Meomory Key Words

Question 1

Human memory

Answer 1

Can most broadly be defined as the process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past.

Question 2

Types of memory

Answer 2

• Sensory memory / register. (SM)
  Initial contact for stimuli. SM is only capable of retaining information for a very short time.
• Short term memory (STM)
  The information we are currently aware of or thinking about. The information found in short term memory comes from paying attention to sensory memories.
• Long term memory (LTM)
  Continual storage of information which is largely outside of our awareness, but can be called into working memory to be used when needed.

Question 3

STM

Answer 3

• short term memories lasts for a very short period of time, unless they are rehearsed or paid attention to. Therefore STM is limited in duration. You can think of STM like an notepad where we scribbled seen things we need to remember for a short time.

Question 4

LTM

Answer 4

• long term memories can last anywhere from two mins to 100 years. LTM has an unlimited duration

Question 5

Span of memory and chunking

Answer 5

Span of memory and chunking

Miller (1956) noted that things come in sevens: 7 notes on musical scales, 7 days of the week

This suggests that the capacity of STM is 7 items (plus or minus 2)

Question 6

Encoding

Answer 6

• this is the way information is changes so it can be stored in memory
• Information enters the brain via the senses but is then stored in different forms
  1) visual
  2) Acoustic
  3) Semantic

Question 7

Subdivisions of Encoding

Answer 7

• Explicit (declarative)
  as you can put it into words. These have to be consciously thought about to be recalled. Often formed through several combined memories
  These include semantic and episodic memories
• Implicit (non-declarative)
  which is more difficult to put into words p. Theses can be recalled without conscious thought
  These include procedural memories.

Question 8

Episodic memory

Answer 8

Personal experiences, these are time stamped. Conscious effort to recall. Strength of memory is influenced by emotion.

Question 9

Semantic memory

Answer 9

Concerns factual knowledge an individual has learned. These are not time stamped. Linked to episodic as new knowledge is linked to experience.

Question 10

Procedural Memory

Answer 10

Concerned with learning motor skills. Without conscious effort. Difficult to explain in words. Also involved in language.

Question 11

Multi Store Model of Memory

Answer 11

External input -> sensory memory -attention->

working memory -transfer->

Question 12

The spiral position effect

Answer 12

The spiral position effect
- when asking people to remember a list of words which is greater than the capacity of short term memory they have a tendency I remember words from the beginning and end of the list.

Question 13

Primary effect

Answer 13

The tendency for people to remember the first 5 or so words from the beginning of the list

Question 14

Recency Effect

Answer 14

The tendency to remember the last 5 or so words for, the end of the list.

Question 15

The primacy effect

Answer 15

occurs because the first words are best rehearsed and transferred to LTM.

Question 16

Working memory model

Answer 16

Central executive
/. I. /
Visual ketch pad. Episodic buffer. Phonological loop

Long term memory

Question 17

Central executive

Answer 17

Functions

• Directs attention to tasks
• The central executive decides what working memory pays attention to

Question 18

Phonological Loop (first slave system)

Answer 18

Auditory control system and phonological store
limited capacity
Deals with auditory information and preserves word order- inner ear

Question 19

Reasons why we forget

Answer 19

• Memory traces gradually decay over time.
• During any delay a memory is subject to the effects of time and interference from other experiences
• Memories seem to be forgotten because we no longer have the appropriate reminders
• You are more likely to forget something you did not pay attention to when it originally happened
• You are more likely to forget or get mixed up with similar pieces of material

Question 20

Interference

Answer 20

One memory blocks another. This might result in forgetting or distorting one or the other or both.

Question 21

Proactive interference:

Answer 21

Forgetting occurs when older memories, disrupt the recall of newer memories

Question 22

Retroactive interference:

Answer 22

Forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored.

Question 23

Eye-witness testimony

Answer 23

The ability of people to remember the detail as of events which they have observed

Question 24

Misleading information

Answer 24

Incorrect information given to the EW usually after the event

Question 25

Leading questions

Answer 25

A question that suggests. Certain answer

Question 26

Post-event discussion (PED)

Answer 26

Occurs when there is more than one witness to an event. Witnesses may discuss what they have seen with other co-witnesses. This affects accuracy.

Question 27

The Role of Schemas in Memory

Answer 27

• an important explanation of organisation in human memory relies in the concepts of schemas
• These are simplified, generalised rep things based on our experiences
• Memory capacity limitations prevent us from. Remembering precise details about our everyday lives, but schemas allow us to overcome these limitations because we can summarise the regularities in our lives.
• There is a cost to this, however, in that we may mistakenly ‘recall’ events that never really happened, because they make sense with a particular schema.

Question 28

Leading question

Answer 28

• A question that either form or content, suggests a desired answer or leads a witness to believe a desired answer
• Leading questions contain misleading pieces of information or wording and are usually closed.