Memory Research

Question 1

What did Baddeley (1966) research?

Answer 1

Gave different lists of words to 4 groups of participants:
1. Acoustically similar
2. Acoustically dissimilar
3. Semantically similar
4. Semantically dissimilar
Participants were shown the words and asked to recall in the correct order.

Question 2

What were the findings of Baddeley’s (1966) research?

Answer 2

When asked to recall immediately (STM) participants had better recall of acoustically similar words. When asked to recall after 20 minutes (LTM) participants had better recall of semantically similar words. This suggests information is coded semantically in the LTM

Question 3

What was Jacobs (1887) technique to measure digit span?

Answer 3

Researcher gives 4 digits and the participant is asked to recall these in the correct order out loud. If this is correct the researcher reads out 5 digits until the participant is unable to recall the order correctly. The mean span for digits was 9.3 items and the span for letters was 7.3.

Question 4

What did Miller (1956) observe?

Answer 4

He observed everyday practise and noted that things come in sevens. This suggests the span of the STM is 7 items (+/-2). He also noted people can recall 5 words and 5 letters.

Question 5

What did Peterson and Peterson (1959) research?

Answer 5

Tested 24 undergraduate students, each participating in 8 trials. Each trial the student was given a consonant syllable to remember and a 3 digit number to count backwards until asked to stop. Counting prevented rehearsal of the syllable. On each trial they were asked to stop after 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds. Their findings suggested that the STM has a short duration.

Question 6

What did Bahrick (1975) research?

Answer 6

Studied 392 participants from Ohio aged 17 to 74. High school yearbooks were obtained amd recall was tested in various ways including photo-recognition and free recall. Participants tested within 15 years of graduation were around 90% accurate in photo-recognition which declined to about 70% after 48 years. After 15 years, free recall was around 60% accurate, dropping to 30% after 48 years. This shows LTM has a very long duration.

Question 7

Outline McGeoch and McDonald’s research

Answer 7

They studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials. Participants had to learn a list of words until they had 100% accuracy. They then learned a new list of words. There was 6 groups:

1. synonyms
2. antonyms
3. words unrelated to the others
4. nonsense syllables
5. 3-digit numbers
6. no new list- just retested

Question 8

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

Answer 8

When participants recalled the original list of words their performance depended on the nature of the second list. The most similar material produced the worst recall. This shows interference is strongest when memories are similar.

Question 9

Outline Godden and Baddeley’s research.

Answer 9

Carried out a study of deep sea divers working underwater. The divers learned a list of words underwater or on land then asked to recall the words underwater or on land.

1. Learn and recall on land
2. Learn on land, recall underwater
3. Learn and recall underwater
4. Learn underwater, recall on land

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions. External cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall so this led to retrieval failure.

Question 11

Outline Carter and Cassaday’s (1998) research.

Answer 11

Gave an anti-histamine drug to their participants. The anti-histamines had a mild sedative effect making the participants slightly drowsy. The created an internal physiological state different from the norm of being awake and alert. Participants had to learn a list of words and passages of a prose then recall the information.

1. Learn and recall when on drug
2. Learn on drug, recall without
3. Learn and recall without drug
4. Learn without drug, recall with drug

Question 12

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

Answer 12

When there was a mismatch between the internal state at learning and recall, performance was significantly worse. When the cues were absent, there is more information forgotten.

Question 13

Outline Loftus and Palmer’s research.

Answer 13

Arranged for participants to watch film clips of a car crash then gave them questions about the accident. A leading question asked “About how fast were the cars travelling when they hit each other?”. 5 groups of participants were given a different verb, hit, contacted, bumped, collided, smashed.

Question 14

What were the findings of Loftus and Palmer’s research?

Answer 14

The mean estimated speed was calculated for each participant group. The verb contacted resulted in an estimate of 31.8mph whereas the verb smashed resulted in 40.5mph.

Question 15

Outline Gabbert’s research (2003).

Answer 15

Studied participants in pairs, each participant watched a video of the same crime but filmed at different points. This meant each participant could see elements in the event that the other couldn’t. Both participants discussed what they seen before individually completing a test of recall.

Question 16

What were the findings of Gabbert’s research?

Answer 16

71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they didn’t see in the video but picked up in the discussion. In a control group where there was no discussion, this figure was 0%. Gabbert concluded witnesses often go along with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses. This is called memory conformity.

Question 17

Outline Johnson and Scott’s (1976) research.

Answer 17

Led participants to believe they were going to participate in a lab study. While seated in a waiting room, thy heard an argument in the next room. In the low anxiety group, a man walked through the waiting area carrying a pen with grease on his hand. In the high anxiety group, they heard the sound of breaking glass and a man walked out of the room with a paper knife covered in blood.

Question 18

What were the findings of Johnson and Scott’s research?

Answer 18

Participants picked out a man from a set of 50 photos, 49% of participants that saw the man carrying the pen correctly identified him. The group that saw the knife was only 33%. This is due to the tunnel theory that argues a witness’s attention narrows to focus on a weapon as this is the source of anxiety.

Question 19

Outline Yuille and Cutshall’s research (1986).

Answer 19

Conducted a study of a real-life shooting in a gun shop. The shop owner shot a thief dead and there was 21 witnesses- 13 participated in the study. Interviews were held 4-5 months after the incident and compared to the police reports after the shooting. Accuracy was determined by the number of details in each account. Witnesses were asked to rate the level of stress they felt during the incident and asked if they had experienced emotional problems after the incident.

Question 20

What were the results of Yuille and Cutshall’s research?

Answer 20

Witnesses were accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount of accuracy after 5 months. The participants that reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate.

Question 21

Describe the case studies of HM and Clive Wearing

Answer 21

Episodic memories of both men were severely impaired due to amnesia. They had great difficulty recalling events that occurred in their past but semantic memories were relatively unaffected. This evidence supports the view that there are many memory stores in LTM. This means one store can be affected but others remain unaffected.

Question 22

What view did Tulving (1985) propose?

Answer 22

He believed the multi-store model of memory of LTM was too simplistic and inflexible. He proposed the idea that there are 3 LTM stored containing different types of information: episodic memory, semantic memory and procedural memory.

Question 23

What did Baddeley (1975) research about dual task performance?

Answer 23

Participants had more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks than doing a visual and verbal task at the same time. This increased difficulty is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave system whereas when doing a verbal and visual task there’s no competition. This means there must be a separate slave system that processes visual input.

Question 24

What did Braver et al (1997) research?

Answer 24

Gave participants tasks that involved the central executive while they were having a brain scan. Researchers found greater activity in the left prefrontal cortex. Activity in this area increased as the task became harder. This makes sense in terms of the WMM as demands on the CE increase as it has to work harder to fulfil its function.

Question 25

What did Baddeley and Hitch (1977) research about interference?

Answer 25

Asked rugby players to remember the names of teams they played in the season, week by week. Most players missed games so for some the last game was 2 weeks ago. The results showed accurate recall didn’t depend on how long ago the matches took place, more importantly it was the number of games they played in the meantime. A player’s recall of a team from 3 weeks ago was better if they hadn’t played a match since. This shows interference explanations can apply to some everyday situations.

Question 26

What did Anastasi and Rhodes (2006) research about eyewitness testimony?

Answer 26

Found people in age groups 18-25 and 35-45 where more accurate than people in age group 55-78. However, all age groups were more accurate identifying people their own age (age bias).

Question 27

What did Milne and Bull (2002) research about the cogntitive interview?

Answer 27

Found each individual element was equally important. Each technique used produced more information than the standard police interview. However, they found using a combination of report everything and reinstate the context produced better recall than any other combination. This is a strength as it suggests at least 2 elements should be used to improve police interviewing.

Question 28

What did Kohnken et al (1999) research about the cognitive interview?

Answer 28

A meta analysis combined data from 50 studies and enhanced the cognitive interview which consistently provided more correct information than a standard police interview. This is a strength as it shows that there are practical benefits to the CI and it gives the police greater chance of catching and charging criminals.