Memory

Question 1

What is an eye witness testimony?

Answer 1

A description of an event given by people at the scene, i.e identification of people, speed or vehicles, ect.

Question 2

What are the 3 separate stores and unitary stores of the Multi-store Model of Memory - Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968).

Answer 2

1. Sensory Register
2. Short-term Memory
3. Long-term Memory

Question 3

What is the process of the Multi-store Model of Memory: Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968).

Answer 3

1. Sensory Information is received through the senses.
2. The Sensory information enters the Sensory Register (held for 0.25 seconds, then will decay if not attended to).
3. If it’s attended to it will be transferred to the ST Memory Store. Info can remain in ST memory if rehearsed but not for long.
4. Info can be transferred to the LT store if rehearsed enough. Info in LT memory can be retrieved when needed and potentially remain there forever.

Question 4

What is the definition of Capacity?

Answer 4

• How much information can be held by a store.

Question 5

What is the definition of Duration?

Answer 5

• How long the information can be stored for in a store.

Question 6

What is the definition of Coding + examples?

Answer 6

• How the information is processed into something that can be stored.
• E.g. Acoustically by sound or semantically by meaning.

Question 7

What is the Capacity of the Sensory Register + research evidence?

Answer 7

Capacity of Sensory Register = Unlimited

• Sperling (1960): Ppts were presented with a 3x4 letter grid for 1/20th of a second. When a high, medium or low pitched tone was produced to indicate which row was to be recalled, ppts scored 3/4.
  Since ppt did not know which row they had to recall the information had to be available somewhere.
• This suggested capacity of sensory register = unlimited.

Question 8

What is the Duration of the Sensory Register?

- No research.

Answer 8

Duration of the Sensory Register = 250 milliseconds.

Question 9

What is the Coding of the Sensory Register + stores for each sense?

Answer 9

Coding for the Sensory Register = Modality Specific.

Modality specific = separate sensory stores for different sensory stores for different sensory inputs.

• Echoic for sounds👂
• Iconic for sight 👀
• Olfactory for smells👃
• Gustatory for taste 👅

Question 10

What is the Capacity of the Short Term Memory (STM) + research evidence?

Answer 10

Capacity of STM = Limited (7 +/-2 chunks).

• Jacobs (1887) devised the ‘serial digit span technique’. He presented ppts with a sequence of numbers and using the serial recall procedure, asked the ppts to repeat back the letter or digits to him in the same order in which they were presented.
• Found that the average STM span (no of words accurately recalled) was between 5-9 items.

Question 11

What is the Duration of the STM + research evidence?

Answer 11

Duration of the STM = 18-30 seconds.

• Brown & Peterson briefly showed ppts constant trigrams (e.g. AJB) and were given an interference task of counting backwards in 3s to prevent rehearsal.
• After intervals of 3,6,9,12,15,18 seconds they were asked to recall the trigram.
• The intervention task didn’t affect recall after 3 seconds but as time increased between the presentation of the trigram and recall, performance declined.
• After 18 seconds, the memory trace for the trigram had decayed.

Question 12

What is the Coding of the STM Memory + Research?

Answer 12

Coding of STM = mainly acoustic (sound).

Baddley (1966): Focused on identifying errors in the recall of semantically similar and dissimilar words and errors in the recall of acoustically similar and dissimilar words.

• Ppts (independent groups) were presented 4 sets of words and had to recall them.
  1. Acoustically similar (cup, cum, drum).
  2. Acoustically dissimilar (bed, cat, wet).
  3. Semantically similar (hard, solid).
  4. Semantically dissimilar (top, good, noise).
• Found that in ST memory task there was acoustic confusion with words that sound alike.

Question 13

What is the Capacity of the LTM?

- No research evidence.

Answer 13

Capacity of the LTM = unlimited.

Question 14

What is the Duration of the LTM + Research evidence?

Answer 14

P - Duration of LTM = lifetime (unlimited).

E - Bahrick et al (1975) showed 400 ppts aged 17-74yrs a set of photos + a list of names, some of which were old school friends, and were asked to identify their school friends in the photos.
E - Those that had left school 48yrs ago recalled 80% of names and 70% of faces.
L - Suggesting that memory of names + faces is long lasting.

Question 15

What is the Coding in the LTM + research evidence?

Answer 15

Coding in the LTM = mainly semantic (meaning).

Baddley (1966): Focused on identifying errors in the recall of semantically similar and dissimilar words and errors in the recall of acoustically similar and dissimilar words.

• Ppts (independent groups) were presented 4 sets of words and had to recall them.
  1. Acoustically similar (cup, cum, drum).
  2. Acoustically dissimilar (bed, cat, wet).
  3. Semantically similar (hard, solid).
  4. Semantically dissimilar (top, good, noise).
• When ppts were given a LTM task there was semantic confusion with words with a similar meaning.

Question 16

Strength of the Multi-store Model of Memory - Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968).

Answer 16

P - Supporting evidence because they are located in different areas of the brain.

E - Research using brain scans has revealed that STM is located in the Pre-frontal Cortex and LTM in the Hippocampus.

E - Further supported by case studies such as HM. HM has his Hippocampus removed and was unable to form new LT memories, but his STM was not affected.

L - Shows that STM and LTM are unitary and separate stores as the MSM suggests.

Question 17

Criticism of Multi-store Model of Memory: Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968).

Answer 17

P - Contradictory evidence of the MSM.

E - Clive Wearing suggests that LTM memory is more complicated than just a UNITARY store.

E - Clive Wearing had some LT memories intact (still able to play piano) but was unable to recognise photos of his Cambridge College.

L - Suggests a distinction in LTM between procedural memories (how to do something), semantic and episodic and therefore the stores are not UNITARY.

Question 18

Practical Application of the Multi-store Model of Memory: Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968).

Answer 18

P - Led to many practical applications.

E - One example is that the MSM states that rehearsal (elaborative) results in information being transferred from the STM to LTM.

E - This could be applied to designing revision techniques for students in education. E.g. it is more useful to extract meaning from information than to repeatedly read info.

L - This means that the MSM of memory has uses in the real world.

Question 19

What are the stores in the Working Memory Model: Baddeley & Hitch.

Answer 19

1. Central Executive (The Boss).
2. Episodic Buffer.
3. Visuo-spatial Sketchpad = Visual Cache + Visual Scribe.
4. Phonological Loop = Articulatory Control System + Phonological Store.

Question 20

How does the Working Memory Model work?

Answer 20

• The Working Memory is an ACTIVE PROCESSOR that manipulates and analyses information.
• ST memory is divided into several different components each of which is qualitatively different especially in terms of its coding and capacity.

Question 21

What is the Central Executive: Working Memory Model?

Answer 21

Central Executive = The Boss of the model.

• DIRECTS ATTENTION to particular tasks and decides to send data to the phonological or visual part of the STM to be stored and manipulated.
• Very limited capacity, so can only attend a limited number of things at any time.
• Also deals with cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic and problem solving.

Question 22

What is the Phonological Loop: Working Memory Model?

Answer 22

• Subdivided into the Phonological Store (holds the words you hear, an inner ear) and the Articulatory Process (silently repeating words you hear, an inner voice).
• Stores a limited no of speech based sounds for brief periods.
• Very limited capacity.

Question 23

What is the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad: Working Memory Model?

Answer 23

• Involves holding visual and spatial information (inner eye).
• Used when you have to plan a spatial task.
• Contains the Visual Cache (stores info about form and colour) and the Visual Scrive (rehearses info from visual cache and transfer it to the central executive.
• Very limited capacity.

Question 24

What is the Episodic Buffer: Working Memory Model?

Answer 24

• Temporary store for info integrating the visual, spatial, and verbal info processed by the other stores and maintaining a sense of time sequencing (what order they took place in).
• Storage component of the central executive.
• Links the working memory to LTM and wider cognitive processes (perception).
• Limited capacity (4 chunks) - Baddeley 2012.

Question 25

Strength of the Working Memory Model: Baddeley & Hitch.

Answer 25

P - Support from dual task experiments.

E - The model predicts it will be harder to do two things at the same time if they are both visual tasks (tracking a light, and describing the letter F). This is because both visual tasks compete for the same limited resources of VSS, which has limited capacity.

E - Same problem applies to completing 2 verbal tasks at the same time, you will encounter similar difficulty. However, doing a verbal and visual task simultaneously there is no competition for limited resources.

L - This suggests dual task performance provides evidence of two separate processing stores, the VSS and PL which develops our understanding further than the MSM does.

Question 26

Criticism of the Working Memory Model: Baddeley & Hitch.

Answer 26

P - The model suggests there is a single central executive but there is evidence for several separate components.

E - Challenge comes from case study evidence of EVR who had a cerebral tumour removed.

E - He performed well on tests requiring reasoning which suggested that his central executive was intact, but he had poor decision-making skills (deciding where to eat).

L - This suggests that central executive is not a unitary store which contradicts the initial model.

Question 27

Features of the Cognitive Interview (CI): Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.

Answer 27

The Cognitive Interview has 4 distinct components:

CROP

1. Context Reinstatement.
2. Report Everything.
3. Order changed when recalling.
4. Perspective Change.

Question 28

What is Context Reinstatement in the Cognitive Interview?

Answer 28

Cognitive Reinstatement = The interviewer encourages the interviewee to mentally recreate the environment they were in when the witnessed the incident.

• This could include sounds, smells, weather conditions etc… and emotions felt at the time.

Question 29

What is Report Everything in the Cognitive Interview?

Answer 29

Report Everything = The interviewer encourages the reporting every detail even those which may seem irrelevant.

• E.g. uninvolved on-lookers.

Question 30

What is Order changed when recalling in the Cognitive Interview?

Answer 30

Order Change = The interviewer may try alternatives ways through the timeline of the incident.

• E.g. reversing the order by recalling then end of the incident first then working backwards.

Question 31

What is Perspective Change in the Cognitive Interview?

Answer 31

Perspective Change = The interviewee is asked to recall the incident from different perspectives.

• E.g. Imagining how it would have appeared to other witnesses present at the time.

Question 32

What are the characteristics + pros/cons of the CI compared to the Standard Interview?

Answer 32

Cognitive Interview (CI):

• More info collected.
• Information collected is more accurate.
• Structured interview.
• Mainly open questions.
• No interruptions so limited possibly of leading questions.

X - Needs specific training so can be expensive.
X - Takes a long time.

Question 33

Strength of Cognitive Interview

Answer 33

P - There is support for the effectiveness of the enhanced CI.

E - A meta-analysis by Kohnken et al (1999) combined data from 50 studies.

E - The enhanced CI consistently provided more correct information than the Standard Interview used by police.

L - This suggests there are real practical benefits to the police using the enhanced CI as it improves the accuracy of EWT.

Question 34

Criticism of the Cognitive Interview (CI).

Answer 34

P - A limitation is that it is time consuming.

E - The police are reluctant to use the CI because it takes much more time than the Standard Interview as more time is needed to establish rapport with the witness to allow them to relax.

E - In addition, Kebbell and Wagstaff (1997) point out the CI also requires special training and many forces have not been able to provide more than a few hours to this.

L - This means it is unlikely that the full version of the CI is actually used which may explain why the police don’t obtain the improvements in the accuracy of EWT they anticipated.

Question 35

Practical Application of the Cognitive Interview.

Answer 35

P - A strength of the CI is it has practical application for the police.

E - E.g. Fisher et al (1989) carried out a field experiment with actual interviews of real witnesses.

E - The police were divided into 2 groups. One group = trained in CI techniques, other group = Standard Interview.
Found that 63% more info was obtained by the group of detectives trained in CI.

L - This suggests that CI techniques do work, and more info is gathered with no loss of accuracy which could help the police solve more crimes.