Memory - Paper 1 Flashcards
Define recency effect
Remembering items that come at the end of the list best
What is the primary effect
You remember things at the start of the list best
What is the serial reposition curve
Depending on the position of the word in the list infleuences if it will be remembered
What was the aim of Murdoch’s study
To work out how much participants would remember based on the position of the word in a list
What was the aim of Bartlett’s war of the Ghosts study
To investigate how memory for an unfamiliar story is affected by cultural expectations and to see how memory is reconstructed
Who proposed the theory of reconstructive memory
Bartlett
What was the method of Bartlett’s war of the ghost study
Showing participants and unfamiliar story then asking them to recall it around 15 minutes later he then showed the new version to another student and asked him to record a short time later he then repeated it with further participants
What were the results of Bartlett’s war of the ghost study
He found that participants remembered the key themes in the story however the story was shortened when it was retold and some parts were forgotten they were found to have altered the story to make it fit into their own experiences and Culture
What did Bartlett find present in his war of the Ghosts study
The primary and recency effect
What is reconstructive memory
Reconstructive memory is a theory proposed by bartlett he thought that memory was not just a stored copy of facts he thought instead in chain we change our memories to fit in with what we already know however we think we are remembering exactly what happened
What is effort after meaning
In the war of the ghost study Bartlett discovered memory is not always accurate he said memory is an active process that involves effort after meaning this means we make something unfamiliar make sense we tried to fit what we remember with what we already know and understand about the world
Interference
When two memories compete with one another one memory may prevent us from accessing another
What was the aim of MC geoch and McDonald’s study
To test if learning two lists of words makes for calling the first list of words harder does it matter what the second task is the study is aim to see what the second activity has on the accuracy of memory
What were MC geoch and McDonald testing for in their study
Interference
What was the method of MC geoch McDonald’s study
12 participants how to learn a list of 10 words until they cover remember them with 100% accuracy they will then told memorize a new list a short while later they were told to record the first list of words
Results of mc geoch and McDonald’s study
When the participants were then asked to record the original list of words their performance depended on the nature of the second list the most similar material produced the least accurate recall
Define encoding
When information comes into a memory it needs to be changed into a form that the system can cope with so that it can be stored
Define storage
Holding information in the memory system for use at some point in the future
Define retrieval
This refers to recalling information out of storage
Define visual encoding
Memories that are stored visually for example being asked to count the windows on your house
Define acoustic encoding
Some memories are stored in terms of what they sound like for example your favourite song
Define recognition
Retrieving information whilst being given options to choose from
Define free recall
Remember is something without being prompted
Define queued recall
Remembering something after being given a hint or being prompted to know the answer
What type of coding is there in the sensory register
Sense specific
What is the capacity of the sensory register
Very large