Memory

• duration A01

  • SR ( Sperling 1960 ) short duration of 0.5 seconds
  • STM ( Peterson and Peterson 1959 ) recall gets progressively worse
  • LTM ( Bahrick et al. 1975 ) large duration
• duration A03: strength

  • Peterson and Peterson 1959 - high level of control over extraneous variables and therefore making the study more replicable
  • Sperling 1960 - high levels of replicablitlity
• duration A03: limitation

  • studies lack mundane realism
  • memorising lists of words is not a usual daily task therefore making the study artificial
  • this may affect the result of the study
• leading questions as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT:

  • questions either by their tone of content influence a person's schema in order to for them to give the desired answer
  • Loftus and Palmer 1974 found even a change in one word leads to false recognition
• leading questions as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT: A03 strength

  • research to support the notion that misleading questions can affect EWT - Braun et al. 2002
• leading questions as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT: A03 strength:

  • real - world applications, to the criminal justice system
• leading questions as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT: A03 limitation:

  • research into the effect of leading questions lacks external validity as research is conducted in a laboratory
• leading questions as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT: A03 limitation:

  • individual differences between different eye - witnesses
• post - event discussion as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT A01:

  • when co-witnesses discuss the event with each other , their EWT could become contaminated
  • this is because individuals remember misinformation from others and combine that with their own memory - this is known as the conformity affect
• post - event discussion as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT A03: strength:

  • real-world applications in the criminal justice system
• post - event discussion as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT A03: limitations:

  • research into the effect post event discussion is that it lacks external validity as research is conducted in a laboratory
  • task is artificial as giving a testimony on a crime you witnessed is not an daily, occurrance and therefore the study lacks mundane realiusm
• anxiety as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT:

  • can divert attention away from the important features of the situation
  • + effect: anxiety makes the EWT more accurate
  • -effect : anxiety makes the EWT less accurate
  • weapon focus effect or tunnel theory , involvement of a weapon
  • yerkes - dodson law : medium increase in stress/anxiety can make the EWT more accurate however high levels interfere with accuracy
• anxiety as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT: A03 - strength

  • research support for the positive effect of anxiety - Christianson and Hubinette (1993)
  • research support for the weapon - focus effect , 16% accuracy drop when weapon was involved - Johnson and Scott 1976
• anxiety as a factor affecting the accuracy of EWT: A03 limitation

  • no simple conclusion : violence of a crime may affect the accuracy of recall not simply there being a weapon
  • alternative model ( deffunbacher 1983 )
• interference as an explanation for forgetting A01

  • one memory disrupting another
  • most likely to occur when the two memories are similar
  • occurs from the LTM when we can't access a memory even though it is available
  • pro active interference - old memories interfere with new memories
  • retro active interference - new memories interfere with new memories
• interference as an explanation for forgetting A03: strength

  • research support for pro active interference - Underwood ( 1957 )
  • real world application - advertising companies don't play their commercials at the same time as their competitors to avoid interference affect the memory of their brand to possible clients
• interference as an explanation for forgetting A03 - limitation

  • interference theory is artificial and lacks mundane realism as studies has ppts memorise lists of words which is not an every day occurance
  • forgetting is best explained using a combination of interfernece and retrieval failure
• retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting A01:

  • occurs due to the absence of cues
  • explanation based on the idea that the issue relates to beung able to retrieve a memory that is there but not accessible
  • cues are either context dependent - based on environmental factors or sate dependent - based on ones mental state
  • presence of cues that were present at the time of learning information
• retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting A03: strength

  • research support for state / context dependent forgetting - Darley et al. ( 1973 ) study with cannabis - Smith ( 1979 ) study on context dependent memories
• retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting A03: limitation

  • retrieval cues do not always work , their effectiveness is reduced by the presence of better cues
  • suggest theory cannot be usefully applied in the real world as they do not explain all types of forgetting
• capacity of memory A01:

  • SR ( Sperling 1960 ) large capacity , used grids of letters shown for 50 milliseconds in his experiment
  • STM ( Jacobs 1887 ) limited storage capacity
  • LTM ( Linton 1975 ) very large capacity, autobiographical for 6 years
• capacity of memory A03: strength

  • (Jacobs ) - high lvl of control , replicability
  • ( Linton ) - study uses meaningful stimuli - hgh school year books
• capacity of memory A03: limitation

  • (Linton ) capacity may be affected buy the general decline of memory as we age
  • lacks ecological validity + is artificial as memorising lists or recalling names of past classmates is not an everyday activity for most
• coding of memory A01:

  • Baddeley (1966) found LTM to be coded semantically and STM is coded acoustically
  • he used 4 lists - acoustically dissimilar / similar , semantically dissimilar / similar
• coding of memory A03: strength

  • high level of control in Baddeley's experiment , eliminates possible extraneous variables
  • high replicability because of the controlled conditions of the original experiment
• coding of memory A03: weakness

  • lacks ecological validity and is very artificial as memorising all these lists does not reflect every day memory activities
  • memory can be different for people ( individiual differences )
• multi store model of memory: A01

  • theoretical model that explains hoe information flows from one store to anther
  • uses SR, STM and LTM
  • includes environmental stimuli, attention, rehearsal loop, retrieval, maintenance rehearsal and information loss through decay / displacement
• multi store model of memory: A03 strength

  • research studies into SR, STM and LTM suggest they are all separate stores of memory
  • case study of Clive Wearing suggests that STM and LTM are separate stores because he can form new STM but not LTM
• multi store model of memory: A03 limitation

  • Shallice and Warrington ( 1970 )
  • difficulty with verbal STM but perfect ability with visual information
  • this suggest the MSM model is over simplified because it doesn't include the different ways information can be stored for each
• types of long term memory : A01

  • procedural memory: this is the memory to do things, such memories are automatic because of repeated practice
  • semantic memories: memories about the world that are shared by everyone in terms of facts or knowledge
  • episodic memories: personal memories about events. This type of memory included contextual details and an emotional tone
• types of long term memory : A03 strength

  • neuroimaging evidence for different types of memory being stored in different parts of the brain - therefore the finding is valid
  • real life applications: Belleville et al. (2000) episodic memories improved for older people
• types of long term memory : A03 limitation

  • problems with clinical evidence as it is based on lack of control variables
• working memory model A01:

  • Baddeley and Hitch ( 1974)
  • sees STM as an active store , holding lots of pieces of information while they are being worked on
  • it can also intergrate information from LTM and allows you to access STM and LTM simultaneously
  • central executive , visuo spatial sketchpad , episodic buffer , phonological loop and LTM
  • in 2000 Baddeley added a general store to the WMM
• WMM A03: Strength

  • was developed to account for dual task performance
  • research evidence ( Shallice and Warrington 1970 )
• WMM A03: Limitation

  • central executive has been criticised for being too vague and abstract - Eslinger and Damasio ( 1985 )