Memory: Case Studys

Question 1

Who are Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)?

Answer 1

Proposed the multi-store model

Question 2

What did Peterson & Peterson(1959) investigate?

Answer 2

STM by conducting a lab study with 24 students who recalled 3 letter trigrams at different intervals, then counted backwards to prevent rehearsal until asked to recall.

Question 3

What did Peterson & Peterson find?

Answer 3

Found longer intervals led to less accurate recall. At 3 seconds 80% of trigrams were correctly recalled whereas 18 seconds was only 10%

Question 4

What is Petersons & Petersons conclusion?

Answer 4

STM has a limited duration of around 18 seconds therefore if we are unable to rehearse it will not go into our long term memory

Question 5

Who investigated the duration of LTM?

Answer 5

Bahrick et al (1975)

Question 6

What did Bahrick et al do?

Answer 6

Examined 392 American university graduates on their memory for former classmates by asking participants to match the names of former classmates to pictures in a yearbook.

Question 7

What were the findings for Bahrick et Al?

Answer 7

60% accuracy for matching names and faces 47 years after graduation

Question 8

What is the conclusion of Bahrick et Al?

Answer 8

Memories stored in LTM can last a lifetime (or at least 47 years)

Question 9

Who is patient KF?

Answer 9

He was injured in a motorcycle accident, after the accident he was able to recall information recalled in his LTM but he has issues with STM. He was able to remember visual images but was unable to remember sounds.

Question 10

Does patient KF provide evidence for or against the multi-store model?

Answer 10

It provides evidence against as it shows there’s at least 2 STM stores, acoustic and visual but MSM shows only one

Question 11

What was the aim of Johnson and Scott (1976)?

Answer 11

To identify whether arousal has a positive or negative affect on accuracy of the eyewitness testimony

Question 12

What was Johnson and Scott’s procedure?

Answer 12

Participants heard a discussion in two adjoining rooms. Condition A) A man emerged holding a pen with grease on his hand. Condition B) the discussion was rather heated and a man emerged holding a paper knife covered in blood

Question 13

What we’re Johnson and Scott’s findings?

Answer 13

When asked to identify the man from 50 photos participants in condition A were 49% accurate compared with 33% accuracy in condition B

Question 14

What was the conclusion of Johnson and Scott?

Answer 14

In this study the presence of anxiety appeared to reduce the accuracy of eyewitness testimony - with the more anxious individuals being less likely to be able to identify the perpetrator

Question 15

What was the aim of Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

Answer 15

To identify if arousal has a positive or negative affect on the accuracy of the eyewitness testimony

Question 16

What was Yuille and Cutshalls procedure?

Answer 16

21 witnesses observed a shooting incident in which 1 person was killed and 2 seriously injured. All of the witnesses were interviewed by the investigating police and 13 witnesses (aged 15-32 years) agreed to a research interview 4-5 months after the event.

Question 17

What was Yuille and Cutshalls findings?

Answer 17

The eyewitness accounts provided in both the police and research interviews were analysed. The witnesses were highly accurate in their accounts, and there was little change in the amount of accuracy of recall over 5 months.

Question 18

What was Yuille and Cutshalls conclusion?

Answer 18

The eyewitnesses resisted leading questions, and their stress levels at the time of event appeared to have no negative effects on subsequent memory.

Question 19

What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer (1974) ?

Answer 19

They conducted a classic experiment to investigate the effect of leading questions on the accuracy of the eyewitness testimony

Question 20

What was the procedure of Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 20

Their sample consisted of 45 American students who were divided into groups. All participants watched a video of a car crash and then were asked questions about the speed of the cars. They manipulated the verb used in the question e.g smashed/hit.

Question 21

What were the results of Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 21

They found that the estimated speed was affected by the verb used. Smashed had an average of 40.5 mph and contacted had 31.8 mph.

Question 22

What is the conclusion of Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 22

The results clearly show that the accuracy of the eyewitness testimony is affected by leading questions.

Question 23

What is the aim of Gabbert’s study?

Answer 23

To investigate the effect of leading questions on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.

Question 24

What is the procedure or Gabbert’s study?

Answer 24

Each participant watched a video of the same crime but from a different point of view, so participants would see elements another participant wouldn’t. They then would discuss what they saw after.

Question 25

What were the findings of Gabbert’s study?

Answer 25

The researchers found that 71% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up on in the discussion. In the control group there was 0% of participants mistakenly recalling aspects.

Question 26

What can you conclude from Gabbert’s study?

Answer 26

Their was a response bias as we can see participants conformed as the participants copied what other participants said they saw.

Question 27

What explanation does Loftus and Palmers study support and why?

Answer 27

The substitution explanation as participants said they genuinely remembered seeing broken glass.

Question 28

Who did Fisher et al (1987) do?

Answer 28

He developed some additional elements to the cognitive interview to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction e.g interviewer needs to know when to do eye contact. The enhance cognitive interview also includes reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the eyewitness to speak slowly and asking open-ended questions.