Memory

Question 1

What is encoding?

Answer 1

Changing information into a form that it can be held in the brain.

Question 2

What are the three most important types of encoding?

Answer 2

Visual, acoustic (sound), semantic (meaning)

Question 3

What are olfactory and tactile encoding?

Answer 3

Olfactory = smell, Tactile = touch

Question 4

What is retrieval?

Answer 4

Locating and accessing memories into consciousness.

Question 5

What is storage?

Answer 5

Holding information so it can be retrieved later.

Question 6

What are the three types of retrieval?

Answer 6

Recognition (identifying), Cued recall (locating information with a cue or trigger), Free recall (without cues)

Question 7

What was the aim of Baddeley’s study?

Answer 7

To show that LTM and STM are encoded semantically and acoustically.

Question 8

What were the 4 groups of words?

Answer 8

Sound the same, sound different (recalled immediately). Mean the same, mean different (recalled after 20 minutes)

Question 9

What is the + of Baddeley’s study?

Answer 9

Well controlled (e.g. hearing test)

Question 10

What are 2 - of Baddeley’s study?

Answer 10

STM is sometimes visual (Brandimote); LTM may be longer than 20 minutes.

Question 11

What are the three different types of Long Term Memory?

Answer 11

Episodic: Memory for events

Semantic: Memory of what things mean

Procedural: Memory of how to do things

Question 12

What are the 2 + and 1 - of the theory that there are three different types of LTM?

Answer 12

+ Specific locations in the brain: Brain scans show different types of LTM are linked with different brain areas e.g. Procedural memory -> Motor area

+ Amnesic patients: Patients such as Clive Wearing support the theory as he had an intact procedural memory (he could still play the piano) but lost most episodic memories.

• It’s not that simple: Distinctive types of LTM are difficult to separate (some semantic memories are also episodic) so this theory may be an oversimplification

Question 13

What is the coding, capacity and duration of Short Term Memory?

Answer 13

Acoustic, 5-9 items, 18-30 seconds

Question 14

What is the coding, capacity and duration of Long Term Memory?

Answer 14

Semantic coding, potentially unlimited capacity and lifetime duration.

Question 15

What is the role of rehearsal in the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 15

Rehearsal keeps information in the short term memory. Prolonged rehearsal transfers STM into LTM.

Question 16

What are the 1 + and 2 - of the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 16

+ Supporting research e.g. Baddeley showing different kinds of coding for STM and LTM

• The model is too simple. There is lots of evidence for different LTM e.g. Clive Wearing
• The supporting experiments all use artificial materials e.g. random lists of words that we would be unlikely to have to remember in every day life.

Question 17

Where does stimuli from the environment go before it gets to the short term memory according to the multi store model of memory.

Answer 17

The Sensory Register via the senses. This register is coded according to the sense involved, it’s capacity is vast (we take in millions of stimuli every moment), but the duration is fleeting as it then immediately goes into the short term memory.

Question 18

What are the primacy and recency effects?

Answer 18

Primacy effect: Words at the beginning of a list are rememberd more (rehearsed more so go into LTM)

Recency effect: Words at the end of a list are remembered more (most recently heard so still in STM)

Question 19

What was the aim of Murdock’s study?

Answer 19

To see if memory of words is affected by location in a list.

Question 20

What was the method of Murdock’s study?

Answer 20

Participants listened to 20 word lists with 10-40 words on them, recalled words after hearing the list.

Question 21

What were the results of Murdock’s study?

Answer 21

Recall related to position of words. Higher recall for the first words and last words.

Question 22

What was the conclusion of Murdock’s study?

Answer 22

There is a serial position effect (primacy and recency). This supports the fact there are separate LTM and STM stores.

Question 23

What are the 2 + and 1 - of Murdock’s study?

Answer 23

+ It was highly controlled

+ Amnesiacs who have no LTM did not have the primacy effect so this supports that the primacy effect is LTM related

• It was an artificial task so low validity for real life.

Question 24

What is the theory of reconstructive memory?

Answer 24

People rebuild memory as an active process. (They start with snapshots and piece them together)

Question 25

What was the aim of Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts study?

Answer 25

To see how memory is reconstructed when recalling a story that has been heard for the first time.

Question 26

What was the method of Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts study?

Answer 26

The War of the Ghosts story was read by one participant and recalled after 15 minutes to another participant who would recall it after 15 minutes and so on.

Question 27

What were the results of Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts study?

Answer 27

Partcipants changed the story to fit cultural expectations, leaving out unfamiliar information.

Question 28

What was the conclusion of Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts study?

Answer 28

We use our knowledge of social situations to reconstruct memory.

Question 29

What are the - of Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts study?

Answer 29

• It lacks control. Participants were not told accurate recall was important which could have affected the results.
• The results could have been biased as Bartlett analysed the recollections himself (he may have subconsciously come up with the conclusions he wanted to)
• The story was unusual so may not reflect everday memory processes.

Question 30

What is the theory of reconstructive memory?

Answer 30

People rebuild memory as an active process.

Memory isn’t an exact reproduction of experiences, we record pieces and then recombine them to tell the whole story.

Question 31

What is effort after meaning?

Answer 31

We focus on the meaning of the events (to store them in LTM) then when we have to recall, we make an effort to make sense of the fragments of the story and put them together.

Question 32

What are the 2 + and 1 - of the theory of reconstructive memory?

Answer 32

+ It’s realistic - it uses memories of stories instead of artificial words lists.

+ It explains problems with eyewitness testimony as people do not always recall accurately.

• Not all recall is reconstructed, some memories of the story are very accurate.

Question 33

What is interference in relation to accuracy of memory?

Answer 33

It is when two memories are quite similar and one memory prevents us accessing the other memory. The end result is reduced accuracy of what we remember.

Retroactive inteference = older memories being blocked/interfered with

Proactive interference = more recent memories being blocked/interfered with

Question 34

What was McGeoch & McDonald’s study of interference?

Answer 34

12 participants learnt 10 words until 100% accuracy.

In different conditions they were given other lists to learn: synonyms, antonyms, unrelated adjectives, consonants, numbers, no new list.

The more similar the new list to the original list, the less from the original list was remembered.

Question 35

What is meant by “context” in accuracy of memory?

Answer 35

Context is the situation in which something happens and can act as a cue to recall information thus enhancing the accuracy of memory.

* Godden and Baddeley’s divers study

* chewing gum study

* study done with antihistamine

(therefore, context is not just location but can also be state, or sensation based)

Question 36

What is a false memory and how does it affect accuracy of memory?

Answer 36

A memory for something that did not happen but a person thinks it is a true memory.

Imagining an event in the right circumstances can implant a false memory therefore affecting the accuracy of memory.

Question 37

What experiment was done to show false memories were possible?

Answer 37

Loftus and Pickrell

Participants were given four stories about childhood events of which three were true and one false (getting lost in a shopping mall was the false one).
The story was created with the help of a relative so that it sounded realistic.
Participants read each story and wrote what they remembered.

Six out of 24 (25%) of participants recalled the false story fully or partially as if it actually happened. Therefore false memories are possible.