Memory

• What is cognitive psychology?

  Concerned with people's thought processes and how these affect the way in which they behave.
• Memory

  Process of retaining learned information and accessing this information when needed.
• Coding

  The way information is changed so it can be stored in memory.
• Storage

  Keeping information within the memory system until it is needed.
• Retrieval

  Recovering information stored in the memory system when it is required.
• Sensory register

  Contains unprocessed impressions of information received through the senses. Each sense has a separate store.
• Short term memory

  Temporary store for information received from the SR
• Long term memory

  Permanent store holding limitless amounts of information for long periods of time
• Capacity

  Amount of information that can be held in memory before displacement occurs.
• Duration

  The amount of time information can bebheld in a memory store before lost to decay.
• Coding of Sensory register?

  Modality specific, each sensory store codes information differently
• Coding of Short term memory?

  - Baddeley investigated coding in short term memory:

  - Gave 4 lists of words to recall. List A bad words which sounded similar and B didn't sound similar. List C had words of similar meanings, and list D had words with dissimilar meanings.

  - STM coded acoustically as immediate recall worse for acoustically similar words.
• Coding of long term memory?

  - Baddeley repeated to test LTM coding:

  - Tested recall after 20 min delay to ensure information had passed into LTM

  - LTM coded semantically
• Baddeley's tests evaluation?

  + Laboratory experiment, easy to replicate and reliable

  - Low ecological validity. Material was artificial and so was the lab setting
• Capacity of the sensory register?

  Unlimited
• Capacity of STM?

  Jacob's digit span test. Several sequences of digits or letters and asked to repeat immediately after its given. Sequences of longer each time. 7+-2

  If we recall more than we have the capacity for then displacement occurs.

  Can recall more info if you use chunking

  STM capacity improves with age

  Conducted a long time ago
• Capacity of LTM?

  Unlimited
• Duration of SR?

  250 ms
• Duration of STM?

  Peterson and Peterson used 3 random consonants (trigrams) to test. To prevent maintenance counted backwards from 100 in 3s. Found 90% accurate after 3 seconds, 20% after 9 seconds and 2% from 18 seconds. Concluded info lasts for 18-30 seconds without rehearsal due to decay.
• Evaluation of Peterson and Peterson study

  + Used fixed timings for participants to count backwards from, elicited noise and other factors. Used standardised procedures

  - Findings might have been caused by interference instead of STM having short duration.
• Duration of LTM

  - Bahrick tested 400 people (17-74) on memory of classmates.

  - Showed 50 photos and decided if they belonged to classmates or not

  - 90% accuracy at identifying faces within 15 years

  - 70% accuracy after 48 years

  - Free recall of names was 60% after 15 years

  - 30% after 48 years

  - Concluded duration is potentially a lifetime, but can have retrieval failure and need retrieval cues
• Evaluation of Bahrick's study

  + Ecological validity, material was meaningful and relevant

  - Control of extraneous variables, if they have looked at yearbook or stayed in touch
• Who developed the MSM

  Atkinson and Shiffrin
• What is the MSM

  Attempts to explain how information flows from me memory store to another. Three permanent stores: SR, STM, LTM
• What is the sensory register?

  Environmental stimuli received through senses enters SR. Has separate sensory store for each input. Only small fraction of info received is attended to for further processing
• What is the STM?

  Temporary store for information received from the SR before transferred to LTM.
• What is maintenance rehearsal?

  Repeating information over and over to hold it in short-term memory longer.
• What is elaborating rehearsal?

  Where information is organised in a meaningful way. Linked to previous life experiences or knowledge to aid recall
• How to retrieve info according to MSM?

  LTM passes info to the STM then it is recalled.
• Advantages of the MSM?

  - Scoville attempted to treat a patient called HM by removing brain areas such as his hippocampus. Patient couldn't code new LTM, but STM unaffected. Supports that there is distinct STM and LTM

  - Shallice and Warrington reported that KF who had a motorbike accident had reduced STM capacity of 1-2 digits, but LTM normal. Supports that there is a distinct STM and LTM

  - Murdock presented participants with long list of words to be recalled. Free recall experiment. Words at beginning and end better than middle. Serial position effect

  - Words at beginning remembered because of rehearsal and go to LTM (primacy effect) , words at end recalled because in STM (recency effect) Distinct STM and LTM
• Disadvantages of MSM?

  - Shallice and Warrington. KF had poor STM for verbal tasks, but not visual tasks which suggests more than one type of STM

  - KF was able to access LTM without difficulty, so contradicts STM which states STM is needed to retrieve memories from LTM.

  - MSM is oversimplified in assuming only one type of STM/LTM

  - Research indicate several types of STM, such as visuo-spatial sketch pad and phonological loop. And several types of LTM such as episodic memory, semantic memory and procedural memory

  - Baddeley and Hitch claim MSM cannot explain ability to multitask
• Why was the working memory model made?

  Baddeley and Hitch questioned idea promoted by MSM that only one type of STM. Argued STM is more complex. Saw STM as active store holding several pieces of information being worked on and that LTM is the passive store
• What is the central executive?

  Drives the whole working memory system and allocates data to other components (slave systems).

  Deals with cognitive tasks (mental arithmetic)

  Limited attentional capacity, automated to make less attentional demands on central executive

  Ex. someone driving 10 years find that driving is automated
• What is the phonological loop?

  Deals with spoken and written material with two sub components:

  - Phonological store

  - Inner ear, linked to speech perception and holds info in speech based form for 1-2s

  - Articulatory loop

  - Inner voice linked to speech production and used to rehearse and store verbal information allowing maintenance rehearsal
• What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

  Stores and processes information in a visual of spatial form. Used for navigation. Referred to as inner eye. Has two sub components:

  - Visual cache

  - Stores visual material about form and colour

  - Inner scribe

  - Handles spatial relationships
• What is the episodic buffer?

  Baddeley realised model needed general storage component. Slave systems only deal with processing and temporary storage, and central executive has no storage at all

  Has limited capacity store, integrating information from central executive, phonological loop and VSS and LTM
• Advantages of the WMM?

  - Shallice and Warrington reported case of KF who had poor STM for words presented verbally, but not visually. Suggests more than one type of STM

  - Baddeley and Hitch did dual task experiment. Reasoning with central executive and reading with phonological loop. Did very well.

  - Baddeley gave brief visual presentations of lists of words. Either long or short words in correct order. Found short words better than long words.

  Word length effect found phonological loop can hold as many items said in 1.5-2s instead of 7+-2

  - Practical applications, helped to understand dyslexia
• Disadvantages of the WMM?

  - Psychologists criticised central executive as it is vague and untestable

  - Damasjo presented EVR who had cerebral tumour removed. Good reasoning, but not good decisions - both use central executive.
• What is episodic memory?

  Memory for events. Have 3 elements: details, context, emotions. Stored in hippocampus
• What is semantic memory?

  Memory for facts and general knowledge. Relate to functions of object, appropriate behaviour in certain situations, abstract maths and language concepts.

  Begin as episodic memories

  Stored in temporal lobe