memory Flashcards
who proposed the multi-store model
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
what is coding capacity and duraction
the three variables that can be used to describe the stores that informationn passes through
what does coding mean
the way in which infomation is stored/what format things are stored in
what does capcity mean
the amount of information that can be stored
what does duration mean
the time period that information is held in store
what three distinct stages does memory have to pass through in order to enter the storage
- sensory register
- short term memory
- long term memory
what dp Atkinson and Shriffin argue
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s (1968) model of human memory is based on the belief that we process memories in the same way that a computer processes information
what is the sensory register storage
The sensory register stores all incoming info from our senses. (registers sensory info from the outside world).The information is quickly discarded or transferred to short-term memory.
what is the duration/capacity of the sensory register
very brief duration - up to a couple of seconds.
capacity is big
what is stored in the sensory register
sensory information can be sights ,sounds, smellls and even textures. If we do not view the information as valuable we discard it and its duration is very short. IF WE VIEW IT AS VALUABEL THE IMFORMATION WILL MOVE ON INTO SHORT TERM MEMORY.
state the summary of the sensory register
duration:very quick (0.5 secounds)
capacity: large (all sensory info that we consume in their daily life)
coding: specific to each sense
sensory register has a sensory code
what is short term memory
a temporay storage system that processes incoming sensory memory
how long does short term memory storage last
20 secounds (estimated between 18 and 30 secs)
state the summary of short term information
duration: 20 secounds
capacity : 7+/- 2 items
coding: primarily acoustic
What is the term for the rehearsal process to move information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory?
memory consolidation
what is long term memory
the continuous storage of memory (unlike short term memory it has no limits)
state the summary of long term memory
duration: unlimited
capacity: unlimited
coding primarily semantic but can be others
what was Peterson and Peterson study
(1959) wanted to test the theory that information is quickly lost from short-term memory if its not rehearsed.
what procedure was conducted in peterson and petersons study
- laboratory experiment
- 24 psychology students participants
- participants had to try and recall trigrams (like PRC) after different intervals of time (3,6,9,12…)
- during these intervals participants were to count backwards from a random number in groups of three and four. This was to stop them from rehearsing the trigrams in their head
what was the results of petersons and petersons study (1959)
participants could recall fewer trigrams as the time gap increased eg
- 3-second intervals-participants recalled 80%correctly
- 18-second intervals-participants recalled 10% correctly
what was the conclusion of petersons and petersons study
our short term memory has limited duration when we cant rehearse information
what are the positives of petersons and petersons (1959)
good control of variables- because of lab setting
what are the cons of petersons and petersons study
- low ecological validity=because of artificial set up
- lacking variety of stimulus =no data on whether the type of stimulus affects the duration of the short term memory
what did Bahrick et al. (1975) study
studied very long-term memory (VLTM) by testing the ability of people to recall the names of ex-classmates.
what was Bahrick et al method
the teachers set up a series of three tests to test the long term memory of 392 participants.
the participants were tested 15 years , 30 years and 48 years after their graduation
what was Bahricks three tests
- free recall =simply asked to list ex-classmates with no prompts
- photo recognition=the participants were asked to recall the names of people from their photographs from their class year book.(no list of names were given)
- name recognition =asked to match the names of people to their photograph(ie they were given a randomised list of names )
what was Bahricks results
- the results showed that free recall (no pictures or memory cues) declined the most within 30 years, whereas name- recognition maintained a higher accuracy
- 15 years after graduation:
- there was a 90% accuracy for the name recognition test
- 60% accuracy for free recall test
- this was true fro even large class sizes
what was Bahricks results after 30 and 38 years
- 30 years after graduation: only 30% accuracy for free recall - 48 years after graduation: name recognition was 80% accurate photo recognition was 40% accurate
what did peterson and petetrson want to test
they wanted to test the theory that information is quickly lost from short-term memory if its not rehearsed.
what did Bahrick et al conclude
Through the years recognition was more accurate than recall. They concluded that the information is stored in long term memory but information may be difficult to retrieve.
name a postitive of Bahricks study
-ecological validity-
it was a field experiment conducted over a long period of time and tested name recall
name recall if a skill that the majority of people use everyday
name a negative of Bahricks study
name recall is generally more meaningful to people than other information and so results cannot be generalised to other types of information that people may hold in their long-term memory. Furthermore, the nature of the study made it very challenging to control for extraneous variables as took place over approximately 50 years.
what is acoustic information
how the words sounds eg acoustically similar words would be ball and mall
what is semantic information
based on the meaning of the words eg the words intelligent smart and clever and semantically similar
what did Baddeley and Hitch propose (1974)
a multi component model of memory
what does the multi component model of memory consist of
- the central executive
- the phonological loop
- the visuo- spatial sketchpad
- episodic buffer
Is the working memory store more or less static than the short-term memory store as proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin?
Less static.
Working memory is said to be a dynamic store where information can be manipulated and combined with new information.
Research on coding
Baddeley
Acoustic in STM, semantic in LTM
Evaluation of research on coding
Artificial stimuli - word lists had no personal significance
Research on capacity
- digit Span = Jacobs ( digit span ) : 9.3, 7.3 letters
- span of memory and chunking = miller : 7 +/-2 , pitting items together extends STM capacity
Evaluation of research on capacity
- lacking validity = could be extraneous variables such as distractions
- not so many chunks = Cowan : estimated STM as about four chunks
Research on duration
- STM - Peterson and Peterson: up to 18 seconds without rehearsal
- LTM - Bahrick et al ( yearbooks ) recognition of faces 90% after 15 years ,recall 60%. Recognition dropped to 70% after 48 years
Evaluation of research on duration
- meaningless stimuli - used consonant stimuli
- high external validity - meaningful real life memories, showed greater recall that LTM studies with meaningless material ( shepherd)
What is the multi store model of memory
A representation of memory with three stores : sensory register , short term memory and long term memory
Definition of sensory register
Inconic and echoic stores with very brief duration , high- capacity
Transfer by attention
Definition of short term memory
Limited capacity and duration store
Mainly acoustic coding
Transfer to LTM by rehearsal
Definition of long term memory
Unlimited capacity and duration, permanent store. Mainly semantic
Created through maintenance rehearsal
Evaluation of multi store model of memory
- supporting research evidence - studies into coding, capacity and duration demonstrate differences between STM and LTM
- there is more than one type of STM - studies of amnesia show different STMs for visual and auditory material
- there is more than one type of rehearsal -elaborative rehearsal necessary for transfer to LTM, not maintenance rehearsal
What are the three different types of long term memory stores
- episodic memory
- semantic memory
- procedural memory
What is the episodic memory
Memory for events in our lives (‘diary’)
What is the semantic memory
Memory for knowledge of the world like an encyclopaedia and dictionary. Includes language
What is the procedural memory
Memory for automatic and often skilled behaviours
Evaluation of types of long term memory
- clinical evidence - clubs wearing and HM has damaged episodic memories but semantic and procedural memories fine
- neuroimaging evidence- episodic and procedural memories recalled from different parts of the prefrontal cortex
- real life applications - training programmes did for adults with mild cognitive impairments
What is the working memory model
Dynamic processing in short term memory
What are the components in the working memory model
- central executive
- phonological loop
- Visuo - spatial sketch pad
- episodic buffet
What is the central executive (CE)
Co ordinates slave systems and allocates resources , very limited storage
What is the phonological loop (PL)
Auditory information - phonological store and articulatory process ( maintenance rehearsal)
What is this visuo spatial sketchpad (VSS)
Visual information- visual cache (store) and inner scribe ( spatial arrangement )
What is the episodic buffer(EB)
Integrates processing of Slave systems and records the order of events. Linked to LTM
Evaluation of the working memory model
- clinical evidence= KF has poor auditory memory but good visual memory. Damaged PL but VSS fine
- dual task performance = difficult to do two visual tasks at same time, but his visual and one verbal is ok ( Baddeley et al )
- lack of clarity over the CE = not yet fully explained , probably has different components
What are the explanations for forgetting
- interference theory
- retrieval failure theory
What is the interference theory
One memory blocks another
Types of interference = proactive - old memories did truly new ones
Retroactive - new memories disrupt old ones
Effects of similarity = McGeoch and McDonald: similar words created more interference
Evaluation of inference theory
- evidence from lab studies - well controlled studies show interference effects
- artificial materials - list of words are not like everyday memory, may over emphasise interference as an explanation
- real life studies- baddeley and hitch ( rugby players ) supported interference
What is retrieval failure
Forgetting because of a lack of cues
is where the information is in long term memory, but cannot be accessed. Such information is said to be available (i.e. it is still stored) but not accessible (i.e. it cannot be retrieved). It cannot be accessed because the retrieval cues are not present.
Evaluation of retrieval failure
- supporting evidence
Wide range of support. Eysenck claims retrieval failure is most important reason for LTM forgetting - questioning context effects
No forgetting unless contexts are very different eg on Land versus underwater ( baddeley ) - recall recognition
Absence of cues affects recall but not recognition
What factors affect eyewitness testimony
- misleading information
- anxiety
How does misleading information affect eyewitness testimony
- leading questions
Loftus and Palmer ( car speed): estimates affected by leading question ( smashes versus contacted ) - why do leading questions affect EWT
Response bias - no change to memory
Substitution explanation supported by loftus and Palmer and report of presence of glass - post event discussion
Discussion with others contaminates eyewitness memories -Gabbert et al , demonstrated effect calling it memory conformity- information and normative social influence involved
Evaluation of misleading information (EWT)
- useful real life applications
Could help prevent miscarriages of justice and change police interviewing - tasks are artificial
Watching film clips ignored the stress and anxiety associated with a real accident or crime - Individual difference
Older people may be less accurate because of own age bias
How does anxiety affect eye witness testimony
- Anxiety has a negative effect on recall
Johnson ana Scott ( weapon focus ): high anxiety knife condition led to less good recall.
Tunnel theory of Memory - anxiety has a positive affect on recall
Yuille and cutshall ( shooting ): High anxiety associated with better recall when witnessing real crime
Evaluation of anxiety ( EWT)
-field studies sometimes lack control
Researchers can’t control what happens to witnesses between the crime and the interview
- there are ethical issues
Creating anxiety in lab studies may cause psychological harm
What was used to improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
Cognitive interview
How does the cognitive interview improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
- report everything= include even unimportant details
- reinstate the context= picture the scene and recall how you felt. Context- dependent forgetting.
- reverse order= recall from the end and work backwards. Disrupts expectations
- change perceptive= put yourself in the shoes of someone else present. Disrupts schema
- the enhanced cognitive interview (ECI)= Adds dynamics eg establishing eye contact
Evaluation of cognitive interview
CI is time consuming- takes longer and needs special training
Support for the effectiveness of the ECI- ECI consistently produces more accurate recall than standard interviews
Evaluation of capacity
Millers findings can’t be replicated —- Cowan reviewers studies on the capacity of the STM and concluded that STM is probably limited to four rather than seven chunks ——- this suggests that the STM is not as extensive as the 7+/- 2 claimed by miller
Evaluation of coding
The LTM may not be exclusively semantic ——/ frost showed that long term recall was related to visual as well as semantic categories.——— this suggests LTM is encoded using the acoustic, visual and semantic information, depending on the type of information remembered
Evaluations for types of long term memory
Evidence from case studies offers a further support for different types of LTM———- the case of hm highlights the distinction between procedural (knowing how) and episodic/ semantic ( knowing what ) memories. After surgery HM could still form new procedural memories but he was unable to form episodic memories
What is retroactive interference
Refers to the observation that leading something new interferes with previously learned material, leading to that material being forgotten
What is proactive interference
Refers to the observation that previously learned material interferes with current attempts to learn something, leading to forgetting of current material
What is context dependent forgetting
Type of retrieval failure
Recall of knowledge of episodes is greater when the context present during learning and retrieval are the same. When the context is different, it is more difficult to retrieve information
What is state dependent forgetting
Type of retrieval failure
Recall is greater when an individuals physical or psychological state is similar at encoding and retrieval. When these states are different, it is more difficult to retrieve information
What was loftus and Palmer procedure into the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: misleading information ( in procedure 1 )
The researches showed 45 students seven firms of different traffic accidents. After each firm, participants were given a questionnaire with critical question containing one of five verbs: ‘ how fats were the cards going when they ( contacted / hit / bumped / collided / smashed) each other?
What was loftus and Palmer procedure into the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: misleading information ( in procedure 2)
Participants were divided into three groups and shown a film of a car accident and again asked questions about the accident, including the question ‘did you see any broken glass ‘ ( there was no broken glass in the film)
What was the findings in procedure 1 of loftus and Palmer
Participants given the verb ‘ smashed’ reported an average speed of 40.8mph in comparison to participants given the verb ‘ contacted ‘ who reported an average speed of 31.8mph
What was findings in procedure 2 loftus and Palmer
The leading question did change the actual memory some participants had for the event with 32 per cent of participants given the verb ‘ smashed’ reporting broken glass compared with 14 percent of those given the verb ‘ hit’
What is the conformity effect in post event discussion
Refers to how a persons memory I or an event may be altered as a result of discussing it with others and/or being questioned multiple times
What is a repeat interviewing in post event discussion
Each time an eyewitness is interviewed there is a possibility that the comments from the interviewer will become incorporated into their own recollection of the event
How does anxiety affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
Negative effect - automatic skills are not effected by anxiety, but performance on complicated cognitive tasks and such as eye witness memory tends to be reduced
Positive effect- Christiansen and Hubinette found better than 75 percent accurate recall in real witness to bank robberies. Witness who were most anxious ( the victim) has the best recall
What was Johnson and Scott procedure into anxiety ( accuracy of eyewitness testimony )
Participants heard an argument and saw a man carrying a pen covered in grease (low anxiety condition ) or a knife covered in blood ( high anxiety, ‘ weapon focus ‘ condition ). They were later asked to identify the man from a set of photographs
What was Johnson and Scott findings in the accuracy of eyewitness testimony : anxiety
The men’s accuracy was 49 per cent in the low anxiety per condition, compared to 33 per cent in the knife condition , supporting the idea of a weapon focus effect
What is the standard police interview
Involves the interviewer doing most of the talking, asking specific questions that require specific answers. These techniques disrupt the natural process of searching through memory, making memory retrieval inefficient
Name an study that was about how anxiety has a negative effect on memory
Loftus et al monitored eyewitness eye movements and found that the presence of a weapon caused attention to be drawn towards the weapon itself and away from other things such as a persons face
Name a study that was about post event discussion
Gabbert el al showed pairs of participants a different video of the same event, so that each participant viewed unique items. Pairs were encouraged to discuss the event before individually recalling what they had witnessed. 71% oh these participants went on to mistakenly recall items acquired during their discussion
What is the definition of retrieval failure
The failure to find an item of information because of insufficient cues during retrieval
how do short term and long term differ
STM encoded acoustically and LTM encoded semantically
Explain two differences between short-term memory and long-term memory in the multi store model
the capacity of STM is limited to 7 + / - 2 items whereas the capacity of LTM is unlimited
the duration of STM is up to 30 seconds whereas the duration of LTM is a lifetime.
Explain how a cognitive interview differs from a standard interview
The main techniques used in a cognitive interview include context reinstatement (CR), reporting everything (RE), recall from a changed perspective (CP) recall in reverse order. A standard interview might just ask witnesses to recall an event, but a cognitive interview could ask them to recall the context in which the event occurred
Outline how one research study investigated the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (EWT).
in Loftus and Palmer’s study, participants were asked questions about a film. eg participants were tested in a laboratory situation. They were asked how fast a car was travelling when an accident occurred. Some questions included the words “smashed into”. Others included collided with, bumped into, hit or contacted
what are the three stages of memory, In order, from first to last stage
encoding, storage and retrieval
the information is encoded then it is stored then finally if we want to use the information again it is retrieved
what are the two main types of sensory code
acoustic code and visual code
what is the difference between acoustic code and visual code
acoustic is what we use to store information about sound, and visual code , is used to store information about images
what three different properties can memory stores vary in
capacity, duration and coding
what is sensory coding
when we store sensory information
what is semantic code
storing information by its meaning
what two types of coding are there which can be used to store information
semantic and sensory
what did sperling find about the sensory register
- large capacity
- short duration
how long can the sensory register hold information
1-2seconds
