Memory

• Coding refers to the format in which information is stored
• Memory encoding is the initial learning of the information, it is to show information coming from the sensory input is changed into a form that can be stored by the brain
• Encoding refers to the transformation of the internal thoughts and external events into short and long term memory. This is the process in which the information is processed and categorised for storage and retrieval
• 3 types of coding:

  • visual
  • acoustic (sound)
  • Semantic (meaning)
• Capacity is how much information the short term memory stores at a time
• Chunking is grouping digits together like in a phone number
• LTM can be lost through decay or displacement
• Information goes from STM to LTM by maintenance rehearsal and the other way round is retrieval
• LTM is encoded semantically
• Nothing can be recalled directly from LTM
• There is an unlimited capacity for LTM
• LTM can be remembered for up to a lifetime
• Interference is forgetting in LTM, and it occurs because memories interfere with each other which leads to forgetting
• Retroactive interference is when recent information hinders the recall of old information eg forgetting your old phone number
• Proactive interference is when past information hinders the recall of new information eg Calling your girlfriend by your ex’s name
• Study for LTM duration: Bahrick followed 392 Americans between 17 and 74 years, and they were required to identify students from their yearbook with pictures. 90% could do so and 60% could after 47 years
• Study for STM capacity: Miller states That the stm can hold 7 +/- 2 bits of information at a time
• Study for STM duration: Peterson and Peterson tested 24 undergrads, each participant took part in 8 trials and in each trial they were given a consonant trigram then given a 3 digit number - for a varied amount of time they had to count backwards and then recall the trigram- the longer they counted for the less they remembered
• HM case study: he had his hippocampus removed which helped get rid of seizures he was having, however he couldnt transfer information from his STM to his LTM So he could not form any new memories - this is support for the MSM model
• KF was an amnesia patient. acoustic- has poor STM when digits are read aloud

  visual- recall much better when allowed to read them himself
• the encoding specificity principle (ESP) is the idea that an individual‘s recall of information is enhanced When the environment in which they originally learned something is similar to the environment in which they are attempting to recall it
• Context dependent forgetting: where you are affecting memory.

  Godden and Baddely asked divers to learn a list of words underwater or on land, it had 4 conditions.

  1. learn on land recall on land
  2. learn on land recall underwater
  3. learn underwater recall on land
  4. learn underwater recall underwater

  results: accurate recall was 40% lower in non matching conditions because there are less cues

  however the study has low mundane realism and a small sample size
• state dependent forgetting refers to forgetting which occurs because the emotional or physical state at recall is different to that of the time of learning.

  Carter and Cassaday gave patients a anti-histamine tablet which had a mild sedative to make them slightly drowsy. the participants were requires to learn lists of words and then recall later in the dame or different (drugless) state

  results: in conditions with a mismatch results were significantly worse, proves when cues are absent forgetting occurs
• eye witness testinmony refers to an account given by people who have witnessed an event
• leading questions are worded to suggest a particular answer
• 1. misleading information may have influenced the answer but not the memory
  2. the memory respresentation is actually altered- false perception of memories
• post event discussion is the idea that misleading info in the real world comes from other sources (or witnesses), when they discuss the details of a crime or accident
• Post event discussion study: gabbert et al studied participants in pairs, each were given a video of the same accident from different perspectives. They got into pairs and talked abt what they had seen and repeated it all on a recall test. 71% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they hadnt seen. In the control group it was 0%
• Anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body- there is a debate if anxiety affects memory in a positive or negative way
• duration is a measure of how long a memory can be stored before it is no longer available
• Baddely's study on coding: He gave participants 4 lists to learn, one semantically different, semantically similar, acoustically different, acoustically similar. participants struggled short term with ad and long term with ss. baddely concluded that LTM is encoded semantically and STM acoustically
• goodwin's study on state dependent forgetting: participants had to learn a word list either drunk or sober, recall was best when in the same state
• 4 components of the cognitive interview:

  • report everything
  • imagen yourself back at the scene
  • reverse order
  • change perspective
• support for anxiety decreasing recollection:

  JOHNSON AND SCOTT participants heard an argument and then saw a man run past holding a grease covered pen (low anxiety) or a knife covered in blood (high anxiety). in low anxiety identification was 49% accurate but only 33% accurate in high anxiety. this is weapon focus
• 2 types of declarative memory:

  • semantic
  • episodic
• procedural memory is a memory that is concerned with knowing how to do things eg riding a bike. eventually becomes automatic through repetition. you can recall without concious effort
• cues serve as triggers to a memory
• semantic memory is concerned with knowledge of facts, eg the capital of france. shared facts, impersonal, not time stamped
• episodic memory is concerned with the knowledge of life events eg the first day of school year.

  it takes a concious effort to recall, these memories are timestamped and complex
• eye witness testimony is the ability of a person to remember events they have witnessed, usually when someone has to testify in court