Memory Models

Question 1

What is memory?

Answer 1

Groome et al. (2014) described memory as the process of storing information for future retention.
The faculty by which the mind encodes, stores and retrieves information from our environment

Question 2

What are the stages of memory?

Answer 2

Encoding: changes Input into correct form
Storage: where, how long (duration) and how much (capacity)
Retrieval: retention of material

Question 3

What are the main methods of testing memory?

Answer 3

Free recall: report material exact same way it’s presented
Cue recall: clues to aid recall
Recognition: indicate the material is familiar from the original material (multiple choice exams)

Question 4

When was the Multistore Model proposed and by whom?

Answer 4

Atkinson and Shriffin (1968)

Question 5

What are the three forms of storage?

Answer 5

Sensory memory
Short term memory
Long term memory

Question 6

What is the sensory memory

Answer 6

It accounts for environmental stimuli and decides based on physical characteristics if info should be processed further

Question 7

Theoretically what is the capacity of the STM

Answer 7

Miller (1956)
Capacity is 7 plus or minus 2 items
However it can be increased through chunking

Question 8

What was Brown and Peterson (1959) duration study?

Answer 8

Participants were presented with 4 letters and then a distraction task
50% was remembered after 6s
10% after 18s
Duration therefore lasts around 6-12 seconds left

Question 9

How is the STM mainly encoded?

Answer 9

Acoustically (Conrad, 1964)

Question 10

How did Bower (1975) describe the LTM

Answer 10

The LTM is very flexible due to its unlimited capacity
The duration of information can last minutes to near permanently depending on whether it is retained through elaborative rehearsal

Question 11

How does the LTM encode information (mainly)

Answer 11

Semantically (meaning) Baddeley (1966)

Question 12

What is the serial position effect? (Murdock, 1962)

Answer 12

Free recall tests typically show a trend of participants being able to remember first and last words better

Question 13

How was the primary and regency effect tested? (Glazer and Cuntiz, 1966)

Answer 13

A free recall allowed participants to memorize information however this was followed by a distraction task to inhibit the transfer of information, it was found this had no effect on primary information however the regency effect disappeared (suggests primary information has already passed to the LTM)

Question 14

How might we test the LTM

Answer 14

Studies on amnesia patients- inability to form LTM suggests separate memory stores
Also recall of wordlists

Question 15

Evaluate the multi store model

Answer 15

Model is too simplistic and assumes stores operate in uniform way
It is improbable a vast amount of knowledge gained over time is presented in a single store
Many tasks require access to the LTM before processed in the STM

Question 16

How might the information processing model provide a complimentary view

Answer 16

It compares the human mind to a computer analogy, in the way we encode, store and retrieve much like our processing follows an inputting software

Question 17

In the Working Memory Model, what is the role of the Central executive?

Answer 17

It is the supervisory attentional system that directs the use of resources in specific tasks
As it is modality free, it is the higher mental process that creates decisions and problem solved. It coordinates performance of separate tasks, as it selectively attends to one input whilst ignoring others.

Question 18

When was Baddeley and Hitch model proposed?

Answer 18

1974

Question 19

Explain the role of the phonological loop

Answer 19

It rehearses auditory information: divided into two processes
The phonological store (inner ear) which provides temporary storage and is speech based
The articulating control (inner voice) which is acquired the verbal rehearsal

Question 20

What is the Visuo- spatial sketch pad?

Answer 20

It regards visual information, it is broken down by the visual cache (form and color) and inner scribe (movement info)

Question 21

What slave system provides temporary storage of information?

Answer 21

Episodic buffer- it combines information from each slave system and the LTM and is held in multicodal form

Question 22

Evaluate the working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974)

Answer 22

All systems have a limited capacity, does not account of LTM
If two tasks use the same component it cannot be successfully performed
Word length effect- better at recalling short words than long
Visual imagery task is affected by moving dots whereas rote rehearsal task is affected by irrelevant speech
The central executive is very vague and hard to measure

Question 23

Neuroimaging evidence?

Answer 23

When the phonological store is used there is activity in the parental lobe and when the articulating control store is used the Broca’s area is activated (shows separate stores)
Brain damage to central executive found in dyexecutive syndrome

Question 24

Craik and Lockhart (1972) proposed what important model of memory?

Answer 24

Level of processing model

Question 25

Describe the level of processing model

Answer 25

The structural components are fixed but the control processes (rehearsal) can be manipulated, different processing occurs at different levels
At a shallow level physical characteristics are processed
At a deeper level more elaborative memory traces are established and are retained for much longer
Elaborative rehearsal means the meaning is processed and semantic encoding of that information takes place

Question 26

How did Tulving and Thompson (1973) test the LOP model?

Answer 26

Rather than storage they tested encoding:
60 participants were either assigned to tasks allowing 1) structural encoding, 2) acoustic encoding and 3) semantic encoding
The 3rd group retention was much higher suggesting deeper processing and supporting the LOP

Question 27

What was the encoding specificity principle? (Tulving and Thompson, 1973)

Answer 27

The principle states that memory is improved when information available at encoding is also available at retrieval
For instance, human memories are more easily retrieved if external conditions at the time are similar to those conditions of when the memory was stored, for instance if retrieval cues are acoustic then an acoustic task is performed better

Question 28

What is the evaluation of the LOP model?

Answer 28

Inadequate definition of depth

Difference between incidental and intentional learning