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Psychology > Memory > Flashcards

Memory Flashcards

1
Q

What is STM?

A

your memory for immediate events, which disappears if not rehearsed.

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2
Q

What is LTM?

A

your memory for events that have happened in the past from anywhere between 2 minutes and 100 years ago. It is the permanent memory store.

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3
Q

What is a sensory register?

A

stores a huge amount of information from our senses for a very brief amount of time (about half a second).

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4
Q

What is chunking?

A

The process by which the brain divides significant details into more minor details (chunks) making them easier to retain in STM.

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5
Q

What is capacity?

A

The amount of information that can be stored.

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6
Q

What is Duration?

A

The length of time information can be held in the memory store

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7
Q

What is coding?

A

The format in which information is stored in the memory stores. It’s the process of converting information from one format to another.

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8
Q

What is the Capacity, Duration and Coding of STM?

A

small capacity, very short duration (30 secs), and acoustic coding.

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9
Q

What is the Capacity, Duration and coding of LTM?

A

very large capacity (unlimited),
long duration (forever), and coded semantically.

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10
Q

What is semantic coding?

A

information is stored in the form of the meaning of the experience

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11
Q

What is acoustic coding?

A

information is stored in the form of the sound of the experience.

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12
Q

What was Jacobs’s 1887 research on capacity?

A

(STM capacity) Jacobs (1887) -> digit span measure saying digits/letters to people until they cannot repeat all back. Average 7.3 for digits, 9.3 for letters.

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13
Q

What is a strength and weakness of Jacobs’s 1887 study?

A

Repeats showed similar results, but little control over extraneous variables.

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14
Q

What was Bahrick et al.’s 1975 study on the duration of LTM?

A

(LTM Duration) Bahrick at al. (1975) free name recall and photo selection for 392 ex-high school students to recognise old classmates. Within 15 years of graduation, people recognised 90% and recognised 70% after 48 years. Free recall within 15 years of graduation 60%, and 30% after 48 years. LTM duration is unlimited.

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15
Q

What is a strength and weakness of Bahrick et al. study?

A

High external validity but couldn’t control if participants had looked back at the book.

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16
Q

What was the study Peterson and Peterson did in 1959?

A

(STM Duration) Peterson and Peterson (1957) -> gave people consonant trigrams to remember, while counting back in 3s or 4s from a number, stopping after different amounts of secs. After 3 secs delay recall was 80%, but after 18 secs it was less than 10%. Shows info needs to be rehearsed, without which duration is limited (18 secs).

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17
Q

What is a weakness of Peterson and Peterson 1959?

A

Was using artificial stimuli so low external validity.

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18
Q

What was Miller’s (1956) research?

What is a S/W of this study?

A

(STM capacity) Miller (1956) -> analysis of studies, average span is 7 items (+/-2), and people can recall words as well as letters by chunking. However Cowan reviewed this and concluded it was actually 4 chunks so the lower end of Miller’s is more accurate.

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19
Q

How does Baddeley et al 1966 support MSM? What is a weakness of the study?

A

(STM+LTM coding) Baddeley (1966) found we tend to mix up acoustically similar words when using our STM and semantically similar words when using LTM. This shows coding in STM is acoustic, and LTM is semantic, supports MSM.
- However, relied on artificial stimuli as people had to learn meaningless words, so research isn’t strong.

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20
Q

What was the Multi-Store Model of Memory?

A

-Developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin.
-Suggested memory is made up of three unitary stores: The sensory register, LTM and STM.
-The first complex model of human memory.
-a structural model
- info is passed in a fixed linear sequence

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21
Q

What are the two types of rehearsal and what do they do?

A

Maintenance rehearsal -> repeating information to keep it in STM.
prolonged rehearsal -> rehearsing information for long enough for it to enter the LTM store.

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22
Q

What happens in the sensory register?

A
  • First stage in memory passing through the stores in a fixed linear sequence.
    -codes information as iconic, echoic, etc.
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23
Q

What is the function phonological loop? How is it coded? What is its capacity?

A

To process and temporarily store all sound information, preserving the order it arrives in. Coded Accoustically. Capacity of about 2 secs.

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24
Q

What are the subcomponents of the phonological loop and what are their functions?

A

The phonological store: stores sound based information
Articulatory process: (inner voice) maintenance rehearsal.

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25
Q

What is the function of the central executive? What is its capacity and coding?

A

To coordinate the activity of the three slave systems. It takes information in from LTM and senses, makes decisions and allocates tasks to the slave systems. Coding in all types, Capacity is limited processing with no storage.

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26
Q

What is the function of the visuo-spatial sketchpad? What is its capacity and coding?

A

processes and temporarily stores visual and spatial information (what you can see and where things are in relation to each other). Coded visually and capacity for 3-4 objects.

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27
Q

What are the subcomponents of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

A

Visual cache - stores visual information.
Inner scribe- stores spatial information.

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28
Q

What is the function of the episodic buffer? What is its capacity?

A

Added later (in 2000), its function is to integrate information from other slave systems and the central executive into one memory with time sequencing. It also sends information to the LTM store. Capacity of about 4 chunks.

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29
Q

What is the working memory model?

A

A representation of how STM is organised and how it functions. It was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974 and suggests that STM is an active processor of information, using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system. Concerned with the part of the mind that is active when we are temporarily storing or manipulating information.

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30
Q

What is interference?

A

When one memory blocks another, causing both to be distorted or forgotten. Interference is worse when material is similar. The memories are available but we cannot access them as we can’t locate them.

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31
Q

What is proactive interference?

A

When old memories affect the recall of the new memories.

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32
Q

What is retroactive interference?

A

When new memories affect the recall of old memories already stored.

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33
Q

What was McGeoch and McDonalds study?

A

(1931) Retroactive interference study. Participants learnt completely a list of words, then had to learn a new list from one of six groups. When the new list was synonyms of the old one, recall was worse.

34
Q

What was Tulving and Pstoka’s study?

A

(1971) Studied proactive interference. Gave participants categorised lists one at a time, and tested recall. For the first one it was 70% but it went down each time.

35
Q

What is retrieval failure theory?

A

When people lack the necessary cues to access a memory.

36
Q

What is a cue?

A

A ‘trigger’ that allows us to access a memory.

37
Q

What is the encoding specificity principle?

A

suggests that if the state or context in which something is encoded is the same at recall, people will be more likely to remember it.

38
Q

What is the response-bias explanation?

A

the wording of a question influences how people answer.

39
Q

What is the substitution explanation?

A

The wording of the question actually changes the participants memory.

40
Q

Outline and evaluate features of STM and LTM (essay plan)

A

Outline:
-Capacity of STM and LTM (Millers study)
-Coding of STM and LTM
(Baddeley’s study(
Evaluate:
- 4 strengths and weaknesses of the studies… do they therefore tell us anything useful?

41
Q

What is iconic memory?

A

The memory store for visual information

42
Q

What is echoic memory?

A

The memory store for sound information.

43
Q

What is an EWT?

A

The ability of people to remember the details of an event, such as a crime or accident, which they have observed. This can be impacted by misleading information or anxiety.

44
Q

What is misleading information?

A

incorrect information given to the eyewitness, usually after the event, and can take the form of leading questions or PED.

45
Q

What is a leading question?

A

a question which, because of its phrasing, hints to a certain answer.

46
Q

What is PED?

A

Post event discussion is when a witness of an event discusses the details with anyone else, as it may influence the accuracy of their recall of the event.

47
Q

What was Loftus and Palmer’s 1974 study on EWT?

A
  • Get students to watch a film clip of a car crash.
  • Ask each participant a critical question with a different leading verb in it e.g. hit, smashed, bumped, then get them to estimate the speed the car was going at.
48
Q

What were the results of Loftus and Palmer’s 1974 study on EWT?

A
  • mean speed fr ‘contacted’ was 31.8 mph and for ‘smashed’ was 40.5mph
49
Q

What is the response bias explanation? (Loftus and Palmer)

A

The wording doesn’t change their memory, it just influences how they choose to answer.

50
Q

What is the substitution explanation? (Loftus and Palmer)

A

The wording actually changes the participants memory of the film clip. This is supported by the finding that participants who heard ‘smashed’ were more likely to report broken glass.

51
Q

What was Gabbert et al. 2003 study on PED?

A
  • each participant watches same clip of crime but from different angles.
  • This meant in each pair they both saw different things.
  • Both participants were then allowed to discuss before taking a test.
52
Q

What were the findings of Gabbert et al. 2003 study on PED?

A

71% of participants mistakenly recalled elements of the event they didn’t see. In the control group, this was 0%.
- Gabbert et al. concluded that witnesses will go along with each other, either for social approval or because they think the other witness is right. This is called memory conformity.

53
Q

What supporting evidence is there for misleading information affecting EWT?

A

Loftus and palmer (1974) and Gabbert et al. (2003)

54
Q

What is a real-world application of research into EWT?

A

It can improve the way the legal system works e.g. avoiding leading Qs - consequences of inaccurate EWT are very dangerous so this has a strong external validity.

55
Q

What is a weakness of Loftus and Palmer’s study?

A

Watching film clips is very different to experiencing the event in real life. This is because emotions and anxiety have less of an effect, as it is artificial, so researchers could be being too pessimistic.

56
Q

What is a weakness of the studies into EWT?

A

In the real-world situation, there may be much greater consequences to EWT, for example if it will send someone to prison, in which instance the eyewitness may be more accurate. This means that the artificiality of the study results in it telling us little about the real world application, and findings may be overly pessimistic.

57
Q

What are two key features of the MSM?

A

Each store is separate and part of a fixed linear sequence.

58
Q

How does the sensory register work?

A

contains stores for each of our five senses, with each coded differently. A stimulus passes into it from the environment, and the info is held very briefly (for less than a half second). If attention is paid to it, it will pass further through the memory system.

59
Q

What are the 6 key terms for the MSM?

A
  • STM
  • LTM
  • sensory register
  • attention
  • maintenance/prolonged rehearsal
  • retrieval (LTM to STM)
60
Q

What is the coding, capacity and duration of STM in the MSM?

A

Coding - acoustic
Capacity - 5-9 items
Duration - 18-20 secs (without rehearsal)

61
Q

What is the coding, capacity and duration of LTM in the MSM?

A

Coding - Semantic
Capacity - Unlimited
Duration - Up to a lifetime

62
Q

What is the coding, capacity and duration of the sensory register in the MSM?

A

Coding - different for each sense (iconic for sight, echoic for hearing etc.)
Capacity - high
Duration - less than half a second

63
Q

What is the supporting evidence (case study) for MSM?

A

HM - after brain surgery he was unable to recall the correct date or his age. His LTM never improved even with practise, and he would read the same magazine day after day without remembering, however he did perform well on tests of immediate memory span. This supports that they are separate unitary stores.
However…. unique case of an individual so cannot generalise as well.

64
Q

What was Baddeley’s 1966 study?

A

Procedure: Gave four groups lists of words, either acoustically similar or dissimilar, or semantically similar or dissimilar. Participants had to recall the words, either immediately or after 20 mins.
Findings: When recalling immediately, participants did worse with acoustically similar words, when recalling after 20 mins, did worse with semantically similar words.
Conclusion: Suggests STM is acoustic and LTM is semantically coded.

65
Q

What was the KF case study?

A
  • Recall for digits was very bad when read to him, but good when he read them himself.
  • This suggests STM is not a unitary store and that it splits to process visual and auditory info.
66
Q

What are the three types of long term memory?

A
  • Episodic
  • Semantic
  • Procedural
67
Q

What is episodic LTM?

A

Our ability to recall personal life events (episodes), including memories of when the events occurred, and the people places and behaviours involved.

68
Q

What is semantic LTM?

A

Contains our knowledge of the world, including facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean.

69
Q

What is procedural LTM?

A

Our long term memory of how to do things, for learned actions and motor skills.

70
Q

What are the key features of episodic LTM?

A
  • Can be expressed verbally, and are available for conscious inspection (explicit).
  • Time-stamped.
  • May be less resistant to amnesia/forgetting.
71
Q

What are the key features of semantic LTM?

A
  • Can be expressed verbally, available for conscious inspection (explicit)
  • Not time-stamped.
  • May be less resistant to amnesia.
72
Q

What are the key features of procedural LTM?

A
  • Difficult to explain verbally, and unaware for conscious inspection (implicit)
  • Not time-stamped
  • May be more resistant to amnesia/forgetting.
73
Q

What is the case of Clive Wearing? How does it support different types of LTM?

A
  • following a damaged hippocampus, Clive suffered from a severe form of amnesia, but before was a world-class musician.
  • Could remember how to play the piano brilliantly still (procedural) but could not remember his musical education.
  • Could not remember any key events in his life (episodic) or the names of his children (semantic) .
  • This supports that there can be different memory stores in LTM.
  • However…. case study, not generalisable.
74
Q

How does the case of HM support different types of LTM?

A
  • The star task - HM had to trace a star using its mirrored reflection, and despite having no memory of previously having done the task, he did improve each time.
  • This could suggest that there are different types of LTM.
75
Q

What is a weakness with the idea of three separate LTM stores?

A

Some have suggested that semantic and episodic memory are one store called declarative memory, so this suggests that the distinctions are not yet sorted.

76
Q

What is a dual task study?

A

When two tasks are performed simultaneously in order to observe performance drops in either task.

76
Q

What study supports the working memory model?

A

Shallice and Warrington’s (1970) study of KF, where he lost his STM ability for verbal info, but kept it for visual. This suggests that his phonological loop has been damaged, leaving other areas in tact, supporting separate acoustic and visual stores.
However… case study!

77
Q

What is a weakness of the working memory model?

A

Psychologists suggest that the central executive is not a satisfactory explanation of ‘attention’ and may actually exist in separate components, so in its current form does not fully explain it.

78
Q

What was McGeoch and McDonald’s (1931) study? (supporting interference theory)

A
  • tested retroactive interference
  • participants had to fully learn a list of ten words, then learn a new list from one of six categories.
  • when participants recalled the second list, they performed worst when they were synonyms, suggesting interference is strongest when memories are similar.
79
Q

What is a weakness of studies of interference?

A
  • most of them are lab experiments, where there is a greater chance interference will be demonstrated.
  • This is because the tasks are learning artificial words and so they do not have much meaning assigned to them.
  • This means these studies do not provide strong support.
80
Q

What is a strength of the studies into interference?

A

Many studies into interference are lab, which provides strong support as they have high control over extraneous variables.

Psychology (10 decks)

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