Paper 1 - Memory

Question 1

Key study in coding in STM and LTM

Answer 1

Baddeley

Question 2

Procedure of Baddeley’s study

Answer 2

4 groups given different lists to remember (acoustically/semantically similar/dissimilar)
Tester STM and LTM- participants asked to recall the words in the correct order. Some participants were required to recall words immediately and others had to wait for 20 minutes.

Question 3

Findings and conclusions of Baddeleys study

Answer 3

Acoustically similar words remembered worst for STM, semantic for LTM.
Suggests that information is coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM

Question 4

Limitation of Baddeleys study

Answer 4

Artificial stimuli rather than meaningful material.
The words used in the study had no meaning to the participants.
This means we should be cautious about generalising the findings to different kinds of memory task.
E.g when processing more meaningful info, people may use semantic encoding even in STM

Question 5

Key study for the capacity of STM

Answer 5

Jacobs

Question 6

Procedures of Jacobs study

Answer 6

Developed digit span technique - refers to digits/letters being read one at a time.
Researcher gives for example, four digits and then the participant is asked to recall these in the correct order. It this is correct, the researcher reads out five digits and so on until the participant cannot recall the order correctly - this determines the individuals digit span.

Question 7

Findings of Jacobs study

Answer 7

Mean span for digits was 9.3.

Mean span for letters was 7.3

Question 8

Limitation of Jacobs study

Answer 8

One limitation of this study is that it was conducted a long time ago.
Early resech often lacked adequate control of extraneous variables.
For example participants may have been distracted while they were being tested so they didn’t perform as well as they might.
This would mean the results may not be valid because there were confounding variables that were not controlled.

Question 9

Procedure of Millers study

Answer 9

A review of other research on memory which tested the amount of information we receive, process and remember in our immediate memory.
He observed everyday practice and noted that things come in sevens: 7 days of the week, deadly sins etc

Question 10

Findings of Millers study

Answer 10

Suggests capacity of STM is about 7 items (+/- 2)

Chunking is used to increase capacity - grouping sets of digits or letters into meaningful units or chunk

Question 11

What is capacity

Answer 11

The amount of information that can be held in a memory store

Question 12

Limitation of Millers study

Answer 12

He may have overestimated the capacity of STM.
COWAN reviewed other research and concluded that the capacity of STM was only about 4 chunks.
Suggests the lower end of Millers estimate is more appropriate than 7 items.

Question 13

Key study into the duration of STM

Answer 13

Peterson and Peterson

Question 14

Procedure of Peterson and Peterson’s study

Answer 14

24 undergraduate students were given a consonant syllable (also called trigrams) to remember and a 3-digit number.
Student asked to count back from that number until told to stop.
Counting backwards prevented any rehearsal of the consonant syllable (this would increase the students memory).
Each trial they were told to stop after different times. This is called the Retention intervals of 3,6,9,12,15 or 18.

Question 15

Findings of Peterson and Peterson’s Study

Answer 15

After 3 seconds recall was about 80%.
Recall after 18 seconds was about 3%.
Suggests that STM May have a very short duration indeed, unless we repeat something over and over again (e.g maintainable rehearsal)

Question 16

Limitation of the Peterson and Peterson study

Answer 16

Stimulus material was artificial.
Trying to memorise consonant syllables does not reflect most real-life memory activities where what we are trying to remember is meaningful.
Might say the study lacked ecological validity.
We do sometimes try to remember fairly meaningless things like phone numbers so it’s not totally irrelevant

Question 17

Key study of duration to LTM

Answer 17

Bahricks

Question 18

Procedure of Bahricks study

Answer 18

Nearly 400 participants from America aged 17-74.
Yearbooks obtained from the participants or directly from the schools. Recall tested in various ways:
a photo recognition test consisting of 50 photos, some photos were from the participants high school yearbook.
A free recall test where participants were asked to list all the names they could remember of individuals in their graduating class.

Question 19

Findings of Bahricks study

Answer 19

Face recognition after 48 years of graduation was 90%

Free recall was less good. After 15 years, this was about 60% accurate, dropping to 30% after 48 years.

Suggests that the study suggests that long-term meteorites can last a very long time indeed, but may need cues in order to be accessed.

Question 20

Limitation of Bahricks study

Answer 20

Rehearsal may explain the results.
Some participants might have looked at the yearbooks regularly and that’s why their recognition/recall was so good.
In this case rehearsal is acting as an extraneous variable.
This means that some results may not be due to LTM

Question 21

Strength of Bahricks study

Answer 21

High external validity.
Real-life meaningful memories were studied.
When lab studies were done with meaningless picture to be remembered, recall rates were lower (SHEPHARD).
Downside is that confounding variables are not controlled.

Question 22

What is coding

Answer 22

The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores

Question 23

What is a consonant syllable

Answer 23

Three letter chunks with no vowel, also called a trigram

Question 24

What is duration

Answer 24

The length of time information can be held in memory

Question 25

What is the LTM

Answer 25

The permanent memory store. Coding is mainly semantic. It has unlimited capacity and can store memories for up to a lifetime

Question 26

What is a memory trace

Answer 26

The physical record or ‘trace’ of a memory

Question 27

What is rehearsal

Answer 27

Repeating information over and over again in order to retain that information in memory

Question 28

What is the STM

Answer 28

The limited-capacity memory store. Coding is mainly acoustic; capacity is between 5 and 9 items on average, duration is between 18 and 30 seconds

Question 29

What is spontaneous decay

Answer 29

The disappearance of the physical memory trace over time, where there is no external cause

Question 30

Who created the multi-store model of memory

Answer 30

Atkinson and Shiffrin

Question 31

What is acoustic

Answer 31

Refers to the sounds or the sense of hearing

Question 32

What is amnesia

Answer 32

A loss of memory due to brain damage, disease or psychological trauma

Question 33

What is echoic memory

Answer 33

The sensory register that stores auditory information

Question 34

What is elaborative rehearsal

Answer 34

The deep semantic processing of to-be-remembered information by thinking about its meaning and linking information to existing knowledge. This is in constant to maintainence/verbal rehearsal, which involves simple rote repition

Question 35

What is iconic memory

Answer 35

The sensory register that stores visual information

Question 36

What is the MSM

Answer 36

A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called sensory register, short term memory and long term memory. It also describes how information is transferred from one store to another, how it is remembered and how it is forgotten

Question 37

What is sensory memory

Answer 37

Memory store for each of our five senses, such as vision (iconic) and hearing (echoic). Coding in the iconic sensory register is visual and in the echoic sensory register it is acoustic. The capacity of sensory register is huge and information lasts for a very short time

Question 38

What are the stores in the MSM linked by

Answer 38

Processing such as attention and maintenance rehearsal

Question 39

Characteristics of the sensory register in MSM

Answer 39

Stimulus from environment will pass into the sensory registers. This part of memory is not one store but several, one for each 5 senses.
Material in the sensory register last very briefly, the duration is less than half a second.
High capacity, over one hundred million cells in one eye.
Coding is related to each sense e.g visual for eyes.

Question 40

What causes items in the sensory register to transfer to STM

Answer 40

Paying attention to them

Question 41

Characteristics of the STM in MSM

Answer 41

Limited capacity store - it can only contain a certain number of stuff before forgetting takes place.
Information in STM is coded acoustically.
Duration of STM is about 30 seconds unless info is rehearsed

Question 42

What does maintenance rehearsal do

Answer 42

Helps to transfer information from STM to LTM as long as we rehearse it long eneough

Question 43

Characteristics of LTM in MSM

Answer 43

Potential unlimited in terms of capacity and can last for many years.
Potential unlimited in terms of duration.
Coding tends to be in terms of meaning I.e semantic.
Although material is stored in the LTM when we want to recall it has to be transferred back to STM by process called retrieval

Question 44

What is retrieval

Answer 44

Recall of information previously stored in memory

Question 45

Strength of MSM of memory

Answer 45

Supported by research showing STM and LTM are different.
Baddeley found we mix up words that sound similar when we use our STMS but we tend to mix up words that are semantic using our LTMS.
Clearly shows that coding is different in each store.
Supports the MSM view that these two mentors stored are separate and independent.

Question 46

3 limitations of the MSM of memory

Answer 46

Evidence suggests there’s more than one type of STM. patient KF. KFs short term memory for digits was very poor when they read them out loud to him but his recall was much better when he was able to read the digits himself. MSM states the STM is a unitary store however the case of KF suggest that there must be one short-term store to process visual information and one short-term store to process auditory information. Working memory model is better able to account for the care of KF.

Oversimplifies LTM. Lots of evidence that LTM is not a unitary store. E.g we have one long-term memory store for our memories of facts and one for memories of how to ride a bicycle. MSM does not reflect that these different types of LTM which is a problem.

Only includes one type of rehearsal. There are two types: maintenance as described in the MSM, but this does not transfer information into the LTM. Elaborative rehearsal is needed for long term storage. This occurs when you link information to your existing knowledge, or you think about what it means. Very serious limitation of the MSM because it is another research finding that cannot be explained by the model.

Question 47

What are the 3 types of long term memory

Answer 47

Episodic memory
Semantic memory
Procedural memory

Question 48

What are episodic memories

Answer 48

A long term memory store for personal events. It includes memories of when the events occurred and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved. Memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously and with effort

Question 49

3 characteristics of episodic memories

Answer 49

They are time-stamped.
They involve several elements like people, places, objects and behaviours.
You have to make a conscious effort to recall them.

Question 50

What are semantic memories

Answer 50

A long term memory store for our knowledge of the world. This includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean. These memories usually also need to be recalled deliberately

Question 51

Why are semantic memories not time-stamped

Answer 51

It is less personal and more about the knowledge we all share

Question 52

What are procedural memories

Answer 52

A long term memory store for our knowledge of how to do things. This includes our memories of learned skills. We usually recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort

Question 53

Example of recall occurring without great effort for procedural memories

Answer 53

Changing gear in the car without having to recall how to do so

Question 54

Why are procedural skills hard to explain to someone

Answer 54

Because we can recall these memories without conscious awareness

Question 55

Strength of episodic memory store

Answer 55

Case study evidence. In the case of HM and Clive Wearing, both men had great difficulty recalling events that had happened to them in their past as a conseqnce of amnesia. In contrast, semantic memories were relatively unaffected for example they understood the meaning of words. Supports the view that there are different memory stores in LTM because one store can be damaged but the others unaffected

Question 56

Strength of different LTM stores

Answer 56

Brain scan studies provide evidence. TULVING got participants to perform various memory tasks while their brains were scanned using a PET scanner. Found episodic and semantic memories were recalled in the prefrontal cortex and the left side of the prefrontal cortex was involved in semantic and right prefrontal cortex was episodic. Supports the view that there is a physical reality to the different types of LTM.

Question 57

2 limitations of different stores of LTM

Answer 57

Problems with clinical evidence. Cases like HM and Clive Wearing provide useful information about what happens when memory is damaged. However there is a serious lack of control of all sorts of different variables in clinical studies. E.g it’s not possible to control the precise location of the brain damage. Therefore it’s difficult to generalise from these case studies to determine the exact nature of LTM.

COHEN and SQUIRE argue that episodic and semantic are stored together in one LTM store they call declarative memory. It is important to get the distinction between semantic and episodic memories right because the way we define them will influence the way in which memory studies are conducted and memory is investigated

Question 58

What is declarative memory

Answer 58

Memories that are consciously recalled, explicit and can be put into words

Question 59

What is non-declarative memory

Answer 59

Memories are implicit, on automatic pilot and without conscious thought they cannot be put into words

Question 60

How do PET scans work

Answer 60

Radioactive glucose is ingested and can be detected in the active areas of the brai

Question 61

What is the prefrontal cortex

Answer 61

Section of the cerebral cortex at the front of the brain associated with planning complex cognitive behaviour, personality expression, decision making and moderating social behaviour

Question 62

Who created the working memory model

Answer 62

Baddeley and Hitch

Question 63

What is the working memory model

Answer 63

A representation of short-term memory. It suggest that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system

Question 64

What parts of the mind is the WMM concerned about

Answer 64

The part of the mind that is active when working on an arithmetic problem or playing chess or comprehending language

Question 65

What is the central executive in the WMM

Answer 65

The component of the WMM that co-ordinates the activities of the three subsystems in memory. It also allocates processing resources to those activities. It has very limited storage capacity or possibly none at all

Question 66

What are the slave systems of the WMM

Answer 66

Phonological loop
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
Episodic buffet (added in 2000)

Question 67

What is the phonological loop in the WMM

Answer 67

The component of the WMM that processes information in terms of sound. This includes both written and spoken material. It’s divided into the phonological store and the articulatory process

Question 68

What is the phonological store

Answer 68

Component of the phonological loop that stores the words you hear - ‘inner ear’

Question 69

What is the articulatory process

Answer 69

A competent of the phonological loop which acts as an ‘inner voice’ I.e words/sounds are verbally repeated (maintenance rehearsal)

Question 70

What is the Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 70

The component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial information in a mental space we often call our ‘inner eye’

Question 71

What did LOGIE subdivided the visuo-spatial sketchpad into

Answer 71

The visual cache, which stores visual data, and the inner scribe which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

Question 72

What is the episodic buffer

Answer 72

The competent of the WMM that brings together material from the other subsystems into a single memory rather than separate strands - this is done basically by recording events (episodes) that are happening. Provides a bridge between working memory and long-term memory

Question 73

What illustrates the main feature of the WMM, that there is no interference when performing two different tasks

Answer 73

Dual-task performance

Question 74

What is dual task performance

Answer 74

Refers to a research procedure where an individual is asked to perform two tasks simultaneously. If participants are slower doing these tasks at the same time than when doing it separately, it is assumed that both tasks compete for the same resources in the brain

Question 75

Three strengths of the WMM

Answer 75

Support for a separate visual and acoustic store. Patient KF. He had poor STM ability for verbal information but could process visual information normally. Suggests that just his phonological loop had been damaged leaving other areas of memory intact. Supports the existence of a separate visual and acoustic store.

Word-length effect demonstrates support for the phonological loop. BADDELEY demonstrated that people find it more difficult to remember a list of long words rather than short words - the word-length effect. This is because there is a finite space for rehearsal in the articulatory process (probably about 2 seconds). The word length effect disappears if a person is given an articulatory suppression task, demonstrating the articulatory process at work.

Brain scanning have support WMM. Participants asked to do Tasks that involved the central executive while having a brain scan and found activity in the prefrontal cortex. Activity in this area increased as the tasks got harder. As demand on the CE increases, it has to work harder to fulfill its function. Provides evidence that the CE may have a physical reality in the brain.

Question 76

Why may evidence from brain-damaged patients not be reliable

Answer 76

Because it concerns unique cases with patients who have had traumatic experiences

Question 77

What is the word-length effect

Answer 77

People remember lists of short words better than lists of long words, governed by the capacity of the phonological loop

Question 78

What is an articulatory suppression task

Answer 78

An activity which prevents rehearsal of words in the articulatory loop

Question 79

Limitation of the WMM

Answer 79

Lack of clarity for the central executive. Cognitive psychologists suggest that this component is unsatisfactory and doesn’t really explain anything. It needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply ‘attention’. For example, some psychologists belive it may consist of separate components. This means the WMM hasn’t been fully explained

Question 80

What are the two explanations for forgetting

Answer 80

Interference

Retrieval failure

Question 81

What is interference

Answer 81

Forgetting because memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten because we can’t access the information

Question 82

What are the two types of interference

Answer 82

Proactive interferences

Retroactive interference

Question 83

What is proactive interference

Answer 83

Forgetting occurs when older memories, already stored, disrupt the recall of newer memories. The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar

Question 84

Example of proactive interference

Answer 84

A teacher has learned so many names over the years that she has difficulty remembering the names of her current class

Question 85

What is retroactive interference

Answer 85

Forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored. The degree of forgetting is again greater when the memories are similar

Question 86

Example of retroactive interference

Answer 86

Your teacher has learned so many new names this year that she has difficulty remembering the names of students last year

Question 87

When is interference worse

Answer 87

When memories or learning is similar:
In proactive this could be because previously stored information makes new information difficult to store.
In retroactive it could be that new information overwrites precious memories which are similar

Question 88

Key study in interference

Answer 88

McGeoch and McDonald

Question 89

Procedure of McGeoch and McDonalds study

Answer 89

Participants given a list of 10 words to learn off by heart until they remember with 100% accuracy. Following this, participants given a new list to learn; material varied in similarly to the original material.
6 conditions:
Group 1- synonyms
Group 2- antonyms 
Group 3- words unrelated 
Group 4- nonsense syllables 
Group 5- three digit numbers
Group 6- no new list

Question 90

Findings of McGeoch and McDonalds study

Answer 90

Most similar material (synonyms) produced the worst recall. When participants were given very different material, like the numbers, the mean number of items recalled increased.

Question 91

Conclusions of McGeoch and McDonalds study

Answer 91

Interference is strongest when the memories are similar. In group 1 it is likely that the words with the same meanings as the original list blocked access or that the new material became confused with the old material

Question 92

What is a cued recall test

Answer 92

A method of testing memory where participants are given material to be learned, and when recall is tested, they are given cues to enhance recall. This permits one to discover all the words that are available not just those that are currently accessible

Question 93

Two strengths of interference as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 93

Evidence from lab studies consistently demonstrate interference in memory. E.g McGeoch and McDonalds research on the effects of similarity. Most of these studies show that both types of interference are likely to cause forgetting from LTM. Strength bc lab experiments control the effects of and thus give us confidence that it’s a valid explanation.

Real life studies have support the interference explanation. BADDELEY AND HITCH asked rugby players to try and remember the names of the teams they had played so far, week by week. Results showed that accurate recall did not depend on how long ago the match took place but rather the number of games they had played in the mean time.

Question 94

Two limitations of interference as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 94

Use of artificial materials. Stimulus material used in most studies are lists of words. This is quite some distance from things we remember in everyday life. For example, faces and birthdays etc. Limitation bc the use of artificial tasks makes interference much more likely in the lab but it may not be as likely outside the lab.

Time allowed between learning in the research. For practical reasons the time period between learning lists of words and recalling them is relatively short. For example, a participant may have to learn one list or words and then a second list after 20 minute. A problem because the research reduced the whole experience of learning into a very short time period and it is unlikely to reflect how we normally learn and remember information.

Question 95

What is retrieval

Answer 95

Recall of information previously stored in memory

Question 96

What can cause retrieval failure

Answer 96

When information is initially placed in memory , associated cues are stored in the same time. If these cues are not available at the time of recall, you might not be able to access memories that are actually there

Question 97

What is the encoding specificity principle

Answer 97

A cue can help us recall information if the cue was present at encoding (coding when we learn the material) and at retrieval (when we are recalling it)
The closer the retrieval cue is to the original cue, the better the cue works

Question 98

Who created the encoding specificity principle

Answer 98

TULVING

Question 99

What are some cues linked to

Answer 99

The material-to-be remembered in a meaningful way. For example the cue ‘STM’ May lead you to recall all sorts of information about short-term memory

Question 100

What is context dependent forgetting

Answer 100

When memory retrieval is dependant on an external/ environmental cue (e.g the weather) that was present at the time of learning. The external cues available are different from ones at recall which leads to retrieval failure

Question 101

What is state-dependant forgetting

Answer 101

When memory retrieval is dependant on an internal cue - state of mind (e.g feeling upset, being drunk) that was present at the time of learning

Question 102

Key study in Context-dependant forgetting

Answer 102

GODDEN AND BADDELEY

Question 103

Procedure of the Godden and Baddeley study

Answer 103

Deep-sea divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and were then asked to recall the words either underwater or on land.
Four conditions in which two of them the context was the same for learning and recall:
Learn on land; recall on land
Learn on land; recall underwater
Learn underwater; recall on land
Learn underwater; recall underwater

Question 104

Findings of the Godden and Baddeley study

Answer 104

When the environmental contexts of learning and recall did not match (conditions 2 and 3) accurate recall was 40% lower than when they did match.
When the external cues available at learning were different from those at recall, this led to retrieval failure due to lack of cues

Question 105

2 strengths of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 105

Supporting evidence. Godden and Baddeleys research with deep-sea divers. The amount of supporting evidence increases the validity of the explanation. This is especially true when the evidence shows retrieval failure occurs in real-life situations as well as in the high-controlled conditions of the lab.

Useful real life application. People often report going upstairs, coming down to get an item, forgetting what it was and going upstairs again and then remembering! The application is when we have trouble remembering something it is probably worth revisiting the environment in which you first learned it. It is the basic principle of the cognitive interview.

Question 106

2 limitations of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 106

Issue with TULVINGS ESP is that it cannot be tested and leads to a form of circular reasoning. In experiences where a cue produces the successful recall of a word, we assume that a cue must have been present at the time of learning. If a cue does not result in successful recall of a word, then we assume that the cue was not encoded at the time of learning. But these are just assumptions and there’s no way to establish whether a cue has been encoded.

BADDELEY argues that context effects are not actually very strong in real life. Different contexts have to be very different before an effect is seen. E.g land and water are completely different environments. In contrast learning something in one room and recalling it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because the environments are generally not different enough. Limitation because it means that the real life applications of retrieval failure due to contextual cues don’t actually explain much forgetting

Question 107

What are the two factors effecting eye witness testimony

Answer 107

Misleading information

Anxiety

Question 108

What are mnemonic techniques

Answer 108

Methods used to aid memory of information, such as simple rhymes or letters to stand for each word to be remembered

Question 109

What is eyewitness testimony (EWT)

Answer 109

The ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents and crimes, which they themselves have observed. Accurate of EWT can be affected by factors such as misleading information, leading questions and anxiety

Question 110

What is a leading question

Answer 110

A question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer

Question 111

What is misleading information

Answer 111

Incorrect information given to the eyewitness, usually after the event (hence often called post-event information). It can take many forms, such as leading questions and post-event discussion between co-witnesses

Question 112

What is own age bias

Answer 112

The tendency to recognise or remember things more easily if they relate to your own age group

Question 113

What is post-event discussion (PED)

Answer 113

Occurs when there is more than one witness to an event. Witnesses may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses or with other people. This may influence the accuracy of each witnesses recall of the event

Question 114

What does the response-bias explanation suggests

Answer 114

That the wording of the question has no real effect on the eyewitnesses memories of an event, but does influence how they decide to answer

Question 115

What is the substitution explanation

Answer 115

Suggests the wording of the question does affect eyewitnesses actual memory of the event. The wording of the question may interfere with the original memory in some way which distorts the accuracy of the memory

Question 116

Key study into leading questions

Answer 116

LOFTUS AND PALMER

Question 117

Procedure of Loftus and Palmers study

Answer 117

45 American students watched film clips or car accidents and got given questions about the accident.
The critical question was ‘about how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’
5 groups of participants, each given a different verb in the critical question (hit/contacted/bumped/collided/smashed)

Question 118

Findings of the Loftus and Palmer study

Answer 118

Smashed produced the highest estimate with a mean of 40.5 mph.
Contacted resulted in the lowest estimate of a mean 31.8 mph

Question 119

Conclusions of the Loftus and Palmer study

Answer 119

The leading question biased the eyewitness recall of an event. The verb ‘smashed’ suggested that the speed of the car was faster than the verb ‘contacted’ and the participants altered their responses accordingly

Question 120

Strength of the Loftus and Palmer study

Answer 120

Real-life application. Nature of the resech has led to hugely important practical uses for police officers and investigators. This is important because the consequences of inaccurate EWT can be very serious. LOFTUS believed that leading questions can have such a distorting influence on memory that police officers need to be very careful about how they phrase their questions when interviewing eyewitnesses. The rsearch into EWT can improve the way the legal system works and psychologists can appear in court trials as expert witnesses

Question 121

Limitation of LOFTUS AND PALMERS research

Answer 121

Artificial materials. watching films of car accidents is very different to experiencing one for real, mainly because it lacks the stress. There’s evidence that emotions have an influence on memory. YUILLE and CUTSHALL found that people who had witnessed a traumatic real armed robbery had very accurate recall after 4 months. Shows that EWT isn’t always inaccurate. Limitation because studies that use artificial tasks may tell us very little about how leading questions affect EWT in cases of real crimes or accidents.

Question 122

Why may post-event discussion change what others recall

Answer 122

Their memories may become contaminated because they combine (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories. For example, if one witnesses remembers 2 robbers, other witnesses may start imaging it also and it becomes incorporated in their memory

Question 123

What may post-event discussion lead to

Answer 123

Memory conformity - when witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right or wrong. It is an example of compliance rather internalisation

Question 124

Key study into post-event discussion

Answer 124

Gabbert et al

Question 125

Procedure of Gaberts study

Answer 125

In pairs, the participants watched the same video of a crime but filmed form different points of view. This means that each participants could see elements in the event that others could not.
Both partners then discussed what they had seen on the video before individually completing a test of recall.

Question 126

Findings of Gabberts study

Answer 126

71% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the post-event discussion.
0% errors in a control group, where there was no discussion.

Question 127

2 Limitations of EWT research

Answer 127

There may be individual differences in the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies. Evidence that older people are less accurate than younger people when giving eyewitness reports. However, age groups are more accurate when identifying people of their own age (own-age bias). Research often uses younger people as the target to identify which may mean that testimony appears less accurate than it really is.

Ecological validity of many EWT research studies. What you remember as an eyewitness can use some very important consequences in the real world, but the same is not true in research studies. The difference between the two may mean that EWT research does not reflect EWT accuracy in real life. E.g in the real world eyewitnesses May search their memory with greater effort because their testimony may lead to successful or wrongful conviction. In studies, participants may be more flippant. Argued that EWT accuracy is greater in the real world because of the seriousness with which eyewitnesses take their roles.

Question 128

What is the key study into anxiety having a positive effect on EWT

Answer 128

Johnson and Scott

Question 129

Procedure of Johnson and Scott’s study

Answer 129

One approach of studying anxiety is looking at weapon focus.
They led participants to believe they were going to take part in a lab study and were made to wait in a waiting room.
While sitting in the room participants heard an argument.
In low anxiety condition: a confederate walked through the waiting area carrying a greasy pen.
In high anxiety condition: the heated argument was followed by the sound of breaking glass. A confederate walked out of the room holding a paper knife covered in blood.

Question 130

Findings of Johnson’s and Scott’s study

Answer 130

Participants had to pick out the confederate from 50 photos: 49% of the participants carrying a pen could identity him whereas only 33% of the knife condition could

Question 131

What is the tunnel theory of memory

Answer 131

Argues that a witnesses attention narrows to focus on a weapon, because it is a source of danger and anxiety, supporting the weapon focus explanation

Question 132

What is weapon focus

Answer 132

Witnesses attention is drawn to the weapon held by a criminal and therefore other details about a scenario are missed and not committed to memory

Question 133

Key study into anxiety having a positive effect on EWT

Answer 133

Yuille and Cutshall

Question 134

Procedure of Yuille and Cutshall study

Answer 134

Made use of a real-life crime that took place, invoking a real life shooting in Canada. The shop owner shot a thief dead. 21 witnesses, 13 agreed to take part in the study.
Interviews held 4-5 months after the incident and were compared to the original police interviews at the time.
Witnesses also asked to rate how stressed they had felt at the time, using a seven-point scale.

Question 135

Findings of Yuille and Cutshall’s study

Answer 135

Witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount of accuracy after five months, though some details were less accurate such as colour of items and age/weight/height.participants who reported the highest level of stress were most actuate (about 88% compared to 75% of lead stressed group)

Question 136

How can the contradictory finding of anxiety affecting EWT be explained

Answer 136

According to Yerkes and Dodson, the relationship between arousal and performance looks like an ‘inverted U’. It states that performance increases with stress, but only to a certain point, where it decreases dramatically:

Question 137

What is the Yerkes Dodson Law

Answer 137

Refers to the relationship between performance and arousal. As arousal increases so does performance. However this only occurs up to a point; when arousal levels become too high, performance then begins to decrease

Question 138

Who applied the Yerkes-Dodson law to EWT

Answer 138

DEFFENBACHER

Question 139

How did DEFFENBACHER apply the Yerkes-Dodson law to EWT

Answer 139

Lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of recall accuracy.
Accuracy increases with anxiety up to an optimal point.
A drastic decline in accuracy is seen when an eyewitness experiences more stress than the optimal point.

Question 140

What is anxiety

Answer 140

A state of emotional and physical arousal. The emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension. Physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweatiness. Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations, but can affect the accuracy and detail of eyewitness testimony

Question 141

Limitation of Johnson and Scott’s study

Answer 141

May test surprise rather than anxiety. The reason participants focus on the weapon may be because they are surprised at what they see rather than because they are scared. PICKELL conducted an experiment with scissors, handgun, wallet and raw chicken as hand-held items in a hair dressing salon. Eyewitness accuracy poorer in high conditions (chicken and handgun). Suggests that weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety and therefore tells us nothing specifically about the effects of anxiety on EWT

Question 142

2 Limitations of research into anxiety’s affect on EWT

Answer 142

Ethical issues. Creating anxiety is very risky, potentially unethical because it may subject people to psychological harm purely for research. This is why real life studies are so beneficial. Psychologists interview people who have already witnessed a real-life event, so there is no need to create it. Issue doesn’t challenge the findings but it does question the need for the research.

Field studies lack control. Research usually interviews real life eyewitnesses sometimes after the event. All sorts of things may happen to the participants in the meantime that researchers can’t control. E.g post-event discussions. Limitation because it’s possible that these extraneous variables may be responsible for the accuracy of recall rather than anxiety, difficult to isolate the variables:

Question 143

Limitation of the inverted-U explanation

Answer 143

Too simplistic. Anxiety is difficult to define and measure. One reason is because it has many elements: cognitive, behavioural, emotional and physical. The inverted-U assumes that one of these is linked to poor performance - physiological (physical) arousal. Therefore it fails to account for other factors. E.g the explanation states that arousal increases alterness but has nothing to say about how the emotional experience of eyewitnesses also affect the accuracy of memory

Question 144

What is psychological harm

Answer 144

Emotional and/or mental damage such as reduced self-esteem or confidence

Question 145

What is the cognitive interview

Answer 145

A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories. It uses four main techniques, all based on well-established psychological knowledge of human memory - report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order and change perspective

Question 146

What is the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 146

Contains the same four retrieval rules as the original and additional aims to improve the social aspects of the interview, which further increases recall

Question 147

Who created the cognitive interview and why

Answer 147

Fisher and Gieselman.

Question 148

What did fisher and gieselman argue

Answer 148

They argued that EWT could be improved if the police used better techniques when interviewing witnesses. They suggested that such techniques should be based on psychological insights into how memory works, and called it the cognitive interview.

Question 149

What is the first stage of the cognitive interview

Answer 149

The interviewer should aim to establish ‘rapport’ with the interviewee, so the interviewee feels the interviewer is not against them but will try to understand their feelings

Question 150

What are the elements of the cognitive interview

Answer 150

Report everything
Context reinstatement
Reverse the order
Change perspective

Question 151

What does the ‘report everything’ part of the cognitive interview consist of

Answer 151

Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even though it may seem irrelevant or the witnesses doesn’t feel confident about it. Seemingly trivial details may be important and, moreover, they may trigger other memories

Question 152

What does the ‘context reinstatement ’ part of the cognitive interview consist of

Answer 152

The witness should return to the original crime scene ‘in their mind’ and imagine the environment and their emotions. This is based on context-dependant forgetting

Question 153

What does the ‘reverse the order’ part of the cognitive interview consist of

Answer 153

Events should be recalled in a different chronological order, for example, from the final point back to the beginning, or from the middle to the beginning. This is done to prevent people using their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than the actual events. It also prevents dishonestly (harder for people to produce an untruthful account if they have to reverse it)

Question 154

What does the ‘change perspective’ part of the cognitive interview consist of

Answer 154

Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives. For example, how it would have appeared to other witnesses or the perpetrator

Question 155

Who developed the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 155

FISHER

Question 156

What does the enhanced cognitive interview focus on

Answer 156

The social dynamics of the interaction e.g knowing when to establish and when to relinquish eye contact.

Question 157

What ideas does the enhanced cognitive interview include

Answer 157

Reducing the eyewitnesses anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the witness to speak slowly and asking open-ended questions

Question 158

3 limitations of the cognitive interview

Answer 158

Time-consuming. Police are reluctant to use the method because it takes more time than a standard police interview e.g more time is needed to establish rapport with the witness to allow them to relax. It also requires special training and many forces can’t provide more than a few hours. Means that it’s unlikely the ‘proper’ version of the CI is actually used (which may explain why police have not been that impressed by it).

Some elements may be more valuable than others. MILNE and BULL found that using a combination of ‘report everything’ and ‘context reinstatement’ produced better recall than any of the other conditions individually. Suggests that at least two elements should be used to improve police interviewing of eyewitnesses even if the full CI isn’t used.

Increase in inaccurate information (false positives). One study found an 81% it correct information but also a 61% increase of incorrect information when the enhanced CI was compared to a standard interview. Clear that the increase in correct information implies that police should continue to use CI however the results also suggest that police need to treat all information collected with caution.

Question 159

Strength of the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 159

Considerable support for the enhanced CI effectiveness. A meta-analysis combined data from 50 studies. The enhanced CI consistently provided more correct information than the standard interview used by police. Strength because studies indicate that there are real practical benefits to the police or using the enhanced version of the CI.