memory

• Bartlett's WOG M lab study; students studying English @ Cambridge. They read WOG and recalled it multiple times; Bartlett recorded the story they told R story became shorter, there were lots of omission, details + order of events changed. canoes -> boats paddling -> rowing. C Our memory is not an exact copy of what we hear. Its distorted by what we already know. We use effort after meaning to help us to make sense of unfamiliar experiences.
• multistore model evaluation

  • Supported by research evidence E.g. Murdock who found evidence which suggests we have separate stm + ltm stores. Baddeley who found evidence for different coding in STM + LTM.
  • The model is oversimplified it suggests we have just one STM and one LTM store
  • The model was created using artificial research tasks (memorising word lists) which may mean the model can’t explain real world memory examples
• distinguishes a diff btwn capacity + duration of LTM and STM

  
• Capacity = Amount of information that can be held in memory
• Duration = Length of time that memories can be held in storage
• Coding = Format by which information is represented in memory
• Store: Sensory input

  Echoic: Auditory (sound)

  Iconic: Visual

  Haptic: Tactile (touch)

  Gustatory: Taste

  Olfactory: Smell
• STS: 7 bits, 18-30 secs,

  LTS: semantically (meaning), unlimited capacity, up to a lifetime

  encoded - visual, acoustic, semantic

  
• Murdock

  Aim- provide evidence for the existence of separate STM + LTM

  Method- lab study, 16 psych students, 20 words 1 per sec, 90s free recall, repeated 80 times w a different list each time

  Result- end of list (recency), beginning (primacy), results displayed in a bell-curve graph

  Conc - evidence of separate STM/LTM, recency in sts available to be recalled, primacy time for them to be rehearsed lts
• Murdock evaluation

  • Useful because as an experiment it can be clearly controlled (e.g. length of words) and repeated to test for reliability. More objective since words are random
  • As an experiment, cause (IV) and effect (DV) can be identified - we can show that position in list affects recall
  • People know they are in an experiment and may guess the aim because they are being asked to recall words from a list. This may affect the results because they may try harder to remember words or may be nervous and not remember as many
• Theory of Reconstructive Memory
• Theory of Reconstructive Memory

  • We change our memories to fit with what we already know
  • We may think we are remembering what happened, but it is reconstructed (memory is an active process)
  • Bartlett stated that when we are trying to recall information we may fill in the small gaps with details that make sense and ‘fit in’ with the rest of the information. This is effort after meaning.
  • The overall meaning of an event is remembered 
  • Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts’ study supports reconstructive memory as an active process
• Interference - a conclusion reached on the basis of past experience or knowledge.

  Context - the general setting or environment in which activities happen

  False memories - remembering something that never happened
• Evaluation of Theory of reconstructive memory

  • wrong to suggest that all memories are inaccurate or affected by social expectations.
  • studies have shown that memory can be accurate. personal/distinctive stuff, considerable and accurate detail. WOG- 'Something black came out of his mouth'
  • ppl dont alws actively reconstruct memories

  Real-world application

  EWT

  • used to be regarded as very important and reliable evidence in court cases. relied on to give an accurate picture of crimes committed
  • Research on EWT has shown that people do not always recall what they see or hear accurately
• Interference

  McGeoch and McDonalds - effect second activity has on the accuracy of memory

  When the participants were then asked to recall the original list of words, their performance depended on the nature of the second list. The most similar material (synonyms) produced the least accurate recall.

  evaluation - controlled w counterbalancing, artificial tasks - limited to specific conditions
• Context

  Certain triggers (cues) can be encoded in memory at the time of learning. Research shows that, in this way, context can increase the accuracy of memory. One such study was conducted by Duncan Godden and Alan Baddeley (1975).

  This led Godden and Baddeley to see if they could demonstrate that recall for things learned underwater is more accurate if recall is also underwater, i.e. does context improve recall?

  context enhances the accuracy of memory
• Declarative - semantic and episodic

  non-declarative - procedural
• Storage - Holding information in memory so that it can be retrieved later.

  Retrieval- Locating and bringing back information into mind.
• Types of retrieval

  Recognition = identifying from options.

  Cued recall = locating information with a clue

  Free recall = without cues
• LTM evaluations

  • Specific locations in the brain

  Brain scans show different types of LTM relate to different brain locations, e.g. procedural memory associated with motor area.

  • Amnesic patients

  Amnesiacs like Clive Wearing support LTM types as most of his procedural but not episodic memories were intact.
• WOG evaluation

  • Lacks control

  Participants were not told accurate recall was important, which could have affected results.

  • Results were biased

  Bartlett analysed the recollections himself, so we cannot fully trust the conclusion.

  • Story was unusual

  The story was unusual so may not reflect everyday memory processes.