Psych memory

• Encoding is the process of changing information so it can be stored in the brain.
• Semantic encoding is the meaning of words and the ability to understand and use words and concepts.
• Acoustic encoding is memories being stored by they sound like.
• Visual encoding is memories being stored by they look like.
• Retrieval = information has to be located and brought back out of your brain.
• a type of retrieval is recognition.

  Which is identifying something previously learnt from a number of options.
• A type of retrieval is free recall.

  Which is when you retrieve informations without any clues.
• A type of retrieval is cued recall. Which is when you need clues to remember information
• There are 3 types of long term memory, what are they?

  1. Procedural memory
  2. Episodic memory
  3. Semantic memory
• Procedural memory is remembering how to do things. It is difficult to explain to others. An example would be knowing how to ride a bike. You can recall procedural memory without any conscious awareness or effort.
• Semantic memory is the meaning of everything you know. It is not time stamped. And is a declarative process, you have to make an effort to remember them.
• Episodic memory is the memory of personal experiences, ‘episodes’ in your life. The memories are time stamped.
• P- A strength of the theory of different types of LTM is that brain scans have shown seperate locations in the brain for each of the three types of memory.

  E- Episodic memory is associated with the right prefrontal area. Semantic memory is associated with the left prefrontal area. Procedural memory is associated with the motor area. L- This shows that there are different kinds of long term memory.
• P- Another strength of the theory of different types of LTM is that people who suffer from memory loss due to brain damage lose certain types of memory.

  E- The case study of Clive Wearing supports this. He developed an infection in the brain and within a day he had lost almost all of his memory. His episodic memory was severely affected, he knew he had children but couldn’t remember their names or ages. His procedural memory was still intact as he could still play the piano to a high level. He had semantic memory of his wife, as he knew that he loved her.
• The aim of Baddeley’s study of encoding (1966)=

  To see if there was a difference in the type of encoding used in LTM and STM.
• The method in Baddeley’s study=

  4 groups were given 12 sets of 5 different words.

  Group A had similar sounding words, Group B had dissimilar sounding words.

  Group C had words with similar meanings, Group D had words with dissimilar meanings.
• The method in Baddeley’s study 2:

  Groups A and B were asked to recall their words immediately to test STM.

  Groups C and D were asked to recall their words after 20 minutes to test LTM.
• The results in Baddeley’s study:

  Group A recalled fewer words that Group B.

  Group C recalled fewer words than Group D.
• Results in Baddeley’s Study 2:

  In LTM words with similar meanings were more poorly recalled than words with different meanings.

  In STM words with similar sounds were more poorly recalled than words with different sounds.
• Conclusion in Baddeley’s study:

  This shows that short term memory is encoded acoustically and long term memory is encoded semantically.
• P- A strength of Baddeley’s study is that the experiment was controlled, which improves the validity of the results.

  E- The study was conducted in a lab, in conditions that baddely could control. He checked lots of potential factors that could affect the participants ability to recall the lists before he tested them.

  L- Therefore, we can be confident that his results are accurate and are the result of the changes to the IV.
• P- A weakness of Baddeley’s study is that he didn’t consider that not all STM is acoustic sometimes it is visual.

  E- The lists he used were quite artificial. In a different study, by Bradimonte et al, the participants used visual encoding for short term memories.

  L- Whilst STM is normally acoustically encoded, when this isn’t possible we can use other methods of encoding.
• P- A weakness of Baddeley’s study is that he may not have actually been testing LTM at all.

  E- There are many things we can remember for 20 minutes but not necessarily remember the next day. Baddeley tested LTM by having participants wait 20 minutes but there’s no guarantee that this was actually testing the participants’ LTM.

  L- This means, Baddeley might not have even been testing LTM at all.
• Multi-store model of memory: A model of memory that proposes that information is stored in different memory stores.

  
• Store 1: sensory memory

  • Information enters the system from the environment. For humans, this information takes the form of sensory input.
  • We receive information from our senses ever second of every day. This store briefly holds this sensory information for each of our five senses.
• Store 1: sensory memory

  • Coding: the sensory memory is modality (format) specific. It encodes information based on what that information is (I.e sight is visually encoded, hearing is acoustically encoded, etc.)
  • ICONIC MEMORY: Visual info from the eyes, things you see. Stored as images.
  • ECHOIC MEMORY: auditory input from the ears, things you hear. Stored as sounds.
• Store 1: sensory memory

  • Capacity: very high
  • Duration: very low. Duration is approximately 0.5 seconds.
• Store 2: short term memory

  • When we pay attention to a piece of information, we move it along from the sensory register/ memory into short term memory.
• Store 2: short term memory

  • Coding: encoded acoustically
  • Capacity: between 5 and 9 items (7+ or -2)
  • Duration: less than 30 seconds without rehearsal
• Store 2: short term memory

  • If information in the STM is rehearsed it can be retained for a much longer time. Consistent rehearsal is shown by the rehearsal loop in the MSM.
• Store 3: long term memory

  • If information is rehearsed enough it is moved into long term memory.
  • Here it is stored for a potentially indefinite period of time.
• Store 3: long term memory

  • Coding: semantic
  • Capacity: potentially unlimited
  • Duration: up to a lifetime
• Store 3: long term memory

  • When we want to recall information, it has to be transferred back into short term memory. This process is called retrieval.
• P- One strength of the MSM is that there is support for the existence of different memory stores.

  E- Baddeley’s study of encoding shows that STM and LTM encode information differently. STM=acoustic. LTM=semantic.

  L- This shows that the two types of memory have to be different and therefore seperate.
• P- One weakness of the MSM is that it is too simple.

  E- The MSM suggests we only have one type of long term memory, however other research has shown that we actually have different types of long term memory: episodic , semantic , and procedural .

  L- Therefore, memory is more complex than the MSM suggests.
• P- A weakness of the MSM is that research that supports this model (like Baddeley’s) uses artificial materials.

  E- Baddeley’s study used word lists, others used random spans of digits, etc.

  L- This then means that the results wouldn’t illustrate the real way that we use memory in our day to day life.
• Aim in Murdrock's serial position curve study:

  To see if memory of words was affected by the number of words a person had to remember.
• Method of Murdrock's study:

  • Murdock randomly selected words from 4000 common english words
  • 103 male and female psychology students took part and were tested in groups over a number of different sessions.
  • In each session, the pts listened to 20 word lists, each containing diff. words.
  • Word lists varied 10-40 words
  • participants had to recall the words in any order (free recall)
• What is this?

  A) serial position curve

  
• Conclusion of Murdrock's study:

  • The results show a serial position effect
  • The position of the word determines the likelihood of its recall. Recency effects are strongest.