memory advanced information

Question 1

what is the multi store model of memory

Answer 1

Representation of how memory works with three stores. Sensory register, Short term memory and long term memory.

Also describes how memory is transferred, remembered and forgotten.

Question 2

what is the sensory register

Answer 2

Stores stimulus from the environment. Small duration and high capacity.

It is made up of two main stores. Iconic memory which stores visual information coded visually and the Echoic memory holds auditory information coded acoustically.

Question 3

what is the short term memory store

Answer 3

Capacity on average between 5 and 9. Information is coded acoustically and lasts 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed.

Maintenance rehearsal keeps memories in a short term memory until they can pass into long term memory.

Question 4

what is long term memory

Answer 4

Capacity is believed to be unlimited and duration is thought to be many years. Seems to be coded semantically. Information recalled is done so through retrieval.

Question 5

what are the strengths of the multi-store model of memory

Answer 5

Supporting research. Baddeley found that Short term memory was coded acoustically and long term memory was coded semantically. This supports the idea there different memory stores.

Case studies HM hippocampus removed. HM was unable to transfer memory to his Long term but was able retrieve information before surgery. This supports the idea of different stores with different processes.

Question 6

what are the limitations of the multi-store model of memory

Answer 6

Methodological issues with supporting research. Many studies involved trying to remember meaningless information like random numbers. This is not representative of real life memory situations. Therefore may lack external validity.

Overly simplistic. We may have different long term memory stores for information such as how to ride a bike or memories of people. Therefore multi-store model may not take into account different types of long term memory.

Question 7

what is the working memory model

Answer 7

Explanation of how short term memory is organised and how it functions. Made up of three slave systems: The phonological loop, episodic buffer and visuo-spatial sketchpad. All controlled by the central executive.

Question 8

what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 8

Processes visual and spatial information.

Divided into the visual cache which stores information about visual items and the inner scribe which deals with arrangement of objects.

Question 9

what is the episodic buffer

Answer 9

Temporary store for from other systems to bring material into a single memory. Bridge between working memory and long term memory.

Question 10

what is the phonological loop

Answer 10

Processes information in terms of sound including spoken and written material.

Subdivided into the phonological store which holds words you hear and the articulatory process which allows for rehearsal of information.

Question 11

what is the central executive

Answer 11

Directs the brains resources to one of the three slave systems.

Question 12

what are the limitations of the working memory model

Answer 12

Lack of clarity over the the central executive. Central executive is the most important but least understood component of working memory model. Needs to be more clearly specified. Therefore WMM isn’t fully understood.

Question 13

what is a strength with a counter of the working memory model

Answer 13

Case study. KF had brain damage causing poor STM for verbal information but could process visual information. This suggests the phonological loop had been damaged but VSS was intact. Supports idea they’re different stores. However evidence from brain damaged patients may be unreliable due to their unique conditions. This lowers the external validity and prevents findings being generalised.

Question 14

what is a strength of the working memory model

Answer 14

Supporting research. Baddeley found pps had more difficulty doing two visual tasks rather than a visual and verbal task at the same time. This is due to the same slave system being competed for when doing two visual tasks. Therefore must be separate slave systems.

Question 15

what is the cognitive interview

Answer 15

A method of interviewing eye witnesses in a way to help them be more accurate. There are four features: report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order and change the perspective.

Question 16

what is report everything in the eyewitness testimony

Answer 16

Witnesses are encouraged to include every detail of the event no matter how trivial as they may trigger other memories.

Question 17

what is reinstate the context in the eyewitness testimony

Answer 17

Witness should return to the scene of the crime in their mind and imagine the environment and how they were feeling at the time.

Question 18

what is reverse the order in the eyewitness testimony

Answer 18

Events should be recalled in a different chronological order. This prevents expectations interfering and lying occurring.

Question 19

what is change perspective in the eye witness testimony

Answer 19

Witness recalls events from other people’s perspectives. This is done to disrupt effect of schema on recall which reduces accuracy.

Question 20

what are the strengths of the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 20

Research support. Meta analysis by kohnken found in 50 studies the enhanced CI provided more accurate information than the standard interview used by police. Indicates the enhanced CI has real world application helping catch criminals. Therefore helping society as a whole.

Question 21

what is the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 21

Developed by Fisher in 1987. Adds things such as when to make eye contact and how to reduce anxiety and distractions and asking open-ended questions.

Question 22

what are the limitations of the cognitive interview

Answer 22

Time consuming. CI is much more time consuming then a standard police interview and it requires special training for police. Therefore police only are sometimes taught it for a few hours. This could explain why some police have found it ineffective.

Hard to measure how successful it is. Studies of effectiveness look at slight variations of the CI or the enhanced CI due to police forces adapting them differently. This makes it hard to measure if the standard CI is actually beneficial.

Some elements may be more valuable. Milne and Bull found reinstate the context and report everything produced better recall than other conditions

Question 23

what is a strength of the cognitive interview

Answer 23

Some elements may be more valuable. Milne and Bull found reinstate the context and report everything produced better recall than other conditions. This is a strength because it encourages use of these elements in police interviews. This in turn increases the credibility of the cognitive interview.

Question 24

what is a limitation of the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 24

Time consuming. Learning special techniques and carrying out the interview takes a lot of time but police don’t have enough time to learn it. Therefore they may not carry it out correctly which limits how useful it is.

Question 25

What is the research on short term memory coding by Baddeley

Answer 25

Baddeley had four groups. Group 1 learned acoustically similar words and group 2 learned acoustically dissimilar words. Participants then immediately attempted to recall the words after hearing them. They did worse with acoustically similar words.

Question 26

What is the research on long term memory coding by Baddeley

Answer 26

Baddeley had four groups. Group 3 learned semantically similar words and group 4 learned semantically dissimilar words. They recalled the list after 20 minutes. They struggled most with semantically similar words.

Question 27

What is a limitation of Baddeley’s coding study to do with artificial stimuli

Answer 27

Artificial stimuli. The word lists had no personal meaning to the participants. Therefore it may mean it is difficult to generalise these findings to other memory tasks. This means the study has limited application to real life in terms of how memory is coded.

Question 28

What is research into capacity by Jacobs

Answer 28

Jacobs(1887) created the technique for measuring digit span a researcher will read out four digits for example then get the participant to recount them then if done correctly a digit would be added on.

Question 29

What is a limitation of Jacobs capacity study to do with lacking validity

Answer 29

Lacks validity. It was conducted a very long time ago which means it may have lacked adequate control. Some participants may have been distracted and not performed as they would’ve otherwise. This could mean results may not be valid. However the results of this study have been confirmed by other research supporting its validity.

Question 30

What is the research on duration of short term memory by peterson

Answer 30

24 undergraduate students. Each was given a consonant syllable. They were then given a number and told to count backwards from this number for 3 seconds then 6 and so on until 18. This is to prevent mental rehearsal of the syllable. Correct responses dropped as the seconds increased. STM must have a very short duration.

Question 31

What is a limitation about meaningless stimuli in the duration of STM study

Answer 31

Stimuli was artificial. Trying to memories consonant syllables is not reflective of real life where what we are remembering is meaningful. This means the study may lack external validity.

Question 32

What is the research into long term memory by bahrick

Answer 32

Bahrick studied 390 participants from the USA. Yearbooks were used and the participants would have to recognise and name their classmates from images. Within 15 years of graduation recall was around 90% and after 48 years was around 70%.

Question 33

What is a limitation about lack of control over extraneous variables in Bahricks research into duration of long term memory

Answer 33

Lack of control over extraneous variables. Bahrick had no control over how often participants looked at their yearbook. Some participants may look at their yearbook often which would mean their recall was improved even after 48 years. Therefore lacks internal validity.