memory Flashcards

Question

what were the findings of bahrick et al (1975) ? what do they show?

Answer 1

- ptps tested within 15 years of graduation about 90% accurate in photo recognition - after 48 years declined to about 70% - free recall less accurate than rec - 60% after 15yrs dropping to 30% after 48 - LTM may last up to a lifetime for some material

Answer 2

- identified a clear difference between two memory stores - later research showed some exceptions to Baddeley findings - but idea STM uses mostly acoustic coding + LTM mostly semantic has stood test of time - important step in understanding of memory system leading to MSM

Answer 3

- used quite artificial stimuli rather than meaningful material - words no personal meaning to ptps - findings may not tell about coding when use memory in everyday life - suggests findings in study have limited application

Answer 4

- it has been replicated - study is old + research in psych often lacked adequate controls - despite this findings have been confirmed by other better controlled studies - suggests jacobs' study is a valid test of digit span in STM

Answer 5

- he may have overestimated STM capacity - Cowan (2001) reviewed other research + concluded capacity only about 4 chunks - suggests lower end of millers estimate (5 items) more appropriate than seven items

Answer 6

- stimulus material artificial - recalling consonant syllables does not reflect most everyday memory activities where what we remember more meaningful - means study lacked external validity

Answer 7

- high external validity - researchers investigated meaningful memories - suggests Bahrick et al's findings reflect a more 'real' estimate of duration of LTM

Answer 8

- a LTM store for personal events - are time stamped - includes memories of when the events occured and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved - memories from store have to be retrieved consciously and with effort

Answer 9

- not time-stamped - a LTM store for our knowledge of the world - includes facts + our knowledge of what words & concepts mean - usually also need to be recalled deliberately

Answer 10

- a LTM store for our knowledge of how to do things - includes our memories of learned skills - usually recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort

Answer 11

- cognitive psychologist - realised MSM's view of the LTM too simplistic + inflexible - proposed 3 LTM stores containing different types of information: - episodic - semantic - procedural

Answer 12

- evidence from Tulving et al (1994) using PET scans- getting ptps perform tasks whilst scanned - episodic and semantic memories tend to be recalled from prefrontal cortex (right and left) - procedural memories tend to be recalled from cerebellum + basal ganglia

Answer 13

- photographic evidence - cannot be questioned or argued with - objective scientific evidence - high validity

Answer 14

- able to identify diff aspects of LTM allows psychologist to target certain kids of memory problems - better lives - ex Belleville (2006) - demonstrated episodic memories could be improved in older people with mild cognitive impairment - trained ptps performed better on test of episodic after training than control group - shows distinguishing types of LTM - specific treatments developed

Answer 15

evidence - wearing + HM - episodic memory impaired consequence to amnesia - difficulty recalling past events but semantic memory intact (knew concepts) also procedural (knew how to walk + speak) - support tulving's view there are different memory stores in LTM - one can be damaged but others unaffected

Answer 16

- clinical studies lack control variables - lack of control limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM

Answer 17

- limitation of Tulving's approach - may only be 2 types of LTM - cohen + squire (1980) - argued episodic & semantic memories stored together in one LTM store called declarative memory - but agree procedural separate (non-dec) - therefore - possibility there are no more than two LTM stores

Answer 18

memories that can be consciously recalled

Answer 19

- explanation of how STM is organised + how it functions - suggests STM is a dynamic processor of different types of info using subunits co-ordinated by a central decision-making system - Baddeley and Hitch

Answer 20

- central executive - phonological loop (inner voice) - visuospatial sketchpad (inner eye) - episodic buffer

Answer 21

- monitors incoming data - focuses + divides our limited attention - allocates subsystems to tasks - CE has very limited processing capacity + does not store information - no coding

Answer 22

- preserves order in which info arrives - deals with auditory information - coding is acoustic - limited capacity

Answer 23

- stores visual &/ spatial info when required - limited capacity - coding: visual

Answer 24

- temporary store for info - brings together material from other subsystems into single memory rather than separate strands - limited capacity - no coding

Answer 25

- clinical evidence from KF - had damage to his occipital lobe - remembers words better if presented visually as opposed to auditorily - phonological loop damaged but VSS intact - supports WMM suggests there are different slave systems + suggests when one impaired does not affect other

Answer 26

- studies of dual-task performance support separate existence of visuo-spatial sketchpad - baddeley et al (1975) - ptps carried out visual + verbal task at same time - performance on each similar to when carried out separately - but when both tasks visual performance on both declined substantially - bc use same same subsystem - shows there must be a separate subsystem that processes visual input

Answer 27

- lack of clarity over nature of CE - baddeley (2003) himself said that CE is 'the most important but least understood component' - needs to be more clearly specified than just simply being 'attention' - vague - means CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the WMM

Answer 28

a question which because of the way its phrased suggests a certain answer

Answer 29

- loftus and palmer (1974) arranged 45 ptps to watch film clips of car accidents + there were 5 groups of ptp each group given different verb in a critical question - how fast were they going when they hit, contacted, bumped, collided and smashed into each other - findings - mean est speed for contacted - 31.8 mp - smashed 40.5 mph - leading qs biased eyewitness recall of an event

Answer 30

- response-bias explanation - suggests wording of q has no real effect on ptp's memories but influences how they decide to answer - when ptp gets leading q with verb smashed encourages to choose higher speed est - substitution explanation loftus + palmer conducted a second ex supporting substitution ex - proposed wording of leading q changes ptps memory of film clip - shown because ptp who originally heard smashed later more likely to report seeing broken glass (was none) than those who heard hit - critical verb altered memory of incident

Answer 31

- eyewitnesses to a crime may sometimes discuss their experiences + memories with each other - gabbert et al (2003) - studies ptps in pairs - each ptp watched same crime filmed from diff povs - meant each ptp could see elements in event that other could not - both ptps discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall - findings - 71% of ptps mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that did not see in the vid but had picked up in the discussion - corresponding figure in a control group where there was no discussion - 0% - evidence of memory conformity

Answer 32

- memory contamination - when co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other their EWT's may become altered or distorted - because they combine misinfo from other witnesses with own memories - another ex. memory conformity - gabbert et al concluded witnesses often go along with each other - either win social approval or believe other witnesses are right + they are wrong - unlike with memory contamination - actual memory unchanged

Answer 33

- important practical uses in the criminal justice system - consequences of inaccurate EWT can be serious - loftus believes LQ's can have distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be careful about how they phrase their qs when interviewing EW's - psychologists sometimes asked to explain limits of SWT to juries - shows they can improve the way the system works - protecting innocents from faulty convictions

Answer 34

- EWT more accurate for some aspects of event than for others - sutherland + hayne showed ptps video clip when - when later asked misleading qs recall more accurate for central details than peripheral - presumably attention focused on central features of event - resistance to misleading info - suggests original memories for central details survived + not distorted - outcome not predicted by substitution explanation

Answer 35

- evidence that PED actually alters EWT - skagerberg + wright showed ptps film clips - ptp discussed in pairs each seeing diff versions (in one mugger hair dark brown in other light) - often did not report what they had seen in clips or heard from co-witness but 'blend' common answer - medium brown - suggests memory itself distorted through contamination by misleading PED rather than memory conformity

Answer 36

- occurs when two pieces of information disrupt each other - resulting in forgetting one/both or in some distortion of memory

Answer 37

- has been proposed mainly as an explanation for forgetting in long-term memory - interference between memories makes it harder for us to locate them

Answer 38

- proactive interference - retroactive interference

Answer 39

occurs when older memory interferes with a newer one

Answer 40

when a newer memory interferes with an older one

Answer 41

discovered that in both PI and RI interference is worse when memories/learning are similar

Answer 42

- studied retroactive interference by changing amount of similarity between two sets of materials - ptps had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy - then learned new list - 6 group of ptps who had to learn different types of new lists

Answer 43

- when ptps were asked to recall og list of words - most similar material (synonyms) produced worst recall - shows interference strongest when memories similar

Answer 44

- presented a series of magazine adverts to their ptps - who had to recall the details of what they had seen - in some cases - more difficulty recalling earlier adverts - other cases the later ones - effect greater when they were similar (adverts for identical products by different brands)

Answer 45

- due to PI making new similar information more difficult to store - or due to RI - new info overwrites previous similar memories due to similarity

Answer 46

- asked rugby players to recall names of teams they played against during rugby season - players all played same time interval - but number of intervening games varied because some players missed matches due to injury - players who played most games - poorest recall - shows interference can operate in real-world situations increasing validity

Answer 47

- interference theory temporary + can be overcome by using cues - gave ptps lists of words organised into categories - one list at a time (not told what categories were) - recall averaged 70% for first list but became progressively worse as learned additional list - at end of procedure given cued recall test - told categories - recall rose again to about 70% - shows interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material still in LTM - not predicted by interference theory

Answer 48

- a form of forgetting - occurs when dont have necessary cues to access memory - memory available but not accessible unless suitable cue is provided

Answer 49

- reviewed research into retrieval failure + discovered consistent pattern to findings - summarised pattern in ESP

Answer 50

- a cue - if helpful - has to be both present at encoding (when we learn the material) and present at retrieval (when we are recalling it) - follows from this that if cues available at encoding + retrieval are different/ cues entirely absent at retrieval - will be some forgetting

Answer 51

- context-dependent forgetting - recall depends on external cue (weather) - state-dependent forgetting - recall depends on internal cue (upset)

Answer 52

- studies deep-sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land help/hindered their work underwater - divers learned lists of words either underwater/land then asked to recall words either underwater/land - creating 4 conditions

Answer 53

- two of these conditions - environmental context of learning + recall matched - whereas in other two they did not - accurate recall - 40% lower in non-matching conditions - concluded external cues available at learning different from ones available at recall - led to retrieval failure

Answer 54

- gave hayfever drugs to their ptps - has a mild sedative effect making ptps slightly drowsy - creates an internal physiological state different from 'normal' state of being awake and alert - ptps had to learn lists of words + passages of prose + then recall the information creating four conditions

Answer 55

- in conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning + recall - performance on memory test significantly worse - so when cues are absent (ex you are drowsy when recall but alert learning) - more forgetting

Answer 56

- may depend on type of memory being tested - godden + baddeley replicated underwater experiment - used recognition instead of recall - ptps had to say whether recognised a word read to them from a list - instead of retrieving themselves - when recognition tested no context-dep effect - performance same in all 4 conditions - suggests retrieval failure limited explanation for forgetting - only applies when person has to recall info rather than recognise

Answer 57

- research support - Participants learned material whilst either drunk or sober - tested on material when either drunk/sober - overton found recall worse when ptps had different internal state when tested than had when learnt - recall best if same internal state at recall + learning - shows how state-dependent cues can aid recall information

Answer 58

- aggleton + waskett conducted their study at the jorvik museum in city of york - york called jorvik during viking times + ruins still exist under today's city - at museum - town has been reconstructed so you can travel back in time + experience what its line - including smells - found that recreating smells helped people to recall details of trip to museum more accurately - even after several years - smells act as cues - recall strong because present when stored + retrieved

Answer 59

- creates physiological arousal in the body - prevents us paying attention to important cues - recall is worse

Answer 60

- look at the effect of the presence of a weapon - creates anxiety - leads to a focus on the weapon - reducing a witness's recall for other details of event

Answer 61

- ptps believed taking part in lab study - while seated in waiting room ptps in low-anxiety condition heard casual conversation in next room + saw a man walk past them carrying a pen + with grease on his hands - other ptps overheard heated argument - accompanied by sound of breaking glass - man walked out of room holding knife covered in blood - high-anxiety condition

Answer 62

- ptps later picked out man from a set of 50 photos - 49% who had seen man carrying pen able to identify him - those who had seen blood-covered knife - 33% - tunnel theory of memory argues people have enhanced memory for central events - weapon focus as a result of anxiety can have this effect (tunnel theory-narrows attention to one aspect of a scene)

Answer 63

- witnessing stressful event creates anxiety through physiological arousal within body - fight/flight response triggered - increasing alertness - may improve event as become more aware of cues in situation

Answer 64

- conducted a study of an actual shooting in a gun shop - shop owner shot a thief dead - 21 witnesses - 13 took part in study - were interviewed four-five months after incident + these interviews compared with og police interviews at time of shooting - accuracy determined by number of details reported in each account - witnesses also asked to rate how stressed they had felt at time (7 point scale) + whether had emotional problems since event

Answer 65

- witnesses very accurate in accounts + little change in amount recalled/accuracy after 5 months - though some details less accurate - ex recollection of colour of items + age/height etc estimates - ptps who reported highest levels of stress most accurate - suggests anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on accuracy of eyewitness memory in a real-world context - may even enhance it

Answer 66

- yerkes and dodson - relationship between emotional arousal + performance looks like an 'inverted U' - deffenbacher reviewed studies of EWT + noted findings on effects of anxiety - used yerkes-dodson law to explain (relationship between emotional arousal + performance looks like 'inverted U') - when witness accident - emotionally + physiologically aroused - experience anxiety + phys changes - lower levels of anxiety - lower levels of recall accuracy - memory becomes more accurate as level of anxiety increases - however optimal level

Answer 67

there is an optimal level of anxiety - point of maximum accuracy - if person experiences any more arousal - recall suffers drastic decline

Answer 68

- may not have tested anxiety - reason ptps focused on weapon may be because - surprised rather than scared - pickel conducted experiment using, scissors, handgun, wallet, raw chicken as hand-held items in a hairdressing salon video (scissors high anxiety, low are unusualness) - eyewitness accuracy significantly poorer in high unsualness conditions - suggests weapon focus effect due to unusualness rather than axiety/threat + therefore tells us nothing specifically about effects of anxiety on EWT

Answer 69

- anxiety has negative effect on accuracy of recall - study by valentine + mesout - supports research on weapon focus - used heart rate to divide ptps into high + low anxiety groups - 17% of high-anxiety group correctly identified details of actor (played a person who was encountered by them in labyrinth) - 75% correct identification in low anxiety group

Answer 70

- christianson + hubinette - interviewed 58 witnesses to bank robberies - some witnesses directly involved, some indirectly - recall more than 75% accurate across all witnesses - direct victims (most anxious) even more accurate) - findings from actual crimes confirm anxiety does not reduce accuracy of recall - may even enhance

Answer 71

method of interviewing EW to help them retrieve more accurate memories

Answer 72

- report everything - reinstate the context - return to crime scene 'in mind' - related to context-dependent forgetting - reverse the order - different order from original sequence - prevents reporting expectations of how must have happened + reports actual events + dishonesty - change the perspective - recall from other perspectives - disrupt expectation + effect of schema on recall - scheme you have for particular setting - generate expectations of what would have happened + schema recalled rather than actual events

Answer 73

- fisher et al developed some additional elements of the CI to focus on social dynamics of interaction - ex, interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact + when to relinquish - enhanced also includes ideas like reducing anxiety, distractions + open-ended questions

Answer 74

- meta-analysis by kohnken et al - combined data from 55 studies comparing CI with standard police interview - CI gave average 41% increase in accurate info compared to standard - shows CI to be effective

Answer 75

- milne and bull - found each of the four techniques did produce more info than standard police interview - but found combination of report everything + reinstate the context produced better recall than any other elements/combination of them - confirmed police officers' suspicions that some aspects of CI more useful than others - casts some credibility on overall cognitive interview

Answer 76

- police officers may be reluctant to use CI - takes more time + training than standard police interview - more time needed to establish rapport with witness + allow them to relax - suggests CI not realistic method for police officers to use

Answer 77

- sperling - flashed a grid of 20 letters onto a screen for a 20th of a second - When participants were asked to recall random rows of letters the recall was strong - suggests that all the rows of letters were stored in the sensory register as participants didn’t know which row would be asked for - meaning that the iconic store in the sensory register has a large capacity

Answer 78

- reviewed 57 studies - found that CI interviews produced more accurate recall than non-CI interviews, especially in older people

memory Flashcards

(103 cards)