Memory Flashcards
Short term memory(STM)
Limited capacity memory store, STM coding is mainly acoustic. Capacity is between 5-9items and duration 18secs
Long term memory LTM
Permanent memory store. LTM coding is mainly semantic it has unlimited capacity and memories can last a lifetime
Coding
Format in which info is stored in various memory stores
Capacity
Amount of info that can be held in a memory store
Duration
Length of time info can be held in memory
Multi store model
Representation of how memory works in terms of 3 stores:SR,STM,LTM, also describes how info is transferred from one store to another what make some memories last and others disappear
Sensory register
Memory store for each of 5 senses such as as vision ionic store and hearing echoic store, capacity is huge and info only last for half a second, ionic is coded visual and echoic is acoustic
Episodic memory
A LTM store for personal events, it includes memories of when the events occurred and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved, memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously and with effort
Semantic memory
A LTM store for our knowledge of the world, this includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean, these memories usually also need to be recalled deliberately
Procedural memory
A LTM store for our knowledge of how to do things, this includes our memories of learned skills, we usually recall these memories with making a conscious or deliberate effort
Working memory model
A representation of STM, it suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of info using subunits co-ordination by a central decision making system
Central executive
The component of the WMM that co ordinates the activities of the 3 subsystems in memory, also allocates processing resources to those activities
What is dependant on the type of memory store
What form memory is stored in
What is coding
The process of converting information between different stores
Who designed multi-store model
Atkinson and Shiffrin
What does multi-store model describe
How info flow through a memory system
What does multi store model suggest about memory stores
Memory is made up of 3 stores linked by processing
How does the multi store model work
Stimulus from environment enters sensory register, if we pay attention to it, it is processed into STM, then we either use this knowledge in STM or do prolonged reversal u til it enters out LTM. If we want to retrieve this info we then need to process it from long to short term memory before we can do it.
In multi store model where do all stimuli from environment frost go and give an example
Pass into sensory register (sound of someone talking)
Does the sensory register in MSM have just one register
No it has several, one for each of our 5 senses
How does coding in the sensory register of MSM work
Coding in each store is modality-specific (depends on sense): store coding for visual info is iconic memory and store coding acoustically (sound) is echoic memory and others ones for touch, taste, smell info
What is the duration of info in sensory register in MSM
Very brief-less than half a sec
What is sensory registers capacity in MSM
Has very high capacity, e.g. over 100million cells in the eye each storing data
How does info pass further into memory system from sensory register
If you pay attention to it
How is info on STM mostly coded and what is its duration so what does this mean
Mostly coded acoustically and lasts about 18-secs unless rehearsed so STM is more of a temporary store
What is capacity of STM
It is a limited-capacity store as it can only contain a certain number of items before forgetting occurs(5-9items)
When does maintenance rehearsal occur and in what store
Occurs in STM when we repeat material to ourselves over and over again
How long can info stay in our STM if we rehearse it and when does it move to LTM
Info stays in STM as long as we rehearse it and if we rehearse it long enough it passes to LTM
What is duration of LTM and why
Potentially permeant memory store of info that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time
How is LTM coded and it’s duration + who said about LTM duration
It is coded semantically and its duration is up to a lifetime-Bahrick et al found many people could remember faces and names 50 years after graduating)
What is LTM capacity
Almost unlimited
According to MSM what has to happen before we can recall LTM
When we want to recall info from LTM , it has be transferred back into STM by process called retrieval
What is a strength of MSM
Support from studies showing that STM and LTM are different
What is supporting evidence for MSM
Baddeley found we mix words that sound similar when using STM but we mix words with similar meanings in LTM, also capacity and duration studies from Miller, Peterson and Peterson, and Bahrick et al support MSM, so these studies show STM and LTM are separate and independent memory stores as claimed by MSM
What is the counterpoint to supporting evidence of the MSM
In everyday life we form memories relating to many useful things such as names, faces, facts, places, etc, but many studies supporting MSM didn’t use these materials, instead they used digits, letters (Jacobs) and words (Baddeley) or constant syllables (Peterson’s) that have no meaning which means MSM may not be valid mode of how memory works in everyday life where we have to remember more meaningful info
What is a limitation of MSM
There is evidence of more than 1 STM store, Shallice and Warrington studied KF who has amnesia. KF STM for digits was very poor when read to him to his recall was much better if he read them himself, further studies of KF and others show there could be another STM for non-verbal sounds which suggests MSM is wrong in claiming that there is only 1 STM store processing all types of info
What is another limitation of MSM
Limitation of MSM is prolonged reversal is not needed for transfer to LTM. MSM says the more you rehearse something the more likely it will transfer to LTM but Craik and Watkins found type of reversal is more important than amount. Elaborate reversal needed for long term storage and occurs when you link info to existing knowledge to new new info, this means info can be transferred to LTM without prolonged rehearsal which suggests MSM doesn’t fully explain how LT storage is achieved
Who designed working memory model
Baddeley and Hitch
What is the working memory model
An explanation of how one aspect of memory (STM) is organised and how it functions
What is working memory model concerned with and give example
Concerned with mental space that is active when we are temporarily storing and manipulating info (e.g. when working on an arithmetic problem or playing chess or understanding a language
How many components does working memory have and are they similar or different
Has 4 main components, each of which is qualitatively different(esp in terms of coding and capacity)
What is central executive in WMM
Had a supervisory role, it monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocates slave systems to tasks
What is central executive capacity
Limited processing capacity and doesn’t store information
What is the phonological loop in WMM
One of the slave systems, it deals with auditory info (acoustically coded) and preserves order in which info arrives
How is the phonological loop divided
Divided into phonological store(stores words you hear) and articulatory process(allow maintenance rehearsal-repeating sounds/words in a loop to keep them in working memory while they’re needed)
What is capacity of phonological loop
2secs worth if what you can say
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad in WMM
The second slave system which stores visual and/or spatial info when required
What is an example of something stored in visuo-spatial sketchpad
If you are asked to work out how many windows there are in your house, you visualise it
What is visuo-spatial sketchpad capacity
Limited capacity, baddeley said 3-4objects
What did Robert Logie sub divide visuo-spatial sketchpad into
Visual cache (stores visual data), inner scribe (records arrangements of objects in visual field
What is the episodic buffer in WMM
Third slave system, added by Baddeley in 2000, its a temporary store of info, integrating: visual spatial and verbal info processes by other stores and maintains a sense of time sequencing(recording events that are happening)
What can the episodic buffer be seen as
Can be seen as a storage component of CE and according to Baddeley has limited capacity of 4 chunks
What does the episodic buffer link what to what
It kinks working memory (STM) to LTM and wider cognitive processes like perception
What is a strength of Baddeley and Hitch working memory model
Support from Shallice and Warrington case study of KF. After KF brain injury, he had poor STM ability for auditory info but could process visual info perfectly (eg. His immediate recall of letters and digits was better when he read them than when they were read to him), KF phonological loop damaged but VSS was intact. This finding strongly supports existence of depart visual and acoustic STM stores
What is the counterpoint to Baddeley and Hitch WMM
It is unclear if KF had other cognitive impairments apart from damage to his PL which may have effected his performance on memory tasks. E.g. his injury caused by motorcycle accident and trauma involved may have effected his cognitive performance more than brain injury itself. This challenges evidence that comes from clinical studies of people with brain injuries that may have effected different systems
What is another strength of Baddeley and Hitch WMM
Strength is a study of dual-task performance supports separate existence of VSS, when Baddeley et al participants carried out visual and verbal tasks at the same time (dual), their performance on each one was similar to when they carried out task separately, but when both tasks were visual or verbal performance was much worse as both tasks we competing for same slave subsystem, this shows there must be separate slave systems that process visual and verbal input.
What is a limitation of baddeley and hitch WMM
lack of clarity over nature of central executive. Baddeley recognised this when he said “the CE is the most important but least understood component of WMM” The CE needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply “attention”.e.g. some psychologists think CE may have separate subcomponents. This means CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges integrity of WMM
When asked a question what may effect an answer
The wording may lead/mislead you to give a certain answer
When is misleading questions an issue in everyday life
Issue for eyewitness testimony as police questions may direct a witness to give particular answer
Who studied effect of misleading questions.
Loftus and Palmer
What was Loftus and Palmer procedure in misleading question study
45participants watched clips of a car accident and then asked questions about the accident, in critical question (leading question) participants asked to describe how fast cars going “how fast were cars going when they hit”. There were 5 groups each given a different verb ‘hit’’contacted’’bumped’’collided’’smashed’
What is a critical question
Misleading question
What were Loftus and palmers findings in leading questions study
Mean estimated speed calculated for each group and verb contacted had mean estimate of 31.8mph but verb smashed had mean estimate of 40.5mph which shows leading questions biased eyewitness recall of events
What does response-bias explanation suggest
That wording of question has no real effect on participants memory, but it influences how they decide to answer
According to response-bias explanation when participants get question using word smashed how would they answer
It would encourage them to choose a higher speed even if memory wasn’t altered
What did Loftus and Palmers 2nd study into misleading questions support
Substitution explanation-proposes that wording if a leading questions changed participants memory of film clip
How did Loftus and Palmers 2nd experiment on misleading questions support substitution explanation
Shown as participants who originally heard smashed later more likely to report broken glass (there was none) than those who heard word hit. So critical verb altered their memory of the the incident
What is post event discussion
Eyewitnesses to a crime may discuss their experiences and memories with each other
Who studied effects post event discussion on EWT
Gabbert et al
What was Gabert et al study into effects of post event discussion on EWT
Studied participants in pairs, each participant watched same video of the crime but filmed from different viewpoints, so each participant saw elements of event which the other didn’t (eg.on could see hair colour one couldn’t). Both participants then discussed what they saw before individually doing a recall test
What were Gabert et al findings on post event discussion study
71% participants wrongly recalled aspects of event they didn’t see in video but picked up in discussion, corresponding figure in a control group with no discussion was 0% so this was evidence of memory conformity
Why does post event discussion effect EWT (2 reasons)
1 explanation is memory contamination-when a co witness to a crime discuss with each other their EWT may become distorted and altered as they combine misinformation from other witness memory with their own. Another explanation is memory conformity, Gabbert et al concluded witnesses often go along with each other to win social approval or as they believe witness are right and they are wrong (unlike memory contamination actual memory is unchanged)
What is a strength of research into misleading info
It has important particle use in criminal justice system, consequence of inaccurate EWT can be very serious, Loftus believed leading questions can have such distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be careful how they phrase questions. Psychologists sometimes asked to act as expert witnesses in court trial and explain limits of EWT to jury. Shows psychologists can help improve way legal system works, esp protecting people from faulty convictions form bad EWT
What is the counterpoint to research into misleading info being important in criminal justice system
Particles application of EWT may be effected by research issues. Eg. Loftus and Palmer participants watched film clips in lab which is very different (less stressful) than watching an accident first hand. Also, foster et al point out that what eyewitnesses remember has important consequences in the real world but participants responses in research don’t matter in the same way (less motivation to be correct) suggesting researchers like Loftus are too pessimistic about effects of misleading info (EWT more reliable that study suggests)
What is a limitation of research into misleading questions
Limitation of substitution explanation is EWT is more accurate for some aspects of an event than others.eg. Sutherland and Hayne showed participants a video clip, when participants were later asked misleading questions their recall was more accurate for central details of event rather than peripheral ones. Participants were focused on central events and these were resistant to misleading questions. Suggests original memories for central details survived and distorted which isn’t predicted by substitution explanation
What is another limitation into research into misleading questions
Limitation of memory conformity explanation is evidence post event discussion does alter EW memory. Skater berg and Wright showed their participants film clips, there were 2 versions, mugger hair was dark brown in one and light in the other, participants discussed clip in pairs each having seen different version, they often reported a blend of the 2 “hair was medium brown” which suggests memory itself is distorted through contamination by misleading post event discussion rather than as result of memory conformity
What is anxiety and how does it effect EWT
Stress, anxiety has strong emotional and physical effects but not clear if effects make EWT better or worse (research supports both sides)
What does anxiety create in the body and what does this cause
Anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues, so worse recall
What is one approach to studying anxiety and EWT
Too look at effects of a weapon being present which creates anxiety which leads to focusing on the weapon, reducing witnesses recall for other details of event
Who studied weapon focus effect
Johnson and Scott
What was Johnson and Scott procedure
Participants believed they were part of a lab study, while waiting in waiting room participants (in low anxiety condition) had low anxiety as they heard a casual convo in the nest room and then saw a man walking out with a greasy pen in his hand, in high anxiety condition, participants heard a heated argument and a man walked out holding a bloody knife
What were Johnson and Scott’s findings and conclusions in weapon focus study
Participants later picked out man from set of 50 photos, 49% who saw man carrying pen identified him, but only 33% who saw bloody knife identified correct man. Tunnel theory of memory argues that people have enhanced memory for central events, weapon focus as effect of anxiety
What is the opposing thought about anxiety in the body
Stressful event causes physiological arousal in body, so flight or fight is triggered increasing alertness which may improve memory for event as we become more aware of cues in the situation
Who studied anxiety on post event recall (positive)
Yuille and Cutshall
What was Yuille and Cutshall procedure into anxiety and recall
Conducted study of actual shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver Canada. Shop owner shot thief dead and 21 witnesses took part in the study. They were interview 4-5months after incident and interviews were compared to original police report, according to each number of details recorded, witnesses also asked to rate how stressed they were during incident on 7point scale and if they had emotional problems since
What were Yullie and Cutshall findings and conclusions to anxiety and recall study
Witnesses vey accurate in their accounts and their was little change in amount recalled after 5months, some details less accurate (colour of items, age, height, weight estimate) but participants who reported higher anxiety and better accurate recall. 89% compared to 75% of less stressed group, suggesting anxiety doesn’t have detrimental effect in accuracy of EW memory in real world context
Who explained contradictory findings in anxiety and recall
Yerkes and Dodson
How did Yerkes and Dodson explain contradicting findings on recall and anxiety studies
Said relation between emotional arousal and performance looks like ‘inverted U’.
What did Deffenbacher review to do with inverted U in anxiety and recall studies
Reviewed 21 studies of EWT and noted contradictory findings on effects of anxiety and he used Yerkes-Dodson Law to explain findings
Explain inverted U theory by Yerkes and Dodson
When we witness crime/accident we come emotionally and physically aroused, we experience anxiety(emotional) as well as physiological changes(fight or flight), lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of accurate recall and memory comes more accurate as anxiety increases but there’s and optimal level of anxiety which = max accuracy. If person exceeds this their recall starts declining
What is a limitation of anxiety and EWT studies
Johnson and Scott study may not have tested anxiety, reason participants focused on weapon was as they were surprised not scared at what they saw. Pickel conducted an experiment using scissors, handgun, wallet or raw chicken held in hand of a hairdresser in a salon video (scissors high anxiety, lowest unusualness) EW accuracy wed much worse in high unusual condition (chicken or handgun) which suggests weapon focus effect is due to unusualness no anxiety/threat and so tells us nothing specific about effects of anxiety on EWT
what is a strength of anxiety on EWT studies
Supporting view that anxiety has negative effect on recall accuracy. Study by Valentine and Mesout supports research on weapon focus, finding negative effects on recall. Researchers used objective measure (heart rate) to divide participants to high/low anxiety groups, in this study anxiety clearly disrupts participants ability to recall details about actor in London dungeons labyrinth. Suggests that high anxiety levels does have negative effect on immediate EW recall of stressful events
What is another strength on evidence to do with anxiety effecting EWT
Evidence showing anxiety can have positive effects on accuracy of recall. Christianson and Hubinette interview 58witnesses to actual bank robbery in Sweden, some directly involved (bank workers) some indirectly involved (bystanders), research assumed those directly involved would have worse recall. It was found recall was 75% accurate in all witnesses but direct most anxious witnesses we more accurate. So findings from actual crimes show anxiety doesn’t reduce accuracy of recall for EW and may even enhance it
What is the counterpoint for supporting evidence for anxiety having positive effect on EW
Christianson and Hubinette interviewed participants servers months after event (4-15months). So researchers had no control over what happened to participants in intervening time (post event discussion). Effects of anxiety may have been overwhelmed by these other factors and impossible to assess by time participants we interviewed. So it’s possible lack of control over cofounding variables may be responsible for the findings, invalidating their support
What problem are there with the inverted U theory
It appears reasonable to explain contradictory findings of anxiety on EW recall but it ignores fact that anxiety has many elements (cognitive, behavioural, emotional, physical). It only focuses on physical arousal and assumes this is the only aspect linked to EWT whereas the way we think about situations (cognitive) may also be important
Who argued EWT could be improved if police used better techniques when interviewing witnesses
Fisher and Geiselman
What did Fisher and Geiselman recommend to do with police interview techniques
They recommended police interview techniques should be based in psychological insights into how memory works and collectively called these techniques cognitive interview-to indicate its foundation into cognitive psychology
What are the 4 main techniques in cognitive interview by Fisher and Geiselman
Report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order, change perspective
What is report everything in cognitive interview by fisher and Geiselman
Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of event , even if it doesn’t seem relevant or witness doesn’t feel sure about it, seemingly trivial details may be important and also may trigger other important memories
What is reinstate the context in cognitive interview by fisher and Geiselman
Witnesses should return to original crime scene in their mind and imagine the environment, such as what the weather was like, what they could see and their emotions at the time (related to context dependant forgetting)
What is reverse the order in cognitive interview by fisher and Geiselman
Events should be recalled in different order from original sequence, eg. Final point back to the beginning or middle to beginning, this is done to prevent people reporting expectations of how event happened rather than what did happen, also prevents dishonesty as harder for people to lie if recalling in reverse
What is change perspective in cognitive interview by fisher and Geiselman
Witness should recall incident from another persons perspective eg. Perpetrators view of event, done to disrupt effect of expectation and effect of schema on recall (like schema you have for a particular setting(going into a shop) generates expectation of what should have happened and it’s the schema recalled rather than what really happened
What is the enhanced cognitive interview
Fisher et al developed additional elements of the cognitive interview to focus on social dynamics of interaction. eg. Interviewer needs to establish eye contact and when to relinquish it. Enhanced cognitive interview also includes ideas like reducing EW anxiety, minimising distractions, getting witnesses to speak slowly and asking open ended questions
What is a strength of cognitive interview
Evidence that it works. Meta-analysis by Kohnken et al combine data from 55 studies comparing cognitive interview and enhanced CI with standard police interview. CI gave 41% increase in accurate info compared to standard interview and only 4 studies showed no difference between types of interview. Shows CI is effective technique in helping witnesses recall info stored in memory (available) but not immediately accessible
What is the counterpoint to evidence showing cognitive interview works
Kohnken et al also found increase in amount of inaccurate recall by participants which was particular issue in ECI, which produced more incorrect details than CI. Cognitive interviews may decrease quality of EWT (accuracy) in favour of quantity (amount of detail) which means police officers should treat EWT from CI of ECI with caution
What is a limitation of cognitive interview
Not all elements of original CI are equally effective or useful. Milne and Bull found each of 4 techniques used alone produced more evidence than standard interview but also found combo for report everything and reinstate the context produced better recall than the other two combined. This confirms officers suspicions that some aspects of CI are more useful than others which casts doubt on credibility of overall cognitive interview
What is another limitation of cognitive interview
Police officers reluctant to use CI as takes more time and training than standard interview. Eg. More time needed to establish rapport with witness to get them to relax. CI also requires special training and many forces don’t have resources to provide more than a few hours according to Kebell and Wagstaff. This suggests complete CI as it exists is not realistic method for officers to use and might be better to focus on just a few key elements
What are positives and negative of police approach to use variations of cognitive interview
Police forces have taken pick and mix approach to various techniques of CI, which means it’s hard to compare effectiveness of different approaches in research studies. But this pick and mix approach is more flexible and means that individuals can develop their own approach according to what works best for them
