memory Flashcards
visual encoding
some memories are stored visually
e.g if your asked to count the windows on your house you probably see your house in your mind
encoding
means changing information so it can be sorted in the brain. the form of the information is changed
acoustic encoding
memories are stored in terms of what they sound like. your fave songs or rhymes
semantic encoding
semantic refers to meaning knowing 1000’s of words and your semantic memory is the meaning of these words. your ability to understand and use words and concepts
tactiles encoding
memory of what things feels like and olfactory memory is memory of smells
storage
information is then kept in your brain for a period of time, possibly even a life time
retrieval
information has to be located and brought back out of your brain
recognition
seeing someone and being able to identify who they are
cued recall
trying to remember information but it’s in the tip of your tongue and someone gives you a clue and then you remember it
free recall
when you retrieve information without cues
LONG TERM MEMORY
semantic memory
is about the meaning your own encyclopaedia meaning of everything you know, knowledge that is shared not time-stamped e.g paris is the capital of france
episodic memory
morning for events (episodes) from your life.
things you have done and experiences you have had.
e.g 10th birthday party
you recall the time and place of such events.
you might remember who was there, what happened before and after
these memory’s are time-stamped
procedural memory
is muscle memory
remembering how to do thing.
we can recall these without conscious awareness
e.g driving a car
these are skills we might find hard to explain
déclarative and non-declarative memory
episodic/semantic memories are grouped together as declarative memories because they require conscious recall.
procedural don’t require conscious recall so it’s non-declarative.
BARTLETTS War of the ghosts study 1932
AIM
to use a story from a different culture to see how cultural expectations affect memory
METHOD
showed participants the story then shortly after they had to recall it.
the story was a from a very different culture from the uk participants
none of the participants knew the purpose of the story
RESULTS
story was shortened
phrases were changed to language and concept from participants own culture
‘canoe’ > ‘boat’
recalled version became very fixed, with slight variations
CONCLUSION
we don’t remember details, we remember fragments and use our knowledge to reconstruct memory.
this reconstructed version of events is simpler to remember and therefore becomes our memory for the event
MURDOCKS STUDY
serial position curve
AIM
murdock set out to see if memory of words was affected by the number of words a person had to remember
METHOD
4000 words 103 students participants listened to 20 word lists varied 10-40 words afterwards they had to recall them
RESULTS
primacy effect- higher recall at the first words
low recall for middle words
recency effect- highest recall for the final words( most recent)
CONCLUSION
position of a words determines
he likelihood of its recall.
recency effects are strongest
supports the multi-story model
theory of RECONSTRUCTIVE memory
people rebuild memory as an active process
memory is not a process of exact reproduction of experiences
record pieces of information, recombine to tell the whole story
expectations come from the world/culture we live in, and affect storage and recall.
we focus on the meaning of events and make an effort afterwards to make sense of fragments of memory
MCGEOCH AND MCDOUNALDS STUDY
AIM
to see the effect of doing two activities on accuracy of memory
METHOD
learned a list of 10 words and then another list of varying types
e.g synonymous and antonyms
RESULTS
memory was affected by the second list, most of all if second list had similar meaning(synonyms)
CONCLUSION
shows interference affects accuracy of memory and is strongest when you try remember two similar
context affecting memory
the context of learning, oct was a trigger or cue when trying to remember information- context enhances the accuracy of memory
ELIZABETH LOFTUS FALSE MEMORIES
AIM
to see if false memories could be created in participants through suggestion in order to text the existence of repressed and false memories
METHOD
24 participants
age 18-53
told 4 stories about childhood events were read where 3 were true and one was false
