Psychology Paper 1 Notes

• Encoding

  When information is changed from one form to another so that it can be stored for recall later
• Storage

  Holding information in memory so it can be retrieved later
• Retrieval


  Process of accessing information that has been stored in your brain and being able to use it
• Types of Encoding

  • Visual
  • Acoustic
  • Semantic
  • Tactile
  • Olfactory
• Types of Retrieval

  • Recognition
  • Cued Recall
  • Free Recall
• Short term Memory

  Has limited capacity and duration as it is a temporary store (it can either be moved to long term memory or disappear). Tends to be acoustic
• Long term memory


  Large capacity and long duration as it is permanent. Tends to be semantic
• Baddeley's study of Encoding


  1. Aim: to see if there's a difference between LTM and STM

  2. Method: 2 independent groups learnt a list of words that are either similar (list A) or dissimilar (List B) sounding and are asked to immediately recall. 2 other independent groups learnt a list of words that are either similar (List C) or dissimilar (List D) in meaning and were asked to recall after 20 minutes

  3. Results: participants did worse in A than B. Participants also did worse in C than D

  4. Conclusion: participants did worse in A because they sounded similar and thus were muddled up proving that STM is encoded acoustically. Vice versa for list C and LTM being semantic
• Types of Memory

  • Episodic
  • Procedural
  • Semantic
• Types of Encoding

  • Acoustic
  • Semantic
  • Visual
• Types of Storage

  • Episodic
  • Procedural
  • Semantic
• Multi-Store Model


  1. Sensory Memory

  2. Short Term Memory

  3. Long Term Memory
• Sensory Memory has very high capacity and less than half a second duration, Short Term Memory has limited capacity and less than 30 second duration, Long Term Memory has potentially unlimited capacity and potentially up to a lifetime duration</b>
• Sensory Memory coding depends on organ receiving stimulus, Short Term Memory tends to be Acoustic, Long Term Memory tends to be semantic
• Primacy effect

  Words at beginning are remembered more (rehearsed, so in LTM)
• Recency effect

  Words at end are remembered more (heard recently so in STM)
• Murdock's Study


  1. Aim: to see if memory of words is affected by order in which they are told

  2. Method: participants listened to 20 word lists with 10-40 words on them and were asked to recall after

  3. Results: position of words did affect recall as there was higher recall for the first words and last words

  4. Conclusion: shows that serial position does prove MSM stores
• Bartlett's War of Ghosts Study

  1. Aim: To see how memory is reconstructed when recalling an unfamiliar story

  2. Method: the Native American War of Ghost story was read by one participant and recalled after 15 minutes (on paper) and then read by another participant and so on. (Participants were English)

  3. Results: participants changed the story to fit cultural expectations, leaving out unfamiliar information. For example, word canoe was changed to boat and story was shortened by omissions

  4. Conclusion: We use our knowledge of social situations to reconstruct memory
• Bartlett's Theory of Reconstructive Memory


  1. Memory is inaccurate

  2. Memory is reconstruction as we record pieces of information, then recombine to tell whole story

  3. Social and cultural expectations can affect storage and recall

  4. We focus on the meaning of events and then reconstruct the fragments of the story together
• Proactive interference

  When old memories interfere with the recollection of new memories
• Retroactive interference


  When new memories interfere with old memories
• McGeach & McDonald's study


  1. Aim: to see the effect of doing 2 activities on accuracy of memory

  2. Method: 12 participants learnt lists of 10 words until they could remember with 100% accuracy . Then they were shown a new list of varying types (synonyms & antonyms)

  3. Results: showed that memory was affected by the 2nd list most of all because it had similar meaning (synonyms)

  4. Conclusion: interference affects accuracy of memory and is strongest when you try to remember similar things
• Godden and Baddeley's Study


  1. Aim: to see if context improved recall

  2. Method: make drivers learn and recall words in the same or different setting (beach/underwater)

  3. Results: showed recall was highest in the same environment for both learning and recall

  4. Conclusion: proves context of Learning for acts as a trigger/ cue, improving accuracy
• Loftus and Pickrell 'Lost in the mall' study


  1. Aim: to see if you can Implant false memories through suggestions in order to test the existence of repressed & false memories

  2. Method participants were given 4 short stories about their childhood (obtained by relatives). 3 were true 1 was a false story about getting lost in a mall and being rescued by an elderly woman. Participants were asked to read the story then write down what they remembered about each event. A week or 2 later they were interviewed about it and then 2nd time they were debriefed and asked to pick the false story

  3. Results: 25% of participants recalled the false story fully or partially

  4. Conclusion: Imagining an event can implant a false memory, reducing accuracy of memory
• Sensation


  Is the physical stimulation of sensory receptors by the environment
• Perception


  Is the organization and interpretation of sensory information by the brain in order to understand the world around us
• Visual illusions


  Refers to a percept that is different from what would be typically predicted based on the physical stimulus
• Types of visual illusions

  • Size constancy
  • Misinterpreted depth cues
  • Ambiguity
  • Fiction
• Size constancy


  Is the brain's ability to perceive familiar things as the same size, despite changes in the size of the image on the retina
• Misinterpreted depth cues

  Objects apparently in the distance are scaled up by the brain to look normal size, causing visual illusions
• Ambiguity

  The way in which some images or stimuli can be interpreted in more than one way
• Fiction

  When a figure is perceived even though it is not part of the image or stimulus presented
• Ponzo illusion

  The bottom line and the top line are the same size but the top line seems to be longer due to the parallel lines next to them. This is an example of misinterpreted depth cue of linear perspective
• Müller-Lyer Illusion

  Two lines which are the same size but one of them has inverted arrows attached to it while the other has normal arrows. Due to the inverted arrows we assume the first line is bigger. This is also an example of misinterpreted depth cues

  
• Amez Room

  From the perspective of the viewer the room appears to be square when it's a trapezoid. One person standing in one corner seems really small and the other seems to be abnormally large. This is an example of misinterpreted depth cues
• Rubin's Vase

  You can either see a black vase in the white background or two white men facing each other in a black background. This is an illusion because we can see two interpretations of the image, due to ambiguity
• Kanizsa Triangle

  Suggests that there is a second triangle overlapping the first even though nothing is there. This is an example of fiction and it works using illusory contours which create the impression that the overlapping triangle has continuous edges all the way round
• Visual cues

  Features of the environment that gives us information on movement, distance, and positions of the objects around us
• Monocular depth cues


  • Height in plane
  • Relative size
  • Occlusion
  • Linear perspective
• Binocular depth cues


  • Retinal disparity
  • Convergence