Memory Key Terms

Question 1

What is coding?

Answer 1

It is the format which information is stored in the various memory stores.

Question 2

What is capacity?

Answer 2

It is the amount of information that can be held in a memory store.

Question 3

What is duration?

Answer 3

The length of time information can be held in memory.

Question 4

What is Short-Term Memory?

Answer 4

It is a limited capacity memory store.

Coding is mainly acoustic (sound).

Capacity is between 5 - 9 items.

Duration is between 18 - 30 seconds.

Question 5

What is Long-Term Memory?

Answer 5

It is the permanent memory store.

Coding is mainly semantic (has meaning).

It has unlimited capacity.

Can store memories for up to a lifetime.

Question 6

What is the Multi-Store Model of Memory?

Answer 6

It is a representation of how memory works in terms of three stores:

• Sensory Register.
• Short-Term Memory.
• Long-Term Memory.

It describes how information is transferred from one store to another and how it is forgotten or remembered.

Question 7

What is the Sensory Register?

Answer 7

It is the memory store for each of our five senses.

• Vision (iconic store).
• Hearing (echoic store).

Coding in iconic sensory register is visual and coding in echoic sensory register is acoustic.

The capacity of each register is very large.

The duration of each register is very short (less than half a second).

Question 8

What is episodic memory?

Answer 8

It is a LTM store for personal events.

Includes memories of when the events occurred, people, objects, places and behaviours involved in that event.

Memories from this store are retrieved consciously.

Question 9

What is semantic memory?

Answer 9

It is a LTM store for our knowledge of the world.

Includes facts and knowledge of what words and concepts mean.

These memories need to be recalled consciously.

Question 10

What is procedural memory?

Answer 10

It is a LTM store for our knowledge of how to do things.

Includes our memories of learned skills.

We do not recall these memories consciously or deliberately.

Question 11

What is the working memory model?

Answer 11

It is a representation of STM.

It suggests that STM is a processor of different types of information using sub-units coordinates by the central executive.

Question 12

What is the central executive?

Answer 12

It is a component of the WMM that coordinates the activities of be three subsystems in memory.

It allocates processing resources to those systems.

Question 13

What is the phonological loop?

Answer 13

It is a component of the WMM that processes information in terms of sound.

This includes written and spoken material.

It’s divided into the phonological store and the articulatory process.

Question 14

What is the Visio-Spatial Sketchpad?

Answer 14

It is a component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial information in a mental space (called the inner eye).

Question 15

What is the episodic buffer?

Answer 15

It is a component of the WMM that brings material from other subsystems into a single memory rather than separate strands.

It also provides a bridge between working memory and LTM.

Question 16

What is interference?

Answer 16

It is forgetting because one memory blocks another.

This may cause one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten.

Question 17

What is proactive interference?

Answer 17

It is when forgetting occurs due to older memories disrupting the recall of newer memories.

The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar.

Question 18

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 18

It is when forgetting occurs due to newer memories disrupting the recall of older memories.

The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar.

Question 19

What is retrieval failure?

Answer 19

It is a form of forgetting.

It occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory.

The memory is available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided.

Question 20

What is a cue?

Answer 20

It is a trigger of information that allows us to access a memory.

Cues may be meaningful or indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning.

Cues may be external - environmental context.

Cues may be internal - mood or degree of drunkenness.

Question 21

What is an Eyewitness Testimony?

Answer 21

It is the ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents or crimes, which they have seen.

Accuracy of EWT can be affected by factors such as misleading information, leading questions or anxiety.

Question 22

what is misleading information?

Answer 22

It is incorrect information given to the eyewitness after the event.

It could be due to a leading question or post event discussion between other witnesses of the same event.

Question 23

What is a Leading Question?

Answer 23

It is a question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer.

Question 24

What is post event discussion?

Answer 24

It occurs when there is more than one witness to an event.

Witnesses may discuss what they have seen to other people.

Influencing the accuracy of each witnesses recall of the event.

Question 25

What is anxiety?

Answer 25

It is a state of emotional and physical arousal.

The emotions include having worries thoughts and feelings of tension.

Physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweatiness.

Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations but it can affect the accuracy and detail of an EWT.

Question 26

What is a cognitive interview?

Answer 26

It is a method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories.

It uses four main techniques based on physiological knowledge of human memory.

1) Report everything.
2) Reinstate the context.
3) Reverse the order.
4) Change the perspective.