topic 2: memory Flashcards

Question

outline the case of HM, Henry Molaison

Answer 1

he had severe epilepsy (around 10 seizures daily) due to a fall as a child it was known that partially removing the hippocampus could decrease seizures, as medication wasn't working, his dr wanted to remove the whole hippocampus post surgery he seemed normal but he couldn't remember meeting his new dr and reintroduced himself each time; he'd lost his STM (and had anterograde amnesia)and couldn't form new declaritive memories BUT, he could eat and communicate, his old memories were unaffected, he could do maintenance recall

Answer 2

limited capacity - 4 items it can process info from any of the sensory systems it allocates tasks to the sub-systems components can only communicate with each other via the CE

Answer 3

it is a divided system the **passive visual cache** stores info about how things look (form, shape, colour etc.) the **active inner scribe** works with spatial information of objects in 3D space capacity is around 3-4 objects

Answer 4

it's made of the **articulatory control system** and the **phonological store** phonological store processes auditory information and allows for maintenance rehearsal - it can hold spoken word for 2 seconds articulatory control system has a sub vocal rehearsal mechanism

Answer 5

cerebellum and motor cortex it's implicit long term memory it is the memory used for actions and learned skills (muscle memory) recall occurs without effort/awareness many of these memories are formed in early life e.g. walking

Answer 6

**temporal lobe** declarative (explicit) long term memory it isn't time stamped or very personal it's **our memories of our world and the associated knowledge** a conscious effort is needed to recall them the memories are taught

Answer 7

procedural semantic episodic

Answer 8

**hippocampus** it's declarative (explicit) long term memory it is memory for events, and therefore time stamped and very personal a conscious effort is needed for recall they are not taught

Answer 9

it integrates information from STM and LTM it's a general storage facility for info from all systems and LTM info from all the subsystems is formed together to create a single memory that includes visual, spatial and auditory info it maintains a time sequence by essentially recording events (episodes) that happen it was added to help explain what the CE couldn't

Answer 10

+ it has made important contributions to memory research psychologists could explain research that didn't fit with MSM ev: KF damaged some STM after an accident (struggled with verbal but visual was fine) conc: STM has seperate parts, our understanding of memory has improved massively and the knowledge can be used to aid learning + prabhakaran; fMRI brain scans 2 tasks with equal visual and spatial info were used 1. had info separated, 2. had info integrated they each used different parts of the brain, proving the existence of the episodic buffer + dual task performance studies support the existence of a visuo-spatial sketchpad ev: Baddeley et al. found that p's found it harder to do 2 visual tasks than one visual and one spatial simultaneously conc: a higher ability of visual + spatial suggests that there is a separate subsystem that processes each input, the visuo-spatial sketchpad -- inferences have to be made as the structures are not visible, these inferences may be wrong

Answer 11

the inability to remember

Answer 12

when 2 pieces of information are in conflict with each other

Answer 13

older memories disrupt new memories eg. a teacher mixing names of a past class so she can't remember names of a new class

Answer 14

when new memories disrupt the older ones eg. learning french then italian, but italian slips out when you speak french

Answer 15

1. competition of response theory information isn't lost, the wrong info in the memory is just being accessed, new info can shift old memory 2. unlearning theory old learning is actually replaced by new learning

Answer 16

+ lab experiments give evidence support Tulving and Psotka gave p's either 2 or 6 lists of 24 words, they had to free recall words they could remember; 2 lists was more accurate than 6 this is an example of retroactive interference + Baddeley + Hitch, rugby players who had played every game were more likely to forget matches: the later games had interfered with a recall of the earlier matches i.e. retroactive interference — the studies are artificial and lack mundane realism participants had to recall words around an hour after learning which doesn't reflect how much time we have between learning and recall IRL, usually months/weeks or at least days — interference isn't the only explanation for forgetting Tulving + Psotka then gave category names to the participants which acted as cues and p's recalled around 70% of given words. so interference must just mask what is available, the info is still there but harder to retrieve, considering only interference would be over simplistic

Answer 17

interference and retrieval failure

Answer 18

a trigger of information that allows us to access a memory

Answer 19

they can be meaningful or linked indirectly by being encoded at the time of learning tulving said that cues help recall if the same ones are present at both learning and retrieval they can be **context, state or organisational**

Answer 20

retrieval failure; when info is initially placed in memory, associated cues are also stored so if cues aren't available at recall, the memories there may also be inaccessible

Answer 21

it states that memory improves when info available at encoding is there at retrieval also, the retrieval cue will work better the more similar it is to the original cue

Answer 22

when memory retrieval is dependent on an external cue, but the external cue at recall doesn't match that at encoding Godden + Baddeley (1975); there were 4 conditions, landland, landwater, waterwater, waterland (1st is learn, 2nd is recall) recall was found to be significantly better with matching conditions

Answer 23

when memory retrieval is dependent on an internal cue (state of mind, stress); info is forgotten if internal cues at encoding don't match those present at recall Goodwin et al (1969); p's were told to hide £$ and alcohol when drunk then find when drunk vs sober, it was found more when in same state than a different state

Answer 24

+ context cues have useful applications for police police use cues to their advantage in cognitive interviews. different senses which act as cues to discover more of what happened. this is good because memory research is £££, and the world is actually benefitting from it — context effects aren't actually that strong Godden+Baddeley study lacks ecological validity as they chose Very different env,. (water+land), but env. aren't actually that different at learning vs recall so it's not an accurate depiction — there are other theories that explain forgetting eg. rugby players study shows retroactive interference + we have everyday examples of cue dependent forgetting eg. remembering something after hearing the first letter

Answer 25

aim: does the phrasing of a question influence judgement of speed to test accuracy of EWT and leading questions exp 1: independent measures design; 5 groups of 9 = 45 students criticial q- abput how fast where they going when they *** each other ***= smashed, contacted, bumped, hit, collided DV= speed estimate 7 traffic accident films were shown; p's had to 1. free recall the incident 2. do a questionnaire approx. smashed was 10mph higher conc- question form can affect accuracy of answers from an eyewitness significantly conducted a 2nd, similar exp to get more evidence exp 2: 3 groups of 50 students watched 1 film of an accident the verb used to describe the accidents: smashed/hit/control (no comment) DV- estimated speed, recollection of broken glass participants returned a week later so they wouldn't remember what verb was used critical q; did you see any broken glass? there was no broken glass but % yes was Smashed - 32%, hit + control - approx 15% conc; the memory of car crash and memory of the verb became 1 memory, so leading questions reduce the reliability of EWT

Answer 26

1. response bias explanation: words in q don't actually change the memory, just the short term response 2. alternative explanation: the wording changes the original memory

Answer 27

-- research is artificial, lacks ecological validity p's were shown either 7 or 1 film(s) of an accident; it's a clip so they will feel more distanced from it than if they were there; they may be more susceptible to believing the verb used + standardized procedures e.g. same room, same video clip, free recall then questionnaire with critical question you can then replicate the experiment with different populations across different times to see if there is the same result -- results aren't generalisable both exps samples used students; they may not drive/ haven't been doing it for long and not understand what cars at like at speeds being unsure ould make them more easily influenced by the verb used + application of the research to the justice system results showed leading questions altering memory; 32% of smashed vs 12% of control said yes to broken glass this prevents the wrong people being in jail due to leading q's -- individual differences Rhodes found older people to be less accurate than younger people when giving eye witness reports

Answer 28

when co-witnesses discuss a crime and mix information from their own memories with memories of other witnesses

Answer 29

Gabbert et al studied participants in pairs; 1 saw the crime with a book, 2 saw the same crime but with a red handbag they discussed what they saw before completing a test : 71% reported something they didn't see when asked 'what did you see?' control group had no discussion; 0% reported something they didn't see why? witnesses do this either for social approval or because they think other witnesses are right and they are wrong - memory conformity

Answer 30

-- evidence of post event discussion altering EWT Skagerberg and Wright showed p’s a dark brown haired mugger and a light brown haired one; p’s saw different clips and discussed after and then reported medium brown hair + IRL application Gabberts study has led to police separating witnesses after a crime to prevent memory contamination -- low ecological validity watching the crime on a clip is an artificial setting with no emotional impact where p’s would pay more attention than usual causing demand characteristics + reliability the use of standardized procedure means that the research can be repeated and recreated

Answer 31

a state of emotional arousal where there is a feeling of apprehension and uncertainty brought on by a real, anticipated threat a mental state of anxiety can impair both physical and psychological functioning

Answer 32

Johnson and Scott field experiment p's sat outside a lab where they could hear people talking a) amicable discussion about equipment failure, a man w/ greasy hands walks out holding a pen b) hostile discussion followed by the sound of breaking glass and overturned furniture, a man w/ a knife and blood covered hands walks out p's were given 50 pics and asked to identify the man (approx) 50% of peaceful identified 30% of violent identified

Answer 33

it argues that witnesses' attention narrows and focuses on a weapon because it is a source of anxiety, which is why they can describe a weapon in detail but not the rest of a crime scene

Answer 34

+ there is real life evidence support the horror labyrinth at the London dungeon; p's wore hart monitors to record anxiety level and were then split into high vs low anxiety and had to describe an actor encounter in the labyrinth high had more mistakes, 17% of high and 75% of low correctly identified the actor -- ethical issues; causes more stress than everyday life Johnson and Scott research could be challenged for this; real life studies can be more beneficial as the've already witnessed a real life event and won't need to create it -- real life crimes offer opposing evidence Yuille and Cutshall; real life robbery where shop owner shot a gun thief dead 13 out of 21 witnesses agreed to participate in research p's were interviewed 5 months post incident, p's reporting high stress were more accurate at 88% vs 75% -- the study may test surprise instead of anxiety exp with scissors/handgun/wallet/raw chicken as hand held items in hairdressing salon video EW was less accurate with chicken/handgun, aka high unusualness and also surprise factor — violent crime victims were more accurate in EWT than non-violent crime victims so anxiety doesn’t uniformly affect EWT accuracy

Answer 35

a way of interviewing eyewitnesses about what they can recall from a crime scene or an event It was developed as a way of improving EWT in order to enhance recall and thus lead to more accurate conviction of the perpetrator

Answer 36

1. free recall - the interviewer encourages the reporting of every single detail of the event, even though it may seem irrelevant + it avoids leading questions as you use your own words and aren't influenced + this detail can also trigger other memories 2. recall from a changed perspective - recall from viewpoints of other people, how it would've appeared to them + it reduces the influence of schema 3. recall in reverse order - interviewers try to walk through the timeline of the incidents timeline alternatively + it reduces possibility of recall being influenced by schema/expectations + harder to lie backwards 4. context reinstatement - ask what did they see, feel etc. interviewee mentally reinstates the environmental context of the incident + cues may also trigger recall, based on the principle of retrieval failure/cue dependant forgetting

Answer 37

+ evidence support Fisher et al. trained detectives in cognitive interview and they obtained approx 50% more information than before they were trained it was a field study so high ecological validity, it shows the benefit when correctly applied -- time consuming a rapport is established with the witnesses and they are given chance to relax, witnesses may also go into a lot of irrelevant detail because they are told to not leave anything out, they can't really tell them to stop because to can interrupt the flow and they may miss a necessary detail this makes it more expensive and less can be done and more salaries need to be payed etc. + we know that the report everything and context reinstatement stages work the best this means that just these components can be used to make the interview shorter useful to just save time but also when you want to minimise reliving trauma -- researchers found that although 81% more correct information was given, 61% more incorrect information was given may be best to just use in the more intense cases + it’s good for encouraging elderly people to give info without reservation, they can be more hesitant because of negative conceptions about their memory fisher used the interview on 22 vs 72 yr old males and saw more benefit with older group

Answer 38

thought to be unlimited there's never been a case of someone being unable to learn new info

Answer 39

a type of LTM forgetting that can be cue or state dependent and is where a memory cannot be accessed

Answer 40

+ brain scans give evidence because of their different locations + ⭐️ 🪞 + evidence of different, seperate declarative stores studied alzheimer’s patients that could episodic but not semantic whilst others found the opposite, so they can be formed independently + belleville studied how episodic memories can be improved in older people with a mild cognitive impairment, trained group did better in a test vs control!

Answer 41

weapon focus (50% vs 33%) and yerkes-dodson