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
What’s the duration of storage in the sensory register
Less than 1 second
What type of coding is there in the short term memory
Acoustic
What is the capacity of the short-term memory
7 + - 2
What’s the duration of the storage in the short-term memory
Up to 30 seconds
What type of coding is there in the long-term memory
Semantic
What is the capacity of the long-term memory
Unlimited
What’s the duration of the storage in the long-term memory
A lifetime
What is a false memory
When you remember something that hasn’t actually happened
What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s study
To see a false memories could be created
What was the method of Loftus and Palmer’s study
Each participant was asked to recall each story and then write down what they remembered about each event
What is context
Contacts is the situation in which something happens context can act as a cuter report information which makes memory more accurate
What is episodic memory
Memory of your own experiences they are personal to you and are time stamped
What is semantic memory
Memory of facts and meaning like an encyclopedia not personal to you
Procedural memory
Memory of complex skilled muscle memory these are often hard to explain
what is the multi store model of memory
a representation of how memory works. it describes how information moves from one store to another.
what does the multi store model of memory state?
states that there are different memory stores that are completely independant to one another
what is an evaluated strength of the multi store model of memory
there are supporting studies
a case study on a boy with epilepsy who underwent brain surgery. the procedure went wrong and he became unable to form new memories. he could not store information in the LTM nor could he access memories in the LTM. This supports the multi store model because it shows that the two stores are different otherwise they both would have been damaged
what is an evaluated weakness of the multi store model of memory
fails to explain how we manipulate information in our STM. other researchers have come up with new theories such as the WMM. this states that information in our STM is directed to other systems in order to be manipulated. The MSM cannot explain this therefore making it a weakness of the theory
what was the aim of baddley’s study of encoding
to see how information is coded in the STM and the LTM
what was the method of baddley’s study of encoding
gave participents a list of words to remember
* 1: words acoustically similar
* 2: words acoustically dissimilar
* 3: words semantically similar
* 4: words semantically dissimilar
participents were shown the lists of words and asked to recall them once from the STM and once from the LTM in the correct order
what were the results of baddley’s study of encoding
when asked to recall words from the STM performance was worse with words acoustically similar. when asked to recall from LTM performance was worse with words semantically similar
what was the conclusion for baddley’s study of encoding
Information is encoded acoustically in the STM and semantically in the LTM
what is a negative evaluative point for baddley’s study of encoding
not genralisable : we cannot say for sure that the wider population would act in the same way because baddley used students therefore the results cannot be applied to everyday life
what is a positive evaluative point for baddley’s study of encoding
reduced order effects because participents only took part in one condidtion of the IV there is also a reduced chance of demand characteristics because it is unlikely that the participents will be able to guess the aim of the study
what was the aim of murdocks study
to see if the position of a word in a list affects its chance of being remembered
what the method for murdocks study
103 participents were tested on 20 word lists each containing 10-40 words. all words were different. participents were asked to recall the words
what were the results for murdocks study
words at the start and end of the list were remembered the best - primary and recency effect
what is the first negative evaluative point for murdocks study
not genralisable : we cannot say for sure that the wider population would act in the same way because murdock used students therefore the results cannot be applied to everyday life
what was the second negative evaluative point for murdocks study
unreliable - participents took part in several tests meaning order effects such as the fatigue effect will be present. this leads to inaccurate results because there is a higher chance that participents will work out the aim of the study therefore demonstrating demand characteristics
what is the first negative evaluative point for bartlets war of the ghosts study
not genralisable : we cannot say for sure that the wider population would act in the same way because bartlett used students therefore the results cannot be applied to everyday life
what was the second negative evaluative point for bartlets war of the ghosts study
unreliable - participents took part in several tests meaning order effects such as the fatigue effect will be present. this leads to inaccurate results because there is a higher chance that participents will work out the aim of the study therefore demonstrating demand characteristics
what is one positive evaluative point for the theory of reconstructive memory
wide range of supporting evidence E.G WOTG has found that people do reconstruct memories based on what they think should have/ could have happened
what is one negative evaluative point for the theory of reconstructive memory
has limitations beciase it explains how memories change but fails to explain how the memories are stored and retrieved, the MSM however does explain these basic memory processes
what is one positive evaluative point for Mc Geoch and Mc Donalds study
supporting evidence - there has been more research into interference supporting this study. it has application in court as eye witnesses testimonies are not taken as 100% accurate because there is a possibility of the memory being interfered with other memories.
what is one negaitve evaluative point for Mc Geoch and Mc donalds study
order effects - study used repeated measures design as participents took part in all conditions this could lead to order effects making the results innaccurate
what were the results of loftus and palmers study
25% of participents recalled the false story
what was the conclusion for loftus and palmers study
research suggests that just imagining an event has the potential to create and implant a false memory
what is one negative evaluative point for loftus and palmers study
not generalisable - study used 21 females and only 3 males meaning that it cannot accurately be generalised to males
what is one positive evaluative point for loftus and palmers study
research into false memories has infleuenced the court system in the UK as eye witness reports are not primarily used anymore. this shows how useful the research is
