Memory - Evaluations Flashcards
Summarise this evaluation from research into capacity, coding and duration into STM and LTM:
ONE STRENGTH INTO THIS RESEARCH IS THAT IS HAD A HIGH CONTROL OVER VARIABLES.
+ research is conducted in controlled setting of a laboratory
+ allowed EV to be controlled
+eg noise temp lighting and time of day = all be standardised
Positive = gives research high internal validity
means IV did impact DV and we can be more sure of our cause relationship
Summarise this evaluation from research into capacity, coding and duration into STM and LTM:
FURTHERMORE, THIS RESEARCH INTO MEMORY IS EASY TO REPLICATE
+ research conditions for one study can be easily repeated for further replications
+eg same lighting, noise levels, materials
POSITIVE: means findings about memory can be easily tested for reliability (consistency)
Summarise this evaluation from research into capacity, coding and duration into STM and LTM:
HOWEVER, A PROBLEM WITH RESEARCH INTO THE FEATURES OF STM AND LTM IS THAT THE MATRRIALS USED A MEANINGLESS
+ lacking in mundane realism
+ does not reflect much of the info we use in LTM and STM for remembering in real world
+ eg remembering lists of letters, numbers or similar sounding words doesn’t reflect real life memory activity
+ what we remember more meaningful
+eg shopping lists , names, phone numbers
PROBLEM: findings may not be representative of real life STM and LTM use.
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Multi-Store Model (MSM):
ONE STRENGTH OF THE MSM IS THAT EVIDENCE SUPPORTS THE VIEW THAT MEMORY IS AMDE UP OF DIFFERENT STORES
+ case studies have shown there are separate stores for STM and LTM
+ evidence comes from KF
+ stm damaged for verbal stm ( he had a digit span of 2 digits)
+but visual remained mainly unaffected + LTM remained completely in tact
+ shows us clearly that there are separate stores for LTM and STM- if there wasn’t he would have lost LTM as well.
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Multi-Store Model (MSM):
HOWEVER A WEAKNESS IS THAT THIS EVIDENCE ALSO SUGGESTS THE STM STORE IS NOT UNITARY
+ msm argues there is only 1 type of stm
+ research shows this might be false
+ evidence comes from KF ( stm damaged for verbal but unaffected visual)
+ PROBLEM: goes against the view of stm being unitary otherwise damage to KFs STM would have affected all of his stm equally. Therefore the MSM is insufficient to fully explain STM on its own.
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Multi-Store Model (MSM):
FURTHER SUPPORT FOR THE IDEA OF SEPARATE STM AND LTM STORES COMES FROM MURDOCK (1962)
+murdocks serial position research
+ found no matter how many words a person is shown and asked to recall,
+ items at start of list have greater recall than those in middle ( primacy affect)
+ items at end of list have greater recall than those in middle ( recency effect)
+ end + start words have had more time for rehearsal
+ middle words have had no time for rehearsal and have been displaced by later words in list
Therefore this supports many of the ideas proposed in the MSM
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Multi-Store Model (MSM):
ANOTHER WEAKNESS OF THE MSM IS THAT EVIDENCE SUGGESTS LTM IS NOT UNITARY
+ msm argues that there is only 1 type of LTM but research shows this might be false
+ evidence = Clive wearing
+ viral infection cause him to lose his episodic memory but still has use of procedural
+ PROBLEM= goes against view that LTM is one unitary store otherwise damaged to Clive wearing ltm would have affect all of his long term memory equally
Therefore the msm is insufficient to fully explain ltm on its own
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Multi-Store Model (MSM):
EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE FEATURES OF THE SENSORY RESISTER COMES FROM SPERLING (1960)
+ when participants were shown a letter chart for 50 milliseconds and asked to recall as many letters as possible = only remember 3 letter on average
+ when a high, medium, low tone was played immediately after chart to indicate top middle or bottom row of letters, participants could report 3 letters from any row.
POSITIVE= supports the idea that sensory register has a large capacity and short duration as participants clearly had no problem holding a memory of the entire image which fades in the time it takes to report back the items
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Working Memory Model (WMM):
A STRENGTH OF THE WMM IS THAT EVIDENCE SUPPORTS THE VIEW THAT STM IS NOT UNITARY:
+ research has shown there are separate stores within short term memory
+evidence= KF
+POSITIVE= supports view that stm does have separate verbal and visual stores otherwise damage to KFs memory would have been equal
Therefore, the WMM may be viewed as an improvement on the msm which suggested stm was unitary and as a result could not explain the case of KF and the functions of stm as effectively as the WMM.
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Working Memory Model (WMM)
FUTHER SUPPORT FOR A NON-UNITARY STM COMES FROM DUALT TASK RESEARCH
+WMM , unlike msm, can explain why participants struggle to process two similar tasks at once but can process two different ones
+ this is because different tasks use different slave systems.
+ evidence= baddeley et al (1975)
+ found participants had more difficulty doing two visual tasks (tracking a light and describing the letter f) than doing one visual and one verbal task at the same time .
This matters because it suggests stm is not unitary and provides imperial evidence that supports the major features of the model.
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Working Memory Model (WMM):
BRAIN SCAN EVIDENCE FUTHER SUPPORTS THE SLAVE SYSTEMS OF THE WMM
+pet scans have show pneumonia different areas of the brain are used whilst undertaking visual and verbal tasks
This matters because it supports that visual and verbal material is dealt with by separate structures that may even be physically separate.
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Working Memory Model (WMM):
ANOTHER STRENGTH OF THE RESEARCH INTO WMM IS THAT IT HAS REAL LIFE APPLICATIONS
+ being able to identify different aspects of stm allows psychologists to target certain kinds of memory
+eg educational psychologists have developed memory training to specifically improve verbal memory to help improve learning for students who experience difficulties
+ POSITIVE= shows how a better understanding of types of stm can improve people’s lives by allowing strategies to be developed that work in the real world.
Summarise this evaluation from research into the Working Memory Model (WMM):
HOWEVER A MAJOR CRITICISM IS THAT VERY LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE FUNCTIONS OF THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE
+ despite great deal of evidence to support the existence of separate visual and verbal stm stores- there’s very little evidence to understand the main WMM component
+ baddeley himself said= the ce is the most important yet least understood component of WMM.
+ eg we are unsure of its capacity
+ some argue that it is oftentimes used to explain the functions of memory that haven’t yet been addressed by the WMM
Matters because it shows that the WMM is an incomplete model of memory as it doesn’t fully explain all functions of working memory
Summarise this evaluation from research into Types of Long term memory:
ONE STRENGTH OF TULVINGS TYPES OF LTM IS EVIDENCE SUPPORTS THIS VIEW
+clinical evidence from case studies of brain damaged patients suggests ltm is indeed made up of separate types of ltm
+ evidence = clive wearing
+supports different types of ltm because if it was all in one place, all of his brain should be equally damaged however it wasn’t
Summarise this evaluation from research into Types of Long term memory:
HOWEVER THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH EVIDENCE FROM BRAIN DAMAGED PATIENTS
+because cases of brain damaged patients= rare
They might not represent the way memory functions for everyone
+ eg Clive wearings ltm may function slightly differently to most other people’s ltm
PROBLEM: suggests evidence from case studies such as this may not generalise to everyone reducing the population validity of the research and limiting the extent to which we can draw conclusions about the types of ltm from this kind of research alone
