memory models Flashcards
what are the 3 stages of memory?
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
what is encoding?
the creation of memory
what is storage?
the biological trace of where memory is stored in the brain
what is retrieval?
recalling information
what are the two types of memory?
short term memory (STM)
long term memory (LTM)
what is short term memory?
If sensory information is recognized or considered important it is coded and sent to short-term memory, which has limited capacity of 7+-2 items and is supposed to last only around 30 seconds.
what is long term memory?
If the information is rehearsed and re-coded, it gets transferred into long-term memory, which has unlimited capacity and may last forever.
what are memory models?
a way to conceptualize processes of the memory system
what are two memory models ?
multi-store model (MSM) of memory
Working memory model (WMM)
who made the MSM?
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
what are the 3 stores that the MSM suggests memory goes to?
the sensory store
the short term memory store
the long term memory store
what are two strengths of the MSM?
There is significant research to support the theory of separate memory store
The model is of historical importance
what are three limitations of the MSM?
over-simplified
doesn’t explain why some things can be learned easily and remembered and some can be studied for a long time and not remembered
focuses on structure rather than process
what are two studies supporting the MSM?
HM (Milner)
Glanzer and Cunitz
what is the link between the MSM and the case study of HM by Milner?
supports the distinction between STM store and LTM
His LTMs from before the operation were intact but he was not able to form new LTMs.
As soon as his attention was directed to some other information, the number was lost, showing that he could not transfer new information from his STM store to his LTM store.
what is the serial position effect?
It refers to the finding that recall accuracy depends on an item’s position within a list.
what is the recency effect?
that when asked to recall a list people would tend to remember the words said last since these items are still present in working memory when recall is solicited
what is the primacy effect?
that when asked to recall a list people would tend to remember the words said first since the initial items presented are most effectively stored in long-term memory because of the greater amount of processing devoted to them.
what was the aim of Glanzer and Cunitz?
Investigate the existence of two separate memory stores: the STM store and the LTM store.
what were the three conditions in Glanzer and Cunitz?
- Immediate Free Recall Condition (IFR): wrote words down immediately after seeing them.
- Delayed Free Recall Condition (DFR) – 10 seconds: wrote words down after a delay of 10 seconds.
- Delayed Free Recall Condition (DFR) – 30 seconds: wrote words down after a delay of 30 seconds.
what was the distraction task?
had to count backwards in 3s to prevent further rehearsal.
what were the results of Glanzer and Cunitz?
The results showed that when there was no delay in recall (IFR) the primacy and recency effect were demonstrated as per usual.
However, in the DFR conditions, and specifically in the 30s group, only the primacy effect was present and the longer the delay, the more reduced the recency effect was.
who suggested the WMM?
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
what does the WMM suggest?
that STM is not a single store but rather consists of a number of different stores.
what are the 4 components of STM suggested by the WMM?
the central executive
the phonological loop
the visuospatial sketchpad
the episodic buffer
what is the central executive?
an attention control system that monitors and coordinates the operations of the other subordinate components, which are called sub systems.
what is the phonological loop?
is the auditory component of STM
what are the two components of the phonological loop?
articulatory control system, or inner voice, which can hold information in a verbal form.
phonological store or inner ear. It holds auditory memory traces.
what is the visuospatial sketchpad?
The visuospatial sketchpad is the visual component of STM and could be called the inner eye. It is a temporary store for visual and spatial information from either sensory memory or LTM. The visuospatial sketchpad helps us remember not only what visual information is important, but also where it is.
what are the two components of the visuospatial sketchpad?
visual cache, which processes what things look like or stores information about form and color.
inner scribe, which processes spatial and movement information.
what is the episodic buffer?
acts as a temporary and passive display store until the information is needed
It is responsible for aiding the interaction between the other two sub-systems.
what are two strengths of the WMM?
is supported by brain scans
helps us understand multitasking
what are 4 limitations of the WMM?
role of central executive is unclear
how various components interact is unclear
only explains STM not LTM
does not explain memory distortion
what are the two studies supporting the WMM?
Landry and Bartling
Shallice and Warrington
what is the aim of Landry and Bartling?
Investigate if articulatory suppression would influence recall of a written list of phonologically dissimilar letters in serial recall.
what were the results of Landry and Bartling?
the control group: showed the list of letters waited 5 second and wrote them down
the experimental group: showed the list of letters, had to repeatedly say the numbers ‘1’ and ‘2’ at a rate of two numbers per second until the time they filled the answer sheet.
what were the results of Landry and Bartling?
the scores from the experimental group were much lower than the scores from the control group. The mean per cent of accurate recall in the control group was 76% compared to a mean of 45% in the experimental group.
what are two strengths of Landry and Bartling?
well controlled lab experiment- high internal validity
standardized-replicable
what is one limitation of Landry and Bartling?
low ecological validity
what is the aim of Shallice and Warrington
investigate the nature of memory and the functioning of the short-term memory system, particularly in individuals with brain damage.
what research method was Shallice and Warrington?
case study
what were the findings of Shallice and Warrington?
His impairment was mainly for verbal information and not for visual information.
what are two strengths of Shallice and Warrington?
method triangulation- increases validity
high applicability
what are three limitations of Shallice and Warrington?
case study- low generalizability
lab environment- low ecological validity
low replicability
what are schemas?
“mental representations, which are formed from previous experiences and prior knowledge. They are cognitive structures which serve to organize our knowledge of objects, events, self and others”.
what are heuristics?
mental short-cuts that our brain uses based on past knowledge and experience in order to make quick decisions with minimal effort
what do schemas do?
Organize information in our mind.
Are activated automatically without effort.
Save us time and energy.
Are stable and resistant to change.
Help people give meaning to situations and predict the world around them.
Give meaning to situations.
what are the three types of schemas?
scripts
self-schemas
social schemas
what are script schemas?
schemas that predict events and patterns of behavior
what are self schemas?
schemas that we have about ourselves.
what are social schemas?
these are schemas that we have about others
what are two studies supporting schemas?
Bransford and Johnson
Brewer and Treyens
what were the three conditions in Bransford and Johnson?
the “no topic” condition
the “topic after” condition
the “topic before” condition
what is the aim of Bransford and Johnson?
To determine if schema activation would result in better understanding and recall of an ambiguous text.
what were the results of Bransford and Johnson?
Participants in the ‘no title’ and ‘title after’ conditions found it more difficult to comprehend the passage. Of the 18 ideas, participants recalled an average of:
2.8 ideas in the ‘no topic condition
5.8 in the ‘topic before’ condition
2.6 in the ‘topic after’ condition
what were two strengths of Bransford and Johnson?
finding have been applied to education
easily replicated
what are two limitations of Bransford and Johnson?
artificial- low ecological validity
independent samples design
what is the aim of Brewer and Treyens?
to investigate the role of schema in encoding and retrieval of memory
what does “schema congruent items” mean?
objects that were typical of offices: a typewriter, paper, and a coffee pot
what does “schema incongruent items” mean?
items in the room that one would not typically find in an office - for example, a skull
what were the three conditions?
the recall condition
the drawing condition
the verbal recognition condition
what were the findings of Brewer and Treyens?
the recall and drawing condition were more likely to remember the schema congruent items
the verbal recognition condition was more likely to remember the schema incongruent items
what are there limitations of Brewer and Treyens?
deception used
sampling bias: university students
lab experiment-artificial task- low ecological validity
