Memory P1 Flashcards

Question

Evaluation of the Types of LTM (pros)

Answer 1

PROS: 1) evidence support = Clive Wearing case study shows that there are different types of LTM. His semantic and procedural memory was intact but his episodic memory was severely damaged (ie forgot family events, when he last saw his wife). 2) real life application ; cog training as a treatment = If we can distinguish different types of LTM it enables treatments. Belleville et al -> EM improved in older ppl who had mild cognitive impairment that received cog training>those without. Therefore knowledge of this area has green useful and beneficial to society.

Answer 2

CONS: 1) Cohen and Squire = Division of LTM into 3 is too complex (only need 2). Claimed the episodic and semantic memory was too similar and should acc be split into procedural ( non-declarative) and declarative. 2) evidence based on case studies = Clive Wearing is a unique individual therefore cannot be generalised to wider population that there are different types of LTM for everyone. Therefore. further research is needed.

Answer 3

Proactive interference -> when older memories disrupt the recall of new memories. (e.g memory of an old phone number disrupts attempts to recall new one). Retroactive interference -> when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories. (e.g memory of a new car registration prevents recall of previous one)

Answer 4

- interference (retro pro) - retrieval failure (context and state)

Answer 5

1) McGeoch + McDonald - studied retroactive interference - ps had to learn a list of words until 100% accurate - then, learnt a new list 6 Groups: 1-> synonyms 2 -> antonyms 3 -> unrelated 4 -> nonsense syllables 5 -> 3 digit numbers 6 -> no new list ...then had to recall original list. = Found that the synonym group produced the worst recall. Therefore, retroactive interference exists!😊 Issue -> low ecological validity/too artificial -> does not replicate real life tasks, does not explain cognitive process 2) Schmidt et al (strength of interference) - found a positive correlation between number of times a person had moved house outside the same area + the number of street names forgotten

Answer 6

Context-dependent forgetting -> when environmental cues are different, making recall difficult. State-dependent forgetting -> when your internal environment is different (emotions,drunk vs sober), making recall difficult.

Answer 7

Godden and Baddeley - context-dependent forgetting - 18 divers learn a list of 36 unrelated words 4 conditions: a) learn on beach/recall on beach b) learn on beach/recall underwater c) learn underwater/recall underwater d) learn underwater/recall on beach =Found more words were recalled when in the same environment for learning and recalling the list. Therefore, context-dependent forgetting is evidenced here. 2) Carter and Cassaday - state-dependent forgetting - gave ps anti-histamines (make you drowsy but cure hayfever) - drowsiness caused a diff internal state - learn a list of words 4 conditions: a) learnt on drug/recalled on drug b) learnt on drug/recalled not on drug c) learnt not on drug/ recalled on drug d) learnt not on drug/ recalled not on drug =Found that mismatch between internal states made recalling the list of words worse. Therefore, state-dependent forgetting is supported here.

Answer 8

leading questions post-event discussion anxiety.

Answer 9

=Anxiety having a negative effect on recall procedure : - exposed to one of two conditions; 1) low anxiety -> overhead a discussion in a lab about equipment failure, man emerged holding a pen with grease on hands. 2) high anxiety -> overhead a hostile discussion between ppl in a lab, glass smashing , chairs crashing then a man emerged holding a paper knife covered in blood. Then they were given 50 photos and asked to identify which person emerged from the lab findings: -pen -> identified person 49% of the time -knife -> identified person 33% of the time -led to the Tunnel Theory/weapon focus -> argues fear/anxiety induced from the sight of a weapon narrows focus and leads to … a) accurate recall of central ideas (knife) b) less accurate recall of peripheral details (the man).

Answer 10

1) Lab based / Field experiment = Particpants may have been expecting something to occur and therefore displayed demand characteristics. Findings lacked ecological validity, meaning it was hard to determine how anxiety affects eyewitnesses to recall for real events. 2) May test suprise> anxiety = People may focus on the weapon, not dude being scared, but because they are surprised. Pickle’s Study conducted an experiment, using scissors handgun, a Wallet and a raw chicken in a hairdressing video. Eyewitnesses recollection was significantly lower in the unusual conditions (handgun and chicken). Due to surprise! 3) No protection from harm -> forced anxiety when not necessary Pros: practical application can establish cause and effect

Answer 11

= Anxiety having a positive effect on recall procedure: - questioned 110 witnesses about real life bank robberies 2 groups: 1) high anxiety group (employees) -> directly threatened 2) low anxiety group (bystanders) -> indirectly involved findings: - those directly affected (high anx) = better recall > indirectly affected (low anx) conc: - Therefore, people (especially victims) are good at remembering highly stressful events if they occur IRL > artificial settings; suggesting that high-level anxiety enhances recall.

Answer 12

Pros: 1) high ecological validity = Real life bank robbery so displays accurate/valid findings as represents real life. Therefore, generalisable to real life. 2) real life application =Police officers are likely to want eyewitness interviews from cashiers/employees>bystanders due to this research. Cons: 1) unethical -> no protection from harm (putting them in an uncomfortable recall of traumatic events) 2) individual differences -> participant variables (ie employees may be given training for these situations, so more likely to remain calm and have better recall due to the training, not the anxiety). Therefore, difficult to establish cause and effect. 3) only applicable to bank robberies

Answer 13

- low levels of anxiety = lower performance on recall - memory can get significantly better if anxiety rises - reaches an optimum point, as your more aware - then, recall begins to decrease as you get overly anxious, as you become too alert and cannot focus properly

Answer 14

procedure: Showed video of a car accident and asked one of two following questions… 1) How fast were the cars going when they smashed 2) How fast were the cars going when they contacted. findings: The adjective had an effect on speed estimation. 1) ‘smashed’ -> highest estimate 40.8 mph 2) ‘contacted’ -> produced the lowest estimate 3) A week later asked if they had seen any broken glass =Those in the ‘smashed’ group were consistently more likely to answer ‘yes’ (incorrect) CONCLUSION : People’s memory can be easily influenced by changing a single word in a question, altering their memories of details when asked at a later date.

Answer 15

Pro -> Demonstrates the fallibility of EWT due to leading questions. Therefore, having real life application as they have led to improved police interviewing strategies, whereby police us open questioning to elicit a more accurate recall of an event. Con -> Lack ecological validity. = Lab, so artificial environment, increasing demand characteristics. Watched a video of a car accident (low anxiety), p’s may recall better/worse if they had experienced a real accident (due to anxiety).

Answer 16

procedure: -matched pairs design -each person watched the same crime video (but filmed from different points of view) -both participants then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a recall test - a control group did not have the opportunity for any post-event discussion findings: -71% mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they did not see in the video, but picked up during discussion. - control group : 0% mistake CONCLUSION: EW often go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right and they are wrong. (memory conformity). Memory contamination = where the new info from post event discussion has altered or distorted the original memory

Answer 17

Pro-> Controlled = All watched same video of a crime (standardised) -> empirically observe the effects of the video on recall accuracy. Provides clear evidence for how post-event discussion can influence eye-witness testimony. Pro-> Practical application = As post-event discussion have been shown to contaminate an EW memory, police now ensure EWs do not have the opportunity to discuss what they saw, in order to obtain more accurate testimonies. Pro->matched pairs design (controlled ev's) less chance of invidual diff between conditions. Con - > Lab = Demand characteristics and so responses given may not reflect the same levels of memory contamination which might be seen in real life events; where the implication of giving ‘inaccurate’ info are greater?

Answer 18

A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them achieve more accurate memories. It uses 4 main techniques… 1) Report everything -> interviewer encourages the reporting of every single detail, even if it seems irrelevant (such detail may trigger other memories). 2) Reinstate the context-> interviewee mentally reinstates the environmental and personal context of the incident, may recall the scene, weather, what you were thinking and feelin (based on retrieval failure -> cues may trigger the recall). 3) Reverse the order-> interviewer tries alternative ways through the timeline of the incident (reduces effect of schema filling in gaps on recall). 4) Change perspective-> interviewee describes event from different viewpoint (prevent effect of schemas on recall)

Answer 19

- no distractions - active listening (from interviewer) - eye contact - no interruption - social interaction - let witnesses do most of talking - remain fluidity - allow them to stop naturally - make them slow down and focus on feelings

Answer 20

1) support of effectiveness = a meta analysis by Kohnken et al combined data from 55 studies comparing cognitive interviews with standard police interviews. Found the cognitive interview gave an average of 41% increase in actual information. Therefore CI are effective on increasing witnesses recall of information. 2) Geiselman (1985) - Participants viewed a film of a violent crime -48 hours interviewed by a policeman using one of three methods… a) the cognitive interview b) standard interview used by the Los Angeles Police c) interview using hypnosis. CI -> 41 AROUND recall accurately Standard -> 29 Hypnosis -> 38 Conclusion: The cognitive interview leads to better memory of events, with witnesses able to recall more relevant information compared with a traditional interview method.

Answer 21

1) Not all elements are useful = Milne and Bull found that each of the four techniques used alone produce more information than the standard police interview. But they also found that using a combination of report everything and reinstate the context produce better record than any of the elements or combination of them. Confirming police officer suspicions that some aspects of CI are more useful than others. This cast some doubt on the credibility of the overall overall covenant of interview. 2) Time consuming = More time is needed to establish rapport with a witness and allow them to relax. It so require special training and many forces do not have the resources to provide more than a few hours.