Memory Flashcards Preview

Psychology > Memory > Flashcards

Flashcards in Memory Deck (35)
Loading flashcards...
1
Q

Coding

A
  • The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores
2
Q

Capacity

A
  • The amount of information that can be held in a memory store
3
Q

Duration

A
  • The length of time information can be held in memory
4
Q

Short-term memory (summary)

A
  • limited capacity memory store
  • capacity: 5-9 items
  • coding mainly acoustic (sounds)
  • duration: 18-30 seconds
  • unless rehearsed then can pass into LTM
5
Q

Long-term memory (summary)

A
  • permanent memory store
  • coding mainly semantic (meaning)
  • capacity: unlimited
  • duration: up to a lifetime
6
Q

Baddeley coding research: method

A
  • memory is stored in different formats, depending on the memory store
  • process of converting information from one form to another = coding

method:

  • gave different lists of words to four groups of p’s to remember:
    1. acoustically (sounding) similar: e.g. cat, cab, can
    2. acoustically dissimilar: e.g. pit, few, cow
    3. semantically similar (meaning) e.g great, large, big
    4. semantically dissimilar: e.g. good, huge, hot
  • P’s were then shown a list of these words and asked to arrange them into the correct order
7
Q

Baddeley coding research: findings

A
  • when the recall task was given immediately after hearing it (short-term memory recall) they did worse with ACOUSTICALLY similar words
  • –> suggests STM codes acoustically
  • when the recall task was given after a time interval of 20 minutes (long-term memory recall) they did worse with the SEMATICALLY similar words
  • –> suggests STM codes sematically
8
Q

Jacobs capacity research: method

A
  • used digit span to measure capacity
  • 4 digits given to P and then P asked to recall them in the correct order out loud
  • if they get this correct this researcher then gives 5 digits (+1)
  • and so on until the P is unable to recall the order correctly- this determines the induviduals digit span
9
Q

Jacobs capacity research: findings

A
  • mean average digit spans:
    digits = 9.3
    letters = 7.3
10
Q

Research on duration of STM: method

A
  • 8 trials, 24 students
  • in each trial student is given a triagram e.g. LDY. KJC, LPS, etc. and a 3 digit number e.g 634. 392, 912
  • then asked to count backwards from that number to prevent any rehearsal of the trigram which would increase the memory
  • in each trial they were asked to stop after a different amount of time- 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds
  • the retention interval
  • the number of correct responses decreased at retention interval time increased
11
Q

Research on duration of STM: findings

A
  • STM has a short duration unless we are able to repeat it out loud over and over again (maintenance rehearsal)
12
Q

Miller capacity research

A
  • observation of everyday practice
  • noted that many things come in sevens e.g. days of the week, deadly sins, etc.
  • suggested the span or capacity of the STM is about 7 items plus or minus 2
  • also noted that [people can recall 5 words just as well as they can recall 5 letters –> they do this by grouping set into units or chunks –> chunking
13
Q

Research on duration of LTM: method

A
  • 392 P’s between 17-74
  • obtained high school yearbooks of each
  • tested recall in various ways:
    1. photo recognition test (names from pictures)
    2. free recall: recalled all names of graduating class
14
Q

Research on duration of LTM: findings

A
  • P’s tested within 15 years of graduation were 90% accurate in phot0 recognition
  • after 48 years recalled declines to 70%
  • free recall was worse: 15 years = 60% 48 years = 30%
  • LTM can last a long time
15
Q

Evaluation: Baddeley

A

P - artificial stimuli
E - the random list of words were quite artificial rather than meaningful or personal to the participants
C - we should be cautious about generalising the findings to different types of memory tasks
- e.g. processing more meaningful info –> here people may code semantically even in short term memory tasks
–> limited application

16
Q

Evaluation: research on capacity

A

P - Jacobs digit span test lacks validity
E - It was conducted a long time ago when psychological studies often lacked adequate control
e.g. some P’s may have been distracted when being tested so didn’t preform as well
- results may not be valid due to confounding variables that were not controlled
H - the results have been replicated in newer research supporting its validity

P - use Miller to support Jacobs and vise a versa

P - Miller did not specify how large each ‘chunk’ of information could be
E - therefore we are unable to conclude the exact capacity of short-term memory.
C - further research is required to determine the each size of information ‘chunks’ to understand the exact capacity of short-term memory.

P - Miller’s (1956) research into short-term memory did not take into account other factors that affect capacity.
E - e.g. age could also affect short-term memory
C - Jacobs (1887) research acknowledged that short-term memory gradually improved with age.

17
Q

Name all features in order of the multi-store model of memory

A
  • -> stimulus from the environment
  • -> Sensory register - iconic, echoic, other sensory stores
  • -> short term memory store
  • -> long term memory store
  • response (memory)
  • maintenance rehearsal (rehearsal loop)
  • retrieval
  • prolonged rehearsal
18
Q

Sensory register

A
  • stimulus from the environment will pass into the sensory register
  • sights, sounds, smells, etc
  • this part of the memory is not one store but many (one for each of the 5 senses)
  • 2 main:
    - -> echoic (coded: acoustically)
  • duration: 3 secs
    - -> iconic (coded: visually)
  • duration: less than half a second
  • capacity: high - 100 million cells in one eye
  • info only passes further into the memory system if it is paid ATTENTION to
19
Q

Maintenance Rehearsal

A
  • when we repeat material to ourselves over and over
  • can keep info in our STM as long as we rehearse it
  • if we rehearse for long enough the info will pas into the LTM
20
Q

The multi-store model of memory

A
  • representation of how memory works in terms of 3 stores
  • sensory register, the short term memory and the long term memory
  • describes how info is transferred from one store to another, how it remembered and how it is forgotten
21
Q

The multi-store model of memory: evaluation

A

P - case study evidence support
E - The case of HM supports the MSM
- he was unable to encode new long-term memories after surgery where his hippocampus was removed but his STM was unaffected.
- He remembered little of personal (death of mother and father) events that had occurred over the last 45 years.
C -This supports the view that the LTM and the STM are two separate stores.
H - however it could be said his case does not offer good support for the msm since it is a case study and a unique case of a brain damaged individual so it may not generalise to all memory

P - There is more than one type of short term memory
E - MSM says it is a unitary store
- evidence from people with amnesia shows this cannot be the case
- case study: KF
- short term memory for digits was poor when read out to him
- but recall was much better when he read them to himself
C - this research shows that the very least there must be one short-term store to process visual info and one for audial info

P - A lot of the research used to define the coding, capacity and duration of the stores was artificial
E - in every day life memories are more related to meaningful and useful things
- e.g. facts, names, places, etc
- the studies used meaningless subjects such as in P&P’s trigrams that have no real meaning for the P
C - lacks ecological validity and may not reflect how memory woks in every day

22
Q

The working memory model

A
  • a representation of short term memory i organised and how it functions
  • it suggests that STM processes different types of information using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system
  • each component is qualitavely different based off of coding and capacity
23
Q

Central Executive

A
  • monitors incoming data, makes decisions and co-ordinates the activities of the three sub-systems in the memory
  • very limited processing capacity
24
Q

Phonological loop

A
  • one of the slaves systems
  • deals with auditory info (coding is acoustic)
  • preserves the order in which info arrives
  • divided into:
    - phonological store: stores the words we hear
    - articulatory process: allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating sounds or words in a ‘loop’ to keep them in working memory while they are needed) capacity of this loop = 2 secs worth of what you can say
25
Q

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

A
  • one of the slave systems
  • stores visual/spatial information when required
  • sub-divided into:
    - visual cashe: stores visual data
    - inner scribe: records the arrangement of objects
    in the visual field
  • temporary - limited capacity 3-4 objects
26
Q

Episodic buffer

A
  • one of the slave systems
  • a temporary storage for information.
  • integrates visual, spatial and verbal information.
27
Q

The Working Memory Model: Evaluation

A

P - support for multiple STM memory stores
E - evidence from people with amnesia supports this
- case study: KF
- short term memory for digits was poor when read out to him
- but recall was much better when he read them to himself
C - this research supports the idea of one short-term store to process visual info and one for audial info
H - however it could be said his case does not offer good support for the wsm since it is a case study and a unique case of a brain damaged individual so it may not generalise to all memory

P - Dual task performance
E - Baddeley showed that P’s had more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks
- e.g. tracking a light and tracing a letter F
- than doing a visual and verbal task at the same time
- visual –> uses same slave system
- verbal + visual –> separate slave systems#
C - supports the idea for separate slave systems for audial and visual input

P - Lieberman: it is suggested that the visuospatial sketchpad implies that spatial information is first visual
E - but blind people have excellent spatial awareness, although they have never had any visual information
C - VSS should be separated into two different components: one for visual information and one for spatial.

28
Q

The cognitive interview

A
  • a method of interviewing eyewitnesses

helps them retrieve more accurate memories

29
Q

4 features of the cognitive interview

A
  1. Report everything
  2. Reinstate the context
  3. Reverse the order
  4. Change the perspective
30
Q

Report everything

A
  • encouraged to include every single detail of the event
  • even if it seems irrelevant / they aren’t confident about it
  • detail may be important/might trigger other memories
31
Q

Reinstate the context

A
  • return the original crime scene in their mind
  • imagine the environment e.g. the weather, what they could see, etc and their emotions
  • 5 senses
  • may trigger the recall of context dependent memories
32
Q

Reverse the order

A
  • recall in a different chronological order
  • e.g. end to start or middle to start
  • prevents people from filing in the gaps with their expectations of what must have happened rather than the actual vents
  • also prevents dishonesty - it’s harder to lie if they have to reverse it
33
Q

Change perspective

A
  • recall the incident from another person at the scene’s perspective
  • e.g. other witnesses or the perpetrator
  • disrupts the affect of expectations and schema on recall
34
Q

The enhanced cognitive interview

A
  • additional elements added to the cognitive interview
  • teaching the interview when and when not to establish eye contact
  • how to reduce eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the witness to speak more slowly and asking open-ended questions
35
Q

The cognitive interview: evaluation

A

P - time consuming and expensive
E - takes much more time than the standard police interview
- requires special training that many forces are unable to give the time for
C - this makes it unlikely that the ‘proper’ cognitive interview is actually being used
- explains why police aren’t too impressed by it

P - some elements may be more valuable than others
E - Milne found that a combination of ‘report everything’ and ‘context reinstatement’ produced better recall than any other combinations
- shows that some are more useful
C - strength because if the full interview cannot be used simply just these 2 elements can be used to improve police interviewing and its reliability

P - support for effectiveness
E - metanalysis has found the CI consistently provided more correct information than the standard interview used by police
C - shows that there are real benefits to police using the CI as it gives them a better chance of catching & charging criminals which is beneficial to society as a whole