ID- memory

• Individual differences

  • Culture- processing speed & schemas
  • Episodic memory
  • Case studies of brain damaged patients
• Culture- Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil

  • Found culture affected memory and digit span when they compared Spanish schoolchildren to British schoolchildren using cross-cultural research.
  • Found English speakers had 1 more digit span than Spanish speakers.
  • Thought this was because of the higher number of syllables in the words for numbers in Spanish.
• Culture- Schemas (Bartlett)

  • Schemas represent stereotypical beliefs about objects or events; these will be affected by upbringing so are a product of nurture.
  • Suggests reconstructive memory is affected by cultural variations.
  • E.g. War of the Ghosts- hunting seals became fishing, paddles and canoes became boats and oars.
• Culture- Episodic memory

  • Individual to the person as it is a collection of memories of their own life; an autobiography of personalised events.
  • Each individual has unique memories about people, events, times and places that relate to us.
• Case studies of brain damaged patients

  • Individual differences in the types of brain damage individuals have.
  • Some people have damage from birth, others may be due to illness or accidents.
  • Area of the brain affected will result in different cognitive abilities or disabilities e.g. damage to temporal lobe can reduce semantic memory.
• Developmental psychology

  • Development of the phonological loop
  • Development of Alzheimer's disease
• Development of the phonological loop

  • Part of the working memory that deals with verbal info (spoken and written).
  • Phonological loop capacity is affected by age, younger children have a shorter digit span that older children.
  • Suggests phonological loop (memory) capacity increases with age.
• Development of dementia/alzheimer's disease

  • Progressive, degenerative disease associated with ageing.
  • Affects the working memory, with central executive functioning becoming impaired.
  • Also an inability to recall autobiographical info from episodic memory.
  • Ability to remember, understand, reason and communicate will gradually decline.