Memory

• Multi store model?


  atkinson and shiffrin
• Msm?


  how it explains memory

  
• what does the sensory register do according to the msm?

  raw senses, large capacity and duration is less than half a second; attention passes info from the sensory register to the stm
• stm according to the msm?

  recieves info from sr by attention or lim through retrieval

  info is kept in the stm througyh maintenance rehearsal

  coding is acoustic and duration is 18-30 seconds and has a capacity of 7+-2 items

  info in stm is lost due to displacement (new info replaces) or decay (info is lost over time)
• ltm according to the msm?

  duration potentially unlimited

  capacity is potentially unlimited

  coded semantically

  info passes from stm via elaborate rehearsal

  to recall info from ltm to stm it is called retrieval
• strength of the msm?

  + research support for stm and ltm being separate independent stores from baddley; found that people mix up words that sounds similar when using stm (acoustic) and people mix up words that have similar meanings when using ltm (semantic); however study uses gibberish that aren’t applicable to everyday life
• limitation of the msm ?

  too simplistic; stm may have multiple stores

  patient KF had poor recall for digits but when he heard them it was better meaning there might be different stores for stm that process different types of information
• 3 types of ltm?

  episodic (declarative and time stamped)

  semantic ( declarative and not time stamped)

  procedural (non declarative)
• declarative is where a person can access the memory consciously and express it in words whereas non declarative is where the memory can’t conscoiusly be recalled and it’s hard to explain it in words
• explain episodic memory?


  memory of experiences and events; the strength of the memory is influenced by emotion

  it is associated with the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex
• explain semantic memory?


  facts about the world, meanings and general knowledge

  lasts longer than episodic

  associated with peripheral cortex
• explain procedural memory?


  unconscious memories of skills like riding a bike or swimming

  associated with motor cortex and cerebellum
• strength of types of ltm?

  + case study evidence of there being different types of ltm

  Clive wearing had difficulty recalling events that happened in his past (episodic) but semantic memory was unaffected and his procedural memory was still intact as he could play the pIano; this shows that there are different stores within the ltm as one store was damaged but the other two were still intact

  however as this is a case study it cant be generalised to the population due to individual differences
• limitation of different types of ltm?

  there are conflicting findings about ltm an the brain areas in which they are found

  Buckner and peteson found that semantic memory is in the left prefrontal cortex and episodic is in the right prefrontal cortex but Tulving found that semantic is in the right prefrontal cortex and episodic is in the left prefrontal cortex

  this challenges neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory
• Who proposed the working memory model?

  baddley and hitch
• wmm?


  How it explains memory

  
• explain the working memory model? part 1

  central executive; receives sensory info, controls attention and filters info before it gets to the subsystems- has a limited capacity of 4 and can only deal with one piece of info at a time

  episodic buffer; added in 2000s, integrates visual spatial and verbal info from other stores
• explain the wmm (part 2)?

  phonological loop; processes sound info (acoustic) and is divided into 2 - phonological store which is words you hear and articulartory process which allows maintenance rehearsal

  visuospatial sketchpad; processes visual and spatial info and is also divided into 2- visual cache which stores visual data and inner scribe which is responsible for the arrangement of objects in a visual field
• evaluate the wmm?


  + there is support from clinical evidence

  patient KF; auditory info (stm) was poor due to damaged phonological loop but could process visual info normally

  supports wmm that there are separate visual and acoustic memory stores

  however KF may have had other impairments that explain poor memory
• What are two explanations for forgetting?

  interference and retrieval failure
• interference is where we forget because our ltm becomes confused or disrupted by other similar info while its coded

  there are two types; proactive and retroactive
• proactive interference is when old info disrupts new info
• retroactive info is where new information disrupts old
• interference is more likely to occur when info is similar due to response competition and is less likely to occur when there is a large gap between learning due to time sensitivity
• what is the encoding specificity principle?


  Memory retrieval is most effective when the conditions at the time of encoding match the conditions at the time of retrieval.
• cue dependent forgetting is when info is in the ltm but we forget due to absence of appropriate cues encoded at the same time of learning
• context dependent cues?


  external environment works as cues to memory (sights, sounds and smells)

  being in a different place inhibits memory as we lack environmental cues
• State dependent cues?


  aspects of internal environment that work as cues to memory (Emotions)

  being in a different emotional state inhibits memory as we lack state dependent cues
• Strengths of interference as an explanation for forgetting?

  + support from drug studies

  material learned before taking diazepam recalled better than a placebo group one week later - retrograde facilitation; drug stopped new information reaching brain areas that process memories so could not retroactively interfere with stored info

  shows that forgetting is due to interference as the less interference = more likely to recall info
• Limitation of interference as an explanation for forgetting?

  tulving 1971

  gave ppts lists of words organised into categories

  recall of 1st list was 70% but fell wits each new list due to interference

  when given a cued recall test (names of categories) recall went back up to 70% which shows that interference causes just a temporary loss of access to material still in the ltm which the theory ignores
• strength of interference ?

  baddley and hitch 1977

  rugby players asked to recall names of teams they played against in a season - players did not all play same number of games

  those who played the most (had more interference) had the poorest recall which shows that interference operates in some everyday situations which increases validity and therefore has support from real world applications
• strength of retrieval failure?

  real world application

  people often go to another room to get an item but forget and then remember again when they go back into the original room

  when we have trouble remembering its worth making an effort to recall the environment in which you learned it first
• limitation of retrieval failure?

  context effects vary in recall and recognition

  godden and Baddley replicated underwater experiment
• support for retrieval failure?

  supporting evidence

  godden and Baddley (divers)

  carter (drugs)

  shows that lack of cues at recall leads to everyday forgetting
• what are the three factors that affect eyewitness testimony?

  leading questions, anxiety and post event discussion
• leading questions imply a particular answer and can influence how the memory is recalled, either due to an actual change to memory or due to emotional pressure to give a certain response
• post event discussion is when the recall of events by one witness alters the accuracy of another witnesses recollection

  could be memory conformity
• anxiety is a mental state of arousal that includes feelings of extreme concern and tension and physiological changes such as increased heart rate

  increase in anxiety may decrease recall due to weapon effect with witnesses focusing their attention on the weapon rather than the criminals face

  increase in anxiety levels may increase recall as it improves alertness and awareness of the situation and surrounding; intense emotions may improve memory encoding
• weakness of factors affecting accuracy of eyewitness testimony ?

  anxiety may not be relevant to weapon focus

  there may be a focus on the weapon bcs they are surprised and not anxious

  PICKEL found accuracy in identifying the criminal was poorest when the object in hand was unexpected (eg gun in hairdressers) which suggests that weapons effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety
• strength of factors affecting eye witness testimony?

  johnson and scott

  naive ppts overheard;

  1. a normal convo and man walks out with greasy hands and a pen
  2. hostile convo, breaking glass and man walks out with a bloody knife

  found that 49% identified man from 50 photos w a pen and only 33% with a knife showing that participants were weapon focused due to anxiety caused by the knife