Cognitive Psychology

Question 0

what are the types of memory and what are they?

Answer 0

sensory memory- initial contact from stimuli
Short term memory- information we are currently thinking about, comes from paying attention to sensory memories
long term memory- continual storage of information which is usually outside of our awareness, can be called working memory when in use

Question 1

how do we remember?

Answer 1

encoding- sensory information changed to we can make sense of it
storage- we put information to the back of our minds until needed
retrieval- the ability to recover information in storage

Question 2

how long do the three types of memory last?

Answer 2

SM- Transient, only there is we pay attention
STM- seconds, minutes
LTM- hours, days, weeks, years

Question 3

why do we forget

Answer 3

AVAILABILITY- we do not pay attention
ACCESSIBILITY- we cannot retrieve he information
INTERFERENCE- information is confused, 2 pieces of information are confused

Question 4

how accurate is our memory?

Answer 4

memory is fragile and falible,

• there is the freudian theory of ‘repression’ where undesired memories are repressed.
• theres Bartlett’s theory of reconstructive memory, where memory is a constructive process involving prior knowledge and beliefes, -the phenomenon of false memory where we posses memories that never happened that we believe to be true

Question 5

what can influence memory performance?

Answer 5

age
emotional status (anxiety or stress)
brain injuries or surgery

Question 6

what was Peterson’s and Peterson’s experiment (1959)

Answer 6

participants showed nonsense trigrams and to recall them after 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds. during pause they were given an interference task of counting backwards
results- after 3 secs 80% remembered, after 18 secs 10% remembered
conclusion- when rehearsal is prevented very little can be kept in STM.

Question 7

describe Bahrick et als experiment

Answer 7

participants asked to list classmates (in free recall) then shown photos and asked to recall names or given names and asked to match them to a name.
results- within 15 yrs- 90% accuracy on recognition, 60% on free recall
after 30 yrs- 80% accuracy on recognition, 40% on free recall
conclusion- longterm memories in real life settings

Question 8

describe Jacobs (1987) experiment

Answer 8

participants presented with string of letters or digits to repeat back in the same order. the number of letters increased
results- participants recalled 9 digits, 7 letters
conclusion- Jacob’s concluded STM has a limited capacity of 5-9 items. but there were individual differences.

Question 9

describe Millers (1956) research into capacity of STM

Answer 9

magic number of 7, plus or minus 2.

we use chunking to combine individual items into larger chunks to increase capacity

Question 10

describe Baddeley (1966) experiment

Answer 10

participants given 4 sets of words either acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar or semantically dissimilar. independent groups design asked to recall words immediately or following a 20 minute task.
results- difficulty recalling acoustically similar words when recalling immediately (STM), difficulty recalling semantically similar words when recalling when recalling after an interval (LTM)
conclusion-
-patterns of confusion suggest STM likely to rely on acoustic encoding
-LTM on semantic encoding.

Question 11

what factors influence the capacity of STM

Answer 11

influence of LTM
reading aloud
rhythmic grouping
pronunciation time (2 secs)

Question 12

what factors effect the duration of STM

Answer 12

maintenance rehearsal
deliberate intention to recall
amount of information

Question 13

what factors effect the encoding in STM

Answer 13

sounds of words

other types on encoding

Question 14

what factors effect the duration of LTM

Answer 14

childhood amnesia
how is duration measured
thorough learning

Question 15

what factors effect the encoding in LTM

Answer 15

acoustic encoding

visual encoding

Question 16

describe Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) experiment

Answer 16

ps given a list of words, one at a time then asked to recall them in any order. participants split into two groups, immediate recall, or recall after counting backwards for 30 seconds.
results- immediate recall groups remembered the first and last delayed group remembered the start.
conclusions- words at start in LTM, words at end fresh in STM, primary and recency effect

Question 17

describe Milners (1966) case study of a brain damaged patient

Answer 17

HM

• brain surgery to reduce severe epilepsy resulted in brain damage
• HM’s personality and intellect was intact
• could remember events from before the surgery
• he could not form and new memories
• this suggests that the hippocampus is involved in new memory making

Question 19

evaluate the MSM

Answer 19

influential early model
-supports idea that STM and LTM are qualitatively separate stores
-over simplification of memory structures and processes.
-Baddeley dual task study (1973) participants given digit strings to rehearse while at the same time carrying out verbal reasoning
results- recall digit strings and perform accurately at VR
conclusion- STM consists of separate stores
- Craik and Tulvig (1975) pps given a list of nouns and were questioned about each one. there were three kinds of questions, shallow processing, (was it in capitals) phonemic processing (did it rhyme with), semantic processing. (was it a fruit)
results- remembered words from condition 3 and least from 1
conclusion- elaborative rehearsal rather than maintenance rehearsal
- suggests that STM and LTM are simple “one box” stores. Schacter suggests the LTM has semantic memory( knowledge), episodic memory( events), procedural memory ( learning to ride a bike)

Question 19

who came up with the WMM

Answer 19

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Question 20

outline Atkinson and Schiffen (1968) Multi-Store Model

Answer 20

Environmental Stimuli
Sensory Memory
Attention
Short Term Memory
Maintainance Rehearsal
Long Term Memory
Retrival

Question 21

what is the central executive

Answer 21

> acts as an attention device, >supervises whole system
decides which sub-system to send info to
involved in problem solving, decision making, planning
very limited capacity

Question 22

describe the WWM

Answer 22

STM is a flexible and complex systems that consists of a central control mechanism assisted by ‘slave systems’ - the phonological loop and visual spatial scratchpad.

Question 23

what is the visual- spatial scratchpad

Answer 23

> deals with how info looks and is laid out
manipulates info
limited capacity, which is independent to the phonological loop

Question 25

what is the Phonological loop

Answer 25

> auditory information > holds acoustically coded items for up to 2 seconds >articulatory control process, which allows subvocal repetition, keeping alive info in the working memory >limited capacity, independent to VSS

Question 25

Evaluate the WMM

Answer 25

> credible explanation compared to MSM > RLA used as criteria by with Sz are diagnosed. After Park stated that problems with working memory define between healthy and non healthy patients. > central executive is too vague and doesn't really explain anything. It is more complex than represented. EVR case study of man who had brain surgery who could perform well as reasoning tasks but not make decisions (what to eat) this suggests the CE is more complex

Question 26

what is the episodic buffer

Answer 26

aded later by Baddeley in 2000, an initial model lacked a general store for all different kinds of info. >LTM relates to the model >integrates info from other components of working memory and also LTM and puts into sequential order Limited capacity

Question 27

evidence for the phonological loop

Answer 27

Baddeley et al's word length effect pronunciation time rather tan 7 digits suggest PL is responsible for this

Question 28

evidence for visual spatial scratchpad

Answer 28

Baddeley et al- participants given a visual tracking task that involved tracking a moving light and given another task. could perform tracking task and task 1 (verbal), but not task 2 (F)

Question 29

what three stages does an eyewitness go through and what can go wrong

Answer 29

1) encodes in LTM, his can be partial or distorted 2) retains the information, memories can be lost or modified, or interference can occur 3) witness retrieves the memory from storage, what happens during the reconstruction may affect accuracy

Question 30

evidence for episodic buffer

Answer 30

Baddeley et al found that when participants were shown words and then asked for immediate recall, their performance was better for sentences than unrelated words. around 6 unrelated words are remembered and 16 related words. the findings have been explained in terms of LTM as relate words are chunked

Question 31

what is an eyewitness testimony

Answer 31

evidence provided by people who witnesses a particular event or crime, relying on recall from memory

Question 32

what are the problems with eyewitness testimony

Answer 32

``` schemas leading questions weapon focus effects of anxiety retrieval cues age of witness ```

Question 33

bartlett's constructivist approach (1932) theory

Answer 33

memory is not a direct record of what was witnessed but an active process where we construct coherent memories by combing new information with what we have already stored. it depends on; info stored in memory, how info is understood, structured, organised.

Question 34

what did Bartlett use to show his constructivist approach. and what was the result

Answer 34

'The War of the Ghosts', when recalled by UK participants it was shorter, less detailed, some details changed, more western structure

Question 35

what five ways can schemas affect accuracy of recall

Answer 35

``` >distortion to fit with expectations >ignoring info not in keeping with expectations >filling in missing info >guessing >omission of detail ```

Question 36

what is a schema

Answer 36

knowledge structures that relate to commonly encountered objects, situations or people, built up to help us make sense of the world. they act as filters to perception and recall we change info to make sense of it.

Question 37

Describe Loftus and Palmer (1974) can memory be altered by misleading questions post event questions experiment (part 2)

Answer 37

150 students saw one film clip, divided Into 3 groups, 'hit', 'smashed' and a control group with no leading questions. A week later they were asked if there was and broken glass "Yes" 32% smashed, 14% hit and 12% control but there was no broken glass

Question 38

Describe Loftus and Palmer (1974). Leading questions experiment (part 1)

Answer 38

45 students shown 7 clips of car accidents. Split into groups and asked "how fast were the cars going when they hit/collided/bumped/smashed/contacted with? Smashed led to highest ~41mph Contact led to lowest ~32 mph

Question 39

Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

Answer 39

Interviewed 13 witnesses to an armed robbery in Canada. Interviews more than 4 months later inc 2 misleading questions. Provided accurate recall matching initial reports

Question 40

Foster (1994)

Answer 40

Leading people to believe they were watching a real robbery and that their testimony could influence the trail led to greater accuracy in identification of the robber in a line up than assuming a simulation

Question 41

What eyewitnesses are more effected by leading questions when?

Answer 41

> witnesses believes questioner knows more than them > witness does not realise they may be mislead > leading info is peripheral, not central > leading info is not blatantly incorrect

Question 42

Loftus 1979 Anxiety experiment

Answer 42

Independent groups design > group 1- saw a man come out a room with pen and grease on hands > group 2- saw a man come out with knife and covered in blood Asked to identify man from 50 photos Grp 1- 49% accuracy grp 2- 33% accuracy Conclusion- when anxious or aroused witnesses focus on the weapon at the expense of other details.

Question 43

Deffenbacher et al 2004

Answer 43

Meta analysis of 18 studies published between 1974-77 looking at heightened anxiety on accuracy Considerable Support that stress negatively impacts accuracy > memory is most effective at moderate arousal, too low or high an arousal causes recall to be poor (Yerkes-Dodson Law)

Question 44

Evaluate real life studies (EWT)

Answer 44

Real life studies retain the complexity of actual events Ethnically right as people are not put through a staged event Ethical problems of bringing event back up Sacrifice control- identifying cause and effect is difficult

Question 45

Loftus et al 1978

Answer 45

Showed pps events leading up to a car crash. Pps were shown pairs of slide in a random order and pick the slide from each pair that had been in the original set.

Question 46

Explain EWT from children information

Answer 46

> amount of info increase with age- inferior encoding, storage and retrieval and lack of schemas. > digit span 4-5 yrs=4 digits, 9-10yrs=6 digits/ older children can say words faster which can account for greater capacity

Question 47

Valentine and Coxon 1997

Answer 47

3 groups (children, young adults and old) Watched video on kidnapping and asked leading questions Children and elderly gave more incorrect answers to non leading questions and children were more misled

Question 48

Goodman and Reed 1986

Answer 48

``` 3 groups (3,6,22) spent 5 mins being interviewed in the company of a male stranger. 4-5 days later given a questionnaire with leading and non leading questions about event and asked to identify man in a line up 3 yr olds had the poorest recall, resistance to suggestion amount and accuracy of free recall all increased with age ```

Question 49

Ceci and Bruck summarised the main affects on EWT were:

Answer 49

``` > interviewer bias > repeated questions > stereotypes > encouragement to visualise > peer pressure > authority figures ( need to please?) ```

Question 50

Alastasi and Rhodes 2006

Answer 50

``` 3 groups (18-25,35-45,55-78) asked to rate 24 photos on attractiveness. Given a short tasks and asked to pick out the 24 from 48 cards Young and middle groups better but old better in identifying people their own age ```

Question 51

what is memory

Answer 51

the ability of the mind to retain - learned information, - knowledge of past events and experiences - to retrieve that information and knowledge

Question 52

What are mnemonics

Answer 52

Internal memory strategies

Question 53

Outline a study that states organising material makes it easier to remember

Answer 53

Jenkins and Russell studied recall on word lists. They found highly associated words were grouped together

Question 54

What is the method of Loki

Answer 54

Remembering items by associating them to locations in a well known place

Question 55

What is the peg word technique

Answer 55

Using words already stored in our memory, the peg words, and a number that rhymes eg two and shoe and then linking each item to the peg word.

Question 56

Acrostics

Answer 56

Using the first letter of each word to create a new scentance

Question 57

Acronyms

Answer 57

Using the first letter of each word to create a word

Question 58

Elaborative rehearsal

Answer 58

Deeper processing can be more useful than the amount of time spent rehearsing

Question 59

Do the memory improvement techniques work

Answer 59

YES- proved links. NO- effectiveness depends on organisation, is deeper understanding required,

Question 60

Name as many strategies of memory improvement as you can

Answer 60

``` Peg words Acronyms Acrostics Mind maps Poems Loki Chunking ```

Question 61

What are the 4 stages of the cognitive interview

Answer 61

> report - every detail > recreate - mentally recreate > recall- different order > perspective - some one else's point of view

Question 62

Who was the cognitive interview made by

Answer 62

Fisher and geiselman

Question 63

Fisher et al 1989

Answer 63

Trained group of detectives in Florida. Assessed performance on real witnesses Improved 47%

Question 64

Wright and holiday 2007

Answer 64

Wright and Holliday conducted a study in 2007 that investigated how age affects recall of information. They found that the older the participant, the less complete and accuracy of recall was. However, the study showed that when the cognitive interview technique was used, the older participants remembered a lot more information with more detail and that they gave no incorrect information. In conclusion, this study proves that the cognitive interview technique does increase the accuracy of recall as it provides significantly more information and reduces the amount of false information given. This means that the cognitive interview technique can be used to gain more accurate information and help to reduce miscarriages of justice.

Question 65

Kohnken et al

Answer 65

Meta analysis | On average increase of 34% on correct and incorrect info

Question 66

Geiselman 1988

Answer 66

``` 89 students Video of crime Interviewed by law enforcement Correct-SI 29 CI 42 Incorrect - SI 6 CI 7 Confabulated- SI 0.4 CI 0.7 ```

Question 67

Brewer and Tyrens (1981)

Answer 67

30 participants individually asked to wait in an office for 35 secs. room contained 61 objects, some typical to an office, some not (eg skull) participants asked to recall, better for office typical objects, poor recall for mundane items but better for obscure, most common errors were false memories of typical office items that were not present.