Memory Flashcards
(81 cards)
1
Q
What is memory?
A
The process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past.
2
Q
What are 3 types of memory?
A
- Sensory Memory (SM)
- Short Term Memory (STM)
- Long Term Memory (LTM)
3
Q
What is Sensory Memory?
A
- Initial contact for stimuli. It is only capable of retaining information for a very short time.
4
Q
What is Short Term Memory?
A
Information we are aware or thinking about. Forms by paying attention.
5
Q
What is Long Term Memory?
A
Continual storage of information which is largely outside of our awareness.
6
Q
Describe the duration capacity of short term memory
A
7 secs (plus or minus 2) - miller
7
Q
Describe the duration capacity of long term memory?
A
Last anywhere from 2 minutes to 100 years.
UNLIMITED DURATION
8
Q
What did Peterson & Peterson suggest about STM?
A
- Forgetting in STM can occur if information is not rehearsed.
- Suggested duration of STM is approx 18secs.
9
Q
What is a positive evaluation regarding Peterson & Peterson?
A
- Highly controlled, therefore limited the effect of extraneous variables
10
Q
What is a negative evaluation on Peterson & Peterson’s research on STM?
A
- Artificial stimuli, therefore lacks mundane realism
- As a result, not generalisable.
- Lacks external validity
- Small sample size.
11
Q
What was Peterson & Peterson’s experiment on STM?
A
Asked participants to recall nonsense phrases of 3 constants after different times. Found STM had a capacity of 18 seconds.
12
Q
Describe Bahrick’s experiment
A
Participants asked to recall classmates, over long periods of time - recognition better than recall.
13
Q
What is a positive evaluation for Bahrick’s experiment?
A
- High external validity - real-life meaningful memories
- Large sample size
14
Q
What is a negative evaluation of Bahrick’s experiment?
A
- Cofounding variables are not controlled in these experiments.
- These picture could have been rehearsed over the years.
15
Q
What is digital span?
A
A way of measuring the capacity of STM. Participants repeat back string of digits.
16
Q
What did Miller suggest about STM?
A
Memory capacity is 7 items (plus or minus 2)
17
Q
What are negative evaluations of coding studies?
A
- Artificial stimuli
- Lacks validity - digital span
18
Q
What is encoding?
A
The way information is changed so it can be stored in memory.
19
Q
What are different ways memory can be stored during encoding?
A
- Visual
- Acoustic (STM)
- Semantic (LTM)
20
Q
What are two sub-divisions of memory storage?
A
- Explicit - put it into words and has to be consciously thought about to be recalled.
- Implicit - more difficult to put into words, doesn’t require conscious thought.
21
Q
What are episodic memories?
A
Time-stamped memories which require conscious effort to remember it.
22
Q
What part of the brain is used in coding of memory?
A
- Prefrontal cortex
- Hippocampus - creates a memory
23
Q
What is procedural memory?
A
Concerned with learning motor skills, without conscious effort.
(implicit memory - doesn’t require conscious)
24
Q
What is semantic memory?
A
Factual knowledge an individual has learned - not time related (no episodic time-stamp)
25
What is an example of a procedural memory?
How to walk
26
What part of the brain helps procedural memory?
Cerebellum - helps with timing and coordination of movements.
27
Who’s study suggested that acoustic coding takes place best over short term, whereas semantic coding is best over long term.
Baddeley
28
Who was Henry Molaison?
Man who suffered from epilepsy and after surgery couldn’t store or retrieve new memories
29
Who was Clive Wearing?
Suffered holes in his brain which meant that he was left with no memory - unable to create memories.
30
What are positive evaluations for Memory encoding?
- Clinical evidence: amnesia (memory loss) can be affected, by impairing recall of events (episodic memory, however semantic and procedural memory can all be intact).
- Neuroimaging evidence: Tulving found episodic and semantic memory were found in the prefrontal cortex.
- Real-life application e.g. Tulving and HM (Henry Molaison)
31
What is the difference between semantic memories and episodic memories?
Semantic - recall facts and knowledge
| Episodic memory - life experiences
32
What type of memory is stored in the left prefrontal cortex?
- Semantic memory
33
What type of memory is stored in the right prefrontal cortex?
- Episodic memory
34
What are negative evaluations of memory encoding (studies) ?
Clinical evidence - case studies unique and not generalisable.
- Suggestion there are 2 types of LTM:
Procedural (doesn’t require conscience) and Declarative (requires conscience)
35
What did Sperling suggest about Sensory memory?
Can’t hold information for long, as information decays rapidly in the sensory memory.
36
What study supports the theory of existence of the sensory store?
Sperling
37
What is the serial position effect?
The suggestion that when there is a list great than the capacity of the STM, then people tend to remember the first and last words.
38
What can the serial position effect be broken down into?
The primary effect - first 5 words
| The recency effect - last 5 words
39
Describe the multi store model?
```
Environmental stimuli
I
SENSORY MEMORY (decay)
I
Attention
I
SHORT TERM MEMORY (maintenance rehearsal to keep in STM)
I
Elaborative rehearsal
I
Long Term Memory (Retrieval to STM)
```
40
Describe the negative evaluation of multi-store model?
- There is more than one store of STM (one for visual information and one for auditory)
- Amount of rehearsal is important
- Artificial material - used digits, letters or words
41
What are the different parts of the Working Memory Model?
- Central Executive
- Visuo-spatial sketch
- Episodic buffer
- Phonological loop:
• Phonological store (holds words heard)
• Articulatory system (silently repeats word on loop)
42
What is the Central Executive?
- Controls what we pay attention to
- Decides what to do with that information
- Delegates information to the slave systems
Limited capacity
43
What is the 1st Slave system?
Phonological loop:
Composed of “phonological store” and “articulately system”.
(INNER EAR)
44
What does the phonological store do?
Holds words heard
45
What does the articulately system do?
Silently repeat words in a loop (like maintenance rehersal
46
What is the visuo-spatial sketch pad?
Visual and spatial information stored here.
- What things look like and the relationship between things.
(INNER EYE)
47
What was the 2nd Slave system?
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
48
What is the 3rd Slave system?
Episodic buffer
49
What is the episodic buffer?
- Provides extra storage system
| - Integrates information from all other areas.
50
What is interference?
One memory blocking another, which can result in forgetting or distorting one or the other.
51
What is proactive interference?
When older memories disrupt the recall of newer memories
52
What is retroactive interference?
When newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories
53
What did Underwood’s research support? (Interference)
The theory of retroactive interference:
| Learning second list interfered with participants ability to recall the list.
54
What is retrieval failure?
Failure to remember memories, which can be due to insufficient cues.
55
How is context/situation relaxant to recall and memory? (Study name)
Learning and recall in same place/situation will lead to increase recall ability (Godden and Baddeley - underwater/shore learning and recall)
56
What is the term given to a suggested relationship between ability to recalling and learning/recalling environment/situation?
Encoding Specificity Principle
57
What is the Encoding Specificity Principle?
“The greater the similarity between the encoding event and the retrieval event, the greater the likelihood of recalling the original memory”
.
58
What are the 2 types of cues?
Context - external environmental cues
| State - internal cues
59
What is EWT (Eye witness testimony)?
The ability of people to remember the details of events, which they have observed.
60
What is misleading information?
Incorrect information given to the EW (Eye Witness) usually after the event
61
What is a leading question?
A question that suggests a certain answer
62
What is PED (Post-event discussion)?
When more than one witness discuss an event, which may negatively affect accuracy.
63
What experiment did Elizabeth Loftus carry out about EWT?
- Participants asked to watch clip of car accident and then asked question about the accident.
- Changed verb used in questions
64
What explanation can be used for Elizabeth Loftus’ experiment?
The change of verbs led to response-bias, as it affected how the participant decided to answer.
- Alternative explanation: affected the memory of the participants.
65
What is a positive evaluation for Elizabeth Loftus?
Useful applications:
- Police questioning witnesses
- Teachers asking questions
66
What is negative evaluations of Elizabeth Loftus?
- Participants were students - may not be representative (may be used to paying attention during tests)
- Low ecological validity - element of surprise
67
What is the relationship between anxiety and EWT?
EWT can lead to physiological arousal (increased heart rate, shallow breathing)
68
What is the weapon-focus effect? (Johnson & Scott)
In violent crimes, witnesses may focus on weapon, rather than peripheral details.
69
What is a theory that supports the weapon-focus effect? (Explain the theory)
The tunnel theory suggests that the weapon narrows the field of attention, leading to reduced amount of information being stored.
70
What evidence suggests against the theory tunnel?
Christianson
110 bank robbers questioned:
- Those threatened were more accurate in recall - this was true 15 months later.
71
What is the correlation between anxiety and EWT recall ability?
Low anxiety = poor recall
Medium (moderate) anxiety = good recall
High anxiety = poor recall
72
What are negative evaluations for EWT explanations?
- Weapon focus testing surprise not anxiety (e.g. no anxiety in hairdresser with weapon)
- Field study - lacks control
- Ethical issues (psychological harm)
- Demand characteristics in lab studies of anxiety
73
What is the cognitive interview?
- The Cognitive interview is a questioning technique which aims to enhance retrieval of information.
74
What are the 4 stages in the Cognitive Interview?
- Report everything
- Context reinstatement
- Change perspective
- Recall in reverse order
75
How does reporting everything increase retrieval?
Acts as trigger causes
76
How does context reinstatement increase retrieval?
Context-dependant memory?
77
How does changing perspective increase recall?
Aims to disrupt schemas?
78
How does recalling in reverse order increase recall?
Disrupt false recall
79
What are features of the enhanced cognitive interview?
- Asking open ended questions
- Witness speaks slowly
- Don’t guess
- Reducing anxiety in participants
80
What are positive evaluations for the cognitive interview?
- Individual differences (more effective on elderly)
- Support for Enhanced Cognitive Interview (meta-analysis of 53 studies - 34% increase in amount of correct information generated).
81
What are negative evaluations of the Cognitive Interview? (Methodology)
- Most of the samples used were university students
| - In a lab - artificial situation
