Memory Flashcards

Question 1

Q

What is the Sensory Register? (Sensory Store)
- how it works

Answer

A

environmental stimuli ( the sound of someone talking) enter the sensory register, comprising five separate stores for each sense
the primary stores are iconic (for visual information, initially encoded visually) and echoic (for sound-based information, initially encoded acoustically).

Question 2

Q

sensory store coding

Answer

A

depending on the sense that is picked up - e.g. visual, auditory or tactile. (modality specific)

Question 3

Q

sensory store duration

Answer

A

less than half a second

Question 4

Q

sensory store capacity

Answer

A

huge capacity (millions or receptors)

Question 5

Q

What is Short-term memory (STM)?

Answer

A

Short term memory is your memory for immediate events. It temporarily stores information received from the sensory register.

Question 6

Q

How is information transferred from the sensory register to Short term memory?

Answer

A

attention

Question 7

Q

What happens if information is not attended to when it enters the sensory register?

Answer

A

leads to spontaneous decay

Question 8

Q

STM coding, capacity and duration

Answer

A

Coding: acoustically (Baddely 1966)

Capacity: 5-9 items (Miller 1946)

Duration: 18-30 seconds unless it is rehearsed (Peterson and Peterson 1959)

Question 9

Q

How is information transferred from STM to LTM?

Answer

A

prolonged rehearsal e.g. verbally repeating a telephone number

Question 10

Q

How is information transferred from LTM to STM?

Answer

A

retrieval

Question 11

Q

LTM coding, capcity and duration

Answer

A

Coding: Semantically (Baddeley 1966)

Capacity: potentially unlimited.

Duration: lifetime (Bahrick 1975)

Question 12

Q

Baddely (1966) on coding in STM and LTM

procedure

Answer

A

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT

participants were given four sets of words to learn
acoustically similar words (cat, cap, can) or dissimilar (pit, few, cow)
semantically similar (great, large, big) or dissimilar (good, huge, hot).
they were required to recall the words in the original order either immediately (testing STM) or after a 20-minute delay (testing LTM)

Question 13

Q

Baddely (1966) on coding in STM and LTM

findings

Answer

A

immediate recall worse with acoustically similar words -> indicates acoustic coding in short-term memory (STM)
recall after 20 minutes worse with semantically similar words -> suggests semantic encoding in long-term memory (LTM)

Question 14

Q

Why was immediate recall worse with acoustically similar words?

Answer

A

STM causing acoustic confusion and becoming distracted by sounds of words thus not recalling in order

Question 15

Q

Why was prolonged recall worse with semantically similar words?

Answer

A

LTM causing semantic confusion and becoming distracted by meaning of words thus not recalling in order

Question 16

Q

What is a strength of Baddeley’s 1966 study on coding in STM and LTM?

✓ Showed differences between stores

Answer

A

showed differences between stores.
Later research showed that there are some exceptions to Baddeley’s findings, e.g. types of coding.
However, the idea that STM uses mostly acoustic coding and LTM mostly semantic has stood the test of time.
This was an important step our understanding of the memory system, which led to the creation of the MSM.

Question 17

Q

What is a strength of Baddeley’s 1966 study on coding in STM and LTM?

✓ there is a high degree of control over extraneous variables

Answer

A

A strength of Baddeley’s study is that there is a high degree of control over extraneous variables.
This allows us to see clearly that the IV (coding: semantic or acoustic) was what affected the DV (recall), improving the validity of results
This also means the experiment can be easily replicated

Question 18

Q

What is a limitation of Baddely’s 1966 study on coding in STM and LTM?

✘ it didn’t use meaningful material.

Answer

A

A limitation of Baddeley’s study is that it didn’t use meaningful material.
The words used in the study were artificial had no personal meaning to participants. When processing more meaningful information, people may use semantic coding even for STM.
This means that the results of this study have limited application in the real-world. We should be cautious about generalising the findings to different kinds of memory task.

Question 19

Q

Baddeley et al. (1975) supporting seperate STM stores procedure:

Answer

A

LAB EXPERIMENT using a dual task paradigm.

participants engaged in separate visuo-spatial sketch pad tasks - tracking a moving point of light and mentally navigating a capital ‘F.’

Question 20

Q

Baddeley et al. (1975) results

Answer

A

Participants found it harder to complete two visual tasks at the same time than to complete the visual and verbal task.
The greater difficulty is because both visual tasks compete for the same limited resources, but when doing a verbal and visual task simultaneously, there is no competition.

Question 21

Q

Jacobs (1887) on capacity of STM

procedure

Answer

A

LAB EXPERIMENT

Used a digit span - researcher read four digits and increased until the participant could not recall the order correctly immediately.

Question 22

Q

Jacobs (1887) on capacity of STM

findings

Answer

A

Digits = 9.3
Letters = 7.3

Question 23

Q

What is a strength of Jacobson’s (1887) study on capacity of STM?

✓ Replication of Jacob’s study

Answer

A

Older studies often lacked adequate controls, e.g. , some participants’ digit spans might have been underestimated because they were distracted during testing (confounding variable).
However, Jacob’s findings have been confirmed and validated by other, better controlled studies since.
This suggests that Jacob’s study has ‘stood the test of time’ and is a valid test of digit span in STM.

Question 24

Q

Miller (1946) on capacity of STM

procedure

Answer

A

made observations and noted that the span of immediate memory is about 7 items.
For example, he noted that people can count 7 dots flashed on a screen but not many more. The same is true if you ask people to recall musical notes, words or even letters.

Question 25

Q

Miller (1946) on capacity of STM

findings

Answer

A

STM span is approximately 7 items (plus or minus 2).

recall improves with chunking - organizing data into meaningful groups.

Example: Transforming BBCCAITVAARAC into BBC, CA, ITV, AA, RAC, which occupies only 5 memory slots.

Question 26

Q

What is a strength of Miller’s 1946 study on capacity of STM?

✓ it has many practical applications.

Answer

A

A strength of research into the capacity of STM is that it has many practical applications.
Research into chunking laid the foundations for the postcode system we use in the UK today.
Baddeley discovered that if the initial letters of a postcode made up something meaningful (e.g. BS for Bristol) it made it easier to remember.
This shows how research into the capacity of STM has helped improve the efficiency of memory in a real life situation.

Question 27

Q

Peterson and Peterson (1959) on duration of STM

procedure

Answer

A

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT

Sample of 24 undergrad students.
Peterson and Peterson gave participants ‘nonsense trigrams’ (for example CKX), which they had to recall after a retention interval of varying amounts of time from 0-18 seconds.
On presentation of each trigram, they were required to verbally count backwards in threes from a specified number to prevent participants rehearsal

Question 28

Q

Peterson and Peterson (1959) on duration of STM

findings & conclusion

Answer

A

After 3 seconds, 80% recalled correctly.
After 18 seconds, fewer than 10% of trigrams were recalled.

Question 29

Q

Peterson and Peterson (1959) on duration of STM

conclusion

Answer

A

Rehearsal got progressively worse as the delay grew longer.
This suggests that the duration of STM is approximately 18 (to 30) seconds if rehearsal is prevented.

Question 30

Q

What is a limitation of Peterson and Peterson’s 1959 study on duration of STM?

✘ Use of artificial stimulus

Answer

A

A limitation of Peterson and Peterson’s study is the artificial stimulus.
Recalling trigrams does not reflect most everyday memory activities where what we are trying to remember is meaningful.
On the other hand, we do sometimes try to remember fairly meaningless things, such as phone numbers, so the study is not totally irrelevant.
This means the study lacked ecological validity as it may not be possible to generalise findings to real-life.

Question 31

Q

Bahrick et al (1975) on duration of LTM

procedure

Answer

A

FIELD EXPERIMENT to explore memory retention, graduates aged 17 to 74 from an American high school.

Tasks:

Photo recognition: participants selected former classmates from 50 graduation photos

Free recall: Participants named classmates without visual aids.

Question 32

Q

Bahrick et al (1975) on duration of LTM

findings

Answer

A

(1) Photo recognition task:

90% accuracy if graduated within 15 years
70% accuracy if graduated within 48 years

(2) Free recall task:

60% accuracy if graduated within 15 years
30% accuracy if graduated within 48 years

Question 33

Q

Bahrick et al (1975) on duration of LTM

conclusion

Answer

A

LTM can potentially last for years, if not a life time (shown particularly in photo recognition task)

Question 34

Q

What is a strength of Bahrick et al’s 1975 study on duration of LTM?

✓ field experiment, higher external validity

Answer

A

One strength of Bahrick’s study is that it is a field experiment so is higher in external (ecological) validity than other memory studies.
Also, real life memories were studied (i.e. people’s names and faces), thus the behaviour shown is more valid and authentic than other research which conducted with meaningless pictures or words in laboratory experiments, where recall rates were lower.
This suggests that Bahrick et al’s study reflects a more ‘real’ estimate of the duration of LTM (high external validity).

Question 35

Q

What is a limitation of Bahrick et al’s 1975 study on duration of LTM?

✘ no control over confounding variables

Answer

A

A downside of real life research (field experiments) is that confounding variables are not controlled, thus making it harder to conclude that the DV was only affected by the IV.
Participants may have spent further time with certain classmates / stayed in touch.
This would make recollection a lot easier as time frame since a last interaction would be reduced, reducing the validity of results gathered.

Question 36

Q

What is the multi-store model of memory?

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

Answer

A

linear model illustrating the information flow through three memory stores (sensory store -> STM -> LTM)

Question 37

Q

What is a strength of the Multi-store model of memory?

✓ Research support from Baddeley

Answer

A

P: Research support for the idea of LTM and STM being different and separate stores provided by Baddeley (1966)
E: In his study on coding, he gave participants one of four lists of words to remember and found that acoustically similar words were harder to recall immediately and semantically similar words were harder to recall after 20 minutes.
E: It was concluded that acoustic confusion was occurring in STM, and semantic confusion in LTM, suggesting STM codes acoustically and LTM semantically
L: This shows that the two types of memory are different from one another, as MSM suggests.

Question 38

Q

What is a limitation of the Multi-store model of memory?

✘ research studies supporting the MSM use artificial materials

Answer

A

P: A limitation, despite such apparent support, is that the research studies supporting the MSM use artificial materials.

E/E: In everyday life, we form memories related to all sorts of useful things(people’s faces, names etc). However, many of the supporting studies for MSM didn’t use these realistic materials, but rather digits, letters and sometimes words which hold no meaning.
L: This suggests that the MSM lacks external validity. Research findings may reflect how memory works with meaningless material in a lab setting, but MSM may not be an accurate/valid model of how memory works in our everyday lives, where we have to remember much more meaningful information.

Question 39

Q

What is a limitation of the Multi-store model of memory?

✘ evidence from Shallice and Warrington’s 1970 study, suggesting that there is more than one type of STM

Answer

A

P: A limitation of the Multi-store model (MSM) is its assertion that Short-Term Memory (STM) is a singular store, contrary to evidence indicating multiple types of STM.

E: Shallice and Warrington’s (1970) study of KF, an amnesic patient, revealed poor STM for verbally presented digits but improved recall when digits were self-read visually.

A: This is a weakness because it suggests distinct STM stores for visual and verbal information.

L: The finding challenges the MSM’s unitary STM concept, highlighting the need for a model like the Working Memory Model, which incorporates separate stores like the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad.

Question 40

Q

What is a limitation of the Multi-store model of memory?

✘ the MSM only explains one type of rehearsal

Answer

A

P: One limitation of the Multi-store model (MSM) is that it exclusively focuses on one rehearsal type.

E: Craik and Watkins argued that the critical factor for memory retention is the type of rehearsal, not the quantity. They identified 2 types of rehearsal

Maintenance rehearsal (verbal repetition): Keeps information in Short-Term Memory (STM).

Elaborative rehearsal: Essential for long-term storage, involving linking information to existing knowledge or considering its meaning.

A: This is a weakness because it highlights that the MSM fails to incorporate research findings emphasizing the pivotal role of rehearsal type in memory mechanisms.

L: As a result, this lower the explanatory power of the MSM.

Question 41

Q

Craik and Watkins

Answer

A

The critical factor for memory retention is the type of rehearsal, not the quantity.

Two types of rehearsal:

Maintenance rehearsal (verbal repetition): Keeps information in Short-Term Memory (STM).

Elaborative rehearsal: Essential for long-term storage, involving linking information to existing knowledge or considering its meaning.

Question 42

Q

Tulving (1986) and types of long-term memory?

Answer

A

Multi-store model criticized for treating LTM as a single vast store with no distinctions.

Tulving (1986) proposes multiple types of LTM, each linked to different functions and associated with different brain areas.

categories: episodic, semantic, procedural.

Question 43

Q

What is episodic memory?

Answer

A

LTM for memories of life events

e.g storing events such as birthdays and recent dentist visits.

declarative -> can be expressed verbally, involving ‘knowing that’ something is true

requires conscious thought and effort to consciously inspect

time stamped -> stored with reference to time, place, people, objects, and associated emotions.

Question 44

Q

What is semantic memory?

Answer

A

LTM for factual and general knowledge about the world.

e.g capital cities and the meaning of words and concepts

declarative -> can be expressed verbally, involving ‘knowing that’ something is true.

available for conscious inspection -> recalling semantic memories is deliberate and requires conscious thought

not time stamped -> knowledge is recalled without remembering when or where it was learned

Question 45

Q

What is procedural memory?

Answer

A

LTM for motor skills and learned actions.

e.g tying a shoe-lace or playing the piano.

non-declarative knowledge -> cannot necessarily be expressed verbally, focused on ‘knowing how’ to do things.

not open for conscious inspection -> typically recalled without conscious effort.

not time stamped -> knowledge is recalled without remembering when or where it was learned

acquired through repetition and practice, becoming automatic skills and habits.

Question 46

Q

Tulving’s 1989 study on the differences in processing of episodic and semantic memories:

procedure

Answer

A

aim - examine brain activity during semantic and episodic memory retrieval

six volunteers received radioactive gold injection (scanned using a gamma ray detector to detect its location.)
pps thought about 4 semantic topics - involving general knowledge and 4 episodic topics (involving personally experienced events)
involved pps thinking about a topic, gold injection after 60 seconds, and scanning 8 seconds later

Question 47

Q

Tulving’s 1989 study on the differences in processing of episodic and semantic memories:

results/findings

Answer

A

semantic memories -> left prefrontal cortex

episodic memories -> right prefrontal cortex

Question 48

Q

Tulving’s 1989 study on the differences in processing of episodic and semantic memories:

conclusions (2)

Answer

A

episodic and semantic LTMs appear to involve different brain areas and thus are separate forms of LTM
The fact that episodic and semantic LTMs involve different brain areas suggests a biological basis to differences in LTM

Question 49

Q

What is a strength of Tulving (1986) and the 3 types of long-term memory?

✓ episodic memory is supported by case study evidence

Answer

A

P: A strength of episodic memory is that it is supported by case study evidence, such as the clinical cases study of HM.

E: HM had brain surgery at 27 to alleviate epilepsy, resulting in hippocampus removal and severe amnesia

demonstrated intact procedural memory by learning and retaining mirror drawing skills despite no conscious recollection of the task
episodic memory impaired as he could not recall events that had happened to him

A: This is a strength because it highlights a dissociation between intact procedural memory and impaired episodic memory, showing that there are different long-term memory stores, not only different in functionality but also location within the brain.

L: As a result, this increases the explanatory power of Tulving’s theory.

Question 50

Q

What is a strength of Tulving (1986) and the 3 types of long-term memory?

✓ real world applications

Answer

A

P: one strength of Tulving’s research is that it has practical applications for psychologists.

E: For example, research demonstrates the potential improvement of episodic memories in older individuals with mild cognitive impairment.

Comparison of a trained group with episodic memory training to a control group without training showed a significant performance boost in the trained group.

L: Highlights the advantage of distinguishing between LTM types for the development of specific and effective memory-enhancing treatments.

Question 51

Q

patient HM

Answer

A

HM had brain surgery at 27 to alleviate epilepsy, resulting in hippocampus removal and severe amnesia
demonstrated intact procedural memory by learning and retaining mirror drawing skills despite no conscious recollection of the task
episodic memory impaired as he could not recall events that had happened to him

Highlighted a dissociation between intact procedural memory and impaired episodic memory.

Question 52

Q

What is a limitation of Tulving (1986) and the 3 types of long-term memory?

✘ there are problems with clinical evidence

Answer

A

P: A limitation is that there are problems with clinical evidence

E: Evidence is often based on clinical cases e.g. HM about what happens when memory is damaged.

However, there is a serious lack of control of different variables in these studies (e.g. cannot control the precise location of damage or personality variables). For all we know, HM’s (episodic) memory might have been bad before his injury, which confounds the results of these clinical studies.

L: Therefore, it is difficult to generalise from these case studies to determine the exact nature of LTM.

Question 53

Q

What is the working model of memory? (WMM)

Answer

A

Baddeley and Hitch Proposal (1974)

divides STM into a central executive oversees 3 slave systems
proposes that STM was more complex than just being a temporary store
they saw STM as active processor, holding several pieces of information simultaneously while they are being ‘worked on’, for example when working on an arithmetic problem or comprehending language.

Question 54

Q

Working Memory Model components

Answer

A

Central Executive

↕️

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Episodic buffer

Phonological loop

↕️

Long term memory

Question 55

Q

What is the Central Executive?

Answer

A

coordinates the activities of the 3 slave systems.
monitors incoming data from the senses, makes decisions as to which data should be attended to and then allocates different tasks to the relevant slave-systems.

Question 56

Q

central executive coding

Answer

A

modality free (codes in all sensory forms)

Question 57

Q

What is the Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)?

Answer

A

deals with temporary storage of visual and spatial information
essentially holds static images and manipulates them
sub-divided into a visual cache (stores info about form and colour) and inner scribe (spatial info)

Question 58

Q

central executive capacity

Answer

A

very limited, cannot attend to too many things at once

Question 59

Q

VSS capacity

Answer

A

3-4 items

Question 60

Q

VSS coding

Answer

A

relies on a visual code in terms of shape, size and colour

Question 61

Q

What is the VSS

Answer

A

Visio Spatial Sketchpad

Spatial information:
the relationship between objects

visual information example
what things look like, such as the shape and size of letters in a word

Question 62

Q

visual cache

Answer

A

stores information about visual items i.e. shape and colour

Question 63

Q

inner scribe

Answer

A

deals with spatial relations and records the arrangement of obiects in the visual field

Question 64

Q

What is the phonological loop?

Answer

A

deals with auditory/sound information or deals with both written and spoken material
subdivided into the phonological store (inner ear) and the articulatory process (inner voice)
the phonological store stores the words you hear (in speech form)
the articulatory process allows for maintenance rehearsal
as a limited capacity / the capacity of the loop is what can be said in 2 seconds

Answer 65

A

holds words that have recently been heard, like an ‘inner ear’

Answer 66

A

provides a general storage facility, which combines information from the other stores (visual, spatial and verbal) rather than separate strands and also from long term memory
it temporarily stores this information and then integrates it in order to construct a mental episode of what is being experienced right now

Answer 67

A

Capacity
limited, about 4 chunks

Coding: modality free

Answer 68

A

P: A strength of the WMM is that Clinical evidence from patients with brain damage supports the existence, of a separate visual and acoustic store.

E: Shallice and Warrington’s (1970) study of KF, an amnesic patient who had suffered a motorcycle accident, revealed poor STM for verbally presented digits but improved recall when digits were self-read visually.

A: KF uses different slave systems to recall verbal words, the phonological loop and visual words, the Visuo-spatial sketchpad. Damage to the phonological loop may explain worse performance with verbal words.

L: This supports the working memory model as results suggest that different structures in the brain control the ability of different slave systems.

Answer 69

A

P: Another strength is that studies of dual task performance support the separate existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad.

E: Baddeley et al (1975) performed a lab experiment with a dual task paradigm to prove the existence of the VSS.

Participants engaged in separate visuo-spatial sketch pad tasks - tracking a moving point of light and mentally navigating a capital ‘F.’

Participants found it harder to complete two visual tasks at the same time than to complete the visual and verbal task.

A: The greater difficulty is because both visual tasks compete for the same limited resources, but when doing a verbal and visual task simultaneously, there is no competition.

L: Therefore, dual task performance provides evidence for the separate existence of different LTMs for different information - PL for acoustic, VSS for visual. The MSM cannot explain this.

Answer 70

A

P: The Working Memory Model (WMM) offers a valuable explanation of memory functioning.

E: Research has demonstrated the significance of the phonological loop, a component of the WMM, in reading development. Specifically, issues with the phonological loop, like difficulties in judging rhyming words, have been identified in children with dyslexia.

A: This illustrates the practical applicability of the WMM in real-life situations. Understanding the deficits in the phonological loop provides insights for devising effective strategies to assist children with dyslexia in overcoming their reading difficulties.

Answer 71

A

P: A limitation of the model is the lack of clarity over the central executive

E: There is concern over the central executive as little is known about how it works or what it does. The answer appears to be ‘it allocates resources and is essentially the same as attention’. Some psychologists feel this is too vague and doesn’t really explain anything.

A: Critics have also argued that the idea of a single ‘central executive’ is incorrect as it may actually consist of separate components.

L: This is a limitation as it means the the WMM has not been fully explained.

Answer 72

A

Interference serves as a cause of forgetting in long-term memory (LTM).
Information in LTM is essentially permanent; forgetting stems from difficulty accessing rather than loss of information.
occurs when the retrieval of a memory is disrupted by the presence of other competing or similar information
interference suggests that memories may interfere with each other, making it challenging to recall specific information

Answer 73

A

occurs when OLD existing memories affects attempts to recall something NEW i.e. the memory of an old telephone number disrupts attempts to recall a new phone number.

Answer 74

A

occurs when newly learned information (NEW memories) affects the recall of existing memories (OLD MEMORIES) i.e. the memory of your new car registration number prevents recall of a previous one.

Answer 75

A

P: one strength of interference is that experiments provide clear evidence of interference in memory.

E: For example, in Peterson and Peterson’s study, participants recalled trigrams after counting backward by 3’s for varying durations. As time elapsed, recall worsened, indicating interference caused by the counting task impairs the participants’ ability to retain and retrieve the trigrams accurately

A: This is a strength because lab experiments offer control over extraneous variables, establishing cause-and-effect relationships, thus having high internal validity

L: as a result, this strengthens the validity of interference theory as a plausible explanation for forgetting.

Answer 76

A

P: A limitation of research into interference is that it relies on the use of artificial materials

E: The stimulus materials used in studies of interference involve learning lists or words or trigrams. This is artificial as it is far from the things we actually learn and try to remember in real life; people’s faces, ingredients for our favourite cake etc.

Interference may not be the best explanation for forgetting in real life.

A: This is a weakness of interference theory because the use of artificial tasks makes interference much more likely in the lab than in real life, thus making it less generalisable to the wider population (lower external/ecological validity).

The counterargument to this criticism is that interference effects have been observed in everyday situations and in real life experiments, thus supporting its validity.

Answer 77

A

P: A strength of the interference theory is that it is supported by real life research.

E: For example, Baddelely and Hitch (1977) investigated interference effects in an every day setting of rugby players.

Rugby players were asked to recall the names of the teams they had played over the season. Those who had played fewer games (because they had missed several through injury) recalled more teams than those who had played all season
Those who played all season will have more interference and had more team names to confuse so poorer recall could be due to retroactive interference.

A:This study shows that interference explanations can apply to at least some every day situations.

Answer 78

A

A strength of interference is that it has real life practical applications
There is evidence for interference exisiting in real world settings. For example, you may struggle to remember your french vocabulary if you later start learning german. This implies that students should not revise similar subjects close to each other as they may disrupt each other.
The fact that interference has provided many useful practical applications in terms of improving revision adds validity to the idea that real life forgetting might be the result of interference from similar material.

Answer 79

A

the inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues

cue-dependent forgetting occurs when insufficient cues are available during recall.

It may seem like forgetting, but it’s actually retrieval failure.

the information remains in long-term memory but is temporarily inaccessible

Answer 80

A

Tulving’s suggestion: the closer the retrieval cue is to the original cue, the more effective it is.

ESP’s suggestion: Forgetting is more likely if cues during encoding differ from those during retrieval.

The ESP states that you are more likely to forget if the cues available during encoding are different to those during retrieval.

Answer 81

A

being in a different mood/state of arousal may inhibit memory

internal cues at encoding differ from those at retrieval leading to inability to access info (forgetting).

Answer 82

A

being in a different place may inhibit memory

External cues at encoding differ from those available at retrieval, leading to forgetting.

Answer 83

A

lack of organisation may inhibit memory

Answer 84

A

FIELD EXPERIMENT with deep-sea divers focusing on memory recall in a life-and-death context.

Divers learned and recalled a list of words either underwater or on land, creating 4 experimental conditions.

Emphasis on the importance of remembering instructions given before diving.

Answer 85

A

Results: Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions than matching.

Conclusion: This was because the external cues available at learning were different from ones at recall and this led to retrieval failure.

Answer 86

A

Results: In the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at time of learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse.

Conclusion: This shows that forgetting is more likely to occur when the internal cues at encoding are absent at retrieval (such as drowsy when recalling but alert when learning)

Answer 87

A

Carter and Cassady (1998) conducted a lab experiment using anti-histamines with mild sedative effects which resulted in drowsiness
participants tasked with learning and recalling a list of words and passages of prose either on or off the drugs, creating 4 experimental conditions.

Answer 88

A

P: One strength is that there is a large body of evidence to support the effects of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting.

E: Many psychologists see context-dependant forgetting as the main reason for forgetting in LTM due to the amount of studies supporting the importance of cues and how they trigger memory, Godden and Baddeley’s 1975 study being just one example.

A: This is a strength because supporting evidence increases the validity of an explanation.

L: This is especially the case as retrieval failure has been found to occur in both highly controlled laboratory experiments and in real-life situations (high internal and external validity, high generalisability).

Answer 89

A

P: A limitation is that context effects are actually not very strong in real life.

E: The experiments into retrieval failure tend to rely on very different and extreme contexts in order to create conditions for forgetting.

Different contexts would have to be very different indeed before an effect is seen, whereas in real life we would rarely, if ever, encounter an environment as different from land as underwater.

A: In contrast, learning something in one room (such as a classroom) and recalling in another (such as an exam room) is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are generally not different enough.

This is a limitation because it means that the real-life applications of retrieval failure due to context cues don’t actually explain much forgetting.

Answer 90

A

P: A limitation is that context effects only occur when memory is tested in certain ways.

E: The context effect may be related to the type of memory being tested.

A: Godden and Baddeley’s findings only occurred when the divers had to free-recall items learned. When given a recognition test (involving saying whether a named item was in a Iist or not), the context effect wasn’t seen.

L: This is a limitation as it means that the real life applications of retrieval failure may only apply when someone has to recall information, and not when recognising it. This reduces the validity of the theory.

Answer 91

A

P: A strength is that context-related cues have useful everyday practical applications

E: An application is that when we have problems remembering something it is probably worth making the effort to revisit the environment in which you first experienced it.

A: This is a basic principle of the ‘Cognitive Interview’ - The aim is to jog the memory of witnesses by recreating the context of the incident through the use of retrieval cues in a technique known as ‘context reinstatement’.

L: Witnesses may for example be asked to think of cues such as what they were wearing at the time or actually be taken back to the scene of the crime. Therefore, providing valuable practical applications.

Answer 92

A

involves recalling details of personally observed events, like accidents or crimes

Answer 93

A

Misleading information is where incorrect information is given to the eyewitness usually after the event. It can take many forms including leading questions and post event discussion between witnesses.

Answer 94

A

a leading question suggests a particular answer due to its phrasing.

e.g “What colour was the woman’s coat?” implies the woman was wearing a coat, potentially influencing the witness’s response.

A better alternative is an open-ended question like, “Was the woman wearing a coat?” to avoid introducing assumptions and encourage unbiased responses.

Answer 95

A

Leading Questions
Post-Event Discussion

Answer 96

A

occurs when the wording of a question has no enduring effect on the eye-witnesses memory of an event, but influences the kind of answers they give

Answer 97

A

occurs when the wording of a question distorts memory

Answer 98

A

estimates of speed based on changing verb in the critical questions

INDEPENDENT GROUPS

45 American students watched a film of a car crash and were asked questions, including a critical one about speed.
the critical question varied with verbs like ‘smashed,’ ‘collided,’ ‘bumped,’ or ‘contacted’ instead of ‘hit,’ influencing speed estimates.

Answer 99

A

The wording of the question influences the kind of answers given, shown in estimates of speed related to certain verbs, where using “smashed” as descriptor influenced a faster estimate.

Answer 100

A

Participants given the word ‘smashed’ estimated the highest speed (an average of 41mph)
Those given the word ‘contacted’ gave the lowest estimate (an average of 32mph)

Answer 101

A

tested leading questions and memory alteration.

INDEPENDENT GROUPS

groups received different speed-related verbs: ‘smashed,’ ‘hit,’ or none (control group).
a week later, participants were asked about broken glass presence (none in reality).

Recorded the number of participants who falsely recalled broken glass based on the initial verb suggestion.

Answer 102

A

Participants who originally heard ‘smash’ were twice as likely to recall the false memory of the broken glass than the other conditions.

Answer 103

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The wording of a question interferes with the memory, this is seen with the use of the word ‘smashed’ distorting the participants memory of the event, leading to a false memory of broken glass.

Answer 104

A

when witnesses discuss a crime, leading to memory contamination.

-> conversations can mix (mis)information from other witnesses, impacting individual memories.

Answer 105

A

where eye-witnesses go along with other eye-witness testimonies either for social approval or because they believe them to be correct

Answer 106

A

when co-witnesses discuss a crime, they mix (misinformation) from other witnesses with their own memories so their original memories become distorted, because witnesses confuse what they actually saw with what they have subsequently heard

Answer 107

A

showed participants a crime video
pairs of participants watched different perspectives of the same crime, with each having unique information.

Participants discussed what they saw, including elements only visible to one partner

individual recall tests followed the discussion phase.

Answer 108

A

71% of participants in Gabbert et al.’s study wrongly recalled details from the video due to discussion, while the control group had 0% error.

Answer 109

A

Gabbert et al. concluded witnesses conform in memory, seeking social approval or assuming others are correct, terming it ‘memory conformity.’

Answer 110

A

P: A strength is that research into misleading information has real-life applications

E: The research has led to important practical applications for police officers because the consequences of inaccurate EWT can be very serious.

A: Loftus believes that leading questions can have a huge distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be very careful about how they phrase their questions when interviewing eyewitnesses.

L: Such research has led psychologists to turn their attention to finding ways to improve the accuracy of EWT. For example, the cognitive interview was developed to try to increase the accuracy of witnesses’ recall of events during police questioning.

Answer 111

A

P: A limitation of Loftus and Palmer’s research is that it relies on artificial materials.

E: Participants watched film clips of accidents which is a very different to experience from witnessing a real accident.

Watching a mock accident is much less stressful than watching a real accident which can impact on accuracy of memory.

A: Yuille and Cutshall actually found that witness of a traumatic real armed robbery had very accurate recall after 4 months

This is a limitation as the findings using such artificial tasks may tell us little about how leading questions affect EWT in the real world in terms of accidents and crimes.

Answer 112

A

P: A limitation is that lab studies of EWT suffer from demand characteristics.

E: Participants usually do not want to let the researcher down, and want to appear helpful and attentive. So when they are asked a question they don’t know the answer to, they guess, especially if it is a yes/no question.

A: For example, if you were taking part in a study and were asked ‘Did you see a blue car?’ - you may answer ‘yes’, even though you know you didn’t see one, as this is a more helpful response.

L: This limits the accuracy of EWT and the validity of answers provided.

Answer 113

A

P: A further limitation is that many EWT research studies lack external validity

E: Foster et al (1994) point out that what you remember as an eyewitness can have important consequences in the real world, but the same is not true for research studies.

A: Real eyewitnesses search their memory with more effort because their testimony may lead to a successful conviction or wrongful if inaccurate. This is not the case in research studies

L: Therefore, EWT accuracy may be greater in the real world because of the seriousness with which eyewitnesses undertake their role.

Answer 114

A

Found that if participants thought they were watching a real-life robbery and also thought that their responses would influence the trial, their identification of a robber was more accurate

Answer 115

A

Anxiety is a factor that has been shown to affect the accuracy of eye-witness testimony.Anxiety has strong emotional (worry,tension) and physical effects (increased bp).It can affect the accuracy and detail of an EWT.

Answer 116

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Loftus proposed the ‘weapon focus effect’, which suggests that the anxiety caused as a result of witnessing a weapon focuses the attention away from potential perpetrators and reduces the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.

Answer 117

A

Anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us from paying attention to important cues which makes recall worse.

Answer 118

A

Johnson and Scott:
Aim: To investigate the effects of anxiety on EWT accuracy

Procedure:
-led participants to believe they were taking part in a lab study.

Low anxiety condition: Participants were seated in a waiting room, overheard an argument next door. A man walked out holding a pen, covered in grease.

High anxiety condition: The argument was accompanied by the sound of glass breaking. Then a man walked past holding a “knife” covered in blood.

Findings: asked to identify the man out of 50 photos.
Low anxiety condition: 49% could accurately identify him.
High anxiety condition: 33% of participants could accurately identify him

Conclusion: The tunnel theory of memory argues that the participant’s attention is focused on the weapon which is the source of anxiety, rather than the criminal.

Answer 119

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-the stress of witnessing a crime creates anxiety.The flight or fight response is triggered which increases alertness and thus improves memory due to the fact we become more aware of cues in the situation.

Answer 120

A

Yuille and Cutshall.
Studied a real life shooting in Canada, where a shop own shot a thief dead.
Out of 21 one of the original witnesses who were interviewed by police, 13 agreed to take part in study.

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