot hold information for long
- information decays rapidly in the sensory store! - supports the existence of the sensory store
42
What did Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) study?
the serial position effect - remembering words from the beginning and end of a list
43
Describe the method Glanzer and Cunitz used in their (1966) study in two steps
1. showed participants a list of 20 words, presented one at a time
2. asked participants to recall words - most remembered words from the beginning and the end of the list however missed some in the middle
44
What is the primary effect?
remembering the first 5 things in a list/sequence (Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)) (links to LTM)
45
What is the recency effect?
remembering the last 5 things in a list/sequence (Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)) (links to LTM)
46
What are the three different types of long term memory (LTM)?
1. procedural
2. semantic
3. episodic
47
What types of memories does the procedural LTM (long term memory) store?
unconscious, physical memories (eg. the star test that HM did)
48
What types of memories does the semantic LTM (long term memory) store?
meaning or facts memories found (something you know)
49
What types of memories does the episodic LTM (long term memory) store?
narrative memories, conscious - uses the hippocampus
50
Who created the working memory model?
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
51
What two things does the working memory model consist of that the MSM does nor?
1. central executive
| 2. the 3 slave systems (phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer
52
What is the capacity of the central executive?
Limited (unknown how many items)
53
What does the central executive do?
determines how resources are allocated - involves reasoning and decision making tasks - selects strategies but can only do a limited number of things at a time
54
What did Baddeley describe the central executive as?
the 'company boss'
55
What are the 3 slave systems called?
1. phonological loop
2. visuo-spatial sketchpad
3. episodic buffer
56
What is the capacity of the phonological loop?
limited
57
What is the function of the phonological loop?
deals with auditory information and preserves word order - 'inner ear'
58
What two things did Baddeley further subdivide the phonological loop into?
1. phonological store
| 2. articulatory process
59
What is the function of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
visual and/or spatial information stored here - 'inner eye'
60
What is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
limited capacity = 3-4 objects
61
Who suggested a subdivision of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Logie (1995)
62
What were the two sections of the subdivision of the visuo-spatial sketchpad called?
1. visuo-cache (store)
| 2. inner scribe for spatial relations
63
When was the episodic buffer added the the WMM?
Later on when Baddeley added this as he realised mode; needed a more general store (2000)
64
What is the function of the episodic buffer?
integrates information for all areas
65
What is the capacity of the episodic buffer?
Limited capacity of 4 chunks
66
Why did Baddeley and Hitch carry out the dual task performance study in 1976?
to show we can subdivide short term memory into different components
67
What were the two IV's of the dual task performance study (Baddeley and Hitch (1976))?
IV 1. central executive (CE) occupied by repeating a word
IV 2. CE and AL occupied by repeating a random number sequence
68
What was the DV of the dual task performance study (Baddeley and Hitch (1976))?
DV = true/false task accuracy (seconds and errors)
69
What were the findings of the dual task performance study (Baddeley and Hitch (1976))?
findings = reduced accuracy when 2 working memory areas are used together
70
What was the conclusion of the dual task performance study (Baddeley and Hitch (1976))?
conclusion = existence of the CE and AL is supported and they are functionally different
71
What did Bunge et al. use fMRI scans for in 2000?
to see which parts of the brain are active when participants were doing two tasks
72
What were the results of Bunge et al.'s study of fMRI scans (2000)?
the same brain areas were active in either dual or single task conditions but there was significantly more activation in the dual conditions
73
What is the word-length effect (Baddeley et al. (1973))?
phonological loop will only include items you can say in 1.5-2 seconds - making it harder to remember longer words
74
How can you remove the word length effect (Baddeley et al. (1973))?
keep saying a word while reading and this process disappears
75
What type of coding does the central executive use?
it is modality free (no storage)
76
What type of coding does the phonological loop use?
acoustic
77
What type of coding does the visuo-spatial sketchpad use?
visual
78
What type of coding does the episodic buffer use?
modality free (no storage)
79
What was the retrieval failure theory (Tulving et al. (1973))?
the reason that we forget is due to insufficient cues
80
What is schematic memory (Tulving et al. (1973))?
all memories are encoded with information from the environment - these are like the 'webs'; in the brain/mind, they are all interconnected and it's impossible to use one part of a memory without 'pulling in' others
81
How do cues help us to remember?
by helping to retrieve the schema, fewer cues = more likely to forget
82
What do schematic items that are associated with target memories act as?
cues
83
What is the encoding specificity principle?
the greater the similarity between the encoding event and the retrieval event, the greater the likelihood of recalling the original memory
84
What are the two different types of cue dependent forgetting?
1. context = external environmental cues
| 2. state = internal cues
85
What was the aim of Godden and Baddeley's 1975 study on context-dependent forgetting?
to investigate whether context affects memory
86
Describe the method of Godden and Baddeley's 1975 study on context-dependent forgetting in 5 steps
1. scuba divers given a list of words
2. IV (1) = on land
3. IV (2) = underwater
4. DV (1) = number of words recalled on land
5. DV (2) = number of words recalled underwater
87
What were the findings of Godden and Baddeley's 1975 study on context-dependent forgetting?
recall significantly better in original context
88
What was the conclusion of Godden and Baddeley's 1975 study on context-dependent forgetting?
forgetting is context-dependent
89
What was the aim of Goodwin et al.'s 19869 study on state-dependent forgetting?
to discover if mental/physical state affects memory
90
Describe the method of Goodwin et al.'s 1969 study on state-dependent forgetting in 5 steps
1. independent groups design
2. male volunteers given a lost of words
3. IV (1) = at 3 times above the legal drink drive limit
4. IV (2) = sober
5. DV = number of words recalled after 24hrs (all participants randomly assigned to be drunk or sober for the DV)
91
What were the findings of Goodwin et al.'s 19869 study on state-dependent forgetting?
recall significantly better in original state (even if that was drunk!)
92
What was the conclusion of Goodwin et al.'s 19869 study on state-dependent forgetting?
forgetting is state-dependent
93
What is the interference theory of forgetting?
- LTM has an unlimited capacity and should last a lifetime
| - we forget info in the LTM because they are gone (availability) or because we can't reach them anymore (accessibility)
94
What is interference?
when one memory disturbs the ability to recall another - resulting in forgetting or distorting one or both - more likely to happen when they are similar
95
what is proactive interference?
previously learnt information interferes with the new information you are trying to store
96
what is retroactive interference?
when a new memory interferes with an old memory
97
What aspect of interference did McGeoch and McDonald (1931) study?
evidence has shown that the more similar the interference is to the words being remembered, the worse recall is - to see this they compared similar with different interference stimuli in their study
98
What were the results of McGeoch and McDonald's (1931) interference study?
the effect lowered recall ability, making it around 3 times worse - similarity principle
99
What was the DV in Baddeley and Hitch's (rugby player study) interference study?
DV = number of names remembered by two types of rugby players
100
What were the two IV's in Baddeley and Hitch's (rugby player study) interference study?
IV (1) = rugby player injured after 3rd game
| IV (2) = rugby player played whole season
101
What was the aim in Baddeley and Hitch's (rugby player study) interference study?
aim = to study retroactive interference
102
What was the conclusion in Baddeley and Hitch's (rugby player study) interference study?
conclusion = fewer games played led to more accuracy in remembering names of fellow rugby players
103
What type of study was Baddeley and Hitch's (rugby player study) interference study?
A natural study
104
What was the aim in Underwood's 1957 interference study?
aim = to show proactive interference
105
What was the conclusion in Underwood's 1957 interference study?
conclusion = if participants memorised 10 or more lists, then after 24 hrs they remembered about 20% of what they've learnt - ones with only one list remembered over 70%
106
What was the method used in Underwood's 1957 interference study?
varying numbers of word lists given to participants, they waited a 24hr period and had to remember lists after this period
107
T/F: Christianson and Hubinette (1993) thought that anxiety helped to make strong memories
TRUE
108
T/F: Johnson and Scott (1976) thought that anxiety makes memory formation better
FALSE - THEY THOUGHT THAT ANXIETY MADE MEMORY FORMATION WORSE
109
What is anxiety?
Unpleasant state or increased physiological arousal
110
What is cognition?
Capacity to process information
111
What was the aim of Christianson and Hubinette’s (1993) study?
To investigate the effects of anxiety on eyewitness recall, with 58 real bank robbery eyewitnesses, 4-15 months after the accident
112
What were the IV’s of Christianson and Hubinette’s (1993) study?
1. IV(1) = víctimas of crime (eg. a staff member)
| 2. IV(2) = bystander of crime (eg. a customer)
113
What was the DV of Christianson and Hubinette’s (1993) study?
DV = detail match of eyewitness stories to the CCTV of the crimes
114
What were the findings of Christianson and Hubinette’s (1993) study?
All victims above 75% average accuracy - victims reporting more anxiety had better recall (positive correlation)
115
What was the conclusion of Christianson and Hubinette’s (1993) study?
Semantic/episodic memory formation is better when anxious
116
What was the aim of Johnson and Scott’s (1976) study?
To investigate the effect of anxiety on eyewitness recall
117
What were the IV’s of Johnson and Scott’s (1976) study?
1. IV(1) = witness argument, see confederate holding greasy pen
2. IV(2) = witness argument, see confederate holding bloody knife
118
What was the DV of Johnson and Scott’s (1976) study?
DV = ID of criminal accuracy (%)
119
What were the findings of Johnson and Scott’s (1976) study?
Pen - 49%
Knife - 33%
120
What was the conclusion of Johnson and Scott’s (1976) study?
Weapon focus effect
- replication involves a raw chicken
121
Evaluate the Yerkes-Dodson curve in 4 points
- too simple, lacks internal validity...
- recall tests showed sudden decline after peak anxiety was passed...
- furthermore, catastrophe theory...
- this means...
122
What is an eyewitness testimony?
Evidence given in court or to a police investigator from someone who’s witnessed a crime or an accident - refers to an account given by people of an event they have witnessed
123
What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) study?
To test if the language (leading questions) used in an eyewitness testimony can alter the memory of an event
124
What type of experiment was the Loftus and Palmer (1974) study?
laboratory experiment
125
What design was the Loftus and Palmer (1974) study?
Independent groups design
126
What was the IV of Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) study?
The verb used by the investigator when describing the crime (eg. hit, collided, contacted)
127
What was the DV of Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) study?
DV = entered speed
128
Describe the method of Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) study in 4 steps
1. Participants shown 7 clips of car accidents and asked questions about it
2. They were in 5 groups of 9
3. Each group was asked a critical question - how fast were the cars travelling when they HIT/COLLIDED/CONTACTED each other?
4. They were each asked whether they saw broken glass as a follow up
129
Who took part in Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) study?
45 students
130
What is reconstruction?
- when labels/names prompt involvement of schemas
| - reproductions show memory distortion over time (Bartlett (1932))
131
Give a study that shows reproduction
Carmichael, Hogen and Walter (1932)
- stimulus sketch given two labels, participants asked to reproduce the sketch dependo on the label that they were told
132
What study did Allport and Postman carry out in 1947?
- participants read a story about mugging on a subway and were then asked to identify the criminal
- when asked to identify the criminal, most reported that he was black
133
What is post-event discussion?
- leads to memory reconstruction
| - memories changed every time they’re recalled
134
Give 4 things that happen in cognitive interviews
- participants asked to REPORT EVERYTHING they remember (leading questions stopped as they can lead to false responses)
- MENTAL REINSTATEMENT (aim is to make memories more accessible which is why state/context is used
- CHANGE THE ORDER OF EVENTS WHEN RECALLING (this prevents your pre-existing schema influencing your memory)
- CHANGE THE PERSPECTIVE (this distrusts the effect schemas have on recall and prevents anxiety/neurotic thoughts)
135
Give three strengths of cognitive interviews
- structured
- up to 50% more information remembered by witnesses (however this is not all useful information)
- open-ended questions = witnesses remember things in their own words = better memory and more accurate results
136
Give four weaknesses of cognitive interviews
- much more time consuming
- inventive for interviewer
- this technique is only useful with co-operative witnesses
- there is still a danger of asking leading questions
