memory studies Flashcards
What is the aim of Baddeley’s study?
To see if there was a difference in the type of encoding used in STM and LTM
What is the method of Baddeley’s study?
Participants learned words either similar or dissimilar sounding. They then had to recall them after 20 minutes
What is the results of Baddeley’s study?
Words with similar sounds were poorly recalled in STM and words with similar meanings were poorly recalled in LTM.
What is the conclusion of Baddeley’s study?
This shows STM is encoded through sound and LTM is encoded through meaning
What is the evaluation of Baddeley’s study?
One strenght is that It is well controlled as extraneous variables like participants hearing were controlled by a hearing test
One weakness is that Encoding in STM does not always involve sound
One weakness is that LTM may not be tested as they only waited 20 minutes before recall so conclusion may lack validity
What is the aim of murdock’s study?
To see if memory of words is affected by location in a list
What is the method of murdock’s study?
Participants listened to 20 word lists with 10-40 words on them,recalled words after each list
What is the results of murdock’s study?
Recall related to position of words. Higher recall for the first words (primacy effect) and last words (recency effect) than in middle
What is the conclusion of murdock’s study?
Shows the serial position effect and supports the MSM stores
What is the evaluation of murdock’s study?
There was a high level of control so it could be concluded that the position of words determined recall.
Word lists were used which is only one type of memory,so the study lacks validity.
Some amnesiacs can’t store LTM, which shows that the primacy effect is related to LTM
What is the aim of Bartlet’s war of the Ghost study?
To see how memory is reconstructed when recalling an unfamiliar story
What is the Method of Barltet’s war of the Ghost study?
The war of the ghost story was read by one participant and recalled after 15 minutes,then read by another participant and recalled and so on.
What is the results of Bartlet’s war of the Ghost study?
Participants changed the story to fit cultural expectations, leaving out unfamiliar information.
What is the conclusion of Bartlet’s war of the Ghost study?
We use our knowledge of social situations to reconstruct memory
What is the evaluation of Bartlet’s war of the Ghost study?
Lacks control-Participants were not told accurate recall was important which could have affected results.
Results were biassed-Barlett analysed the recollations himself so we cannot fully trust the conclusion
Story was unusual-The story was unusual so people may not have understood it so it wouldn’t be about their memory but not understanding the story.
What is the theory of reconstructive memory?
The theory-People rebuild memory as an active process
Memory is inaccurate-Memory is not a process of exact reproduction of an experience
Record pieces of information,recombine to tell the whole story
Expectations come from the world and our culture which affect our storage and recall
What is the evaluation of the theory of reconstrucitve memory?
More realistic research-Reflect how we use memory in everyday life because it uses a story not a word list.
Real world applications-It explains problems with eyewitness testimony as people do not always recall accurately.
What was the aim of McGeoch and McDonald’s interference study?
To see the effect on the accuracy of memory when doing 2 activities
What was the method of McGeoch and McDonald’s interference study?
Learning a list of 10 words and then another list of varying types ,e.g synonyms and antonyms
What was the results of McGeoch and McDonald’s interference study?
Memory was affected by the second list, most of all if the second list had similar meanings (synonyms)
What was the conclusion of McGeoch and McDonald’s interference study?
Shows interference affects the accuracy of memory and is strongest when you try to remember two similar things
What was the evaluation of McGeoch and McDonald’s interference study?
Controlled research-High control,e.g counterbalance to avoid bias
Artificial task-It doesn’t reflect real life memory as we don’t have to remember very similar words
Not really forgetting-It may be that information isn’t being forgotten it just can’t be accessed
What is the aim of Godden and Baddley’s context study?
To see if context improved recall
What is the method of Godden and Baddley’s context study?
Divers listened to and recalled words in the same or different settings on the beach and underwater
