Psych memory

• Define coding, capacity and duration

  Coding:Formatwhich info is stored in memory storesCapacity:How muchinfo can be held in memory storeDuration:How longinfo can be held in the memory
• What is STM & LTM

  STM:limited capacitymemory store, mainlyacousticcapacity of5 to 9 items and an18 seconddurationLTM:permanentmemory store, mainlysemantic, unlimited capacityup tolifetimeduration
• describe research done on coding

  -AlanBaddeleygave different lists of4 words to 4 groupsto rememberthey were:-acoustically similar-acoustically dissimilar-semantically similar-semantically dissimilar-they were shown original words and asked to recall in correct order, when this was a asked ofimmediately (STM) they did worse on acoustically similar words-when shown 20 mins after (LTM) they did worse in semantically similar-this suggests that i do is coded acoustically forSTM.and semantically for LTM
• evaluate the research done on coding

  strength: identified aclear differencebetween STM and LTM which has lead to the multi store modellimitation:artificial, words had no personal meanings if thy did particpants may have used semantic coding, thuslimited application
• describe and evaluate research done on capacity (digit span)

  -Joseph Jacobs, calls out4 digitsand particpants mustrecall an order. Researcher keeps extending number of digits until the participant can no longer recall. This is their digit span.-he found that the mean span fordigits was 9.3 and 7.3 for lettersSTRENGTH: although it is an old study, it has beenreplicatedin a more controlled way therefore itsvalid
• describe and evaluate research done on capacity (span of memory and chunking)


  -George Milleracted observations of everyday practice. He realised that things come insevens(eg 7, deadly sins, seven days) so he thought that thespan of STM is about 7 items(plus or minus 2).- He also noted that people can recall five words as easily as five letters,we do this bychunking.

  Limitation: may ofoverestimatedSTM capacity.Cowanreviewed other research and concluded the capacity is only about4(plus or minus one) chunks.
• describe and evaluate research done on duration of STM

  -Peterson and Peterson tested24 students in 8 trailswhere they gave them aconsonant syllable(eg YMR) to remember, also given a3 digit numberand asked to count back from that number in threes for varying amounts of time-they found that after3 seconds, average recall was around80%, after18seconds,3%, so suggests STM time is 18 seconds

  Limitation:stimulus was artificial, lacksexternal validity.HOWEVER we do try and remember some meaningless material, eg phone numbers
• describe and evaluate research done on duration of LTM

  -Bahrick et alstudied392american particpants aged 17-74, showed them their high school year books and asked them to remember the names of 50 people from their photo and recall their names freely-in face recall, within15 years of graduation, accuracy 90%after48 years, 70%-free recall,60% 15 years, 30% 48 years

  Strength:high external validity, investigated meaningful memories
• What does the diagram of the multi-store model look like?

  
• How does the sensory register work?

  -stimuli from environmentpasses into register, for amillisecond. has asensory storefor all5 senses, eg visual is iconic and acoustic is echoic-it moves to the STM through attention, they have a veryhigh capacity
• What is the research support for the MSM model?

  Strength:-research to show STM and LTM aredifferent, such as Baddeley-as claimed by the MSMHOWEVER-the Baddeley study is artificial, and Peterson and Peterson
• How does the short term memory work in the MSM model

  -coded acoustically, 18 second duration. and 5-9 information (7+-2)-moves info from STM to LTM throughprolonged rehearsal or maintenance rehearsal

  limitation:-there is evidence of more than one STM store as researched byShallice and Warringtonsuch as their client ‘KF’who had amnesia, they could remember digits better when theyread it to themselvesrather than someone reading for them-suggests there isother storesfor STM unlike the MSM suggest
• How does the long term memory work in the MSM model

  -semantic, lifetime duration and permanent-to recall info from LTM mustretrieve itto STM

  limitation:-prolongedrehearsal isnot neededto transfer to LTM,Craik and Watkinsfound that thetypeof rehearsal is more important than theamount-elaborative rehearsal is needed for LTM,occurs when you link the info to existingknowledge, or think about the meaning, soprolongedrehearsal s not needed
• What is the WMM?

  An explanation of how STM is organised and how it functions made by Baddeley and Hitch
• describe the central executive and the 3 slave systems

  CE- monitorsincomingdata, focuses and divides ourattentionand allocates slave systems to taskshaslimited capacityand doesn’t store informationPhonological loop- deals withauditoryinfo, coding isacoustic, and preserves theorderthe info arrived-phonological store, the auditory words-articulatory process, which allowsmaintenance rehearsalcapacity of that is 2 secsVisuo-spatial sketchpad- storesvisualand/orspatialinfo (eg visualising),limited capacityof 3-4 objects-the visual cache-the inner scribe,arrangements of objects in visual fieldEpisodic buffer-added in2000, temporary store which bringstogethermaterial from other subsystems into a single memory instead of seperate, limitedcapacity of 4 chunksand links working memory to LTM
• Evaluate the WMM


  STRENGTH-Shallice and Warringtonfound that KF's (could not recall words spoken to him, but could when he read them himself) phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was intact. Supports separate visual and acoustic stores.CV- unclear wether he had other cognitive impairments which might have effectedSTRENGTH-studies ofdual-task by Baddeley, performance was lower on two visual tasks rather than one visual, one verbal because they compete for the same slave systemLIMITATION- lack of clarity over CE, Baddeley recognised himself it was the "least understood"
• who suggested the 3 types of LTM and what are they

  Endel Tulvig

  -Episodic memory

  -semantic memory

  -procedural memory
• Explain and evaluate episodic memory

  -our ability to recallevents from our lives-they arecomplex,time stampedand we remember how each memory relates to each other-each memory hasseveral elementsthat produce a single memory-you have to make aconscious effort to recall(fast)

  STRENGTH:understanding LTM allowshelp with memory problemseg as age increase, so does mem loss, linked directly to episodic memorySylvie Bellevillemade an intervention to improve EM in older people
• Explain semantic memory


  -contains ourshared knowledge of the world, combines the dictionary and encyclopedia eg meaning of words-also storesconceptssuch as 'animal', they arenot time stamped, it isless personal-its constantly being added to and less likely to distort or be forgotten
• explain procedural memory


  -memory for actions and skill-can recall without awareness eg driving a car
• whats one strength and one limitation of different types of LTM?

  STRENGTH:evidence fromcase study of HM and Wearing,both men had brain damage and theirEM was affected,butnot their SM,eg they couldn't remember stroking a dog but they could remember what a dog was, they also still had procedural memory. However, this lacked control over variables like all brain damage case studiesLIMITATION:conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of brain. Buckner and Petersen concluded SM located left of prefrontal cortext, and EM on right, however Tulving says its the other way round
• what are the two theories for forgetting?

  -interference theory

  -retrieval theory
• What is the interference theory?


  -occurs when two pieces of information overlap anddisrupteach other resulting in forgetting one or both
• explain the two types of interference?

  -proactive interferenceoccurs when an older memory interferes with a newer one-retroactive interferenceoccurs wen a new memory interferes with an older one
• what was the research on effects of similarity in interference?

  -McGeochandMcDonaldstudies retroactive interference-they gave participants10words to remember until they knew them100%accurately-then 6 groups learnt a differnt list such as consonant syllables, number ect-the groups with the mostsimilarwords had the worstrecallon the original list
• Evaluate interference theory

  STRENGTH:evidence forevery day situationsBaddeleyandHitchasked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played against during rugby season, players who played the most games in an interval (interference) had the poorest recall-this increases thevalidity of the studyHOWEVERconditions with interference like this are very rare, unless its a lab study the researchesc ant controlthe conditions for interferenceLIMITATION: interference istemporaryand can be overcome by using cues.TulvigandPsotkagave participants lists of words, one list at a time. recall got worse after every list from 70% downwards, but when given cues it increased back to 70%
• What is retrieval failure?


  -people may forget information due to insufficient cues-Tulvigfoundedencoding specificity principlestating that if a cue is going to be helpful it must bepresent at encodingandpresent at retrieval-some cues are encoded in ameaningfulway eg STM means short term memory however some codes areunmeaningfulsuch as:-context dependant forgetting: recall depends on external cue-state dependant forgetting: recall depends on internal cue
• describe research on context and state dependant forgetting

  CONTEXT:-BaddeleyandGoddenstudied deep sea divers who work under water to see if training on land would help or hinder their work underwater. divers learnt alist of wordseither underwater or on land and asked to recall either on land or underwater, making4 conditions. accurate recall was40% lowerin the non matching conditions

  STATE:-CarterandCassadaygave antihistamine drugs to particpants, making them slightlydrowsyand they had to learn list of words and passage of prose and recall information. when conditions didnt match, recall was worse
• Evaluate retrieval failure


  STRENGTH:real world application,retrieval cues help over come forgetting. Baddeley recommended that cues are worth paying attention to to remember things, eg going back into the same room to recall.STRENGTH:it has ausefulpurpose, it is now used in the police force in cognitive interview to ask people to recall all the events leading up to..STRENGTH:experiments are highly controlled and therefore IV effect on DV is clearHOWEVERit isunrealistic and forced,therefore decreasing mundane realism and ecological validity.
• what is an eyewitness testimony (EWT)?

  theability of people to remember the details of events,which they have observed themselves. accuracy can be affected by either misleading information or anxiety
• what are the 2 factors affecting misleading information

  leading questions and post event discussion
• explain leading questions in terms of misleading information

  -the wording of a question can lead you to acertain answer, which is an issue for EWT as police couldlead witnesses towards a certain answerRESEARCH:-Loftus and Palmerhad 45 participants (Students), who all watched clips of car accidents, and were then asked questions. They were split into5 groupsfor these questions, and they were all asked "about how fast were the cars going when they ___" and adifferent verb was used for each group; smashed, contacted, bumped, hit, collided-overall, when the verbsmashedwas used, the mean answer was40.5mphwhereas whencontactedwas used, the mean answer was31.5mph.-this shows that leading questions effect EWT
• explain and describe the 2 explanations for WHY leading questions effect EWT

  1)response bias explanationwhich suggests that the wording of the question doesn't make people forget, justinfluencestheir response when asked to recall.2)substitution explanationsuggests that the wording of the questionchanges the memory.Loftus and Palmershowed that people who heard smashed, were more likely to report seeing broken glass (there was none) than those who heard contacted.
• explain post-event discussion (PED) in terms of misleading information

  -Gabbertstudied participants in pairs, they both watched thesame crime but from different points of view.they then discussed what they saw together. and then individually completed recall test.-71% of participants provided incorrect informationthat they had not seen in the clip, but discussed with their pair. compared to a control group who had no discussion time, theirs was 0%.
• explain and describe the 2 explanations for WHY post-event discussion effects EWT

  -one explanation ismemory contaminationwhich states that when discussion happens,memory becomes altered or disorderedas they combine info with their own memories-another ismemory conformitywhich states thatwitnesses often go along with each other to win social approvalor out of fear.
• evaluate misleading information as a factor affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testiomy

  STRENGTH:importantpractical usein the criminal justice system, as the consequences can be serious.-policeofficers need to beextremely carefulhow they phrase their questions during interviews.-psychologists can be asked to act as an expert witness, to protect innocent people against the faults of EWTHOWEVER: there are issues with research which may affect this, Loftus and Palmer were lab experiments, and it may be too pessimisticLIMITATION:of substitution explanation. EWT is more accurate for some aspects of an event than for others eg Sutherland and Hayne showed participants a video clip, when they were asked misleading questions their recall was more accurate for central features because their attention would have been focused on this so resistant to misleadingLIMITATION:evidence that PED actually alters EWT, SKagerberg and Wright showed participants clips, 2 versions, one where a muggers hair was brown, one where it was light brown, after joint discussion and individual reporting; they reported a 'blend' pf what they had seen and discussion-suggests that the memory itself is distorted throlgh contgamination frather than conformity
• how can anxiety have a negative effect on recall (weapon focus)


  -anxiety createsphysiological arousalin the body which prevents us from paying attention toimportant cues-Johnson and Scottdid research on the weapon focus (a presence of a weapon leads to tunnel focus, reducing recall for other details)-their participants though they were in a lab study and they waited in a waiting room-2 conditions, the first one heard a casual conversation, then a man walked past withgreaseand apenin his hands. the other overhead an arguement, glass smashing and then saw a man witha knife covered in blood-later, participants were asked toidentifythe man from50photos, those in the low anxiety condition guessed correctly49%, and those in high anxiety33%.
• evaluate anxiety as a negative effect on recall


  STRENGTH:study byValentineandMesoutsupports weapon focus. They usedheart rateto divide participants into high and low anxiety groups. in this study anxiety clearly disrupted their ability torecall detailsin the London Dungeon’s Labyrinth. suggesting thathigh anxietydoes have anegative effecton EW recall

  LIMITATION:the study by Johnson and Scott may not have tested anxiety. the reason particpants may have focused on the weapon. is because they weresuprisedrather than scared.Pickelconducted a study using scissors, handgun, raw chicken, wallet in ahairdressingvideo. EW accuracy was lower in high unusualness conditions (chicken, handgun) . suggests that its due to unusualness not threat
• how can anxiety have a positive effect on recall

  -when experiencing anxiety,the fight or flightresponse kicks in, increasingalertness, improving memory-YuilleandCutshallconducted a study of an actualshootingin a gun shop in canada, where the shopkeepershot deada thief. there were21 witnessesand13took part in study, they were interviewed4-5 monthsafter the incident, and they were compared with the police interviews directly after incident.-witnesses werevery accurateinbothinterviews, only some details were less accurate. Those who reported thehighest levels of stressalso were themost accurate
• evaluate anxiety as a positive effect on recall


  STRENGTH:ChristiansonandHubinetteinterviewed58witnesses to actual bank robberies in Sweden, some directly involved and some indirectly (assumingdirectlywould be have more anxiety). recall was more than75%accurate acrossallwitnesses, direct victims wereeven more accurate.HOWEVER:they interviewed their participants 4-15 months after incident, they hadno controlover what happened in the time in between, effects of anxiety may have been overwhelmed by these factors,. therefore lack ofcontrol over confounding variables