Memory Flashcards

Question

What is the LTM (MSM)?

Answer 1

Duration- potentially a lifetime Capacity- potentially unlimited Coding- semantic If information is given meaning it is passed onto the LTM. This is called elaborative rehearsal, which is much more effective than maintenance rehearsal.

Answer 2

Unitary stores.

Answer 3

HM case study- unable to learn new things in LTM but could remember short strings of digits in STM. Evidence for being separate unitary stores.

Answer 4

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)- serial position effect Primacy is recall of words heard first and demonstarted they are held in LTM. Recency is recall of words heard last and demonstrate they are held in LTM.

Answer 5

1. Words at the start of the list are rehearsed sufficiently to enter LTM. 2. Words at the end of the list are being rehearsed in STM. 3. Words in the middle are forced out by words at the end due to the limited capacity and so are forgotten. 4. When you distract a person (to stop them rehearsing words at the end into LTM) the recency effect disappears , because of the STM's limited duration.

Answer 6

The model is too simple. Different types of STM are found in the WMM. MSM sees both STM and LTM as simple unitary stores.

Answer 7

Maintenance rehearsal does not always transfer to LTM Bekerian and Baddeley (1980) found that despite hearing info about changes to BBC radio over 100 times, people still did not know about it.

Answer 8

Craik and Watkins suggested elaborative rehearsal (assigning meanings). MSM possibly does not account for this semantic rehearsal.

Answer 9

KF | Clive Wearing

Answer 10

Suffered from amnesia His short term memory for digits was very poor when they read them out loud to him but his recall was much better when he read them to himself. This is a limitation of the MSM and strength of the WMM as it shows that there must be a short-term store to process visual information (VSS working) and another to process auditory information (PL damaged).

Answer 11

Clive contracted a brain infection which left him unable to remember faces or things said just moments ago. However he is still able to read music and play the piano and once even conducted his former choir again.

Answer 12

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Answer 13

Central executive Phonological loop Visuo-spatial sketchpad Episodic buffer

Answer 14

Drives the whole system (esentially the boss) and allocates data to the subsystems. It has a limited capacity and retrives information from LTM via the episodic buffer. It deals with cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic and problem solving.

Answer 15

Added later in 2000 Acts as a temporary store which integrates visual, spatial and verbal information to record episodes It communicates with both LTM and the components of working memory It has a limited capacity- 4 chunks of information.

Answer 16

Deals with spoken and writterns material and has a limited capacity. It has two parts which are the phonological store and the articulatory process.

Answer 17

Acts as an inner ear and linked to speech perception. Holds information in a speech-based form (i.e spoken words) for 1-2 seconds. Spoken words enter the store directly whereas written words must be converted into an articulatory (spoken) code before they can enter the phonological store.

Answer 18

Acts as an inner voice and linked to speech production. It can store verbal information from the phonological store, and can hold about 2 seconds worth of information. Rehearses information from the phonological store and it circulates information round and round. This is how we remember information we have just heard- as long as we keep repeating it, we can retain the informatiopn in working memory. The articulatory control process also converts written material into an articulatory code and transfers it to the phonological store.

Answer 19

Stores visual and spatial information as is known as the inner eye. Plays an important role in helping us keep track of where we are in relation to other objects as we move through out environment. The sketchpad also displays and manipulates visual and spatial information held in LTM.

Answer 20

Subdivided the visuo-spatial sketchpad into two systems. The visual cache stores visual information. The inner cache records the arrangements of objects in our visual field.

Answer 21

An articulatory process. Limited capacity determined by the length of time it takes to rehearse words. - Single syllable- easier - Multi syllable- harder.

Answer 22

Baddeley and Hitch (1976) | Baddeley et al (1975)

Answer 23

Dual task study which involved remembering a number (PL) and a logic question (CE). The two tasks used two different systems so should be able to be performed at the same time and this was shown by the fact that as the digits increased they didn't make any more mistakes in the verbal reasoning task.

Answer 24

A participants peformed a visual tracking task (VSS) and then either a verbal task (PL) OR descriving all the angles on the letter F (VSS). The task where participants did the verbal task and the visual tracking task performed better as it used two different systems.

Answer 25

Very little evidence for the central executive | Baddeley describes it as the 'least understood' part of the model.

Answer 26

Yes. It does not explain LTM. It does not account for 'musical memory'- i.e. we can listen to music without having other acoustic memory affected. Some brain scan studies suggest that the CE is not unitary and in fact can be split into two parts for auditory and visual.

Answer 27

The VSS is unsure whether it is one or two systems. Lieberman (1990) said that the VSS implies that all spatial info was first visual which had been proved to not be true. For example blind people have excellent spatial awareness although they may have never had visual info. The VSS should be separated into two different components- one for visual and one for spatial.

Answer 28

Procedural Semantic Episodic

Answer 29

'How to' and 'muscle memory'. Time stamped Unonscious Not organised

Answer 30

Knowledge and facts Not time stamped Conscious Hierachically organised

Answer 31

Events from your life (AK= autobiographical knowledge and AE= autobiographical episode). Not time stamped Unconscious Not organised.

Answer 32

Damaged episodic | Working procedural.

Answer 33

- Hard to generalise + Proves MSM + Depth and detail.

Answer 34

Semantic organisation in LTM. | - Types of LTM topic.

Answer 35

- Two groups of participants were presented with the same 28 words to learn. - One group had the words hierachically organised on the page whereas the other group was given the words randomly arranged on the page. - They were asked to recall as many words as possible. The organised condition recalled higher meaning that LTM storage is probably semantically organised.

Answer 36

- Lack of mundane realism - Participant variables + High internal validity -> establish causality + Independent groups design so no 'order effects'.

Answer 37

Types of LTM topic. - Participants performed various memory tasks, while their brains were scanned by a PET scan. Episodic and semantic memories activate the prefrontal cortex (Semantic left PFT and episodic right PFT). This shows there are different types of LTM.

Answer 38

+ Visual evidence | - Doesn't measure electrical impulses- isn't accurate.

Answer 39

Drew a distinction between declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge. Non-declarative knowledge involves 'knowing how' to do things. Declarative knowledge involves 'knowing that'- recalling information from declarative memory involves some degree of conscious effort.

Answer 40

Interference | Retrieval failure

Answer 41

Proactive | Retroactive

Answer 42

Earlier learning interferes with what you are trying to learn at present. (New information is affected).

Answer 43

Newer learning interferes with the recall of earlier learning. (Old information is affected).

Answer 44

Repeated measures design Two trials where they had to learn trigrams and then count backwards for 3, 9 or 18 seconds before recalling. Order of testing was counterbalanced to control for order effects.

Answer 45

1st trial- performance was almost 100% recall although some participants had only 3 second intervals, others 18 seconds. 2nd trial- performance fell steadily as the time interval increased (proactive interference).

Answer 46

Where retroactive and proactive are competing in situations. | It is worse with similarity.

Answer 47

Tested retroactive interference by changing the level of similarity between two sets of info. Participants had to learn a list of ten words until they 100% recall. They split into six groups, each with a different 2nd set of words to learn (synonyms- performed worst, antonyms, unrelated, nonsense syllables, 3 digit numbers or no second list- performed best). They then recalled the original list. Similarity made it harder to recall.

Answer 48

Yes | Many lack mundane realism as the tasks are not usually performed in everyday life.

Answer 49

Baddeley and Hitch (1977) asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played against during a rugby season. The players all played for the same time interval but the number of intervening games varied because some players missed matches due to injury. Players who played the most games (most interference for memory) had the poorest recall- this increases the validity of the theory of interference. However, interference may cause some forgetting in everyday situations but it is unusual. Two memories must be very similar to interfere which is hard to achieve in everyday life but easy in lab studies. This suggests that possibly retrieval failure may provide a better explanation.

Answer 50

It is temporary and can be overcome by using cues. Tulving and Psotka (1971) gave participants lists of words organised into categories, one list at a time. recall averaged about 70% for the first list but became progressively worse as participants learned from each additional list. At the end of the procedure participants were given a cued recall test and recall rose to 70% again. This shows interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material that is still in LTM, a finding not predicted by interference theory.

Answer 51

``` Misleading information (leading questions and post-event discussion). Anxiety. ```

Answer 52

45 American students- opportunity sample Lab experiment with five conditions Each person did one condition- independent groups design Shown slides of a car accident involving a number of cars- they had to describe what happened as if they were eyewitnesses Asked specific questions with a changed verb. One week later, participants were asked if there was broken glass.

Answer 53

``` IV= Verb used DV= Answer in MPH ```

Answer 54

``` Smashed- 40.8 MPH- more likely to invent seeing glass Collided- 39.3 MPH Bumped- 38.1 MPH Hit- 34.0 MPH Contacted- 31.8 MPH ```

Answer 55

The research shows EWT can be inaccurate as memory can easily by distorted by questioning technique.

Answer 56

- /+ It is a lab, so whilst variables can be controlled, there is a lack of ecological validity. - Opportunity sample so not representable and hard to generalise. - Lacks mundane realism

Answer 57

21 witnesses observed a shooting incident where a thief was killed and the shop owner, who had been robbed, was seriously injuired. All 21 were interviewed by police soon after the event and 13 of these took part in the case study research 4 to 5 months after. Researchers analysed the eyewitness accounts provided by the police and the research interviews.

Answer 58

Witnesses were accurate, except in some aspects of person description, with a little change in accuracy reported over the delay period between the two interviewing sequences. Eyewitnesses resisted misleading information and stress levels did not appear to have a negative effect on their memory. The results from this study differ from lab studies suggesting that more field research may be needed to help evaluate the generalisability of lab experiments.

Answer 59

It has important practical uses in the criminal justice system. Loftus (1975) believes that leading questions can have such a distorting effect on memory that police officers need to be careful with how they phrase their questions while interviewing. Psychologists are soemtimes asked to act as expert witnesses in court trials and explain the limits of EWT to juries. However, the practical applications of EWT may be affected by issues with research as being in a situation is different than being in a lab. This may suggests that some reserachers are too pessimistic about the effects of misleading information- EWT may be more dependable than many studies suggest.

Answer 60

The substitution explanation proposes that the wording of a leading question changes the participants memory of the original incident.- however a limitation of this is that EWT is more accurate for aspects of an event than others. Sutherland and Hayne (2001) showed participants a video clip. When participants were later asked misleading questions their recall was more accurate for central details than for peripheral ones- this is most likely because their attention was focused on theirs and these memories were relatively resistant to misleading info.

Answer 61

- Too simplistic as it ignores many elements of anxiety such as cognitive and behavioural. - Lack of control as meta analysis is secondary data. + High generalisability as there was many people involved.

Answer 62

Yerkes and Dodson (1908) found the relationship between emotional arousal and performance looks like an 'inverted U'. Deffenbacher (1983) reviwed 21 EWT studies and used Yerkes-Dodson Law to explain the findings. Performance will increase with stress, but only to a certain point, where it will decrease drastically.

Answer 63

Anxiety creates psychological arousal, which may prevent us from paying attention to important cues and so recall is worse.

Answer 64

Lab study and independent groups design One condition- participants were in a waiting room and heard a casual conversation in the next room, which is a low anxiety environment. They then saw a man walk past with a pen and grease on his hands. Other condition- participants were in a waiting room and heard a heated argument and glass smash, which is a high anxiety environment. They then saw a man walk past with a knife covered in blood.

Answer 65

49% of participants in the low anxiety environment identified the man out of 50 photos. 33% of participant in the high anxiety environment identified the man out of 50 photos. This may be due to the tunnel theory of memory that argues people have enhanced memory for central events.

Answer 66

It may not have tested anxiety and instead people may have focused on the weapon as they were suprised not scared. Pickel (1998) found eyewitness accuracy was worse in unusual conditions. This suggests that the weapon focus effect is due to unusualness and not anxiety.

Answer 67

Valentine and Mesout (2009) found weapon focus affected recall and in this situation it was details about an actor in the London Dungeon. Anxiety was measured via heart rate. High levels of anxiety has a negative effect on immediate eyewitness recall.

Answer 68

Psychological arousal will cause the fight or flight resposne to be triggered increasing alertness which may make us more aware of cues.

Answer 69

Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

Answer 70

Witnesses were accurate in their account and there was little change in recall after 5 months. Participants who reported more stress were most accurate.

Answer 71

Christianson and Hubinette (1993) found all 58 witnesses of real life bank robberies were 75% or more accurate. Direct vicitms were more accurate. However, they could not control participants between the event and interview- post event discussion. Their lack of control over confouding variables may invalidate their support.

Answer 72

Absence of cues.

Answer 73

Says that a cue needs to be present at encoding and retrieval. If cues at encoding and retrieval are different then there will be some forgetting.

Answer 74

Context dependent forgetting | State dependent forgetting.

Answer 75

Recall depends on external cue.

Answer 76

Recall depends on internal cue.

Answer 77

Godden and Baddelely (1975) Field experiment with deep sea divers Given a list of words to learn on land or underwater. Recall of words was then tested in same or different context. Different context= 30% worse. Learning and recalling in the same context leads to better recall and when different context the person will suffer from retrieval failure (CDF).

Answer 78

``` Carter and Cassaday (1998). Participants were given antihistamines (can create a drowsy effect) or a placebo and then asked to learn a list of words and passages of prose and then recall the information again creating four different conditions. 1. AH-AH 2. Placebo-Placebo 3. Placebo-AH 4. AH-Placebo ``` In congruent conditions they demonstrated better results. In disparate conditions they demonstrate SDF. Altering the state eliminates the cues.

Answer 79

Context effects may depend substantially on the type of memory being tested. Godden and Baddeley (1980) replicate their underwater experiment and used a recognition test instead of recall- participants had to say whether they recognised a words read to them from a list, instead of retrieving it themselves. When recognition was tested there was on CDF, performance was the same in all four conditions. This sugegsts retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting because it only applies when a person has to recall info rather than recognise it.

Answer 80

Retrieval cues can help to overcome some forgetting in everday situations. Although cues may not have a very strong effect on forgetting, Baddeley suggests they are still worth paying attention to. When we have trouble remembering something, it is probbably worth recalling the environment in which you learned it first. This shows us how research can remind us of strategies we use in real world to improve recall.

Answer 81

There is a wide range of research which supports the explanation. For example Carter and Cassaday and Godden and Baddeley. Memory researchers Eysenck and Keane (2010) argue that retrieval failure is perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM. This shows that retrieval failure occurs in real life and not just highly controlled lab studies.

Answer 82

Baddeley (1997) argues that context effects are actually not very strong, especially in everyday life. Different contexts have to be very different before the effect is seen for example in Godden and Baddeley's study. In contrast, learning something in one room and forgetting it in another is unlikely to result in much forgetting because these environments are not different enough. This means retrieval failure due to lack of contextual cues may not actually explain everyday forgetting.

Answer 83

The cognitive interview. | They investigated different interview techniques to create their own.

Answer 84

Report everything- avoids misleading information and gathers building blocks. Reinstate context- introducing cues (photos etc.), 'picture the scene', resposition them in the even- related to CDF. Change narrative order- reverse or rearrange the memory of the event, this prevents people reporting their expectations of how the event must of happened. Change of perspective- Reevaluate their view and asked to consider others' perspectives to retrieve cues and once again disrupt the effect of expectations and effect of schema on recall.

Answer 85

Requires lots of time | Professionals are needed to conduct it.

Answer 86

Not all of its elements are equally useful or effective. Milne and Bull (2002) found that each of the four techniques used alone produced more information than the standard police interview. They also found that using a combination of reinstate the context and report everything it produced better recall than any other elements or combination of them. This casts some doubt on the credibility of the overall cognitive interview.

Answer 87

Fisher et al. (1987) developed some additional elements of the CI to focus on the social dynamic of the interaction. For example, the interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact. The enhanced CI also includes ideas such as reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the witness to speak slowly and asking open-ended questions.

Answer 88

Stein and Memon (2006) Shows the effectiveness of CI in Brazil. - CI was more effective than any other method as information was more accurate and detailed.

Answer 89

Geiselman et al (1985)- assessed the accuracy of cognitive interview. Independent groups design- - CI- 41.2% accurate - Standard interview for LAPD- 29.4% accurate - Hypnosis interview- 38% accurate The number of facts accurately recalled and errors made were recorded. There was no significant difference in number of errors in each condition. The CI leads to better memory for events as more relevant information is recalled, compared to other interview methods.