psychology - memory key words / concepts

• Short-term memory is a limited temporary store, which is encoded acoustically, with a duration of 18-30 seconds.
• Long-term memory is a potentially unlimited memory store that is encoded semantically with a duration of a lifetime.
• Episodic memory is the ability to recall events from our lives. They are 'time-stamped', contain single elements and a conscious effort is required to recall them.
• Semantic memory contains our shared knowledge of the world, holding a number of concepts, meanings and general information. It contains a immense collection of material which is constantly added to.
• Procedural memory is recalling skills, actions or how we do things. These skills may be hard to explain to other and can be recalled without conscious effort.
• Interference occurs when two or more pieces of information disrupt each other. Any forgetting in LTM is because we cannot access the information, even though it is available. Interference makes memories harder to locate.
• Proactive interference occurs when an older memory interferes with a new one.
• Retroactive interference happens when a new memory interferes with an old one.
• Retrieval failure is where cues are not available in the time of recall causing an individual to forget information.
• A cue is a trigger of information that allows us to access a memory. The cues may be meaningful or have been encoded in the memory during the time of learning. If these cues are not available during the time of recall, it may appear that you have forgotten the memory information.
• Context-dependent forgetting is where recall depends on external cues ( e.g weather, place ).
• State-dependent forgetting - recall depends on internal cues ( e.g feeling upset, being drunk ).
• Eyewitness testimony ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents or crimes, which they themselves have observed.
• Misleading information is incorrect information given to an eyewitness after the event. There are two types: leading questions and post-event discussion.
• Leading questions is where the question is phrased a certain way that suggests a particular answer. This may effect the accuracy of the witnesses recall of the event.
• Post-event discussion is where witnesses to a event discuss what they saw. This may influence the accuracy of each witness's recall of the event.
• Negative effect of anxiety - Weapon focus effect is where an eyewitness’s concentration on a weapon excludes other details of the crime. The witness will be able to describe the weapon in more detail than the person holding it.
• Anxiety is a state of emotional and physical arousal. It is a normal reaction to stressful situations, but can affect the accuracy and detail of eyewitness testimony.
• Positive effect of anxiety - The fight or flight response is triggered, increasing alertness. This may improve memory for the event as we have become more aware of cues in the situation.
• The four main techniques of cognitive interview:

  • Report everything
  • Reinstate the context
  • Reverse the order
  • Change perspective
• The cognitive interview is a interviewing process that uses psychological techniques to improve the accuracy of witness testimony.