They are separate memory stores as indicated by the MSM of memory
Korsakoff syndrome
Chronic alcoholics sometimes develop this condition
Damages parts of the brain
Little effect on the LTM
Severely impacts the STM
Korsakoff's patient
Able to have a normally functioning LTM while having a severely impaired STM
This suggests that the STM and LTM function completely independently and exist as separate entities
This increases the validity of the MSM's suggestion that the STM and LTM are separate stores
Short and long term memory
They are separate memory stores as indicated by the MSM of memory
KF
Suffered brain damage in a motor cycle accident
This had no effect on his LTM but led to poor performance on many STM tasks
If the STM and LTM existed as a combined memory store
KF would have lost or retained all of his memory functioning
KF's LTM and STM were affected separately
There is experimental research evidence to support that the STM and LTM are separate memory stores as indicated by the MSM of memory
Glazner and Cunitz's study on primacy and recency effects
Participants are more likely to recall the first few (primacy effect) and the last few (recency effect) words
Middle words are more likely to be forgotten
Words at the beginning of the list
Transferred through rehearsal into the LTM
Words at the end of the list
Still in the STM which aided in the recall
However, there is research evidence
Criticises the MSM'S view that the LTM is unitary
Clive wearing contracted a viral infection
Caused extensive brain damage
Lost his Long term declarative memory e.g. he had no memory of his wedding
Still had his long term procedural memory intact as he was able to play the piano
The MSM believes that the LTM is unitary and in its simplest form
This view is contradicted by Clive Wearing
Clive Wearing demonstrates that our LTM can be compartmentalised further into LT procedural and declarative
Strength of cognitive interview
There is research evidence to support that the cognitive interview is effective
Geiselman (1885) study
Participants watched a film of a violent crime and were interviewed after 48 hours using cognitive interview, standard interview, or interview using hypnosis
Cognitive interview had the highest average number of correctly recalled facts at 41.2, hypnosis was 38.0, and standard interview was 29.4
The Geiselman study supports the cognitive interviews as effective because participants recalled more relevant information in comparison to the other methods and it shows that cognitive interview led to better memory for events
Another strength of cognitive interviews
There is supporting evidence for it in real world studies
Fisher et al (1989) study
16 experienced police officers in Miami conducted 2 interviews on 47 witnesses/victims of shop lifting or mugging incident
7 police officers used the cognitive interview, and 9 police officers used the standard interview (control group)
The results from the Fisher et al study showed that the cognitive interview led to better recall of information compared to the standard interview