Unit 1- Cognitive Psychology: memory Flashcards
Capacity of STM
Short term memory has limited capacity
Capacity
The amount of information that can be stored
Capacity of LTM
Long term memory has potentially unlimited capacity
Chunking
Grouping information in stm into larger units to increase capacity
Visual encoding
Reformatting information into an image
So it can be stored in memory
Acoustic encoding
Reformatting information into a sound so it can be stored in memory
Semantic encoding
Reforming information into a meaning do it can be stored in memory
Validity
When the study is accurately measuring the behaviour being studied
Internal validity
Concerns what goes on inside a study (about the methodology)
- were the independent and dependent variable controlled
- did the research test what they wanted to test
External validity / ecological validity
The extent to which the results are valid. If the results can be generalised to the wider population or to different settings or different times in history
Mundane realism
The extent to which a study mirrors behaviour in the real world
Extraneous variables
variables that may affect the validity of a study because they could make participants behave differently
Participant variables
Factors about the participants which may affect results and should be controlled
Example of participant variables
Age, intelligence, ethnicity, aggression levels
Situation variables
Factors in the experimental setting and surrounding environment
Examples of situation variables
Temperature, noise levels, light
Memory
Is the process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past
Duration
The length of time information remains in storage
Short term memory
A temporary store holding small amounts of information for brief periods
Long term memory
A permanent store holding limitless amounts of information for long periods or even a life time for some info
Laboratory experiment
Experiments that have been carried out in controlled environments
The researcher controls the variables
Dependant variable
The variable that is measured in some way
Independent variable
The variable that is manipulated or changed by the researcher to see what effect it has
Aim
General overview of what the researcher plans to investigate
Hypothesis
It is a precise and testable statement and states what the researcher expects to find
Directional hypothesis (one- tailed)
A hypothesis worded to indicate what is expected
Usually starts with “people who”
Non-directional (one-tailed)
A hypothesis to indicate a difference is predicted but not in which way
Usually begins with “there will be a difference between”
AO1: What did baddeley find about stm
- acoustically similar words were harder to recall then acoustically dissimilar words
- semantic words did not have much of an effect
- relies heavily on acoustic coding
AO1: What did baddeley find about ltm?
- recalling was much worse for semantically similar words(55%) rather than semantically dissimilar words (75%)
- recall from ltm was the same for acoustic words
- ltm makes better use of semantic coding
What experiment was studying encoding in ltm &stm
Baddeley 1996
AO1: What was Baddeleys procedure
- In stm participants were asked to recall in serial order a list of 5 words taken from a pool of words in the categories
- for ltm they used a list of 10 words
What experiment was studying the duration of stm
Pererson and peterson 1959
AO1: What was the procedure in peterson and petersons experiment?
(Studied the capacity of stm and provide empirical evidence for the multi-store model)
- lab experiment
- 24 participants
- they had to recall triagrams and to avoid rehearsal they had to count down from 3/4 seconds from a random number until they saw a red light
- they had to recall after intervals of 3,6,9,12,15 or 18
AO1: What did they find & conclude in the peterson and peterson experiment
- the longer the interval delay the less trigrams were recalled
- Participants were able to recall 80% of trigrams after a 3 second delay
- less then 10% after 18 seconds
- stm= limited duration when rehearsal is prevented
- STM differs from ltm in terms of duration(Supports multi-store model)
What experiment was studying the duration if ltm?
Barick et al 1975
AO1: What was barick et als procedure?
- 400 participants ages 17-74
- a free-recall test: asked to name all people in graduating class
- a photo recognition test: 50 photos of people that went to their high school and some that weren’t
- A name recognition test of ex school friends
- photo and name matching test
AO1:findings & conclusion of barick et al
- 15 years =90% were accurate with identifying names and faces (visual and verbal recognition)
- after 48 years=80% name recognition and 70% photo recognition
- free recall test- 15 years= 60% accurate 48 years= 30% accurate
- very long term memory works up to 57 years after graduation.-people remember visual recall(photos) better than verbal recall (names)
Who made the multi store model and in what year?
Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968
What does the multi stote model of memory show?
- information flows from one storage to another
- information received through the senses enters SM
- a small amount is paid attention to& selected for processing in stm
- if info In stm is rehearsed it enters ltm for permanent storage if not it is forgotten
Who was the working memory model devised by?
Baddeley and Hitch
First section of working memory model (central executive)
- Information enters the central executive which directs information to the slave system and responds to it.
- limited capacity selects what information to attend to and switches attention between different tasks
Second section of working memory model (first slave system: phonological loop)
- Deals with auditory information.
- subdivided into the phonological store which holds the words you hear
- and subdivided into the articulatory process silently loops words that are seen or heard
Third section of working memory model (second support system: visuo-special sketchpad)
- stores visual or spatial information temporarily
- can be subdivided into visual cache (store)
- and an inner scribe (deals with spatial relations)
Forth section of working memory model (third support system: episodic buffer)
- extra storage system
- integrated information from all the above components and ltm
Evidence supporting the working memory model-AO2 (Visuo-spatial)
- comes from smith and Jonides who found that PET scans showed brain activation in the left hemisphere with visual tasks and right hemisphere with spatial info
- supports the idea of separate visual cashe and inner scribe in this component
Evidence supporting the working memory model-AO2 (Phonological loop)
- case study reported on a patient who had brain damage who could demonstrate competence in visual and spatial tasks but could not process auditory tasks.
- suggests there must be a separate component for auditory tasks
Evidence supporting the working memory model-AO2 (Episodic buffer)
- a case study found that a patient with severely impaired LTM demonstrated a STM capacity 25 prose items far exceeding the capacity of both the phonological loop and Visuo-spatial sketchpad.
- supports existence of extra general store and is one of the functions of the episodic buffer
Operalisation
Means making the variables specific, testable and measurable
Researcher bias
The effect that a researchers expectations have on the design of a study and on participants
Limitation of wmm (Stm)
- only deals with Stm
- criticised for not offering a comprehensive model of memory
- suggesting on its own it’s not useful on suggesting how human memory works
Limitation of wmm (case studies)
- all the supporting research is case studies
- findings are unique
- can’t be generalised to the wider population
- lacks external validity
Limitation of wmm (Central executive)
- criticised for being to vague
- having a single central executive is wrong&functions aren’t explained fully
- probably more complex than it is represented
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
The cognitive interview AO1
What the cognitive interview is
Developed by fisher and geislemen (1992)
Developed to improve recall I’m police interviews
It is based on Tulvings idea that there are not several retrieval paths to each memory
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
The cognitive interview AO1
Report everything
The witness is encouraged tore port every detail of the event even if it’s not relevant
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
The cognitive interview AO1
Mental reinstatement of the context
The victim is encouraged to mentally recreate the environmental setting and emotional content
E.g weather and place
Feelings
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
The cognitive interview AO1
Change of narrative order
The witness is encouraged to recall events in different orders e.g reversing the order instead of chronologically
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
The cognitive interview AO1
Change of perspective
The witness is encouraged to remember the scene from different perspectives
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
The cognitive interview AO1
Fisher et al
Suggested a changed version of the cognitive interview known as the enhanced cognitive interview included:
- features like minimising distractions for the witness
- asking open-ended questions
- aiming to reduce the anxiety of the witness
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
The cognitive interview AO2
Supported by research by Geilselman
Found that the results of the ci were superior when compared with results from the standard interview technique
Suggesting that the technique is verde time and valid in increasing the accuracy of EWT
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
The cognitive interview AO2
Supported by research by Fisher
- who assessed the performance of police officers in gathering facts when using enhanced cognitive interview compared to ci found it to be superior
- suggesting this method is effective and valid to improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
Impact of age on EWT AO1:
Cognitive abilities reduce with age
- suggesting that the accuracy of eyewitness testimony decreases with age
- older people have less detailed recall than young or middle aged adults and appear to be more prone to miss understanding info
Impact of age on EWT AO2:
Supports (Loftus)
- found that elderly people were more likely to make false identifications and were poorer at recalling specific details than middle-aged adults
- suggests that increasing age negatively affects accuracy of memory
Research into the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (AO1):
Loftus and Palmer 1974 (mean score)
- found that the mean score of participants who were asked to estimate the speed of a car they had seen crash into another using the verb ‘smashed’ was higher at 40.8mph than those asked to do the same with the verb contacted =31.8
- hit,bumped, collided
- suggests that leading words can influence eyewitness testimony
Research into the accuracy of eyewitness testimony(AO1)
Loftus and Palmer 1974 (nonexistent glass)
- when asked a week later if they had seen broken glass that the went really there participants who were given the verb smashed were more likely to mistakenly remember seeing it than those given the word hit
- suggests the hat at recall misleading information is reconstructed with material from the original memory
Research into the accuracy of eyewitness testimony:
Loftus and Palmer 1974 (17% of participants who watched a film of a car ride)
- Were asked how fast the car was going when it passed the White barn, when there was no white barn recalled seeing the White barn one week later
- this supports the idea of post-event information, where misleading information is added to the question after and incident has occurred
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
The cognitive interview AO2
Limitation of the four components
-Make interviewing witness time consuming, and memon found that police officers believe the change of perspective component misleads witness into speculating about the event and so they use it less, -suggesting that not all four components are useful or effective to improve the accuracy of EWT
The cognitive interview 4 elements
- mental reinstatement of the context
- report everything
- change in narrative order
- change of perspective
AO2/3: Pererson and Peterson limitation
- (flawed methodology)
- (mundane realism)
- results may have been due to flawed methodology because different trigram were used on each trial, this may have lead to interference between items>decreased recall
- further limitation is that recalling nonsense trigrams has little relevance to stm tasks in everyday life>lack mundane realism
what did Miller find about the capacity of Stm
what did Cowan find about the capacity of Stm
- concluded that the capacity of Stm was between 5 and 9, an average of 7, found it was the chunk that was the basic unit of Stm
- cowan: reviewed more recent variety of studies on the capacity of Stm and concluded that STM is likely to be limited to 4 chunks
AO2: Limitations of Cowan and Miller research into capacity of stm
- factors like age and amount of practise(individual differences) also influence capacity (extraneous variables)
- capacity of chunks varies with type of material being recalled and the amount of information in each chunk
AO2: strength and limitation of baddeley’s study into encoding of stm and ltm memory
- (laboratory experiment)
- ecological validity
- stm isn’t restricted to autistic encoding
- lab experiment so it shows cause and effect (the IV has caused the effect on the dv)
- lab experiment reduces ecological validity as task does not reflect how we use STM
- further criticism is that STM is not restricted to acoustic encoding e.g we remember visual images like faces in STM which would be difficult to encode acoustically
AO2: strength of baddeley’s study into encoding of ltm memory
-makes cognitive sense
-strength is that semantic encoding makes cognitive sense e.g is a person recalls a TV programme they watched they will remember the overall message (meaning)’but not the actual words (accoustic)
AO2: limitations of bahrick et al research into duration of ltm
- type of testing techniques
- certain forms of info may have longer duration
- the type of testing techniques used ,any affect research findings from studies of duration of ltm e.g recall is better when done by recognition than free recall
- certain forms of info may have a longer duration e.g those based on skills and those more personal to the individual
AO1: what Linton found about the Capacity of ltm
- spent six years creating a diary of 5,500 personal events
- tested herself for recognition of these events each month and found she had excellent recall of these dates
- demonstrating the colossal potential capacity of Ltm
AO2: limitation of what Linton found about the Capacity of ltm
-diary studies are a type of case study>not representative of the general population
Sensory memory
Brief duration retaining information r curved through the senses
AO2: limitations of the multi-store model
-over simplified
- it has been criticised for being over-a simplified in assuming that there is a single STM&a single ltm
- research shows there is many types of STM e.g 1 for verbal&1 for non-verbal
- different types of ltm e.g procedural, semantic and episodic memory
- suggests that there are different parts to stm<m that the msm doesn’t account for
AO2: research evidence to support msm
-Shalice snd Warrington
- Shalice and Warrington reported the case study of k.f who as result of an accident had a reduced STM of only 2 digits (average is 7)
- his ltm events afters the accident was normal supporting the idea of separate STM and ltm memory stores as shown by msm
Mnemonic technique
Is a structured technique that is used to help people remember and r call information
Verbal mnemonic techniques:
Acronym
When words or sentences are formed from the first letter of words used e.g boy =blue orange yellow
Verbal mnemonic technique:
Acrostic
Poem or sentence where the first letter in each line or word forms what a person is trying to remember e.g house=home, open and inviting, universal, safe, everything
Verbal mnemonic:
Chunking
Involves diving a long string of information into memorable chunks e.g chunking phone numbers
Visual imagery mnemonics
1. Method of loci
- used to help remember points a person wants to make e.g in their long speeches
- method requires the learned to associate parts of the text/words to be recalled with different places (usually a room or road a person is familiar with) in the order that they are to be recalled
Visual imagery mnemonics
2.Keyword method
- used when trying to associate two pieces of information
- a person would think of an image to link the two words
Visual imagery mnemonics
3. Diagrams/ mind maps
Involve making notes of information in the form of a drawing
- usually a branching pattern
- main topic in the middle and the elements or idea of the topic on the outside at the end of the branches
Stages of EWT
stage 1: encoding of the witness
- witness encodes into ltm details of the event and people involved
- encoding may only be partial and distorted because most crimes happen unexpectedly, quickly and at night.
Stages of EWT
stage 2: retaining the info
- witness retains the information for a period of time -memories may be lost or changes during the first few minutes of retention
- other activities between encoding and retrieval may interfere with memory
Stages of EWT
Stage 3: witness retrieves the information
- witness retrieved the information from storage
- there are things that can happen during the reconstruction of the memory that can affect its accuracy e.g other info which confuses the witness or the way they are asked
AO2: research into eyewitness testimony
-limitation (leading questions)
- research is unclear with leading questions whether inaccuracies in recall are due to demand characteristics or genuine changed in the memory of an event.
- suggesting that if a participant suspects their memory for an event is being tested they might try really hard to remember or not both>validity decreases
Impact of age on EWT AO3:
Limitation of Loftus
- criticism of the methodology
- these studies compare recall of elderly adults with college students but only use faces of young people as the stimulus material
- research has found that all age groups perform better when recalling photographs of people their own age>stimuli in research affects finding
