Memory (psych.)

• Memory is learning that has persisted over time. It is our ability to store and retrieve information.
• Behaviour is explained in terms of how the mind works. The mind works like a computer.
• Duration. Give participants a task, keep them distracted so they cant repeat the information, and then ask them to recall it after, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds...
• Peterson and Peterson. Meaningless trigrams, at different intervals. Prevent rehearsal the students had to count backwards in threes from a specific number, until they were to recall the letters.
• P&P results. 3 seconds, 80% correctly recalled. 6 seconds, 50% correctly recalled. 18 seconds, less than 10% correctly recalled.
• P&P. WEAKNESS - EV. Weakness is that the study lacks ecological validity, since it doesn't represent everyday activities of humans. Participants were asked to remember meaningless trigrams, and then count backwards to prevent information repetition. This is artificial, because we don't remember meaningless trigrams on a day to day basis. For example, the participants could've been asked to write a shopping list and then to go shopping without the list, a much more meaningful short-term memory test.
• P&P. WEAKNESS - SAMPLE. Weakness is that the sample was unrepresentative of the target population. The sample was psychology students, which is unrepresentative since they are able to figure our the aim of the research. The research has low generalisability since it cannot be applied to other subject students, students that are good at remembering, younger people and older people.
• P&P. STRENGTH - RELIABILITY. Strength is that the study has high levels of reliability, the study can be replicated and controlled. All the participants had to count backwards from a specific number in threes or fours to prevent rehearsal of the meaningless trigrams. This is important since it allows the study to be replicated.
• Capacity. Give the participants increasingly large number of digits to see up until which point the participants can remember no information.
• Jacob - Digital Span technique.
• Jacobs results. 9.3 digits and 7.3 letters.
• Capacity of STM may be increased by 'chunking'.
• Jacobs study. Participants were given a list of either words or numbers to read and they would then have to recall the letters/numbers immediately after they were taken away, the participants were to recall the numbers/letter in order that they saw.
• JACOBS. WEAKNESS - DESIGN. Weakness is that it is a repeated measures design based research. This would increase the order effects, since the participants are repeating the task, this means that they will become bored participating in the research. This will lead them to lose interest in the research.
• JACOBS. WEAKNESS - EV. Weakness is that the research lacks ecological validity. The research provides meaningless trigrams to remember, this doesn't compare to how we use short-term memory in real life. The research is laboratory experiment so is not representative of real life.
• JACOBS. STRENGTH - APPLICATION. Strength is that the research can be applied to real life situations. For example, remembering number plates for cars that contain 7 numbers. Short-term memory capacity is able to be tested.
• Capacity. How much information it can store.
• Duration. How long the information stays in the store for.
• Encoding. The way we store particular information.
• Encoding, when information comes into our memory system (from sensory input), it needs to be changed into a form that the system can cope with, so that it can be stored.
• Acoustic encoding. Words similar by sound.
• Semantic encoding. Words similar by meaning.
• STM results for encoding. 75% of correct acoustic dissimilar words were recalled in the correct order. 55% of acoustic similar words were recalled in the correct order.
• Baddeley. Encoding in STM and LTM. Acoustically similar + dissimilar words immediately after presentation. Semantically similar + dissimilar words 20 minutes later.
• STM encoding is acoustic.
• LTM encoding is semantic.
• LTM. APPLICATION. One application of LTM is for our own revision. If LTM encodes semantically, it makes sense to revise using mind maps that use semantic links, rather than reading passages out loud over and over (rote learning) as this doesn't seem to work this way, so it won't be as effective.
• LTM.

  • After 34 years, 90% recalled classmates.
  • After 48 years, 80% recalled classmates.
• Bahrick et al: Very long-term memory. 392 participants between 17-74 years old tested on their memory of school friends.
• Bahrick findings. Participants that has left school up to 34 years previously, accuracy of recall on the face and name recognition tasks was 90%. Even for participants who had left school 48 years previously it was 80%.
• Bahrick et al procedure.

  • free recall of all the names of classmates they could remember.
  • recognition of classmates from a selection of photographs.
  • a name recognition test.
  • a photo matching test.
  • used year books for the relevant year groups of the participants.
• Bahrick et al conclusion. Recall can be accurate over a very long period of time, leading to the term vLTM to describe this phenomenon. Performance was better on recognition tasks than on recall tasks.
• BAHRICK. STRENGTH - EV. Strength is that some aspects such as recognising classmates do have ecological validity, you may find yourself at a reunion where you try to figure out people's names. This is good, because we are actually testing a meaningful type of memory. However, being asked to match names to photographs isn't an everyday task.
• BAHRICK. STRENGTH - ETHICS. Strength is that the researchers try to protect the participants from harm. The researchers interviewed elderly participants at their homes. This is because if the participants struggle to recognise or aren't able to match the photograph to a name, then they are less distressed.
• BAHRICK. WEAKNESS - EX.V. Weakness is that there are extraneous variables. Extraneous variables will reduce the validity of the research, since researchers are not measuring what they think they are measuring. The participants could still be in contact with their classmates, and could have been to a reunion before the research. For further research, the researchers need to be more careful with the replication because they may still be in contact with their classmates.
• LTM. STRENGTH - E.S. Strength is that there is evidence support from case studies for a distinction between declarative and procedural memory. HM was able to trace a shape (star) using its mirror image and retain the skill but he had no conscious recollection of ever having done the task before. This supports the theory because he was able to retain skill (learn the skill). However, didn't remember learning it (episodic memory - events). His procedural memory would increase but not his semantic or episodic memory, suggesting they are different.
• LTM. WEAKNESS - E.S. Weakness is that the evidence support comes from case studies of patients who experiences some form of trauma. HM fell when he was a child, which led to severe epilepsy, when he got older he underwent brain surgery to remove his hippocampus. This means that the research only really applies to people with trauma, and is not guaranteed to be a representation of people in general, need to be careful with generalisation.
• LTM. STRENGTH - E.S. Strength is that there is evidence support from brain scan studies that there is 3 different types of long-term memory. HM was able to recall past experiences in his life (LTM), however, he was only able to recall episodic memories instead of semantic, he also was able to recall procedural memory when tracing a shape (star). Episodic memory found in the hippocampus, semantic memory found in the temporal lobe, and procedural memory found in the cerebellum and motor cortex. This suggests that the theory is right since they are distinctively different.
• LTM. STRENGTH - APPLICATION. Strength is that there is real life applications. Distinguishing between different types of long-term memory can lead to medical treatment. Researchers found that episodic memories can be improved in older people with mild cognitive impairment through training. This is a strength because it means we can help people have a higher quality of life.
• MSM. STRENGTH - E.S. Strength is that there is evidence support from case studies. HM couldn't transfer new information into LTM from STM, this suggests that there are 2 different stores for memory. This supports the model theory of multiple stores.