psychology - memory EUT

Question 1

multi store model who made it and what does it do?

Answer 1

Atkinson and Shiffrin - MSM makes a distinction between the separate stores of sensory register, STM and LTM

Question 2

How does MSM suggest that information is kept in STM?

Answer 2

• Info can be kept in STM indefinitely through maintenance rehearsal
• If we think about the meaning of info (elaborative rehearsal) the info becomes semantically coded and passes tothe LT store, which has unlimited capacity

Question 3

What are the key claims of MSM?

Answer 3

1) Each store is unitary: each is just one with no separate parts
2) Each store is separate to others. We know this as their features are very different to each other in terms of their capacity, coding and duration. This suggests that one store can be damaged when the other is not

Question 4

What is the coding, capacity and duration of the sensory register/memory?

Answer 4

Coding = unprocessed form
capacity = very large/unlimited
duration = limited

Question 5

what is the sensory register?

Answer 5

The sensory register is the memory store for each of our five senses. It enables us to remember sensory stimuli after your exposure to the stimuli has ended

Question 6

what are the two main stores of the sensory register? and what are the other stores?

Answer 6

1) iconic store - visual info
2) echoic store - auditory info
3) haptic store - what you feel
4) gustatory store - taste
5) olfactory store - smell

Question 7

How long does the SR hold images and auditory info?

Answer 7

images for less than a second before they fade. Auditory memory holds sound for a few seconds

Question 8

Sensory register - what happened if you pay attention to info and if you dont?

Answer 8

If you pay attention to the info, then it goes through to the STM. If you dont pay attention then it fades, trace decay

Question 8

Key study: Capacity and duration of the SR- method and who ?

Answer 8

Sperling
Method: flashed a 3x4 grid of letters for 50ms. recall as many as can. Recall single rows when particular tones were heard

Question 9

Capacity and duration of SR (Sperling) results?

Answer 9

when asked to recall could remember aprox 4 letters single rows - on average 3 items. However, items decayed rapidly

Question 10

Capacity and duration - conclusion?

Answer 10

capacity of SR = minimum 4 items
duration = between 250 to 500 ms
thought that the image of each item fades during 50ms and the time it takes to report back recalled items so it could be much larger

Question 11

Capacity, duration and coding of STM?

Answer 11

coding = acoustic
duration = 18-30 seconds
capacity = 7+/- 2 items

Question 12

What is interference?

Answer 12

Forgetting because one memory blocks the recall of another, causing one or both memories to be forgotten. The degree of forgetting is often greater when memories are similar

Question 13

What are the two types of interference?

Answer 13

proactive interference - forgetting occurs when older memories disrupt the recall of newer memories.
Retroactive interference - newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories

Question 14

evaluation of interference- 4 evaluation points?

Answer 14

(+) Retroactive interference is supported by research
(+) Lab experiments have high control
(-) Studies that support interference tend to be lab based
(-) Only explanations for forgetting when information is similar

Question 15

Evaluation of interference theory (IT): (+) Retroactive interference is supported by research

Answer 15

strength of IT is there is evidence from laboratory studies to support it. Postman ask ppts to learn lists of word pairs. found recall for original lists of words was the poorest when ppts were asked to learn a second list of words compared to ppts who werent asked to learn a second list. strength of It as findings demonstrate forgetting occurs when 1 memory blocks another as the theory claims which suggests theory is valid

Question 16

Evaluation of interference: (+) Lab experiments have high control

Answer 16

strength of Postman is its a lab experiment and has high control over extraneous variables and therefore can establish cause and effect. Can be confident the IV (learn/not learn a second list) caused the DV (number of words accurately recalled from the original list). results unlikely to be affected by confounding variables. can be confident findings that learning similar material can cause forgetting are internally valid.

Question 17

Evaluation of interference: (-) studies that support interference tend to be lab based

Answer 17

studies that tend to support the theory tend to be lab based and have low ecological validity. For example, the study of Keppel & underwood involved ppts recalling trigrams at different time intervals. Not an everyday task and doesnt test memory in a realistic way. theory may not be a valid explanation of forgetting in the real world (low external validity)

Question 18

Evaluation of interference theory: (-) Only explains forgetting when information is similar

Answer 18

Only explains forgetting when two sets of info are similar. For example, can only explain why we find it difficult to learn spanish when we already know Portuguese, doesn’t happen very often. IT cannot explain most of the times that we forget info, can only be applied to very specific situations

Question 19

what is retrieval failure?

Answer 19

A form of forgetting. It occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory. the memory is available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided.

Question 20

what is a cue?

Answer 20

A ‘trigger’ of info that allows us to access a memory. Such cues may be meaningful or may be indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning.

Question 21

What is context dependent forgetting?

Answer 21

Where the relevant cues in the environment that were there when you learnt the info, are then missing from the place you then recall the info. It stops you remembering the info.

Question 22

What is state-dependent forgetting?

Answer 22

Psychological or physiological differences betwen how you felt when you were learning the info and then how you feel when you are later recalling the info; which may affect recall.

Question 23

Evaluation of context dependent forgetting
- key info about the study
- 2 evaluation points

Answer 23

Godden and Baddely: 18 divers, 4 conditions recall was 40% lower when ppts were asked to recall words in a different context (absent cue) to where they were learnt compared to recall in the same context (cue present)
(+) Context dependent forgetting is supported by Godden & Baddeley - recall 40% lower
(-) supporting evidence has low ecological validity: small sample cannot provide evidence for non-divers

Question 24

Evaluation of state dependent forgetting

Answer 24

Darley et al asked some ppts to smoke cannabis and then hide some money. Found that people who were still under the influence were more successful (cue present) …

Question 25

What is misleading information ?

Answer 25

Incorrect info given to the EW usually after the event. It can take many forms, such as leading questions and post event discussion

Question 26

What is a leading question?

Answer 26

A question which, because of the way its phrased, suggests a certain answer.

Question 27

Key study: misleading information

Answer 27

Loftus & Palmer - Investigate whether misleading info distorts the accuracy of an eye witnesses’ immediate recall. 45 ppts showed 7 films of different traffic incidents in a lab situation, all saw same films. given a questionnaire included one critical question. Split into 5 condition only taking part in one each

Question 28

Results from Loftus and Palmer - misleading information

Answer 28

smashed = 40.8mph contacted = 31.8mph

Question 29

Evaluation of loftus & Palmer

Answer 29

(+) lab experiment - high control IV(verb used in critical question) caused DV (ppts estimated speed)
(-) Low ecological validity
(-) Low population validity - sample consisted of 45 American undergraduate students

Question 30

Key study: Anxiety - who and aim

Answer 30

Johnson and Scott - To investigate if the presence of a weapon (which leads to anxiety) afffects the accuracy of EWT.

Question 31

Key study: Anxiety - results

Answer 31

Findings supported the idea of the weapon focus effect. Mean accuracy was 49% in identifying the man in the pen condition, compared to 33% in the knife condition

Question 32

Evaluation of Anxiety - Johnson & Scott

Answer 32

(+) Lab experiment - high control IV (presence/absence of a weapon) caused DV (the recall of the person committing the crime)
(+) practical application - therefore police will need to be cautious when interviewing anxious witnesses and crimes that involve a weapon