Memory

• Retrieval cues can be internal or external, with external cues being more effective than internal ones.
• The encoding specificity principle states that the retrieval cue must match the original encoding to retrieve information.
• Cognitive interviewing is an investigative technique used by police officers to improve eyewitness testimony recall accuracy.
• Reconstructive memory involves re-creating memories based on existing knowledge rather than accurate recall.
• The retrieval process is influenced by the context in which information was originally learned.
• Input


  Info enters the memory through the senses
• Encoding


  Info is transformed into a format we can understand
• Storage


  Info is kept to use at a later time
• Retrieval


  Ability to recall info from storage
• Output


  Info is used in some way
• Role of hippocampus


  New memories must pass through hippocampus before entering long-term storage. Important for creating semantic and biographical memories.
• Anterograde amnesia


  The inability to make new memories.
• Retrograde amnesia


  The inability to recall memories from the past.
• Hippocampus - anterograde amnesia


  Anterograde amnesia usually caused by damage to the hippocampus, a vital element in the formulation of new memories. Info from STM is unable to pass through hippocampus to LTM.
• Frontal lobe - retrograde amnesia

  Damage to frontal lobe can result in retrograde amnesia. Research suggests there is a relationship between retrograde amnesia and the frontal lobe in Alzheimer's patients. Remote memory tests were performed on participants and the results showed a significant correlation.
• Cerebellum - procedural memory

  Procedural memory = motor skills. Stored in LTM. Damage to cerebellum can stop us learning new skills or developing new ones. Cerebellum also helps time and coordinate complex movements.
• Episodic memory


  Memories of places, events and people.
• Semantic memory


  General knowledge (facts, ideas, meaning, concepts).
• Procedural memory


  Responsible for motor skills, so knowing how to do things like walking, feeding yourself etc.
• MSM - sensory store

  encoding - input (5 senses)

  capacity - limited

  duration - 1-7 seconds

  forgetting - dacay
• MSM - short term memory

  encoding - mostly acoustically, info that is paid attention to

  capacity - limited (average of 7 items)

  duration - up to 30 seconds

  forgetting - displacement or decay
• MSM - long term memory


  encoding - mainly semantic

  capacity - unlimited

  duration - 1 second to forever

  forgetting - decay/retrieval failure
• Displacement


  Capacity of STM is 7, so it can only hold a limited number of items. Therefore, when it is full, new info displaces old info, which will be forgotten if it has not been rehearsed.
• Decay


  Decay happens when we do not pay attention to the sensory information. Therefore the information breaks down and is no longer available.
• Cues


  Things that trigger your memory.
• State-dependent forgetting


  Occurs in the absence of relevant psychological or physiological cues that were present during learning; they act as internal cues.
• Context-dependent forgetting


  Occurs if relevant environmental cues that were present when learning the info are missing at recall; they act as external cues.
• Criticism of MSM - too simple


  Suggests STM is a single store but research suggests that it is more complex than that and can deal with multiple sensory informations at one time.
• Criticisms of MSM - too much importance placed on the role of rehearsal versus meaning


  Suggests that in order for info to be passed into the LTM, it must be rehearsed. However not all info is rehearsed, eg if something is shocking. We also don't tend to rehearse sensory info eg smell and taste.
• Criticisms of MSM - reductionist/ignores individual differences


  Assumes everyone's memory systems have the same structure and works the same way, however different people might remember things differently. Also people with brain damage have differently functioning memories.
• Wilson et al study into Clive Wearing - Background

  Distorted memories are memories that have been altered in some way. 2 types: faulty semantic and faulty episodic.
• Faulty semantic memories


  Memories of past events that are incorrectly recalled.
• Faulty episodic memories


  Knowledge and understanding of things is inaccurate.
• CW - aim


  To report on the case of Clive Wearing who suffered from a severe and rare case of retrograde and anterograde amnesia.
• CW - sample


  Born in the UK 1938. Was an outstanding musician and musical scholar. Amnesia caused by a virus (encephalitis) that destroyed large parts of his brain.
• CW - design


  longitudinal case study, covering 21 years.
• CW - materials/procedure


  Neuropsychological tests: IQ tests, verbal fluency tests, digit span tests, MRI scans. CW experienced severe episodic memory deficits, some semantic memory deficits but immediate memory was normal. Unable to recall and make new memories.
• CW - results


  Verbal and performance IQ tests were found to be within average range (although he was gifted before, so this might have decreased). STM normal but LTM severely impaired. MRI revealed extensive damage to temporal cortices, as well as other brain abnormalities.
• Delusions


  False beliefs a person fully believes in, even if someone argues that they cannot be correct.
• Was CW suffering from delusions?

  No, although he truly believed he wasn't conscious since his illness. When shown videos/diary entries, he insisted it wasn't him/he wasn't conscious. But he wasn't experiencing other psychiatric features of delusions. His beliefs were a coping strategy - his brain didn't understand why it couldn't remember anything, and this was the only reasonable explanation he could think of.