memory

• Sensory information


  Information in the environment that is registered briefly
• Input


  Sensory information in the environment
• Encoding


  Turning sensory information into a form that can be stored
• Acoustic encoding


  Storing sounds in memory
• Visual encoding


  Storing visual information
• Semantic encoding


  Storing meaningful information
• Output


  Recalling information e.g. behavioural response
• Multi Store Model of Memory (MSM)


  Model developed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968 that identifies 3 different stores in our memory system: Sensory register, Short term memory, and Long term memory
• Sensory register/memory


  • Registers a lot of sensory information briefly, but we don't pay attention to all of it
• Short term memory (STM)

  Information that we pay attention to is transferred here and can be stored for 18-30 seconds, with a capacity of 7+/-2 items
• Rehearsal


  Repeating information to increase the duration of a memory in STM
• Long term memory (LTM)

  Can hold information for up to a lifetime and has a limitless capacity, mainly stores semantic memories
• Retrieval


  Recalling a memory from LTM
• Decay


  Forgetting information in LTM as it has broken down
• Displacement


  Forgetting information in STM due to incoming information
• Capacity


  The amount of information stored
• Duration


  The length of time information is stored
• Strengths of MSM


  • Has support from case studies, gives a good structure of STM, has support from case studies showing distinct STM and LTM stores
• Weaknesses of MSM


  • Not all information is rehearsed and transferred into LTM, it can decay and displace
• Reconstructive memory


  Our memories are not exact copies but are influenced by our prior knowledge and expectations (schemas)
• Schemas


  Packets of knowledge about an event, person or place that influence how we perceive and remember
• How schemas are formed

  • Personal experience, stereotypes, culture
• How schemas influence memory

  • Omissions, transformations, familiarisation, rationalisation
• Strengths of reconstructive memory theory

  • Real world application, useful research methods
• Weaknesses of reconstructive memory theory


  • Subjective data, unscientific procedures
• Amnesia


  A special type of forgetting affecting the long-term memory, characterised by forgetting or memory loss, particularly after a brain injury
• Retrograde amnesia


  Being unable to recall information from before a brain injury
• Anterograde amnesia


  Being unable to recall information from after a brain injury
• By rehearsing, we can store information in our short-term memory
• Peterson and Peterson (1959) study

  1. Repeat out loud trigram, count backwards in 3s from 400, recall trigram when signalled

  2. Same tasks but participants given time to repeat trigram before counting
• Strengths of Peterson and Peterson (1959) study

  • Good control and reliability, real world application, valid use of nonsense trigrams
• Weaknesses of Peterson and Peterson (1959) study

  • Lacks ecological validity, lacks mundane realism, limited generalisability, limited interpretation of results
• Bartlett's War of The Ghosts (1932) study


  Participants read the story twice, then recalled it using serial reproduction and repeated reproduction
• Schema theory


  Also known as the 'War of Ghosts'
• Procedure


  1. Participants read the story of the WOG twice

  2. They then had to recall the story using serial reproduction and repeated reproduction
• Serial Reproduction


  A technique where participants retell stories to each other to form a chain
• Repeated Reproduction


  Where participants retell a story over and over again
• Serial reproduction


  Retell it 15-30 mins later
• Repeated reproduction


  Write out the story 15 mins later, recall it after minutes, days, hours, months and years
• War of The Ghosts study

  • Strengths: Remembering a story is an everyday test of memory, giving ecological validity; Study was replicated with same results, giving reliability; Qualitative analysis allowed understanding of reconstructive memory
  • Weaknesses: Unfamiliar, illogical story could have made it difficult to remember, so changes may not have been due to schemas; Qualitative analysis may have been biased; Lack of controls as participants read at own pace