Memory

• Working Memory Model components

  Central Executive

  ↕️

  Visuo-spatial sketchpad

  Episodic buffer

  Phonological loop

  ↕️

  Long term memory
• Bahrick et al (1975) on duration of LTM

  - conclusion

  LTM can potentially last for years, if not a life time (shown particularly in photo recognition task)
• What is a strength of Bahrick et al's 1975 study on duration of LTM?

  ✓ field experiment, higher external validity


  • One strength of Bahrick's study is that it is afield experimentso is higher in external (ecological) validity than other memory studies.• Also, real life memories were studied (i.e. people's names and faces), thus the behaviour shown is more valid and authentic than other research which conducted with meaningless pictures or words in laboratory experiments, where recall rates were lower.• This suggests that Bahrick et al's study reflects a more 'real' estimate of the duration of LTM (high external validity).
• What is a limitation of Bahrick et al's 1975 study on duration of LTM?

  ✘ no control over confounding variables


  • A downside of real life research (field experiments) is thatconfounding variablesare not controlled, thus making it harder to conclude that the DV was only affected by the IV.• Participants may have spent further time with certain classmates / stayed in touch.• This would make recollection a lot easier as time frame since a last interaction would be reduced, reducing the validity of results gathered.
• What is the multi-store model of memory?

  - Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)


  linear model illustrating the information flow through three memory stores (sensory store -> STM -> LTM)

  
• What is a strength of the Multi-store model of memory?

  ✓ Research support from Baddeley


  •P:Research support for the idea of LTM and STM being different and separate stores provided byBaddeley (1966)•E:In his study on coding, he gave participants one of four lists of words to remember and found that acoustically similar words were harder to recall immediately and semantically similar words were harder to recall after 20 minutes.•E:It was concluded that acoustic confusion was occurring in STM, and semantic confusion in LTM, suggesting STM codes acoustically and LTM semantically•L:This shows that the two types of memory are different from one another, as MSM suggests.
• What is a limitation of the Multi-store model of memory?

  ✘ research studies supporting the MSM use artificial materials

  P:A limitation, despite such apparent support, is that the research studies supporting the MSM use artificial materials.•E/E:In everyday life, we form memories related to all sorts of useful things(people's faces, names etc). However, many of the supporting studies for MSM didn't use these realistic materials, but rather digits, letters and sometimes words which hold no meaning.•L:This suggests that the MSM lacks external validity. Research findings may reflect how memory works with meaningless material in a lab setting, but MSM may not be an accurate/valid model of how memory works in our everyday lives, where we have to remember much more meaningful information.
• What is a limitation of the Multi-store model of memory?

  ✘ evidence from Shallice and Warrington's 1970 study, suggesting that there is more than one type of STM


  P:A limitation of the Multi-store model (MSM) is its assertion that Short-Term Memory (STM) is a singular store, contrary to evidence indicating multiple types of STM.E:Shallice and Warrington's (1970) study of KF, an amnesic patient, revealed poor STM for verbally presented digits but improved recall when digits were self-read visually.A:This is a weakness because it suggests distinct STM stores for visual and verbal information.L:The finding challenges the MSM's unitary STM concept, highlighting the need for a model like the Working Memory Model, which incorporates separate stores like the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad.
• What is a limitation of the Multi-store model of memory?

  ✘ the MSM only explains one type of rehearsal


  P: One limitation of the Multi-store model (MSM) is that it exclusively focuses on one rehearsal type.E:Craik and Watkins argued that the critical factor for memory retention is the type of rehearsal, not the quantity. They identified 2 types of rehearsalMaintenance rehearsal (verbal repetition):Keeps information in Short-Term Memory (STM).Elaborative rehearsal:Essential for long-term storage, involving linking information to existing knowledge or considering its meaning.A:This is a weakness because it highlights that the MSM fails to incorporate research findings emphasizing the pivotal role of rehearsal type in memory mechanisms.L:As a result, this lower the explanatory power of the MSM.
• Craik and Watkins


  The critical factor for memory retention is the type of rehearsal, not the quantity.Two types of rehearsal:Maintenance rehearsal (verbal repetition):Keeps information in Short-Term Memory (STM).Elaborative rehearsal:Essential for long-term storage, involving linking information to existing knowledge or considering its meaning.
• Tulving (1986) and types of long-term memory?

  Multi-store model criticized for treating LTM as a single vast store with no distinctions.

  Tulving (1986) proposes multiple types of LTM, each linked to different functions and associated with different brain areas.

  categories: episodic, semantic, procedural.
• What is episodic memory?

  - LTM formemories of life eventse.g storing events such as birthdays and recent dentist visits.declarative-> can be expressed verbally, involving 'knowing that' something is true- requires conscious thought and effort to consciously inspecttime stamped-> stored with reference to time, place, people, objects, and associated emotions.
• What is semantic memory?

  LTM for factual and general knowledge about the world.e.g capital cities and the meaning of words and conceptsdeclarative-> can be expressed verbally, involving 'knowing that' something is true.available for conscious inspection->recalling semantic memories is deliberate and requires conscious thoughtnot time stamped ->knowledge is recalled without remembering when or where it was learned
• What is procedural memory?

  LTM for motor skills and learned actions.e.g tying a shoe-lace or playing the piano.non-declarative knowledge-> cannot necessarily be expressed verbally, focused on 'knowing how' to do things.not open for conscious inspection-> typically recalled without conscious effort.not time stamped ->knowledge is recalled without remembering when or where it was learned- acquired through repetition and practice, becoming automatic skills and habits.
• Tulving's 1989 study on the differences in processing of episodic and semantic memories:

  - procedure

  aim - examine brain activity during semantic and episodic memory retrieval- six volunteers received radioactive gold injection (scanned using a gamma ray detector to detect its location.)- pps thought about4 semantic topics- involving general knowledge and4 episodic topics(involving personally experienced events)- involved pps thinking about a topic, gold injection after 60 seconds, and scanning 8 seconds later
• Tulving's 1989 study on the differences in processing of episodic and semantic memories:

  - results/findings

  semantic memories -> left prefrontal cortex

  episodic memories -> right prefrontal cortex
• Tulving's 1989 study on the differences in processing of episodic and semantic memories:

  - conclusions (2)

  • episodic and semantic LTMs appear to involve different brain areas and thus are separate forms of LTM

  • The fact that episodic and semantic LTMs involve different brain areas suggests a biological basis to differences in LTM
• What is a strength of Tulving (1986) and the 3 types of long-term memory?

  ✓ episodic memory is supported by case study evidence


  P:A strength of episodic memory is that it is supported by case study evidence, such as the clinical cases study of HM.E:HM had brain surgery at 27 to alleviate epilepsy, resulting in hippocampus removal and severe amnesia- demonstrated intact procedural memory by learning and retaining mirror drawing skills despite no conscious recollection of the task- episodic memory impaired as he could not recall events that had happened to himA:This is a strength because it highlights a dissociation between intact procedural memory and impaired episodic memory, showing that there are different long-term memory stores, not only different in functionality but also location within the brain.L:As a result, this increases the explanatory power of Tulving's theory.
• What is a strength of Tulving (1986) and the 3 types of long-term memory?

  ✓ real world applications


  P:one strength of Tulving's research is that it has practical applications for psychologists.E:For example, research demonstrates the potential improvement of episodic memories in older individuals with mild cognitive impairment.Comparison of a trained group with episodic memory training to a control group without training showed a significant performance boost in the trained group.L:Highlights the advantage of distinguishing between LTM types for the development of specific and effective memory-enhancing treatments.
• patient HM

  - HM had brain surgery at 27 to alleviate epilepsy, resulting in hippocampus removal and severe amnesia

  - demonstrated intact procedural memory by learning and retaining mirror drawing skills despite no conscious recollection of the task

  - episodic memory impaired as he could not recall events that had happened to him

  Highlighted a dissociation between intact procedural memory and impaired episodic memory.
• What is a limitation of Tulving (1986) and the 3 types of long-term memory?

  ✘ there are problems with clinical evidence


  P:A limitation is that there are problems with clinical evidenceE:Evidence is often based on clinical cases e.g. HM about what happens when memory is damaged.• However, there is a serious lack of control of different variables in these studies (e.g. cannot control the precise location of damage or personality variables). For all we know, HM's (episodic) memory might have been bad before his injury, which confounds the results of these clinical studies.L:Therefore, it is difficult to generalise from these case studies to determine the exact nature of LTM.
• What is the working model of memory? (WMM)

  Baddeley and Hitch Proposal (1974)- divides STM into a central executive oversees 3 slave systems• proposes that STM was more complex than just being a temporary store- they saw STM as active processor, holding several pieces of information simultaneously while they are being 'worked on', for example when working on an arithmetic problem or comprehending language.
• Working Memory Model components

  Central Executive

  ↕️

  Visuo-spatial sketchpad

  Episodic buffer

  Phonological loop

  ↕️

  Long term memory
• What is the Central Executive?

  - coordinates the activities of the 3 slave systems.

  • monitors incoming data from the senses, makes decisions as to which data should be attended to and then allocates different tasks to the relevant slave-systems.
• central executive coding

  modality free (codes in all sensory forms)
• What is the Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)?

  - deals with temporary storage of visual and spatial information

  - essentially holds static images and manipulates them

  - sub-divided into a visual cache and inner scribe
• central executive capacity


  very limited, cannot attend to too many things at once
• visual information example

  what things look like, such as the shape and size of letters in a word
• spatial information


  the relationship between objects
• VSS capacity


  3-4 items
• VSS coding


  relies on a visual code in terms of shape, size and colour
• visual cache


  stores information about visual items i.e. shape and colour
• inner scribe


  deals with spatial relations and records the arrangement of obiects in the visual field
• What is the phonological loop?

  - deals with auditory/sound information or deals with both written and spoken material

  • subdivided into the phonological store (inner ear) and the articulatory process (inner voice)

  • the phonological store stores the words you hear (in speech form)

  • the articulatory process allows for maintenance rehearsal

  • as a limited capacity / the capacity of the loop is what can be said in 2 seconds
• phonological store


  holds words that have recently been heard, like an 'inner ear
• phonological store duration

  2 seconds
• articulatory process


  allows maintenance rehearsal

  - words or sounds are silently repeated in a 'loop' to keep them in working memory while they are needed, such as when trying to remember a telephone number by sub-vocally repeating it over and over, like an 'inner voice'.
• articulatory process capacity


  2 seconds worth of what you can say before the trace fades away
• phonological loop coding

  acoustic
• What is the episodic buffer?

  • provides a general storage facility, which combines information from the other stores (visual, spatial and verbal) rather than separate strands and also from long term memory

  • it temporarily stores this information and then integrates it in order to construct a mental episode of what is being experienced right now