Memory - A-Level Psychology

• What are the two main weaknesses of Tulving's theory of long term memory?

  Lack of control in case studies and conflicting neuroimaging evidence
• What did Belleville et al show?

  Distinguishing between different types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed
• What did Belleville et al find?

  After an intervention to improve episodic memories in older people, the trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training than a control group
• How has Tulving's theory of long term memory helped with understanding of memory problems?

  Research has shown that memory lost through age is episodic, one of Tulving's stores
• What could CW remember?

  How to play the piano, the fact that he had children and other parts of his life
• What can CW not remember?

  His musical education., his children's names, parts of his previous life and when his wife Deborah would leave the room and come back he would greet her as if they hadn't seen each other in years
• Who was CW?

  A professional musician who had a severe form of amnesia from a viral infection that attacked his brain and damaged his hippocampus and associated areas
• Why do the case studies of HM and CW back up Tulving's theory of long term memory?

  They both had severely impaired episodic memory, but semantic memory was unaffected, as they still understood the meaning of words. HM couldn't recall stroking a dog half an hour earlier but still knew what dog meant. Their procedural memory was still intact as CW, a professional musician, could still read music and play piano. This means one store can be damaged and another intact
• What are two strengths of Tulving's theory of long term memory?

  It is backed up by the case studies of HM and CW and it has helped with understanding of memory problems
• Do we require conscious effort to recall procedural memories?

  We eventually recall these memories without conscious awareness or much effort
• What is procedural memory?

  Our memory for actions and skills or how we do things, like a manual book
• According to Tulving, are semantic memories more or less vulnerable to distortion and forgetting than episodic memory?

  Less vulnerable
• Can more semantic memories be formed?

  Yes, they are being added all the time
• Are semantic memories time-stamped?

  They often start as episodic memories, meaning they are timed stamped, however they don't stay associated with that particular event so become non-time stamped.
• Does the semantic store contain concepts/meanings or actions/skills?

  Concepts/meanings
• What is semantic memory?

  Facts and general knowledge, like an encyclopaedia
• Does recalling episodic memories require a conscious effort?

  Yes, no matter how quick the memory is recalled
• What does 'time-stamped' memories mean?

  Memories that you can remember when they happened
• What is episodic memory?

  Our ability to recall events from our lives like a diary
• What were the three long term memory stores proposed by Tulving?

  Episodic, semantic and procedural
• What did Tulving believe about the multi-store model's view of long term memory?

  It was too simplistic and inflexible
• What is a criticism of the multi-store model only having one type of longterm memory?


  It is also argued that there is more than one type of long term memory, for doing different things, e.g., how to ride a bike, world facts etc.
• What type of rehearsal did Craik and Watkins believe was needed to transfer information to the long term memory?

  Elaborative
• How did Craik and Watkins criticise the multi-store model?

  Prolonged rehearsal is not always needed to transfer to LTM. Craik and Watkins (1973) found that type of rehearsal is more important than amount.
• How did Shallice and Warrington criticise the multi-store model?

  The studied a client they referred to as KF who had amnesia. KF's STM was poor when they were read aloud to him but much better when he read it himself. Further studies showed there could be another short-term store for non-verbal sounds, which is not present in the multi-store model.
• What is a strength of the multi-store model of memory?

  Lots of research support, e.g., Baddeley
• What did HM show about the hippocampus?

  It is central to memory function, specifically long-term memory
• What happened as a result of HM's hippocampus being removed?

  He couldn't form new long-term memories, but scored well on short term memory tests
• What was removed from HM's brain?

  His hippocampus
• What happened to HM?

  Suffered brain injury as a result of surgical procedure to relieve him from seizures caused by epilepsy
• How do we transfer information back from LTM?

  Through a process called retrieval
• What is the duration of long-term memory?

  Unlimited
• How is information coded to long term memory?

  Mainly semantically
• Is long term memory permanent?

  It can be; it is potentially permanent
• What is the third memory store?

  Long term memory
• What can maintenance rehearsal do if practised enough?

  It can pass information to long-term memory
• What is maintenance rehearsal?

  Repeating information over and over to hold it in short-term memory longer.
• What is the capacity of short term memory?

  7+-2
• What is the duration of short term memory?

  18-30 seconds
• How is information coded into short term memory?

  Mainly acoustically