Memory Exam Questions

Question 1

Information stored with reference to time and place refers to: [1 mark]

Answer 1

Episodic Memory

Question 2

Information not available for conscious inspection refers to: [1 mark]

Answer 2

Procedural Memory

Question 3

What features does the working memory model include? [2 marks]

Answer 3

Central Executive
Episodic Buffer
Phonological Loop
Visuospatial Sketch Pad

Question 4

What is Episodic Memory? [2 marks]

Answer 4

Personal memories of events, such as what you did yesterday or a teacher you liked. This kind of memory includes contextual details plus emotional tone.

Question 5

What is Procedural Memory? [2 marks]

Answer 5

Memory for how to do things, for example riding a bicycle or learning how to read. Such memories are automatic as the result of repeated practice.

Question 6

What is Semantic Memory? [2 marks]

Answer 6

Shared memories for facts and knowledge. These memories may be concrete, such as knowing that ice is made of water, or abstract, such as mathematical knowledge.

Question 7

Outline how one research study investigated the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (EWT) [4 marks]

Answer 7

Loftus - role of leading questions
Yuille & Cutshall (1986) - evidence from an actual crime
Anxiety (weapon focus) or age of witness
Flin et al (1992) - staged event & compared deterioration of children’s and adult’s memories over time
Karpel et al (2001) - showed a video of a robbery & compared information given by young adults with that given by older adults.

Question 8

Describe Interference as an explanation for forgetting. [6 marks]

Answer 8

• Interference where two lots of information become confused in memory
• Proactive interference is where old learning affects recall of new information
• Retroactive interference is where new learning affects recall of old information
• Newer information may overwrite earlier information
• Interference occurs more when the two lots of information are similar
• Interference is less likely to occur when there is a gap between the instances of learning

Question 9

Describe the Cognitive Interview. [6 marks]

Answer 9

• Reinstating the context - interviewee mentally reinstates the environmental and personal context of the incident
• Report everything - interviewer encourages the reporting of every single detail of the event, even though it may seem irrelevant
• Changing order - interviewer tries alternative ways through the timeline of the incident; (reduces possibility that recall may be influenced by schema/expectations)
• Changing perspective - interviewee recalls from different perspectives, e.g. how it would have appeared to other witnesses; (reduces influence of scheme)
  Features of enhanced cognitive interview to facilitate recall - Focus on social interaction, reducing anxiety/distractions, slow speech, use of open-ended questions.