Memory Improvement Strategies

Question 1

What is the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 1

things present at the time of encoding and retrieval making information easier to recall

Question 2

What are the 3 types of encoding?

Answer 2

Meaningful (related words), contextual (physical environment), state-dependent (mood)

Question 3

Who conducted research to prove the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 3

Godden and Baddeley 1975]

Divers learnt list of words underwater or on land, recall was better in same environment as encoding

Question 4

Who conducted research on context dependent recall?

Answer 4

Gieselman and Glenny 1977
imagine a list of words said by familiar voice (male/female), after delay, list of words read and new words added, Pps who had the same gender reader as imagined were able to find the original list

Question 5

Who conducted research into conceptual hierarchies?

Answer 5

Bower and Clark 1969

learn 12 lists of 10 unrelated words by organising into a story, recall: organisation =90%, control =10%

Question 6

What is the peg word method?

Answer 6

basic organisational structure which you link to list of words through visual imagery (stronger image = better recall), words attached to other words to form image

Question 7

What is the ‘Method of Loci’?

Answer 7

Associating a list of words with a regular route (words attached to landmarks on that route)

Question 8

Who conducted research on visualisation of words?

Answer 8

Paivo 1965
concrete nouns recalled better than abstract words because they can be visualised (abstract cant be perceived by senses e.g. love)

Question 9

Why are memory techniques better than elaborative rehearsal?

Answer 9

Craik and Watkins 1973
repeating info only maintains for few seconds in STM, meaningful info (e.g. in hierarchies) makes info easier to recall from LTM, several routes can be used to find items

Question 10

What is the levels of processing theory?

Answer 10

meaningful processing leads to better recall, imposing meaning requires use of previously stored knowledge (LTM encodes semantically)

Question 11

What are the 2 main strengths of research into memory improvement strategies?

Answer 11

Lab: control over IV = causal relationship shown, extraneous variables controlled so results valid

Question 12

What are the 2 main weaknesses of research into memory improvement strategies?

Answer 12

Tasks don’t reflect real-life memory tasks, results may lack ecological validity (Pps not acting normally)