Memory - Paper 1 Flashcards
What is coding?
The process of converting information between different forms
Alan Baddley Case Study: How it was carried out
Gave a group of participants a group of words to remember ( acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilarly, semantically similar, semantically dissimilar)
Alan Baddley results:
When they were asked to recall them I’m the same order, in the STM the acoustically similar words were harder to recall. However the LTM (recalling the words after 20 minutes) recalling the semantic words were harder.
Baddley Finding:
Acoustically similarly is coded in STM
Semantically coded is LTM
What is acoustically similar words
Words that sound similar (cat, can, cab)
What are acoustically dissimilar words
Words that sound different ( pit, few, cow)
What is semantically similar words
Words with similar meanings (great, large, big)
What are semantically dissimilar
Words with different meanings (good, high, huge)
What is capacity
The amount of information that can be held in a a memory store
What is duration
The length of time information can be stored memory
What is digit span
How many (items) you can remember in the order correctly
What is the Multi-store model
A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, short term memory and long term memory. It also describes how information is transferred from one store to another.
What is the Sensory register?
Memory store for each of our 5 senses. Vision, hearing.The capacity of sensory registers is huge and information lasts for a very short time.
What is the vision sensory register called
Iconic store
What is the hearing sensory register called
Echoing store
Who created the Multi-store model and what year?
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968,1971)
How is STM coded?
Acoustically coded
Duration of STM
18 seconds - unless it’s rehearsed
Capacity of STM
7+-2
What is Maintenance rehearsal MSM
When we repeat material to ourselves over and over again. This keeps the information in our STM. If we rehearse it long enough it is transferred to LTM
How is LTM coded?
Semantically
Duration of LTM
Lifetime
Capacity of LTM
Unlimited
Case of HM
- HM had severe epillepsy
- Removed Hippocampus
- Had no STM only LTM
How does the Case of HM support the Multi Store Model
it supports the central feature of the model – that there are two separate and independent memory stores, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM).
George Spering (1960)
- Presented 12 letters through a Tachiscope (1/20th) of a second.
- 4/12 remembered on average.
- Believed all 12 were remembered temporarily. PROVES SENSORY REGISTER TEMPORARILY
Murdock (1962)
- Shown a list of words, in a random order
- Have to recall the list of words at the end
- Proved recency effect (many words at the end of the list was recalled)
- Primary effect (words at the middle of the list was recalled worst)
- Proved that rehearsal is needed to transfer to LTM.
- STM is in between 0-18 seconds
Bahrick et al ( 1985)
- High School Graduates had to recall the names/ recognise the faces of their former classmates
- Recognising their faces was better than names
- Proves that LTM and STM is stored separately. ( Also that their is a difference between episodic and semantic memory - not shown in the MSM)
What are the two types of rehearsal in the MSM
Maintenance Rehersal
Elaborative Rehearsal
What is Maintenance Rehearsal
Repeating it over and over
What is elaborative rehearsal
Linking the info to LTM
Who created the Working Memory Model
Baddley + Hitch (1974)
What is the WMM?
Cognitive processing in the STM.
4 components of the WMM
Central Executive
Phonological loop
Visuo spatial sketch pad
Episodic buffer
Difference betweeen WMM and MSM
- WMM believe that the STM is a lot more complex and needs multiple components to transfer info to LTM
Phonological Loop
Processes sound information
What does the phonological loop contain?
Primary acoustic store + Articulatory processes
What is VSS in WMM
Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
what is the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
Codes 4 objects, spatial and visual information
what does the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad contain
Visual cache - passive store to form colour
Inner scribe - active store of spatial relationships
What is the CE in WMM
Central executive
what is the Central executive
Head of the WMM, receiving sense information, filters it and then passes it to the relevant system
what is the Central executive capacity
limited only one object at a time
what is the episodic buffer (WMM)
A general store which holds and combine info from the VSS, PL and CE and LTM
When was the episodic buffer added to the WMM
2000
Validity issues with the WMM
Highly artificial tasks to test it, cannot be related to day to day life.
what is interference theory
we forgot because our long term mementoes are confused/ disrupted by other info when it is coded
proactive interference
old information disrupts new. When old information disrupts when you are trying to learn something new
Retroactive interference
New information disrupts old. interference works backwards
What is a Cue
A “trigger” of information that allows us to access a memory
Who created the Encoding Specificity Principles
Tulving 1983
What is Encoding Specificity Principles
If a cue is going to help us recall information it has to be present at encoding.
Example about a retrieval cue (song)
- Partner proposed a proposal when a certain song when it was playing on the radio, more likely to remember the details of the proposal when the song is playing. ( song is a retrieval cue)
2 pieces of Evidence for the Encoding Specificity Principles
Godden and Baddeley (1975) - Deep sea divers
Carter and Cassaday ( 1998) - Drug experiment
2 Strengths of retrieval failure theory
- Retrieval cues are helpful in remembering things in our everyday lives ( ecological validity)
- Many studies support this theory ( Godden and Baddley)
Limitations of retrieval failure
- the effects of the context is not very strong
- Context effects may only occur in ‘recall tasks’ and not recognition tasks
Interference theory evidence - McGeoch and McDonald what was it?
- 6 lists of words with different attributes
- asked to recall the certain words the synonyms had the worst recall
What did McGeoch and McDonald (1931) discover?
- Interference was stronger when memories were similar
Limitations of the McGeoch and McDonald (1931) study
- Lacks ecological validity. Recall tasks aren’t used on a day to day basis
Baddley and Hitch (interference theory) 1977
- Rugby players were asked to call the names of the teams Rhys they had played
- GOOD ecological validity as it is a real life situation
Baddley and Hitch (interference theory) 1977. Findings
- players who played more games had a poorer recall
What is a eye-witness testimony?
Legal term, refers to the account given by people of an event that they have witnessed.
Two things that can affect eye-witness testimony
Misleading information
Anxiety/ stress
First stage that a eye-witness testimony goes through i
- Witness encodes info into LTM
( could be the event, person and may be partial as the event occurs quickly)
Second stage that a eye-witness testimony goes through i
- Witness retains info for a time. Memories may be lost or modified during retention
Third stage that a eye-witness testimony goes through
Witness retrieves memory from storage. Accuracy of memory may be affected
Three causes of the spread of misleading information
- Eye witness testimony ( inaccuracies can be common and is accountable for 75% of incorrect convictions)
- Leading questions
- Post event discussions
Lotus and Palmer - Leading questions. Aim?
To discover the effect of information received after an event on memory
Lotus and Palmer experiment procedure
45 participants
Clips of the same car accident
Filled out a form with a critical question (independent variable)
Question was worded in 5 different ways ( contacted, hit, bumped, collided and smashed)
Lotus and Palmer findings
The mean estimate of the speed increased depending on the word. Contacted had a mean speed of 31.8 whereas smashed had 40.8
- Wording of the question influences how participants decided to answer
- shows the effect of leading questions
Lotus and Palmer evaluation/ limitations
- People are not good and reporting numerical details (bird 1927)
- Lacks ecological validity as they are watching the car crash on the screen
- Participant variables
What is Post Event discussion
- Co-witnesses discuss an event/ crime which may affect the accuracy of recall
Gabbert et al. 2003 (what is it)
Investigated the effect of post-discussion on the accuracy of eye-witness testimony
Gabbert et al. 2003 procedure
Participants watched a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet
Two groups ( individual + co-witness)
Co-witness group were told they watched the same video ( only one person saw the girl stealing)
Gabbert et al. 2003 findings
- Found that 71% recalled information that they had not actually seen and 60% said they saw the girl commit a crime when they did not see any evidence
- Shows that post event discussion decrease the accuracy on eye witness testimony
Gabbert et al. 2003 - Evaluation ( limitations)
- Lacks ecological validity
- demand characteristics
- Participant variables
What is anxiety
- A state of apprehension, worry or fear
- Cause stress and fear
- Natural reaction in stressful situations
Johnson and Scott
Overheard discussions about lab failure
Person comes in holiding a unexpected item
Participants have to choose out of 50 photos to reconstruct the scene
Findings of Johnson and Scott,
49% - with pen
33% - with knife
Yule and Cutshall experiment
- Witness a real life experiment
- 22 witness recorded
-13 reinterviewed 5 months later
Findings of Yuille and Cutshall
- Recall was found it be accurate in the 13 witnesses re-interviewed
- Leading question had no effect
What is Deffenbachert
- Link between anxiety and Eye Witness Testimony
Deffenbachert findings
- Accuracy is poor when emotional arousal is high and vice versa
What is Fisher and Gielslman (1992)
- Cognitive interview techniques
Fisher and Gielslman (1992) instructions
Being asked to put yourself back into the situation
Recall everything and anything that happened
Recall it backwards
Imagine you are in the perspective of someone else
Strength of a Cognitive Interview
- Better analysis of interviews
41% better, finding truthful information
Limitations of a Cognitive Interview
- More quantity than quality
- Can also be less accurate
- Time consuming
What is a cognitive interview
A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories. It uses four main techniques, all based on evidence-based psychological knowledge of human memory - report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order and change perspective.
What is episodic Memory
Refers to our ability to be able to recall events in our lives. Such as personal experiences. They are timestamped
Semantic memory
Shared knowledge of the world. Knowledge such as what an oragne tastes like. Not time stamped
procedural memory
Memory for our actions and skills. Such as driving a car. Diffcult to explain to others.
Clive wearing case study
He had brain damage and lost their episodic memory, but there semantic memory was completely okay. Clive could remember how to play and read music. But could not make new memories with his wife.
Anxiety
A state of emotinal and physical arousal. Emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tensions.
How can anxiety have an effect on recall
It can make the particpannt focus on a certain detail and not anything else
