Memory AO1

Question 1

What is the capacity, duration and coding of the SR?

Answer 1

Capacity - Very large
Duration - Very brief (milliseconds)
Coding - Visually and Echoically

Question 2

What is the capacity, duration and coding of the STM?

Answer 2

Capacity - Limited
Duration - 18 seconds aprox
Coding - Acoustic

Question 3

What is the capacity, duration and coding of the LTM?

Answer 3

Capacity - Unlimited
Duration - Lifetime
Coding - Semantically (by meaning)

Question 4

What is the recency effect?

Answer 4

When items are being circulated in STM.

Question 5

What is the primacy effect?

Answer 5

When items have gone into LTM due to rehearsal.

Question 6

What is the function of the Central Executive?

Answer 6

Controls attention and directs info to the 2 slave systems. It has a very limited capacity.

Question 7

What is the function of the Phonological Loop?

Answer 7

Handles auditory info.

Question 8

What is the function of the Articulatory Control System (Inner voice)?

Answer 8

Allows for sub-vocal repetition of items in the phonological store.

Question 9

What is the function of the Phonological Store (Inner ear)?

Answer 9

Stores acoustic items for a short duration.

Question 10

What is the function of the Visio-Spatial Sketchpad?

Answer 10

Handles visual and spatial tasks.

Question 11

What is the function of the Inner Scribe?

Answer 11

Handles the spatial relationship between objects.

Question 12

What is the function of the Visual Cache?

Answer 12

Stores visual info.

Question 13

Describe Episodic Memory

Answer 13

Explicit, found in hippocampus, personal life experiences.

Question 14

Describe Semantic Memory

Answer 14

Explicit, found in temporal lobe, holds knowledge, facts, meanings and concepts.

Question 15

Describe Procedural Memory

Answer 15

Implicit, found in cerebellum and motor cortex, personal tasks/skills

Question 16

Describe Johnson + Scott Study on Anxiety

Answer 16

• Investigate effect of weapon on EWT.
• Ppts put in fake waiting room.
• Group A heard argument followed by man leaving room with knife.
• Group B heard argument followed by man leaving room with pen.
• Ppts then asked to identify man from 50 photos.
• High anxiety group had less accuracy

Question 17

Describe Yuille + Cutshall Study on Anxiety

Answer 17

• 13/21 witnesses aged 15-32 who observed real life shooting agreed to research interview 4-5 months after incident.
• Eyewitness accounts compared with initial police reports.
• Very little change in accuracy of recall

Question 18

Describe Loftus + Palmer Study on Misleading Info

Answer 18

• Investigate effect of leading questions on EWT accuracy
• 45 American students split into 5 groups
• All ppts watch video of car crash and are asked question about speed of car
• Verbs different for each group (Smashed, collided, bumped, hit and contacted)
• Higher intensity verbs had higher speed estimates

Question 19

Describe Fiona Gabbert Study on Post-Event Discussion

Answer 19

• Studied ppts in pairs
• Ppts watched video of same crime but from different angles
• Ppts then discussed what they saw before doing individual recall tests
• 71% of ppts recalled things they did not see themselves
• Control group with no discussion had 0%

Question 20

Define Source Monitoring Theory

Answer 20

Memories of an event are distorted by post-event discussion. Eyewitness can recall information about an event but they can’t recall where it came from. This is known as source confusion.

Question 21

Define Conformity Theory

Answer 21

Eyewitness’s recall changes because they go along with the recall of co-witnesses. They do this either for social approval or because they genuinely believe the co-witness is right and they’re wrong.

Question 22

What is meant by recall/report everything

Answer 22

The eyewitness should not filter out or select what info to report. Every detail of the event they can recall should be described.

Question 23

What is meant by Context Reinstatement

Answer 23

Returning to the original crime scene where internal or external cues may trigger the recall of memories.

Question 24

What is meant by Reverse Order

Answer 24

Events of the crime should be recalled in a different sequence than the order they saw the crime take place. This prevent the recency effect and problems with schemas.

Question 25

What is meant by Change Perspective

Answer 25

Eyewitness tries to recall events from the perspective of others that were present during the crime.

Question 26

Define Retrieval Failure

Answer 26

A form of forgetting that occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access a memory.

Question 27

Define Cue

Answer 27

An internal or external trigger of information that allows access to a memory.

Question 28

What is the Encoding Specificity Principle

Answer 28

“Memory is most effective if the info present at learning is also present at the time of retrieval”

Question 29

Define Retrieval Theory of Forgetting

Answer 29

In order to recall information accurately, we need to have the same internal and external cues that were present when we originally learnt the information.

Question 30

Describe Godden + Baddeley study on Context-dependent forgetting

Answer 30

• Divers learnt word list either on land or underwater, then asked to recall word lost either on land or underwater, creating 4 conditions.
• Accurate recall 40% lower in non-matching conditions.

Question 31

Define Interference Theory

Answer 31

Forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to become distorted or forgotten.

Question 32

Define Proactive Interference

Answer 32

Forgetting occurs when older memories we have previously stored disrupt the recall of newer memories.

Question 33

Define Retroactive Interference

Answer 33

Forgetting occurs when newer memories we have stored disrupt the recall of older memories.

Question 34

Describe McGeoch + McDonald study

Answer 34

• Studied retroactive interference by changing amount of similarity.
• Ppts had to learn 10 word list then a different word list.
• 6 groups had different 2nd word lists varying in similarity.
• Ppts with similar lists had worse recall of original list.