Cognitive

Cards (23)

  • 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