Unit 1 - cognitive psychology key words

Question 1

Capacity

How is it measured?

Answer 1

Measure of how much can be held in memory

Measured in terms of bits of information, such as number digits

Question 2

Duration

Answer 2

A measure of how long a memory lasts before it is no longer available

Question 3

Encoding

Answer 3

The way that information is changed so it can be stored in the brain.

• Info enters brain - senses
• Sorted into various forms:

Visual codes - picture
Acoustic form - sounds
Semantic form - meaning of the experience

Question 4

LTM

Answer 4

Memory of events that have happened in the past

Lasts anywhere from 2 minutes - 100 years

Potentially unlimited duration

Question 5

STM

Answer 5

Memory of immediate events

Lasts for a very short amount of time and disappears if unrehearsed

Limited = duration / capacity

Sometimes referred to as working memory

Question 6

Chunking

Answer 6

Miller proposed that the capacity of STM can be enhanced by grouping digits or letters into meaningful units ‘chunks’

e.g. easier to remember 100,100 than 100,901

Suggested we can remember 7+- 2 chunks at a time

Size of chunk may effect the number of ther chunks we can be processed at once

Question 7

Digit span technique

Answer 7

Used to assess the span of immediate memory (STM)

Participants are given progressively more digits in a list to see how many can be recalled

Question 8

Multi-store memory

Answer 8

Explanation of memory

Based on 3 separate memory stores and how information is transferred between these stores

(SM, STM and LTM)

Question 9

SM

Answer 9

Information from the senses

Collected through EYES, EARS, NOSE, FINGERS…

Information is retained for a very brief period by the sensory registers (less than half a second)

Capacity = very large

Method of encoding depends on the sense organ involved e.g. visual = eyes, acoustic = ears

Question 10

Central executive

Answer 10

Part of WMM

Monitors and coordinates all other mental functions in working memory model (WM)

Question 11

Episodic buffer

Answer 11

Part of WMM

Receives input from many sources

Temporarily stores this information

Integrates it in order to construct a mental episode of what is being experienced right now

Question 12

Phonological loop

Answer 12

Part of WMM

Encodes speech sounds (acoustic)

Involves the maintenance rehearsal (repeating words over and over again)

(DIVIDED)

1-Phonological store - inner ear

2-Articulatory process - inner voice

Question 13

Visuo - spatial sketchpad

Answer 13

Part of WMM

Encodes visual information

(DIVIDED)

1-Visual cache - stores information

2-Inner voice - spatial relations

Question 14

Word - length effect

Answer 14

People remember lists of short words better than long words

Governed by the capacity of the phonological loop

Question 15

Working memory model (WMM)

Answer 15

Explanation of STM, called ‘working model’

Based on 4 components, some storage capacity

• Central executive
• Episodic buffer
• Phonological loop
• Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Question 16

Eyewitness testimony (EWT)

Answer 16

Evidence provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime, with a view to identifying the perpetrator of the crime

Accuracy of eyewitness recall may be affected during initial encoding, subsequent storage and eventual retrieval

Question 17

Misleading information

Answer 17

Information that, either by its form or content, suggests to the witness what answer is desired, or leads him to the desired answer

Question 18

Anxiety

Answer 18

Nervous emotional state where we fear that something unpleasant is about to happen

People often become anxious in stressful situations

Anxiety tents to be accompanied by physiological arousal (e.g. a founding heart and rapid shallow breathing).

Research on anxiety usually focuses on the arousal

Question 19

Cognitive interview (CI)

Answer 19

1 - REPORT EVERYTHING - All details included to increase the consistency and accuracy of recall.

2 - MENTAL REINSTATEMENT OF ORIGINAL CONTEXT - mentally recreate the event

3 - CHANGING THE ORDER - revising it by varying the route of the event

4 - CHANGING PERSPECTIVE - p.o.v

Question 20

Standard interview

Answer 20

Interview lacks the four CI components

Question 21

4 types of verbal memory improvement techniques

Answer 21

• Acrostics
• Acronyms
• Rhymes
• Chunking

Question 22

3 types of visual memory improvement techniques

Answer 22

• Method of loci
• Keyword method
• Mind maps