2.1.5 Individual Diff in Memory

Question 1

Define ‘Individual differences’

Answer 1

Differences in characteristics between different people.

Question 2

Give an example of an individual difference in cognitive psychology.

Answer 2

Someone having a different schema due to the different experiences they’ve had in life creating the framework for an idea of what situations will be like.

Question 3

How can chunking expand the capacity of STM?

Answer 3

Chunking similar information into groups increases the capacity of the STM as 10 may become 5 groups of 2.

Question 4

Give evidence to support the idea of chunking.

Answer 4

P - Miller’s (1957) research supports
E - He found that when chunking phone numbers more than 7 digits long into groups it increases the likelihood of remembering the full phone number
E - Therefore showing how chunking can increase the capacity of the STM

Question 5

Define ‘processing speed’.

Answer 5

The rate at which information is processed.

Question 6

Using the Working Memory Model, explain how people may experience individual differences in their memory.

Answer 6

People with dyslexia have individual differences in their memory as they face impairment in their phonological loop which slows down the processing of words due to not being able to subvocally rehearse and so the capacity of their STM may be lower, decreasing ability to chunk.

Question 7

Evaluate a strength of using the WMM as an explanation for individual differences in memory.

Answer 7

P - WMM has high credibility due to its practical application
E- Suggests those with dyslexia have impairments in their phonological loop and WM due to a lack of subvocal rehearsal, so they cant chunk information in STM which lowers the capacity of STM and makes it harder for dyslexics to process words quickly
E- S, provides application of proving support for word processing of people with dyslexia eg provide extra time for dyslexic students in exams

Question 8

Evaluate a weakness of using the WMM as an explanation for individual differences in memory.

Answer 8

P - The model is too simplistic
E - It explains very little about the processes and function of the LTM
E - And so it is limited as an explanation of individual differences in memory as a whole which reduces its credibility

Question 9

How can processing speed be affected at younger ages?

Answer 9

Due to no subvocal rehearsal under the age of 7, children below that age may have a slower processing speed.

Question 10

Define ‘digit span’.

Answer 10

The capacity of how many items you can hold in your STM at any one time.

Question 11

How do the results of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s (2012) study explain individual differences in memory?

Answer 11

• Spanish words are longer than English words and so it would take longer to subvocally rehearse them
• This leaves more items open to decaying sooner
  Therefore there are individual differences here as the digit span of a Spanish person will likely be lower than the average 7 of an English person
• Alzheimer’s patients had an average digit span of 4.2 which didn’t differ from healthy ppts’ digit span of 4.4
• Older groups performed significantly better than 5 year olds showing individual differences in memory with age

Question 12

Evaluate a strength of using Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s (2012) study as an explanation for individual differences in memory.

Answer 12

P - High validity
E - The 570 Spanish ppts were matched for the task due to not having any learning disabilities
E - And so there were no individual differences to affect the outcome making the study more credible

Question 13

Evaluate a weakness of using Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s (2012) study as an explanation for individual differences in memory.

Answer 13

P - Low task validity
E - The task of recalling digits in order with another being added each time the order is recalled correctly is not an everyday activity to do with memory
E - Findings therefore lack mundane realism and so won’t reflect individual differences in memory in real life

Question 14

Define a ‘schema’.

Answer 14

Cognitive framework that processes + interprets info fromevents to be stored into ‘groups’ within our memory

Question 15

Give an example of a schema.

Answer 15

Restaurant ettiquette based off of past experiences in restaurants

Question 16

How do the results of Bartlett’s (1932) War of the Ghosts study as an explanation for individual differences in memory.

Answer 16

• Some ppts used confabulation to make sense of it (e.g. someone dying at sunset instead of sunrise)
• Some ppts used rationalisation to make sense of it (e.g. no ghosts)
• People’s schemas are different due to their different life experience which makes up their idea of a situation
• Therefore different people will reconstruct different parts of the original story, showing an individual difference in memory