topic 2 - memory

Question 1

what is coding?

Answer 1

the process of converting information between different forms to be stored in memory

Question 2

who investigated coding?

Answer 2

Alan Baddeley

Question 3

what was the procedure of alan baddeley’s experiment?

Answer 3

he gave different list of words to four groups of ps to remember: acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar, semantically dissimilar.

Question 4

what were the results of baddeley’s study?

Answer 4

when recalling the words immediatley, ps did worse with acoustically similar words. When recalling 20mins later, ps did worse with semantically similar words.

Question 5

what was the conclusion of Baddeley’s study?

Answer 5

memory is coded acoustically in STM, and coded semantically in LTM

Question 6

who investigated the duration of STM?

Answer 6

Peterson & Peterson

Question 7

what was the procedure of Peterson & Peterson’s study?

Answer 7

they tested 24 ps in 8 trials each. On each trial the ps was given a trigram to remember, and a 3 digit number. The student was then asked to count back from that 3 digit number until told to stop. On each trial they were told at stop at varying periods of time (3,6,9), then they were asked to recall the trigram

Question 8

what were the findings of Peteron & Peterson’s study?

Answer 8

after 3 seconds, average recall was 80%, after 18 seconds it was 3%

Question 9

what was the conclusion of Peterson & Peterson’s study

Answer 9

STM duration is around 18 seconds unless we rehearse the information

Question 10

who investigated the duration of LTM?

Answer 10

Bahrick

Question 11

what was the procedure of Bahrick’s study?

Answer 11

he studied 392 American ps aged between 17-74. He did one photo recognition test consisting of 50 photos (some from the ps yearbook), and one free recall test where ps recalled all the names of their graduating class.

Question 12

what were the findings of Bahrick’s study?

Answer 12

Ps tested within 15 years of graduating were 90% accurate in photo recognition. After 48 years, this decreased to 70%. For those within 15 years, free recall was 60%, and after 48 years it was 30%

Question 13

what was the conclusion of Bahrick’s study?

Answer 13

LTM can last up to a lifetime

Question 14

who investigated capacity of STM?

Answer 14

Joseph Jacobs

Question 15

hat was the procedure of Joseph Jacob’s study?

Answer 15

he measured digit span. The researcher would read out 4 digits, and the ps recalls these in the correct order. If this is correct, then the researcher will read out 5 digits, and so on until the ps can’t recall the correct order.

Question 16

what was the results of Joseph Jacob’s study?

Answer 16

the mean span for letts was 7 +- 3, and for digits it’s 9 +-3

Question 17

who investigated the span of memory with chunking?

Answer 17

Miller

Question 18

how did miller investigate capacity?

Answer 18

he made observations of everyday life, and discovered that most things come in 7’s.

Question 19

what were miller’s findings?

Answer 19

the span of STM is about 7+-2. People can also remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters by chunking.

Question 20

why does Baddeley’s study have a lack of environmental validity ?

Answer 20

he used an articiicial stimuli as the words had no personal meaning to the ps.

Question 21

why is Jacob’s study valid?

Answer 21

his study has been repeated and his findings have been confirmed by other better controlled studies.

Question 22

what is a limitation of Miller’s study?

Answer 22

he may’ve overestimated the capacity of STM as Cowan reviewed other research and concluded that capacity is 4+-1

Question 23

what is a limitation of Peterson & Peterson’s study?

Answer 23

the stimulus material was artificial. It isn’t completely irrelevant but recalling trigrams doesn’t reflect everyday memory activities. The study lacks external validity.

Question 24

why does Bahrick’s study have high external validity?

Answer 24

the researchers investigated meaningful memories to the ps. When studies on LTM were investigated with meaningless pictures, recall rates were lower. Bahrick et al’s findings were a more real estimate of the duration of LTM.

Question 25

what does the multi-memory model describe?

Answer 25

it describes how information flows through the memory system. It suggests that memory is made up by 3 stores linked by processing.

Question 26

what is the sensory register?

Answer 26

all stimuli from the environment passes into this register, This part of memory contains a register for each of the 5 senses, and they’re all coded differently. The duration is very short, but they have a large capacity.

Question 27

how is memory coded in STM, and what is it’s capacity and duration?

Answer 27

memory is coded acoustically, and roughly lasts 18secs. The capacity is around 7+-2

Question 28

what is long term memory?

Answer 28

this is the potentially permanent memory store for information that has been rehearsed for a long period of time

Question 29

how is LTM coded, and what is it’s capacity and duration?

Answer 29

LTM is coded semantically, and it’s duration and capacity is limitless.

Question 30

case study of HM

Answer 30

HM has a brain surgery during his infancy to relieve his epilepsy, and a part of hi brain called the hippocampus was removed. This is essential to memory function. When his memory was assessed in 1955, he thought it was 1953.He’s unable to form new long term memories, but performed well on tests for his STM.

Question 31

why does the HM case study support the multi-memory model?

Answer 31

it shows that STM and LTM are separate

Question 32

what is episodic memory?

Answer 32

a type of LTM memory that refers to our ability to recall events from our life. These memories are time-stamped, and you have to make a conscious effort to recall them

Question 33

what is semantic memory?

Answer 33

a type of LTM that stores our shared knowledge of the world (fact & meaning). These memories aren’t timestamped, and it’s less personal.

Question 34

what is procedural memory?

Answer 34

a type of LTM for actions /skills (how to…)

Question 35

case study of Clive Wearing

Answer 35

Clive has a severe form of amnesia from an infection. He can still play music perfectly, but doesn’t remeber his musical education. He remembers some details from his life, but not all (he knows his wife, and he knows he has children but doesn’t know their names). He only had a few seconds of LTM. His semantic and procedural memory were unaffected as he still understood the meaning of words, and how to do basic things.

Question 36

what is the working memory model?

Answer 36

Baddeley and Hitch’s explanation for how one aspect of STM is organised and how it functions. It has 4 main components: the central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer.

Question 37

what is the central executive?

Answer 37

it monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention, and allocates subsystems to tasks. It has a limited processing capacity , uses all methods of coding, and doesn’t store information

Question 38

what is the phonological loop?

Answer 38

It deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives. Its divided into the phonological store (stores the words you hear), and the articulatory process (allows maintenance rehearsal e.g.repeating words or sounds while they’re needed). It has a capacity of 2 seconds, and is coded acoustically.

Question 39

what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 39

stores visual or spatial information when required. It has a limited capacity of 3/4 objects, and is coded visually

Question 40

what is the episodic buffer?

Answer 40

a temporary store of information, integrating the visual, and verbal, and spatial information processed by other stores, and maintains time sequencing

Question 41

when does interference occur?

Answer 41

when to pieces of information disrupt eachother

Question 42

what is proactive interference?

Answer 42

occurs when old information interferes with new information

Question 43

what is retroactive interference?

Answer 43

occurs when new information interferes with old information

Question 44

who researched the effects of similarity?

Answer 44

John Mcgeoh and William Mcdonald

Question 45

what was the procedure of Mcgeoh and Mcdonald’s experiment?

Answer 45

studied the effect of retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between 2 sets of material. PS had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy, then they learnt a new list. There were 6 groups who had to learn different types of new lists: synonyms, atonyms, unrelated words, consonant syllables, 3 digit numbers, and no new list.

Question 46

what were the findings of Mcgeoh and Mcdonald’s experiment?

Answer 46

when ps were asked to recall the first list, the similar material (synonyms) produced the worst results.

Question 47

what was the conclusion of Mcgeoh and Mcdonald’s experiment?

Answer 47

Interference is strongest when the memories are similar

Question 48

what is the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 48

a cue has to be both present at encoding and present at retrieval

Question 49

what is context dependent forgetting?

Answer 49

recall depends on an external cue (weather or place)

Question 50

what is state dependent forgetting?

Answer 50

recall depends on an interanl cue (feeling upset, being drunk)

Question 51

who studied contect dependent forgetting?

Answer 51

Godden and Baddeley

Question 52

what was the procedure of Godden and Baddeley’s experiement?

Answer 52

they studied deep sea divers to see if training on land helped or hindered their work underwater. The divers learnt a list of words either on land or in the water, and then were asked to recall them either on land or in water. This created 4 conditions: land-land, land-water, water-water, water-land

Question 53

what were the findings of Godden and Baddeley’s experiment?

Answer 53

accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions

Question 54

what was the conclusion of Godden and Baddeley’s experiment?

Answer 54

if the external cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall, then this would lead to retrieval failure

Question 55

what is a counterpoint of Godden and Baddeley’s experiment?

Answer 55

Baddeley argues that context effects aren’t very strong in real life. The contexts have to be very different for it to have an effect. So retrieval failure due to lack of lack of contextual clues is a limited explanation for everyday forgetting

Question 56

what are leading questions?

Answer 56

a question which because of the way it’s phrased, suggests a certain answer

Question 57

what was the aim of Loftus’ study?

Answer 57

to investigate the effect of leading questions on eye witness testimonies.

Question 58

what was the procedure of Loftus’ study?

Answer 58

45 ps watched film clips of car crashes, and were asked questions about it. They were then asked a critical question about how fast the cars were going. There were 5 groups of ps and each group was given a different verb in the critical question: hit, contacted, bumped, collided, smashed

Question 59

what were the findings of Loftus’ study?

Answer 59

the verb contacted resulted in the mean estimated speed of 31.8mph. the verb smashed resulted in the mean estimated speed of 40.5mph

Question 60

what was the conclusion of Loftus’ study?

Answer 60

the leading question biased the eyewitness’ recall of events.

Question 61

what is post event discussion?

Answer 61

PED occurs when there is more then one witness to an event witnesses may discuss what they saw and this may influence the accuracy of each witnesses recall of the event.

Question 62

what was the aim of Gabbert’s research?

Answer 62

to explore the effect of PED on the accuracy of eye witness testimonies

Question 63

what was the procedure of Gabbert’s research?

Answer 63

studied ps in pairs. each ps watched a clip of a crime from a different perspective, and then they discussed it in their pairs. They then completed a recall test

Question 64

what were the findings of Gabbert’s research?

Answer 64

71% of ps mistakedn recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video, but they picked up in the discussion. The corresponding figure in a control group with no discussion was 0%.

Question 65

what are the 4 main events in a cognitive interview?

Answer 65

report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order, change the perspective

Question 66

differences between a standard and cognitive interview

Answer 66

a standard interview is focused o character and skills. Cognitive interviews use non-suggestive, non-leading questions to avoid influencing their memory.

Question 67

why can anxiety have a negative effect on memory?

Answer 67

it creates a physiological arousal in the body, which prevents us from paying attention to important clues.

Question 68

what was the aim of Johnson and Scott’s study?

Answer 68

to investigate the effect of anxiety on memory

Question 69

what was the procedure of Johnson and Scott’s study?

Answer 69

ps in the low anxiety situation were seated in a waiting room where they heard a conversation in the next room, and then saw a man walk past them with a greasy pen. ps in the high anxiety situation where seated in a waiting room where they heard a heated conversation next door, and heard glass breaking. A man then walked past them with a bloody knife. Both groups were asked to identify the man that walked past them

Question 70

what were the findings of Johnson and Scott’s study?

Answer 70

in the low anxiety condition, 49% were able to identify the man. In the high anxiety group, 33% were able to identify the man.