Cognitive

• Memory


  Memory process where information is encoded, stored and retrieved
• Memory process


  1. Encoding

  2. Storage

  3. Retrieval
• Encoding


  Information coded within our senses
• Storage


  How information is held in memory
• Retrieval


  Finding information and bringing it out of storage
• Bartlett's reconstructive memory


  Suggests memory isn't like a tape recorder, we retrieve from long-term memory but it's not an exact copy
• Schema theory


  Mental representation of information - object/event used to understand what is happening, something new/different. Use schema to help understand, can lead to changes in stored memory
• Schemata


  New memory accommodated into existing, don't deviate from expectations
• Confabulation


  Schema fills in gaps and may alter how we remember information to make it fit with existing schema
• Rationalisation


  Where we make sense of information we have received based on our schema, appears more logical and fits in with expectations
• Multi-Store Memory Model


  Sensory, short-term, long-term memory
• Sensory memory


  Information put through 5 senses, encoded in a sensory format, can only hold a limited amount of information, information held for 2 seconds, if attended to passed on to short-term memory, if not attended to permanently lost
• Short-term memory


  Stored as auditory information for us to rehearse, capacity of 5-9 items, duration of 15-30 seconds, if not rehearsed lost through decay or displacement
• Long-term memory


  Largely held semantically, can be auditory or visual, no limit on capacity, information can potentially last forever
• Working Memory Model


  Central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer
• Central executive


  Controls the other components, has limited capacity, affects higher cognitive functioning and problem solving
• Episodic memory


  Mental diary of information about events and individuals, autobiographical, potentially unlimited capacity, encoded when something significant happens, retrieval dependent on cues encoded upon learning
• Semantic memory


  Mental encyclopedia of facts and general knowledge, meanings we give to symbols, potentially unlimited capacity, encoded independently of time, retrieval cue independent
• Eyewitness testimony


  Witnesses are not always accurate, can lead to miscarriage of justice, 41% of wrongful convictions due to unreliable eyewitness testimony
• Ron Cotton served 10 years for a crime he did not commit, was exonerated due to DNA evidence
• Witnesses reconstruct events to match pre-existing schemas


  Makes the story more coherent but less accurate
• Witnesses need cues from the crime scene

  May be less accurate as they may not recall as accurately without those cues
• Words at the start of a list are better recalled than those at the end


  Easier to retrieve from short-term memory, words rehearsed into long-term memory