Year 1 Chapter 2 Memory

Question 1

Explain what is meant by the term coding in terms of memory

Answer 1

Once information gets into the memory system it is encoded in different ways. This process is called coding.
STM is coded acoustically (by sound)
LTM is coded semantically (by meaning)
Baddeley (1966)

Question 2

Explain what is meant by the term capacity in relation to memory

Answer 2

This is the amount of information that can be stored in the memory at one time.
Miller (1956) found the STM to be 7+/- items
It was also found that the LTM is potentially unlimited

Question 3

Explain what is meant by the term duration in relation to memory

Answer 3

Duration is the length of time that information can be stored in memory
Peterson and peterson (1959) found the STM has a duration of roughly 30 seconds
Bahrick (1975) found that the LTM has a potentially unlimited duration

Question 4

Outline one research study into coding of STM. Include what the researchers did and what they found

Answer 4

Baddeley (1966)
Procedure-
Different lists of words were given to PTTs to remember
Acoustically similar, Acoustically dissimilar, Semantically similar and Semantically dissimilar.
Findings-
PPTs found that acoustically similar words were hard to recall
Conclusion-
Suggests that information is coded acoustically in STM

Question 5

Outline one way in which psychologist have investigated the duration of short-term memory

Answer 5

• Peterson and Peterson (1959)
  
  • Procedure
    
    • PPts were given nonsense trigrams to remember and were asked to count backwards from different amounts of time
  • Findings
    
    • After 3 seconds 90% remembered
    • After 18 seconds 3% recalled correctly
  • Conclusion
    
    • STM lasts for 30 seconds

Question 6

Briefly evaluate research into the duration of short-term memory

Answer 6

• Meaningless stimuli
  - The material used was artificial and so doesn’t represent real life
  
  • Study lacks external validity (not generalisable to real life)
  • Forgetting can be explained
    
    • Spontaneous decay - if information is not rehearsed the memory trace simply disappears
    • Displacement - new information takes the place of the old information due to the limited capacity of the STM
  • Peterson and Peterson study, the counting in reverse could’ve lead to the replacement of the information
  • This means that the study lacks internal validity, as it was not duration of memory being tested, but was in fact displacement

Question 7

Briefly evaluate research into the capacity of STM

Answer 7

• Initial study lacks validity
  
  • Study was done so long ago and early studies often lacked control
    
    • Other studies have been done since to reconfirm Jacobs study
  • STM may have been overestimated
    
    • Cowen (2001) found that the STM is only around 5 chunks
    • Miller’s lower estimate is more accurate

Question 8

Describe the Multistore model of memory

Answer 8

-Atkinson and Shiffin (1968)

Question 9

Name 2 methods by which information is moved through the multistore model of memory

Answer 9

• Attention

- Rehearsal

Question 10

Outline 1 piece of supporting evidence for the separate nature of the memory stores (MSM)

Answer 10

• Baddeley (1966)
  
  • Study on coding - found that the STM codes acoustically and the LTM semantically
  • Shows that the 2 types of memory are different entities

Question 11

Criticise the multistore memory model, use case studies in your answer

Answer 11

• Shallice and Warrington
  
  • KF - poor STM for auditory information but unimpaired for visual
  • Suggests that the STM is not just one store, at least one for auditory and another for visual

Question 12

Explain finding from Craik and Watson and why these challenge the MSM

Answer 12

• The MSM assumes that the more rehearsal you do the better/the more likely information is to pass into the LTM
  
  • However, Craik and Watson disagreed with this idea and said there are in fact 2 types of rehearsal
  • Maintenance rehearsal keeps things in the STM. Elaborative rehearsal is more important for the LTM
  • THis challenges the MSM as the model doesn’t consider that there is more than one type of rehearsal

Question 13

Research by Tulving has further been used to criticize the MSM. Why is this?

Answer 13

• Tulving proposed the existence of multiple types of long term memory
  
  • This is a problem for the MSM as it sees the LTM as a unitary store

Question 14

Who first proposed the idea of different types of long term memory and why?

Answer 14

• Tulving
  - Realized that the LTM proposed was too simplistic and inflexible
  
  • Proposed that instead there were three different types of stores

Question 15

Describe the nature of the episodic memory

Answer 15

• Events from our lives
  - They are time stamped- we know when these events took place
  
  • The memory of an episode will involve many elements to make it complete
  • You have to make a conscious effort to recall them

Question 16

Describe the nature of semantic memory

Answer 16

• Contains our knowledge of the world, in the broadest concepts (e.g. knowledge of concepts or the taste of an orange)
  
  • These memories aren’t time stamped. These memories are less personal and more about facts

Question 17

Describe the nature of procedural memory

Answer 17

• our memory of actions and skills
  
  • these are the sort of skills we would find difficult to explain to others or that get harder when you try to describe them

Question 18

Outline the supporting evidence for the different types of LTM

Answer 18

• Clinical evidence
  - HM and Clive Wearing both suffer from amnesia
  - HM displayed normal functions of his semantic memory (e.g. he understood what a dog was), but impaired function of his episodic memory (e.g. he couldn’t remember if he’d ever owned a dog)
  - Clive Wearing was a professional musician and could play the piano, but he couldn’t remember having learnt to play the piano
  - Both these showcase different types of long term memory
  
  • Neuroimaging evidence
    
    • Tulving used PET scans to show where in the brain different forms of LTM are stored
    • Semantic memories: Left frontal cortex
    • Episodic memories: right frontal cortex
    • This supports Tulving’s theory as it shows physical differences in where memories are stored

Question 19

Outline the problem with clinical evidence for different types of LTM

Answer 19

• Lack of control in the studies (e.g. cannot control the precise location of the brain damage)
  
  • Also it’s impossible to determine the nature of these people’s memory before the damage, also leading to a lack of control in the studies
  • These factors make it difficult to generalize information found in such case studies

Question 20

What is the working memory model?

Answer 20

• A model of how the STM functions (devised by Baddely and Hitch 1974)
  
  • Concerned with the parts of the mind that is active when we are temporarily storing and manipulating information
  • Broken down into 4 parts each different, especially in terms of coding and capacity

Question 21

Briefly outline the Working Memory Model

Answer 21

• Central executive - Monitors incoming information and allocates it to slave systems; makes decisions; very limited capacity
  
  • Phonological loop - Deals with auditory information and preserves word order. Divided into two sub systems; The phonological store (stores words) and Articulatory process (allows for rehearsal)
  • Visuo-spatial sketch pad - Stores visual and spatial information as required. It’s split into the inner cache (Stores visual information) and inner scribe (records arrangement of objects)
  • Episodic buffer - Temporary storage and integration of visual, verbal and spatial information. Time stamps. Linked to LTM

Question 22

Briefly outline one research study into WMM using dual task performance

Answer 22

• Baddely et al (1975)
  
  • Showed that PPTs had more difficulty doing two visual task (tracking a light and describing the letter F) than doing a verbal and visual task
  • The increased difficulty is due to the task taking up the same slave system
  • Must be a different slave system to process visual and verbal information

Question 23

Outline some clinical evidence for the WMM

Answer 23

• Shallice and Warrington
  
  • Case study KF
  • poor STM for verbal information but unaffected STM for visual
  • The phonological loop had been damaged but the other slave systems were fine
  • Suggests the existence of separate stores

Question 24

Cognitive psychologist argue that one part of the WMM is unsatisfactory and doesn’t really explain anything. Explain this point

Answer 24

• Critics have suggested the the central executive lacks clarity
  
  • Baddeley states this is the most important part of the model yet the least understood some psychologist believe it consists of several different components
  • WMM has not been fully explained and needs more research

Question 25

Outline the evidence from brain scans for the WMM

Answer 25

• Braver et al (1997)
  
  • Gave PPTs tasks to occupy the central executive while they underwent brain scans
  • An area in the prefrontal cortex lit up, the more taxed the CE the brighter it was
  • Supports the idea that different memory functions are located in different areas of the brain and supports the models prediction that the CE will have to work harder when more demand is placed on it (shown by the increased activity)

Question 26

What is interference in terms of forgetting?

Answer 26

• Occurs when two pieces of information conflict with each other
  
  • Occurs mainly in the LTM
  • Interference between memories makes it harder to recall them resulting in forgetting

Question 27

Outline the two types of interference as explanations for forgetting

Answer 27

• Proactive interference
  - Old memories interfere with new ones
  
  • Retroactive interference
    
    • New memories affecting old
  • PO-RN

Question 28

Outline one study that investigates interference as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 28

• McGeoch and McDonald
  
  • Gave PPTs lists of 10 words to memorise and then gave them a new list - 6 groups with 6 different types of lists
  • Recall of the original list depended on the second list
  • The PPTs with the most similar lists recalled them the worst, suggesting that interference is worst when the materials are similar

Question 29

Outline one strength of interference theory

Answer 29

• Thousands of studies all with similar results
  - Shows that the experiments are repeatable
  - Increase reliability and credibility of the theory

Question 30

Outline two limitations of interference theory

Answer 30

• Lab studies use very artificial tasks
  - The use of artificial tasks makes interference much more likely in the lab than real life
  
  • The time between learning and recall is very short in the lab studies
    
    • In real life these things are learnt over a period of months
    • The more time between learning and recall the less likely interference is
  • Research may be over estimating the importance of interference

Question 31

Outline one study that has investigated interference in the real world

Answer 31

• Baddeley and Hitch
  
  • Tested to see if rugby’s players memories of opponents faced was dependent on time since the game or how many games since
  • Finding - Memory of a game was dependent on how many matches had been played since the game
  • Supports the idea of interference and shows it’s applicable to at least some real life situations

Question 32

Briefly describe what is meant by retrieval failure

Answer 32

• Forgetting occurs due to lack of sufficient cues

- Cues are stored at the same time as the memory

Question 33

Outline the encoding specificity principle

Answer 33

• Introduced by Tulving
  
  • Cues help us to retrieve data
  • Cues that were present at encoding have to be present at retrieval
  • If cues are absent then there will be some forgetting
  • Cues can be both meaningful and meaningless

Question 34

Outline research study that investigated context-dependent forgetting

Answer 34

• Godden and Baddeley
  
  • On land and underwater
  • 4 conditions
  • Learned on land = best recall on land and vice versa

Question 35

Baddeley (1997) argues that context effects are actually not strong, especially in real life. Explain this and what it means for context-dependent forgetting

Answer 35

• Studies uses context that are very different
  
  • In real life contexts are never going to be different
  • Studies don’t tell us about how memory works in real world

Question 36

Outline one study that investigated state-dependent forgetting

Answer 36

• Carter and Cassaday
  
  • Antihistamines and not
  • 4 conditions
  • Learned with antihistamines = best recall with antihistamines and vice versa

Question 37

Name one strength of research into retrieval failure

Answer 37

• A range of supporting evidence

- Shows that the theory is valid and provides credibility

Question 38

Explain the problem with the encoding specificity principle

Answer 38

• Theoretical
  
  • Can’t provide proof - untestable concepts
  • Built on assumptions - if recall was good we assume cue is present
  • Not falsifiable = unscientific

Question 39

A criticism of the theory of retrieval failure is the effect may be related to the way it’s tested. Explain this

Answer 39

• Baddeley (1980)
  
  • Repeated the underwater study but used recognition test instead of recall
  • There was no context dependent forgetting
  • Cues only affect memory is it’s tested in a certain way

Question 40

Explain what is meant by the term misleading information

Answer 40

• Incorrect information given to a witness, usually after the event
  
  • It can take many forms such as leading questions or post-event discussions

Question 41

Explain what is meant by the term leading questions. Use an example in your answer

Answer 41

• A question that suggest, due to the way it’s phrased, a specific answer
  
  • For example “was the man holding the knife in his left hand?” this suggests that he was in fact holding the knife in his left hand

Question 42

Briefly outline one study that has investigated leading questions as a factor in the accuracy of eye witness testimony. Include what the researchers did and what they found in your answer

Answer 42

• Loftus and Palmer
  
  • They shew participants a video of a car crash
  • They asked the participants about the speed of the car, each group was asked using a different verb (e.g. bumped, smashed, hit ect)
  • The more aggressive the verb used the higher the estimated speed was
  • Leading question had an impact on recall

Question 43

Outline one explanation for leading questions as a factor affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Answer 43

• The response bias explanation
  - The wording has no effect on memory but alters how the witness words the answer
  
  • The substitution explanation
    
    • The wording actually alters the memory

Question 44

Briefly outline one study that looked into the effects of post-event discussion as a factor in eyewitness testimonies. Include what the researchers did and what they found in your answer

Answer 44

• Gabber et al
  
  • Gave participant pairs videos to watch
  • Both partners saw the crime for different angles (they saw parts the other did not)
  • Afterwards the partners were allowed to discuss what they had seen
  • 71% of participants recalled information they had not seen
  • Witnesses go along with each other –> memory conformity

Question 45

Explain why it might be better to conduct research into eyewitness testimony in the real world rather than a lab

Answer 45

• Lab studies do not replicate the stress people feel in real world crimes
  
  • Stress and anxiety have been shown to have an effect on recall
  • Conducting eyewitness studies in a lab tells us nothing about real life because the setting and materials are artificial

Question 46

Outline some research into individual differences in eyewitness testimony

Answer 46

• Factors such as age affect recall
  
  • Anastasi and Rhodes found that younger age groups had more accurate recall than older age groups
  • The study found that people are always better at recognizing people their own age
  • Studies often use younger people as the target and so some age groups appear to have less accurate recall than they actually do

Question 47

A strength of eyewitness testimony research is it’s useful real world applications - explain this

Answer 47

• Consequences of inaccurate eyewitness testimonies in real life can be devastating
  
  • Research into eyewitness testimony has lead to a change in the way police officers question people to avoid the distorting effect of misleading information
  • research into this can improve the legal system an increase the chances of eyewitnesses giving sound information

Question 48

Give two reasons why lab research into eyewitness testimonies may be inaccurate

Answer 48

• Lack of consequences
  - Participants usually know they are taking part in a study
  - They know that no matter how horrific or serious the incident their answer will have no consequences
  - This is not the case in real life, leading questions may have less of an effect on people in real life
  
  • Demand characteristics
    
    • Zaragosa and McGloskey (1989)
    • Argue that answers given in lab studies are largely due to demand characteristics
    • Participants do not want to let the researchers down (or influence the results) and so lie (if they do not know the answer)
    • There is the danger that participants wont behave how we want them to, i.e. naturally. When this happens it decreases the validity of the research because they’re no longer measuring the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Question 49

Outline research by Johnson and Scott into the effect of anxiety on eyewitness testimony

Answer 49

• Decreased recall ability
  
  • Johnson and Scott (1976) - Weapon focus effect
  • After an argument participants were less able to identify a person if they walked past holding a bloody knife than a pen with ink on their hands
  • Anxiety increases recall accuracy

Question 50

Outline one piece of research showing that anxiety doesn’t always have to negative affect eyewitness testimony

Answer 50

• Increases recall
  
  • Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - witness to a bank robbery
  • Witness who experience the highest level of stress provided the most accurate recall
  • Anxiety increases recall accuracy

Question 51

There are times when anxiety has had a positive effect on anxiety and other times when it has had a negative effect. How can this be explained?

Answer 51

• Yerkes-dodson law - relationship between emotional arousal and performance is an inverted-U
  
  • Deffenbacher applied to memory and eyewitness testimony - lower levels of anxiety produced lower levels of recall but as anxiety increased so did recall
  • After anxiety reached a certain level recall fell drastically

Question 52

Is the inverted-U theory a good one, or has it been criticised?

Answer 52

• Anxiety is very difficult to define and measure, with many different aspects - cognitive, behavioural, physical, emotional
  
  • The Yerkes-Dodson law only focusses on one of these elements
  • Other elements are however just as important - e.g. cognitive factors - the way we think about an event has also been shown to affect our recall of it
  • It is an incomplete and reductionist explanation

Question 53

Critics have suggested that the weapon focus effect may in fact not be relevant, as it may not be testing anxiety. Explain this, and refer to one study in your answer

Answer 53

• Could be surprise rather than anxiety that draws the attention of witness thereby reducing recall
  
  • Pickle et al (1998) - used scissors, gun, wallet and raw chicken as the handheld items in a hair salon (scissors aren’t unusual in a salon)
  • Recall will much less in the chicken condition - high unusualness - low recall

Question 54

Describe why demand characteristics are an issue in lab studies of anxiety

Answer 54

• Most studies show participants a film of a crime (usually staged) - so participants are aware they are part of study
  
  • Most of them will be able to work out for themselves they are going to be ask questions about what they have seen
  • This could make their responses more accurate because they want to be helpful or less accurate because they want to undermine the research

Question 55

Are there any ethical issues when studying the effect of anxiety on eyewitness testimony?

Answer 55

• Creating anxiety is risky - psychological harm
  
  • Real life studies may be more beneficial - raises the question of whether or not we actually need lab studies
  • However they are good as a comparison to the less controlled field studies - the benefits may outweigh the costs

Question 56

Name and describe 4 stages of cognitive interview

Answer 56

• Report everything
  - Include every single detail of the event - seemingly trivial details could be important and could trigger other memories
  
  • Reinstate context
    
    • Returns to the crime scene in their mind (environment, sense ect) and emotion - context-dependent forgetting
  • Change of perspective
    
    • Recall the event from the perspective of other people (e.g. witness or perpetrator) - disrupts expectations and schemata

Question 57

What is meant by the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 57

• Fisher et al (1987)
  
  • Additional elements to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction
  • E.g. knowing when to establish eye-contact and when to relinquish it
  • Reducing anxiety, minimising distractions, speaking slowly, using open ended questions

Question 58

Many police forces are reluctant to use the cognitive interview. Why is this?

Answer 58

• The CI is time consuming when compared to the standard interview
  
  • More time is needed to establish rapport and allow them to relax
  • CI also requires special training - forces may not have been able to provide more than a couple of hours of training
  • It is unlike the proper version of the CI is actually used - explains why police have been unimpressed

Question 59

Outline research that supports the effectiveness of the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 59

• Kohnken et al (1999) combine data from 50 studies - meta-analysis
  
  • The enhanced cognitive interview consistently provided more correct information than the standard interview
  • There are real practical benefits to using enhanced cognitive interview - gives the police a better chance of catching criminals

Question 60

Why is it difficult to draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the cognitive interview

Answer 60

• Variations are used in every study
  
  • Different techniques and the enhanced cognitive interview
  • If a research study evaluates the effectiveness of one version of cognitive interview, then the findings may not apply when it is used differently by a different police force
  • This makes it very difficult to compare the ways cognitive interview is used. It also makes it easier for police officers to reject it because they could argue, “it’ll never work here”

Question 61

Does the cognitive interview only provide an increase in accurate information

Answer 61

• Kohnken et al (1999) found that an 81% increase of correct information
  
  • Also found a 61% increase of incorrect information (false positives) when compared to the standard interview