Memory - Paper 1

Question 1

What is coding?
What is capacity?

Answer 1

1) Format in which information is stored in the various memory stores.
2) Amount of info that can be held in a memory store at a given time.

Question 2

What is duration?
What is short term memory?
What is long term memory?

Answer 2

1) The lengths of time information can be held in a memory store.
2) Limited capacity memory store. Coding is mainly acoustic, capacity 5-9 items on average, duration18-30 seconds.
3) Permanent memory store. Coding is mainly semantic, it has unlimited capacity and can store memories for up to a lifetime.

Question 3

Short term memory:
1) Coding & study.
2) Capacity & study.
3) Duration & study.

Long term memory:
1) Coding & study.
2) Capacity & study.
3) Duration & study.

Answer 3

1) Acoustic, Baddeley.
2) 7+/-2, Jacobs, Miller.
3) 18-30 seconds, Peterson & Peterson.

1) Semantic, Baddeley.
2) Unlimited, no study.
3) Unlimited, Bahrick.

Question 4

What was Baddeley’s:
1) aims?
2) procedure?
3) findings?
4) conclusions?

Answer 4

1) research into coding of STM & LTM.
2) 4 sets of word lists - acoustically & semantically similar & dissimilar. Recall order immediately to assess STM and after 20 minutes to assess LTM.
3) STM worst= acoustically similar.
LTM worst= semantically similar.
4) Suggests STM coded acoustically & LTM semantically.

Question 5

What was Jacobs’:
1) aims?
2) procedure?
3) findings?
4)conclusions?

Answer 5

1) Research capacity of STM.
2) Digit span. Items remember in sequence, repeat in order.
3) mean digit spam is 9.3 items, letter = 7.3 items.
4) memory can hold 7-9 items.

Question 6

What was Miller’s:
1) aims?
2) procedure?
3) findings?
4)conclusions?

Answer 6

1) Research capacity of STM.
2) Things come in 7s, days, music notes, sins. Used digit span technique, “chunked” items into groups e.g. words and sets of numbers.
3) people recall 5 words as well as they can recall 5 letters.
4) use ‘magical number 7’ term to describe capacity of STM.

Question 7

What was Peterson and Peterson’s:
1) aims?
2) procedure?
3) findings?
4)conclusions?

Answer 7

1) Research duration of STM.
2) 24 students, 8 trials, given a consonant syllable/trigram and three-digit number. Count backwards to prevent rehearsal. Stopped after either 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds, retention interval.
3) STM lasts 18 seconds , very few correct recall.
4) STM has short duration unless rehearsed.

Question 8

What was Bahrick’s:
1) aims?
2) procedure?
3) findings?
4)conclusions?

Answer 8

1) Research duration of LTM.
2) Recall of people gone to school- photo recognition (50 photos from yearbook) & free recall (names of graduating class).
3) 15 yr- 90% accuracy photo recognition who graduated within, 60% for free.
48 yr- 70% photo recognition, 30% free recall.
4)

Question 9

The nature of memory (capacity, coding & duration) limitations? (5)

Answer 9

1) Baddeley’s study did not use meaningful material, no personal meaning to participants. When info is meaningful, use semantic coding even in STM.
2) Jacob’s study was conducted long time ago early research such lacks control of extraneous variables -> distraction.
3) Miller’s research may have oversimplified capacity in STM. Cowan (2001) reviewed other research and concluded that the capacity of STM was only 4 chunks which is lower than Miller’s estimate of 7 +/- 2.
This means the accepted capacity of STM may be inaccurate.
4) Peterson and Peterson’s study used artificial stimuli. Consonant syllables/trigrams for example, YCG, not real life memories, no validity.

Question 10

The nature of memory (capacity, coding & duration) strength?

Answer 10

External validity- Bahrick’s, using real-life meaningful memories means that the findings are more likely to accurately represent memory in the real world.

Question 11

What is the multi-store model of memory?

Answer 11

Representation of how memory works (3 stores) : sensory register, STM & LTM- how info is transferred from 1 to another, how it is remembered & forgotten.

Question 12

What is the sensory register?
Features of sensory register:
1) coding 2) capacity 3) duration.

Answer 12

Memory stores for 5 different senses.

1) iconic (see), echoic (hear), haptic (feel), gustatory (taste) & olfactory (smell).
2) high.
3) less than 1/2 a second.

Question 13

Describe the multi-store model of memory (5).

Answer 13

1) stimulus from environment.
2) sensory register picks up 1/5 senses.
3) goes to STM where can be remembered for 18-30 secs.
4) can go to maintenance rehearsal loop where constantly remembered until becomes prolonged maintenance rehearsal.
5) goes to LTM where can be retrieved back to STM & remembered.

Question 14

Who developed the multi-store model of memory & what did they say about it?

Answer 14

Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) - describes a flow between 3 permanent stroes of memory (SR, STM & LTM).

Question 15

What are the strengths of the multi-store memory model? (2)

Answer 15

1) Research to support distinct STM & LTM stores. Brain-damaged KF’s STM was destroyed, LTM was fine.
2) Face validity- makes sense memories are encoded semantically in LTM. E.g. recall general messages but not all words.

Question 16

What are the limitations of the multi-store memory model? (2)

Answer 16

1) Artificial stimuli- Peterson & Peterson used nonsense trigrams, doesn’t reflect real life memory.
2) Evidence to suggest there are multiple STMs & LTMs. K.F study (STM- recall if seen not spoken), Clive Wearing (LTM- can’t recall children’s lives- semantic- could recall how to play piano).

Question 17

What is episodic memory?
What is involved in it?

Answer 17

1) LTM store for personal memories.
2) Involved: prefrontal cortex - initial coding. Neocortex and hippocampus - consolidation and storage.

Question 18

What is semantic memory?
What is involved in it?

Answer 18

1) LTM store for knowledge of world.
2) Involved: hippocampus, frontal lobes and temporal lobes.

Question 19

What is procedural memory?

Answer 19

1) LTM store for personal events.
2) Involved: neocortex including the primary motor cortex, cerebellum and prefrontal cortex.

Question 20

What are the strengths of long term memory? (2)

Answer 20

1) Evidence from brain scans show different types of memory stored in different parts of the brain. Tulving found episodic and semantic memory both recalled from PFC - left PFC involved in semantic memories & right for episodic memories. Supports that there is physical reality different types of LTM.
2) Clinical evidence support view that there are different types of LTM. HM learn new procedural memories, not episodic or semantic memories. Got better at tasks (drawing, reflection in mirror, unable to recall doing it previously. One store can be damaged but other stores are unaffected.
3)

Question 21

What are the limitations of long term memory? (2)

Answer 21

1) Serious lack of control with brain damaged patients as we can’t see what they were like before injury. Memory structures don’t represent those of “normal people”.
2) Argument about whether episodic and semantic memory should be separate. Cohen and Squire disagree with Tulving’s division of LTM into three types, instead arguing there should be two - declarative (semantic and episodic) vs. non-declarative (procedural)- difficult to separate, both stored in the prefrontal cortex.

Question 22

What is the working memory model?

Answer 22

A representation of STM is a dynamic processor of different types of info using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system.

Question 23

What is the central executive?
Coding & capacity?

Answer 23

Manages attention and controls info from the phonological Loop and visuospatial Sketchpad.
Coding- all sensory forms.
Capacity- 1 strand of info.

Question 24

What is the phonological loop?
Coding & capacity?

Answer 24

Temporarily retains language-based info. Consists of an articulatory rehearsal process ((‘inner voice’) of language, maintenance rehearsal, language presented visually, converted to phonological states, subvocal repetition) and phonological store ((‘inner ear’), holds auditory speech info and order it was heard).
Coding- auditory.
Capacity- anything that can be spoken in 2 secs.

Question 25

What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Coding & capacity?

Answer 25

Temporarily retains visual and spatial info. Consists of visual cache, stores visual info about form and colour; the inner scribe, spatial relationships, and the arrangement of objects.
Coding- visual & spatial.
Capacity- 3/4 objects.

Question 26

What is the best episodic buffer?
Coding & capacity?

Answer 26

A later addition, facilitates communication between components of the WMM and long-term memory, integrates info other stores, maintains sense of time sequencing.
Coding- all sensory forms.
Capacity- 4 chunks of info.

Question 27

What is the difference between the central executive and the episodic buffer?

Answer 27

CE is “Sorter”, info arrives after CE paid attention, then controls where info is going - PL or VSS.
EB is link between the CE and LTM, before introduced, no way info from the LTM could enter the WMM. Also holds info together and remembers the sequence of info.

Question 28

What is the ‘dual-task technique’?
Which observations provided evidence for the ‘dual-task technique’?

Answer 28

WMM stemmed from research using a “dual-task technique, performance measured as participants perform 2 tasks simultaneously.

If one store utilised for both tasks, then task performance is poorer than when completed separately, store’s limited capacity.
If the tasks require different stores, performance would be unaffected when performing them simultaneously.

Question 29

Strengths of the working memory model (2).

Answer 29

1) Shallice and Warrington’s study of patient KF, suffered brain damage. After damage, KF had poor STM ablity for verbal info but process visual info normally - difficulty with sounds but recall letters and digits, phonological loop had been damaged, other areas of memory intact.
2) Brain scanning studies support the WMM. Braver et al (1997) gave participants tasks involved the CE while a brain scan. Greater activity in left PFC. Difficulty increased, activity in the left PFC also increased. Makes sense as demands on CE increase, work harder fulfil function- biological basis to CE increasing validity.

Question 30

Limitations of the working memory model (2).

Answer 30

1) Cognitive psychologists, lack of clarity over the CE- part of model, not explained. The CE needs clearly specified than just attentional process.
2) Case studies patients brain damage, treat with caution. Evidence may not be reliable, concerns unique cases, had traumatic experiences. behaviour before brain damage not recorded- can’t compare.

Question 31

What is the interference theory?

Answer 31

Forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted/forgotten.

Question 32

What is proactive interference?

Answer 32

Forgetting occurs when older memories already stored, disrupt the recall of newer memories- forgetting is greater when the memories are similar.

old info prevents recall of new info

Question 33

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 33

Forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored- forgetting is greater when the memories are similar.

new info prevents recall of old info

Question 34

What is the aim of McGeoch and McDonald’s research?

Answer 34

McGeoch and McDonald investigated retroactive interference.

Question 35

What is the procedure of McGeoch and McDonald’s research?

Answer 35

Learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy. Then learn another list of words: 6 conditions, each different second word list to remember.
Group 1 = synonyms (meaning same as original list).
Group 2 = antonyms (meaning opposite of original list).
Group 3 = unrelated words.
Group 4 = non-sense syllables.
Group 5 = 3 digit numbers.
Group 6 = no new list.

Question 36

What are the findings of McGeoch and McDonald’s research?

Answer 36

Recall of the original list was dependent on the nature of the second list. The most similar material, group 1 synonyms, produced the worst recall.

Question 37

What are the conclusions of McGeoch and McDonald’s research?

Answer 37

This shows that interference is strongest when the memories are similar.

Question 38

What are the strengths of the interference theory? (2)

Answer 38

1) Support, retroactive interference. McGeoch and McDonald. Interference is strongest when memories are similar. Interference valid explanation for forgetting.
2) Support interference theory, everyday situations. Baddeley and Hitch asked 9 rugby players to try remember names of teams they played in a season, week by week. Most players miss out a game at some point, so the ‘last team’ was different for each player- accurate recall didn’t depend on how long ago the matches took place, but number of matches played.

Question 39

What are the limitations of the interference theory? (2)

Answer 39

1) Greater chance interference demonstrated in lab experiments, than in real life- artificial stimuli. Learning lists of words is a common task in memory studies, not same as remembering in everyday life. Cannot be generalised to everyday situations.
2) Experience of learning info for study on interference doesn’t represent everyday life.
Learn 1 list of words and then learn a 2nd one 20 minutes later. Recall of list may be a few mins later, max amount of interference, reduces applicability.

Question 40

What is retrieval failure theory?

Answer 40

A form of forgetting, occurs when don’t have necessary cues to access memory (available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided).

Question 41

What is a cue?

Answer 41

A “trigger” of info, may be meaningful or indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning. Can be external (environmental) or internal (mood or state).

Question 42

What is the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 42

Recall of info is best when there’s a large overlap between the
principle info available at time of retrieval (cues) and info in the memory trace (from learning).

Question 43

What is context and state dependent forgetting?

Answer 43

A form of forgetting where recall occurs:
1) Context- in a different external setting to the coding (place).
2) State- in a different internal setting to coding (mood).

Question 44

What is the aim of Godden and Baddeley’s research?
What is the procedure of Godden and Baddeley’s research?

Answer 44

1) To investigate cue-dependent forgetting.
2) Divers learned a list of words underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land (4 different combos).

Question 45

What are the findings of Godden and Baddeley’s research?

Answer 45

In condition 1 and 4, where learning and recall conditions matched, recall was 40% higher, than in the non-matching conditions.

Question 46

What are the conclusions of Godden and Baddeley’s research?

Answer 46

External cues available at learning help to ‘trigger’ memories if are also there at recall.

Question 47

What is the aim of Carter and Cassaday’s research?
What is the procedure of Carter and Cassaday’s research?

Answer 47

1) To investigate state-dependent forgetting.
2) Antihistamine drugs given- mild sedative, can feel slightly drowsy. Then learn lists of words & passages of prose and recall the info (4 combos).

Question 48

What are the findings of Carter and Cassaday’s research?

Answer 48

in conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse.

Question 49

What are the conclusions of Carter and Cassaday’s research?

Answer 49

Internal cues available at learning help to “trigger” memories if they are also there at recall.

Question 50

What are the strengths of retrieval failure theory? (2)

Answer 50

1) Range of lab, field and natural experiments support. Godden and Baddeley (1975)- context, Carter and Cassaday (1998)- state.
2) Real life applications Baddeley’s research- context dependent forgetting explains a common occurrence we all experience in everyday life, forgetting when the environment changes.

Question 51

What are the limitations of retrieval failure theory? (2)

Answer 51

1) It may be impossible to test context forgetting. Cue produces the successful recall of the word, assume cue must have been encoded at time of learning. If cue doesn’t produce recall, assume it wasn’t encoded, just assumptions. Low internal validity.
2) Research conducted to support this is very different to how this type of forgetting occurs in the real world. Baddeley argued that context effects are not actually very strong in real life. Contexts must be very different before an effect is seen e.g. under water and on land. Learning & recalling in 2 different rooms doesn’t produce same degree of forgetting.

Question 52

What is an eyewitness testimony?

Answer 52

The evidence given in court or a police investigation, by someone who has witnessed a crime or accident.

Question 53

What is misleading information?

Answer 53

Incorrect info given to eyewitness following an event. Gives wrong impression- can be post-event discussion or from leading questions.

Question 54

What is a post-event discussion?

Answer 54

It occurs when there’s more than 1 witness to an event. May discuss what they’ve seen with others. Repeat interviewing also creates this, influence accuracy of recall of event.

Question 55

Experiment 1:
What was Loftus and Palmer’s aim?
What was Loftus and Palmer’s procedure?

Answer 55

1) Effect of leading Q’s on eyewitness accounts.
2) 45 American students, 5 groups. Watched a vid of a car crash, answered questionnaire- specific Q about speed. Manipulated verb (Simon Cowel acronym).

Question 56

Experiment 1:
What were Loftus and Palmer’s findings?
What were Loftus and Palmer’s conclusions?

Answer 56

1) Found the estimated speed was affected by the verb they used.
S- 40.8. C- 39.3. H- 38.1. B- 34.0. C- 31.8.
2) Results clearly showed accuracy was affected by leading Q’s & a single word can significantly affect the accuracy of judgements.

Question 57

Experiment 2:
What was Loftus and Palmer’s aim?
What was Loftus and Palmer’s procedure?

Answer 57

1) Effects of leading Q’s on later memory.
2) 150 students, 3 even groups, watched a 1 min video depicting a car accident and then given a questionnaire.
Group 1: “How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” Group 2: “hit each other?” Group 3 (control) not asked the speed the vehicles. 1 week later participants returned & asked a Q’s about accident- critical Q, “Did you see any broken glass?” (wasn’t any).

Question 58

Experiment 2:
What were Loftus and Palmer’s findings?
What were Loftus and Palmer’s conclusions?

Answer 58

1) Verb smashed- faster speeds and broken glass and this Q led to reports of seeing something that was not present.
Smashed: 16/50. Hit: 7/50. Control: 6/50.
2) Memory of original event distorted by Q used one week earlier, demonstrating power of leading Q’s.

Question 59

What is the response bias explanation?

Answer 59

When the wording of the question has no real impact on the participants memories, it just influences how they decide to answer.

Question 60

What is the substitution explanation?

Answer 60

The wording of a question can actually change the participant’s memory. Loftus’ second experiment (broken glass).

Question 61

What was Gabbert et al’s aim?
What was Gabbert et al’s procedure?

Answer 61

1) Effect of post-event discussion accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
2) 60 students University of Aberdeen and 60 older adults. Watched a vid of a girl stealing money from a wallet, filmed from different points. Either tested individually (control group) or pairs (co-witness group) on recall. Co-witness group were told they had watched same vid, but had seen different perspectives of it, only 1 person witnessed girl stealing. Participants discussed the crime together.
All completed a questionnaire, testing memory of the event.

Question 62

What were Gabbert et al’s findings?
What were Gabbert et al’s conclusions?

Answer 62

1) 71% of witnesses in the co-witness group recalled info they hadn’t seen. Control group didn’t recall any info that they hadn’t seen.
2) Results highlight the issue of post-event discussion and powerful effect can have on accuracy of eyewitness testimony.

Question 63

What are the strengths of Loftus and Palmer’s study? (1)

Answer 63

Control- lab experiment, internal validity.

Question 64

What are the limitations of Loftus and Palmer’s study? (2)

Answer 64

1) Mundane realism- watch video of crash, know ask Q’s so prepare. In real life more passive to these situations.
2) Population validity- only university students used.

Question 65

What are the strengths of Gabbert et al’s study? (2)

Answer 65

1) Population validity- older & younger people, more generalisable.
2) Control- lab experiment, internal validity.

Question 66

What are the limitations of Gabbert et al’s study? (1)

Answer 66

Mundane realism- watched vid of crime, know ask Q’s so prepare. In real life more passive to these situations.

Question 67

What are the strengths of misleading information? (1)

Answer 67

Practical application- Geiselman designed cognitive interview so police avoid leading Q’s.

Question 68

What are the limitations of misleading information? (2)

Answer 68

1) Artificial task- video. Very different from real life witnesses.
2) Demand characteristics- low external validity, Zaragosa and Mcloskey, answers are because think guessed aim of study, susceptible to leading questions.

Question 69

What is anxiety?

Answer 69

Anxiety is a state of emotional & physical arousal. The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension. Physical changes include an increased heart rate & sweatiness.

Question 70

What is negative impact recall?

Answer 70

Loftus proposed weapon focus effect, suggests the anxiety caused as result of witnessing weapon focuses attention away from potential perpetrators & reduces accuracy of eyewitness testimony.

Question 71

What was Johnson and Scott’s aim & procedure? (1976)

Answer 71

Negative impact recall.
They invited participants to a lab, told to wait in the reception area. A receptionist, excused herself to run an errand, leaving participant alone. Used an independent groups design, participants exposed to one of two conditions.
‘no-weapon’ condition- participants overheard argument in lab. Individual left lab & walked past participant holding a pen, with his hands covered in grease.
‘weapon’ condition- overheard same argument & the sound of breaking glass. Individual walking with a bloodied letter opener.

Question 72

What were Johnson & Scott’s findings & conclusions? (1976)

Answer 72

Both groups shown 50 photographs & asked to identify person who had left lab (informed that the suspect may/may not be present in photographs). Those who witnessed the man holding pen correctly identified the target 49% of time, compared to those who had witness the man holding a knife,
correctly identified the target 33% of the time.
Lottus claimed participants who exposed to knife had higher levels of anxiety & more likely to focus attention on weapon & not face of target, phenomenon known as weapon focus effect.
Therefore, the anxiety associated with seeing a knife reduces the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.

Question 73

What were Yuille & Cutshall’s aim & procedure?

Answer 73

Positive Impact on Recall.
Yuille & Cutshall conducted study into a real-life shooting. Shop owner shot a thief dead. 21 witnesses, 13 agreed to take part. Interviews happened 4-5 months after incident & compared to original EW interviews to police at time of shooting. Accuracy determined by the number of details reported in each account. The witnesses rated stress levels at the time of incident on 7-point scale & asked if had any emotional problems since event.

Question 74

What were Yuille & Cutshall’s findings & conclusions?

Answer 74

The witnesses very accurate in accounts & was little change in amount of accuracy after 5 months. Those participants who reported highest levels of stress, most accurate. 88% compare to 75% for the less-stressed group. Suggests anxiety can improve the accuracy
of EWT.

Question 75

What is the inverted- U theory?

Answer 75

Relationship between emotional arousal & performance looks like an inverted U. Lower levels of anxiety = lower recall accuracy. Memory, more accurate as level of anxiety increases.
However, comes a point where optimal level of anxiety is reached. Point of maximum accuracy. If an evewitness experiences more stress than this, then recall of event suffers drastic decline (decreases).

Question 76

What is the inverted- U problem?
How is the inverter- U problem solved?

Answer 76

1) Problem- many lab-based & real-life studies of anxiety only compare high & low anxiety groups. Inverted-U theory can’t be properly tested unless use a moderate anxiety group as well.
2) Parker et al (2006) overcame problem by interviewing people who been affected by destruction brought by Hurricane Andrew in the United States in 1992. Researchers defined anxiety in terms of amount of damage participants suffered homes- found there was a link between level of recall & amount of damage/anxiety experienced.

Question 77

What are the strengths of anxiety? (1)

Answer 77

1) Real-world application- understanding effect of anxiety on accuracy of EWT could help to determine credibility of a witness. Know there is optimal level of anxiety which will produce max accuracy. The findings of this research in this area are useful for those responsible for questioning witnesses.

Question 78

What are the limitations of anxiety? (2)

Answer 78

1) Simplistic explanation. The inverted-U explanation only focuses on the physiological aspects of anxiety. It says it’s the physical change to body & Brian during stressful incidents that effect accuracy of EWT. Anxiety is more complex & has more components than this.
2) Ethical issues to consider in this research. Creating anxiety in participants (lab experiments) is risky & unethical as psychological harm purely for the purposes of research. Doesn’t challenge findings of research (Johnson and Scott’s), but does question need for it.

Question 79

What did Geiselman & colleagues (1985) discover about standard police interview’s?

Answer 79

Methodology (asking Q’s that are relevant) could negatively impact eyewitnesses recall accuracy of crimes. Police questioning techniques often prompted: regular jumps between memory, event recall (not in order) & false memories due to leading questions.

Question 80

What are the 4 techniques included in the cognitive interview & why are they done?

Answer 80

1) Report everything (include all details) because may be important & trigger other info.
2) Reinstate context (return to original scene or imagine environment) because relates to context-dependant remembering.
3) Reverse the order (recall in different order) because prevent reporting expectations of how events must have happened.
4) Change perspective (recall from other’s perspective) because disrupt effect of expectations & effect of schema.

Question 81

What did Fisher et al (1987) discover?

Answer 81

Additional elements- social dynamics of interactions:
1) reducing anxiety.
2) minimise distractions.
3) speak slowly.
4) ask open-ended Q’s.