memory

• What is coding


  Changing format of information so it can be sorted
• What is duration 


  how long information stays in memory
• What is capacity


  How much memory can hold
• what is the coding, capacity and duration of the short term memory


  Acoustically

  7+\2- (5-9 items)

  18-30 seconds
• What is the coding, capacity and duration of the long term memory


  Semantically

  unlimited

  uunlimited
• What are strengths and limitations of multi store model of memory


  Strengths: supported by research into coding, capacity and duration

  limitations: oversimplified version

  tulving suggests stm is not just one stored
• what are the three types of long term memory

  Episodic

  semantic

  procedural
• What is episodic memory


  stores memories and significant episodes from our life
• What is semantic memory 


  Stores knowledge of world, less personal memories
• What is procedural memory


  Stores actions and skills, recall without effort

  e.g. Driving
• What are strengths and limitations of different long term memory stores


  Strengths: brain scan studies show different memory stores

  real life application

  limitations: lack of control when dealing with people with brain damage

  tulving suggests onky two ltm stores
• What is retrieval failure


  information is placed into memory and is associated with cues

  no cues available, may not be able to access memories
• What is state dependent forgetting 


  Memory retrieval is dependent on internal cue, state of mind
• What is context dependent forgetting


  Memory retrieval dependent in environmental cue
• What is proactive interference


  older memory disrupts newer one
• What is retroactive interference


  Newer memory disrupts older one
• What are strengths and limitations of retrieval failure


  Strengths: evidence supports explanation

  real life application - context related cues

  limitations: evidence shows context effects aren’t strong in real life
• what are the two types of misleading information that affects eye witness testimonies

  leading questions

  post event discussion
• What are leading questions


  Wording if a question that influences answers or effects memory
• What experiments demonstrates the effect of leading questions


  Loftus and palmer

  5 groups of participants given different verb in critical question (hit, bumped, collided, smashed and contacted)

  depending on word different speeds were estimated
• name an experiment on post event discussion

  gabbert et all 2003

  In pairs participants watched same video from different perspectives

  both discussed what they saw and did recall test

  71% recalled aspects they didn’t see but had spoke about
• What are the strengths and limitations of misleading information


  strengths: real life application

  limitations: loftus and palmer used artificial materials

  lab studies- demand characteristics

  ewt lacks external validity

  individuals differences in ewt
• What are strengths and limitations of anxiety 


  limitations: Johnson and Scott study may test surprise not anxiety

  field study- lacks control

  ethical issues

  demand characteristics
• What are the four aspects of cognitive interview 


  Report everything - even if not relevant may trigger memories

  change perspective

  reverse order- prevents dishonesty

  reinstate context- return to crime scene cues may trigger memories
• What are strengths and limitations of cognitive interviews


  Strengths: useful elements

  limitations: time consuming

  unreliable

  increase of inaccurate information
• what is baddeleys study into coding in STM

  four groups of ppts each gave different lists of words to learn and then were asked to recall them in the correct order.

  findings: recall the worst with list one as ppts would confuse similar sounding words.

  suggesting STM is mainly coded acousticaly
• what are strengths and limitations of baddeleys research into coding of the STM

  X: STM doesnt just encode acoustic infomation. because faces are coded visually. this decreases the credibility of baddeleys research.

  + high internal validity as he controlled for EVs (distractions, lists, time to learn and recall)
• what was baddeleys study into coding in LTM

  delayed recall study, presented lists of 10 short words at a time and after 20 minutes ppts had to recall words in correct order.

  findings: worst on semantically similar lists (words meant similar things) suggesting LTM is coded semantically
• what are strenths and limitations of baddeleys research into coding in LTM

  + real life application, use this research to make adverts more meaningful to increase sales. leads to increased credibility of baddeleys research
• what was Jacobs rsearch into capacity of STM

  gave ppts a list of digits that they had to recall out loud. if they got it correct, another digit would be added until they got it wrong.

  average span for numbers=9.3 items

  average span for letters=7.3 items

  supports Millers theory of 5-9 items
• what are the strengths and limitations of research into capacity of STM

  X: people of different ages and those with disabilities have different amounts of capacity in their STM

  + real life application, accounts for number plates having 7 digits including letters and numbers.
• what was peterson and peterson's study into duration of the STM

  experimenter said a nonsense trigram, followed by a 3 digit number (WRT 302).

  immediately after hearing trigram + number ppts had to count backwards in 3s or 4s from that number, this is known as retention interval. the time varied from 3-18 seconds.

  after retention interval, ppts has to recall the nonsense trigram
• what were the results of peterson and peterson's study

  ppts remembered 90% when there was a 3 sec interval, recall dropped to 2% when there was 18 sec interval

  suggests STM is limited to 15-18 seconds.
• what are the limitations of peterson and peterson's study

  X: not a representative sample, only used uni students

  X: lab experiment, lacks ecological validity.
• what was Bahricks research into duration of the LTM

  ppts aged 17-74 tested on memory of classmates.

  photo recognition: presented with 50 photos of people from high school yearbooks (some from their own yearbook) to see if they recognise and can name them

  free-recall: list names of people they remember from their class
• what were the findings of Bahricks study

  photo recognition: ppts tested within 15yrs of their graduation were 90% accurate in identifying faces. dropped to 70% after 48yrs.

  free recall: within 15yrs were 60% accurate, dropped to 30% after 48yrs.

  suggests duration is unlimited
• what is a strength of Bahricks study

  high ecological validity meaning it can be generalised to real life situations
• what are the components of the working memory model

  central executive: takes in info and allocates to slave system

  episodic buffer: communicates between central executive and LTM

  visual spatial sketch pad: contains visual cache: stores info like colour and inner scribe: store spatial arrangements

  phonological loop: phonological store (inner ear) what you hear and articulatory process system (inner voice) rehearses info
• what was McGeoch and Mcdonald study into interference

  studied retroactive interference by changing amount of material between two sets of materials. ppts had to learn a list of 10 words (list A) until they could recall with 100% accuracy. Ppts then learned list B. these lists were different for different groups.

  when ppts recalled their first list of words their performance depended on the nature of the second list.
• what are the strengths of McGeoch and Mcdonalds study

  + supportive research

  + lab studies, control of Evs and high internal validity