Memory Psychology Alevel YR12 Flashcards

Question

KF case study Shallice + Warrington

Answer 1

- Suffered brain damage from motorcycle acciddent - This damaged his short-term memory. - Impairment was mainly for verbal information, his visual memory was unaffected. - This shows that there are seperate STM components for visual info and verbal info.

Answer 2

Strengths - WMM provides an explanation for parallel processing unlike MSM. - KF case study. The model was developed bassed on evidence from lab experiments, conditions were controlled and can be replicated. Weaknesses - Too simplistic and vague. - Lab experiment results = low ecological validity.

Answer 3

Interference - Two sets of info get confused in the LTM Proactive interference - Old info prevents recall of recent info (old > new) Retroactive interference - New info precents recall of old info (new > old)

Answer 4

Lab exp, participants in two groups. Both groups had to remember a list of paired words. The experimental group also had to learn another list of words where the second paired word is different. All participants were asked to recall the first list. Control group was more accurate than the exp group. This suggests that learning items in the second list interferred with participants ability to recall the list (retroactive interference.)

Answer 5

Information is avalible in LTM but can't be recalled because of the absence of the right cues.

Answer 6

When we store a memory, we also store info about the situation it happened in. Context = Cues in environment (smell, place etc) Encoding will be more likely if the context matches when the retriveal is tried. State = Bodily cues (physical, emotional, mood etc) When the body is in the same state, retrival will be easier. Organisation = Retrieval can be improved if the organisation gives a structure which provies cues.

Answer 7

Asked divers a list of words. One group on beach, other land. Half of the underwater group remained there, and others had to recall on beach. Results showed that the group that recalled in the same environment (context) had recalled 40% more words than the others which recalled in a different context.

Answer 8

45 american students (oppertunity sample, lab exp) Participants were shown videos of car accidents involving multiple cars and asked to describe what happened. They were asked questions like 'how fast was the car going when they bumped/smashed/hit each other' The speed estimate was affected by the verb that was used. People who were asked how fast the cars were going when they smashed said faster speeds than those who were asked with the verb bumped.

Answer 9

Strengths - Lab exp, easy to replicate Weaknesses - Lacks realism, watching a clip and being an actual EW at a car crash are very different. Sample isn't representative of general population. Some of them might not be experienced drivers either, might find it hard to estimate speeds.

Answer 10

Yerkes-Dodson effect - when anxiety is at low and high levels, EWT is less accurate than if anxiety was at a medium level. We tend to focus on what makes us anxious and exclude other info. If a weapon is envolved then the victims' attention is drawn to it.

Answer 11

People who saw a film of a violent attack rememvered fewer of the 40 items about the event than a control group who saw a less stressful version. (However, hard to relate as watching a film and being real EWT is very different)

Answer 12

Witnesses observed a shooting incident where one person was killed. All witnesses were interviewed by the police at the time and then 4-5 months after. Even after the time, their accounts of the event didn't really change. This indicated that stress had hardly any effect on their accounts. Eval - Strength - High ecological validity compared to lab experiments as this was a real situation. Weakness - Extraneous variables. The witnesses who had experienced the highest level of stress were actually closer to the event and this may have helped with the accuracy of the EWT.

Answer 13

A police technique for interviewing witnesses of crime which encourages them to recreate the original context in order to access the info.

Answer 14

Context reinstatement - Trying to recreate the image of the situation (environment, weather and emotional state at the time etc) Recall from a changed perspective - Trying to mentally recreate the situation from a different point of view, disrupts schemas Recall in reverse order - Recalling the event in choronological order from end to beginning Report everything - Enouraged to report everything, even if they aren't important details.

Answer 15

Limit - time consuming Expensive