Memory Flashcards

Question

Coding of STM & LTM - Substitution Error Study

Answer 1

Baddeley (1966) carried out a type of study that are known as substitution error study Here, we ask people to remember letters or words and we focus on the mistakes they make when they are asked to recall the letters or words: - if they confuse things that look the same this suggests that they are encoding the material visually - if they confuse things that sound the same this suggests that they are encoding then material acoustically - if they confuse things that have the same meaning this suggests that they are encoding the material semantically

Answer 2

Baddeley (1966) gave different lists of words of 4 groups of participants for them to remember: - Group 1 - acoustically similar - words sounded similar - e.g. cat,cab,can - Group 2 - acoustically dissimilar - words sounded different - e.g. pen, cow, lip - Group 3 - semantically similar - words with similar meanings - e.g. great, large, big - Group 4 - semantically dissimilar - words with different meanings - e.g. good, plate, cloud Participants were shown words and asked to recall them in the correct order When they did this task immediately (so recalling from STM), they did worse with the words that were acoustically similar When this did this task after 20 minutes (so recalling from LTM(, they did worse with the words that were semantically similar So, we can conclude that the STM stores information acoustically, and the LTM stores it semantically

Answer 3

All stimuli from the environment (e.g. the sound of someone talking) pass into the sensory register This part of the memory comprises of several registers (sensory memory stores), one for each of the 5 senses (visuals, auditory, smell, taste, touch) Coding in each store is modality-specific (it depends on the sense) For example, the store coding for visual information is iconic and the store coding acoustically is echoic memory Duration of material in the sensory registers is very brief, typically less than half a second The sensory registers have a very high capacity - for example, over 100 million cells in 1 eye storing visual data Information passes further into the memory system only if you pay attention to it - if you don’t pay attention to it, you will forget it

Answer 4

Information in the STM is coded mainly acoustically and lasts about 18 seconds unless it is rehearsed, so STM is temporary store of memory STM is a limited-capacity store, because it can only remember a certain number of ‘things’ before forgetting occurs Maintenance rehearsal occurs when new repeat (rehearse) material to ourselves over and over again We can also keep information in our STM as long as we rehearse it - if we rehearse it long enough (prolonged rehearsal, it passes into LTM

Answer 5

This is the potentially permanent store form information that has been rehearsed forma prolonged time We have already seen that LTMs are coded semantically (i.e. in the terms of meaning) Psychologists believe that its duration may be up to a lifetime For example, Bahrick et al. (1975) found that many of their participants were able to recognise names and faces of their school classmates almost 50 years after graduating The capacity of the LTM is considered to be unlimited According to the MSM, when we recall information from the LTM, it has to be transferred back into the STM by a process called retrieval

Answer 6

There are individuals who suffer from am condition known as anterograde amnesia as a result of the damage to the hippocampus Patients often retain their LTM for events leading up until the brain damage, and their STM after the brain damage still works as well as before hand But they are incapable of transferring new information from the STM to their LTM This therefore suggests that the STM and LTM are 2 separate memory stores, which supports what the STM says An example of someone who has anterograde amnesia is HM (Henry Molaison) who suffered brain damage following surgery for epilepsy, but due to the surgery not being fully understood, his hippocampus was removed from both sides of his brain, which we now know is crucial in memory He was unable to recognise any new faces that he met after his surgery, no matter how many times he met them, but he could still recognise people from before his surgery He couldn’t find his way to his parents’ new house His Uncle also died after his surgery, and he would repeatedly ask when he would be coming to family events, and had to be told about his death every time, because there was no way for him to remember that he had died - and his grief was always as intense as the first time he was told

Answer 7

In free recall experiments, participants are given a number of words in succession to remember and are then asked to recall them in any order (“free recall’”) The results reliably fall into a astern as the free recall serial position curve - and the curve is the shape that is predicted by the MSM Primary effect - participants remember the first words in the list - this is because these words can be rehearsed (maintain rehearsal will keep them in the STM) Recency effect - participants remember the last words on the list - this because you gave just heard them so they are still present in your STM because they haven’t: - decayed yet - they haven’t been in your STM for 18-30 seconds - been displaced yet - they haven’t been “pushed” our of your STM by other words Asymptote effect - the middle portion items of the list are remembered far less well - they have been displaced by new items and/or have decayed because they were in the middle of the list (and it is harder to rehearse them) - these items are lost

Answer 8

One strength of the MSM is that it I supported by case studies of brain damaged patients. For example, the case of HM, who has anterograde amnesia, who was left with severe memory impairment after surgery on his brain to resolve epilepsy. HM was able to remember everything that happened in his life leading up to his surgery, and his STM still worked as usual after it, but he was unable to remember anything long-term, and would forget anything he was told or saw 18-30 seconds after it happened. This shows that the STM and LTM are in fact different memory stores This is a strength because it supports the MSM’s idea that STM and LTM are different stores of memory, which gives the model validity

Answer 9

One strength of the MSM is that it is supported by experimental research For example, the free recall experiment curve, the primary effect (remembering the first words that were said due to rehearsal being possible), the recency effect (remembering the most recent words because they haven’t been replaced or decayed) and the asymptote (forgetting the words said in the middle due to rehearsal not being possible with that many words and displacement and decay occurring), is what the MSM would predict to happen in these experiments This is a strength because it supports the MSM and provides research that backs it up. The experimental results fit into the predictions of the MSM, giving the model validity

Answer 10

One limitation is that Atkinson and Shiffrin assume that the STM and LTM are unitary stores. However, evidence suggests that there are different sub-systems within both the STM and LTM, which are not considered in the original MSM For example, another case study of a brain damaged individual is that case of KF. KF suffered brain damage, which severely impaired his STM but left his LTM intact. He could still form new memories, even though his STM was ‘broken’ However, this shouldn’t be possible according to the MSM because it has a fixed, linear information processing sequence and to reach the LTM, information must be be processed by the STM Further investigation revealed that KF’s STM impairment was mainly for verbal material. His STM for visual material was largely unaffected This is a limitation because it suggests that there are sub-systems in our STM and it is not a single, unitary store as the MASM seems to be staying

Answer 11

One limitation is that the MSM says that what matters about rehearsal is the amount of it. The more you rehearse something, the more likely it is to transfer to the LTM (the idea of prolonged rehearsal). However, this might not be the case For example, Tulving (1967) carried out a study where participants were asked to read an list of words over and over again. However, he did not find that this rehearsal meant that these words were recalled more frequently or easily than words that had not been rehearsed This is a limitation because it suggests the role of rehearsal is overemphasised in the MSM Craik and Watkins (1973) found that the type now rehearsal is more important than the amount of it. Elaborating rehearsal is needed for long-terms storage, which is when you link the information to your existing knowledge/think about what it means/make it distinct or unique in a way This is a limitation because it suggests that the MSM does not fully explain how long-term storage is obtained

Answer 12

Tulving (1985) was one of the first cognitive psychologists to realise that the MSM’s view of the LTM was too simplistic and inflexible Instead, he proposed that there are, in fact, 3 LTM stores, each containing quite different types of information He called them episodic memory, semantic memory and procedural memory

Answer 13

Episodic memory refers to our ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives - think of unit as our memory’s “diary” These memories are complex: They are time stamped - you remember when they happened as well as what happened and how events relate to each other in time They include several elements, such as people, places, objects and behaviours - all of these elements are interwoven to produce a single memory They require conscious effort to recall - this can be done quickly but we are still actively reaching for a memory and you are aware that you are doing so

Answer 14

Semantic memory refers to our knowledge of the world - think of it as your memory’s encyclopaedia-dictionary combo Semantic memories are not time stamped - we don’t remember the first time we learnt this They are less personal and more about facts that we all share Given the nature of semantic memory, it is constantly being added to Tulving argued that semantic memory is much less vulnerable to distortion or forgetting compared to episodic memory

Answer 15

Procedural memory refers to our memory for actions or skills - think of it as your memory’s instruction manual We can, after practise, recall these memories without conscious awareness or effort - a good example is driving a car - after time, this becomes automatic and you can change gear without having to consciously recall how to do thus Procedural memories are difficult to describe to someone else - for example, it is quite hard to describe trying shoelaces to someone without showing them how to do it

Answer 16

One strength of the theory that there are different types of LTM comes from case studies of individuals with brain damage such as HM and Clive Wearing For example, these people can no longer create new episodic memories or new semantic memories. However, their procedural LTM was relatively unaffected. Clive Wearing, for example, was still able to learn new pieces of music on the piano, even after his LTM was damaged, even if he couldn’t remember the event of actually learning him This is a strength because it supports Tulving’s views that there are different memory stores in the LTM. One store can be damaged but other stores are unaffected This is further supported by more recent research by Hodges & Patterson (2007), who found that some people with Alzheimer’s disease (a type of dementia and can be considered another form of brain damage) could form new episodic memories but not semantic memories. This suggests that episodic memory must be separate from semantic memory, as Tulving (1985) suggested However, there is a lack of control variables when studying people with brain damage. As the damage experienced is usually unexpected, the researcher has no knowledge of the individual’s memory before the damage. This is a problem when using clinical case studies to help us find out more about different types of LTM because it is difficult to judge how much worse different types of memory have become

Answer 17

One strength of the theory that there are different types of LTM is that understanding the different types of LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems For example, as people age, they experience memory loss. But research has shown that this seems to be specific to episodic memory; it becomes harder to recall memories of personal events or experiences that occurred relatively recently, although past episodic memories remain intact. Belleville et al. (2006) devised an intervention to improve episodic memory in older people. The intervention focused on teaching episodic memory strategies and later participants were given 3 tasks of episodic memory (list recall, face-name association, text memory). Participants who received the strategy intervention did significantly better on 2 of 3 of these tasks (list recall and face-name association) compared to a control group who did not receive intervention This is a strength because it shows that distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed that can help improve people’s quality of life

Answer 18

One limitation is that there are conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain. If there are different types of LTM, we would expect to find agreed upon localisation of functions, i.e. each type of LTM is agreed to be located in specific areas of the brain For example, Buckner and Peterson believe that semantic memory is located in the left prefrontal lobe. However, Tulving (1994) believes that this is where episodic memory is located, whereas Buckner and Peterson (1996) believe that episodic memory is located in the right prefrontal lobe This is a limitation because there is poor reliability (agreement) on where each type of LTM might be located

Answer 19

The Working Memory Model (WMM) is a model of STM and was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) and updated more recently by Baddeley (2000) - this is a more theoretical model of our STM Baddeley and Hitch felt that the idea of a single unitary STM as outlined by the MSM was too simplistic, and this model considered our STM to be a multi-component, flexible system which actively processes and manipulates information (hence being referred to as working) They came up with this model when they realised that if you do 2 tasks at once, and they are both visual, you perform less well than if you do them separately However, if you do 2 things at the same time and 1 is visual and one involves sound, then there is no interference You do them as well simultaneously as you would do them separately, which suggests that there is 1 store for visual processing and 1 for processing sound

Answer 20

Dual-Task Studies are studies that were created by Baddeley and Hitch to prove that there are different STM stores for visual information and audio information In these, you complete true/false questions as a part of the visual task, while remembering a sequence of numbers for the sound task, and they found that their participants performed better on this task to ones where they asked participants to complete 2 visual tasks or 2 sounds tasks

Answer 21

The WMM consists of 4 main components, each of which is qualitatively different, especially in terms of coding and capacity These are the: - central executive - phonological loop - Visio-spatial sketchpad - episodic buffer

Answer 22

Main Purpose: - key component to the working memory model - it monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocates subsystems to tasks Capacity: - does have some storage capacity but it is very limited Coding: - modality free - it can deal with info in any sensory format - flexible

Answer 23

Main Purpose: - it deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives - the PL is subdivided into: ~ the phonological store, which stores what you hear ~ the articulatory process, which allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating sounds or words in a “loop” to keep them in working memory while they are needed) Capacity: - the capacity of this “loop” is the equivalent of what you can say in 2 seconds Coding: - the coding is acoustic, ad the PL slave system deals with the auditory information

Answer 24

Main Purpose: - the inner eye - the VSS stores visual and/or spatial information when required - it is divided into the (divided into these by Robert Logic (1995)) ~ visual cache (stores visual data) ~ the inner scribe (manipulates/arranges visual data) Capacity: - limited capacity - Baddely (2003)n said this is about 3 or 4 objects Coding: - as the VVS stores visual and spatial information, it uses visual coding

Answer 25

Main Purpose: - was added to the WMM by Baddeley in 2000 - it links the working memory to the LTM and wider cognitive processes such as perception Capacity: - limited capacity - about 4 chunks Coding: - like the central executive (CE), is it modality free

Answer 26

Baddeley stated that mentally counting the windows on a house is an example of the working memory model in Action: - instruction to count the windows in your house is received by the central executive - the CE allocates the tracks of visualising your house to the visuo-spatial sketchpad - the episodic buffer is required to access the picture of your house from the LTM so the VSS can see it and the visual image is stored in your visual cache and we move around thge image of our house using the inner scribe - the CE allocated the counting windows task to your phonological loop - you “inner voice” (articulatory process) counts and your “inner ear” keeps much of your counting (phonological store) - the CE keeps track of the task and its completion

Answer 27

One strength of the WMM is that it is a more complete explanation of memory than the MSM For example, the WMM has much more explanatory power than the MSM. It can explain how we complete a range of tasks, including verbal reasoning, comprehension tasks, reading, problem-solving no visual processing. The MSM cannot fully explain how we can complete these tasks, especially if we are doing 2 tasks at the same time. As a result, most psychologists today agree that our STM is made up of a number of slave systems rather than the unitary store proposed by the MSM This is a strength because it means that the WMM fills in many important gaps of information that were left in the MSM, meaning that psychologists now have a better understanding of memory

Answer 28

One strength of the WMM is that there is evidence to support it For example, physiological evidence exists using studies involving brain scans. PET scans have shown that different areas of the brain area activate while completing verbal and verbal tasks. These areas may correspond to components of working memory This is a strength because evidence lends credibility towards to the model

Answer 29

One limitation of the WMM is the fact that we don’t fully understand roles and parts of the WMM. There is not enough information For example, in 2003, Baddeley wrote that ‘the central executive is the most important but the least understood component of working memory, “while the idea of the central executive as the “boss” and coordinator does make sense in the model, more research is needed in order to fully understand its role and how it works This is a limitation because we don’t fully understand the WMM or know everything about it. We don’t have a full understanding, particularly the most important part

Answer 30

Forgetting in long term memory is due to a problem of accessibility The information we are looking for is in our LTM still, so there is not a problem of availability - we know this because of the capacity (unlimited) and duration (decades/a life time) of the LTM store However, we can have trouble getting the information out of our LTM, and this is experienced as ‘forgetting’

Answer 31

Interference theory argues that information (especially information of similar nature) gets ‘muddles up’ in our LTM This disruption makes it harder for us to locate the memories, and then this is experienced as ‘forgetting’ Proactive Interference: - this occurs when an older memory interferes with you remembering a newer memory - for example, calling a new girlfriend by an old girlfriend’s name Retroactive Interference: - this occurs when a newer memory interferes with you remembering an older memory - for example, not being able to remember a previous postcode

Answer 32

Underwood (1957) Underwood asked some students to learn a list of nonsense syllables, and 24 hours later he asked them to recall them He found that their level of recall was much lower than he would have expected The students had not been asked to learn anymore nonsense syllables in the 24 hours, so he knew it wasn’t a case of retroactive interference, as there was now new information to interfere with the old Underwood then realised that the forgetful students had in fact participated in a previous memory test that he had conducted When he looked at their mistakes in detail, he discovered that they had actually given the nonsense syllables that the first memory test This is therefore an example of proactive interference, as the old nonsense syllables got in the way of them remembering the new nonsense syllables

Answer 33

McGeoch and McDonald asked participants to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy They were allocated to 1 of 6 groups and were asked to learn a new list Group 1: words with the same meanings as the original words (synonyms) Group 2: words with the opposite meaning as the original words (antonyms) Group 3: words unrelated to the original list Group 4: consonant syllables Group 5: 3-digit numbers Group 6: no new list - these participants just rested (control group) Results (mean number of original words recalled) Group 1: 1.3 Group 2: 1.9 Group 3: 2.1 Group 4: 2.6 Group 5: 3.7 Group 6: 4.5 The group who had no new information to learn did the best, and the highest score. The group who got the lowest score got this because synonyms are more likely to be muddled From this, we can draw the conclusions that retroactive interference can occur, as shown by the fact that group 6 had the best recall of older information. Interference is most likely to occur when information is similar, as shown by group 1 doing the worst

Answer 34

One strength of interference study is that it is supported by drug studies For example, Conen et al carried out an experiment where he set his participants the task of being given a list of words, and they needed to remember them and recall them at a later point. It was assumed that experience between being given the list and being asked to recall it would act as interference. The control group were given a placebo drug, whereas the experimental group was given Valium before learning the list of words. Valium works by increasing GABA activity, which is a neurotransmitter, which reduces anxiety. The experimental group had better recall and less interference This is a strength because these findings support interference theory because the Valium will presumably reduce the number of new memories made in between learning and recalling the list, so they have less retroactive interference

Answer 35

One strength of interference theory is that it uses lab based research For example, in lab based studies, you are able to have a lot of control over relevant EVs that could otherwise influence the results, such as individual differences in memory, alcohol and drug consumption and noise. This is a strength because it means that the internal validity of the research will be high However, there are also limitations of using lab based research For example, research into interference theory often uses artificial tasks, such as being asked to remember nonsense syllables or lists of random words, that you wouldn’t be asked to remember in the real world This is a limitation because it means that the external validity of the research will be low and won’t show our real memory processes

Answer 36

One strength of interference theory is that there are real world cases of interference that support it For example, Baddeley and Hitch carried out the “rugby study” in 1977. Rugby players were asked to recall the names of all of the teams they had played that season. This was the same length of time for all of the players, but not all players had played the same number of games, due to having to take games out due to injury. They found that the players who had played fewer games due to injury were able to remember more of the teams that their team had played This is a strength because the ones who had played less games had less retroactive interference than those who had played more, showing that interference has an effect on memory with less artificial material than other studies

Answer 37

One limitation of interference theory is that it is not a complete explanation of LTM forgetting For example, Tulving (1966) gave lists of words to participants to learn and test on. He then gave them a free recall test on them in 3 separate occasions. He found that, on average, participants recalled 50/80% of words each time, however they recalled different words each time This is a limitation because it is difficult to link these results back to interference theory. How would words lost due to interference in trial one suddenly become available in trial 2 or 3?

Answer 38

(Most domination theory of forgetting in the LTM) Tulving and Thompson (1973) proposed the encoding specificity principle “Memory is most effective if the information that is present at learning is also present at the time of retrieval” - the idea of cues (environmental/physical/psychological cues) In other words, for a cue to be most helpful, it has to be north present at encoding (i.e at the time when we are learning the material) and present at retrieval (i.e. when we are recalling the information) If the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different or absent, there will be some forgetting - this suggests that the best place for us to sit our exams are in the classroom where we learn the information

Answer 39

Context-dependant retrieval refers to environmental cues - i.e. being in the same same place when retrieving information as you were when you leasing it One study into this was carried out by Godden and Baddeley (1975) using deep sea divers They were asked to remember and recall a list of 36 words, and were split into 4 groups to do this: - group 1 = underwater learning and underwater recall - group 2 = underwater learning and land recall - group 3 = land learning and land recall - group 4 = land learning and underwater recall The results for this were: - group 1 = 32% - group 2 = 23% - group 3 = 38% - group 4 = 24% From these results, we can see that those who learnt and recalled the words in the same location did significantly better than those who recalled the words in a different place that they learnt them If you are learning and recalling words in a different place, you are forgetting words due to a lack of cues

Answer 40

State-dependant retrieval refers to physiological or psychological cues - i.e. being in the same physical state or moods when when retrieving information as you were when you learnt it One study into this was carried out by Cater & Cassidy (1998) They gave participants antihistamines, which had a mild sedative effect and made the participants feel slightly drowsy The participants had to learn a list of words and passages of prose and then recall the information in different conditions: - group a = learn on drug - recall on drug - group b = learn on drug - recall when not on drug - group c = learn when not on drug - recall on drug - group d = learn when not on drug - recall when not on drug It was found that groups b and c did the least well on the recall task because there is a mismatch between their physical/psychological state when learning and recalling

Answer 41

One strength of retrieval failure is that further research had shown that you do not need to be in the same environment when recalling as you were when learning; simply imagining yourself to be back in the original place environment can significantly improve your retrieval For example, Smith (1979) gave his participants a list of 80 words to learn while sitting in a distinctive basement room. The following day, he tested some participants in the same basement room, some participants in a ninth-floor room with complete different furnishings, and a third group who also in the ninth-floor room but who were told to imagine imagining themselves back in the basement room. He found that the recall for the first group was 18 items, the second group 12 items and the third group 17 items This is a strength because not only do the findings from group 1 and 2 give additional support for context-dependent retrieval failure, but these findings also have some real world applications. If you are in a situation in which you need to remember information (such as an exam) you can improve your retrieval by imaging you were in the place in which you learnt the information (such as your classroom)

Answer 42

One limitation of retrieval failure is that it may be that the context effects are not actually very strong, especially in every day life For example, different contexts would have to be very different indeed before an effect is seen, which was the case in the Godden and Baddeley study, as you would find it hard to find a context that is as different from land as underwater is. However, everyday life environments are more similar top each other, such as learning something in one room and trying to remember it in another room This is a limitation because it shows that context dependant retrieval failure may not happen all that often, and only when environments at learning and recall are massively different

Answer 43

One limitation of retrieval failure is that research studies that were vital in the support of the theory have been repeated and found different results For example, Godden and Baddeley replicated their underwater experiment but used a recognition test instead of a retrieval test (recall involves having to to retrieve the word yourself. When recognition was tested, there was no context-dependant effect, performance was the same in all 4 conditions This is a limitation because retrieval failure might not be a complete explanation for forgetting, it can explain forgetting in recall tasks only

Answer 44

One strength of retrieval is that studies have been done into retrieval of people when they are different physiological states For example, Goodwin et al. (1969) found that heavy drinkers who learn things in a drunken states are more likely to recall them when drunk than when sober. Eich (1980) has also shown that this effect is shown with a range of other drugs, such as marijuana This is a strength because it is evidence for state-dependant retrieval, when regarding physical sate

Answer 45

One strength of retrieval failure is that there has been research done into how mood effects retrieval While the evidence for mood affecting is less conclusive, Ucros (1989) did find a moderately strong relationship between mood at the learning and retrieval stage. It appears to be that mood dependence is more likely if the information is real-life rather than artificially constructed material and adults are more likely to demonstrate mood dependence than children This is a strength because, while the evidence is less conclusive, there is still some evidence for state-dependant retrieval, in regards to psychological state

Answer 46

Moral point of view - we don’t want innocent people to be punished Safety/society point of view - we don’t want guilty people to be going free and put society in danger Financial point of view - we want to avoid compensation, retrial and holding non-guilty people in prison

Answer 47

The reliability of EWT is of huge importance in legal proceedings The Innocence Project, which works towards clearing the names of wrongly convicted prisoners, states that faulty EWT is the number one cause of wrongful convictions When witnesses misremember, people go to prison, often for many years - therefore it is vital that we understand how memory works, why at can alter it, and how memory works, what can alter it, and how we can prevent this from happening

Answer 48

The Devlin Committee was set up in 1973 to review the process of identification and prosecution of crimes It was found that 447 cases where prosecution occurred when EWT was the only evidence - 74 were prosecuted - this shows the overwhelming weight that is given to EWT by juries Subsequently, the Devlin Committee recommended that the trial judge be required to instruct the jury that it isn’t safe to convict on a single EWT alone

Answer 49

Our brains do not take pictures of events which are then later recalled with 100% accuracy Many things can affect how we remember events Our pre-existing biases and stereotypes can colour our memories, as can information that is received after the event, such as leading questions Out memories for events are reconstructed from various sources - things that happen at the time are combined with other information This means that what we think we remember may not always be accurate However juries, which are made up of 12 members of the general public, may be swayed by EWT, particularly if the eyewitnesses seem confident (Nolan and Markham, 1998) 2 factors that can affect EWT are: - misleading information (leading questions and post-event discussion) - anxiety

Answer 50

Loftus defined a leading question as “a question that by either form or content, suggest to the eyewitness what answer is desired, or leads him to the desired answer” These leading questions may be inadvertently used by the police when interviewing witnessed after the event Information received after an event can have a retroactive interfering effect on out recollection

Answer 51

Loftus and Palmer (1974) To see if the speed estimates given by students upon watching a video of a car crash would be influenced by the wording of the question asked They wanted to see if participants who were asked a question with the word “hit” in it would give a different estimate of speed than those who were asked to the same question but with the word “smashed” - other words used were bumped, contacted and collided Method: 45 students participated in groups of various sizes 7 films were shown, each depicting a traffic accident - these films were segments from longer driver’s education films borrowed from the Evergreen Safety Council and the Seattle Police Department The length of the film segments ranged from 5-30 seconds Following each film, the subjects received a questionnaire asking them first to “give an account of the accident you have just seen” and then, answer a series of specific questions about the accident The critical question was the one that interrogated the subject about the speed of the vehicles which were involved in the collisions 9 subjects were asked “about how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” Equal numbers of the remaining subjects were interrogated with the verbs smashed, collided, bumped and contacted in the place of hit The entire experiment lasted about an hour and a half A different ordering of the films was presented to each groups of subjects Findings (in mean estimated speed in mph): - smashed = 40.5 - collided = 39.3 - bumped = 38.1 - hit = 34.0 - contacted = 31.8 Conclusions: Loftus and Palmer concluded that one reason for the differences in the mean estimates is the response-bias explanation, which suggests that the wording of the question does not alter the actual memory of the event, but instead alters how we answer the question about it - as seen in experiment 1, being asked the leading question with the word “smashed” encourages us to choose a higher speed estimate However, they also put forward a second possible reason - the substitution explanation This proposes that the wording of the leading question actually changes the participant’s memory of the event - this was tested in experiment 2

Answer 52

Loftus and Palmer also wanted to see if the leading questions just changed the response given to the questions, or whether participant’s memories had actually altered as a result of the leading questions Method: 150 students participated in this experiment, in groups of various sizes A film depicting a multiple car accident was shown, followed by a questionnaire The film lasted less than 1 minutes and the accident in the film lasted 4 seconds At the end of the film, the subjects received a questionnaire asking them first to describe the accident in their own words and then answer a series of questions about the accident The critical question was the one that interrogated the subject about the speed of the vehicles - 50 subjects were asked “about how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” - 50 subjects were asked “about how fast were they going when they hit each other?” - 50 subjects were not asked about the speed One week later, the subjects returned and without viewing the film again, they answered a series of questions about the accident The critical question here was “did you see any broken glass?” (Closed question, but there was no broken glass in the video) which the subjects answered by checking “yes” or “no” This question was embedded in a list of 10 questions, and it appeared in a random position in the list There was no broken glass in the accident, but, since broken glass is commensurate with accidents occurring at a high speed, we expected that the subjects who had been asked the smashed question might more often say “yes” to this critical question Findings: Hit - yes=7 (14%) no=43 (86%) Smashed - yes=16 (32%) no=34 (68%) Control - yes=6 (12%) no=44 (88%) Conclusions: Supports the substitution explanation - there was a genuine memory change in 1/3 of the “smashed” group

Answer 53

One strength us that research into the effect of leading questions is backed up by other research For example, Loftus and Zanni (1975) showed participants a film of a car accident. Some participants were asked “Did you see a broken headlight?” Whereas others were asked “did you see the broken headlight?” 7% of those asked about a broken headlight reported seeing one, whereas 17% asked about the broken headlight reported once (they now had a changed memory)(there was not a broken headlight in the video) This is a strength because the research demonstrates that leading questions can actually cause participants to remember something that was not there, which further supports the substitution explanation

Answer 54

One limitation is that not all memories seem for be able to be influenced by leading questions For example, Loftus (1979) showed participants a series of pictures of a man stealing a large bright read wallet from a woman’s bag. 98% of participants were able to identify the colour correctly. Later, Loftus used leading questions (trying to lead them to say the wallet was brown) to try and alter the participants recall. However, they persisted in describing this purse as red This is a limitation because this research contradicts Loftus and Palmer, as it suggest that in some circumstances (namely when attention is focused on the central event) leading questions have a limited effect on memory, not an outcome that would be predicted by either of Loftus and Plamer’s earlier conclusions

Answer 55

Many of the studies into memory have used lab experiments This can be good into the effects of misleading information of EWT because: - they’re is lots of control over EVs such as other distractions like visual, sensory, background noise, tone of voice, and participant variables such as eyesight - you are more able to establish lush a cause and effect relationship (here it would be misleading information causes of EWT accuracy - control over EVs also gives higher internal validity so they are actually measuring what they are actually aiming to test However, this has negatives Yullie and Custhall (1986) interviewed 13 people who had witnesses an actual armed robbery in Canada 4 months previously, in which the shop owner shot a thief dead They found that participants were not led by the leading questions, and the accounts that they gave were similar to those in their initial witness statements - lab studies have lower ecological validity as the research doesn’t reflect on real world EWT - lab research lacks the emotion of real EWT (such as surprise and anxiety) and lacks the consequences (e.g. no one will go to prison) - so lab research may tell very little about misleading questions into EWT

Answer 56

We also need the remember that research into the effect of misleading information on EWT has had practical applications - research has led to the development of the cognitive interview - this is a special types of interview used by police which is constructed in a way as to avoid leading questions and PED, and to maintain the accuracy of EWT This is a strength because we don’t want people going to prison and guilt people going free, so this research may have helped this being prevented

Answer 57

When someone either witnesses or is the victim of a crime, they are liable to feel a great deal of intense emotions, anxiety being the main one These high level of emotion may impede or maybe improve memory for the event We might expect to find that crime where a witness is under a great deal of stress to lead to a poorer recall than lower stress crimes - Deffenbacher et al. (2004) performed a meta-analysis on studies of EW recall and found that high stress had a negative impact on accuracy, supporting this theory However, MacLeod et al. (1986) investigated real life EW reports of 379 physical assaults, and compared them to crime where no physical injury occurred - they found that there was no overall difference in accuracy between 2 types of crime, suggesting that levels of emotion do not make a difference to recall Other evidence suggests that recall can be improved by high levels of emotion Odiniot et al. (2009) interviewed 14 witnesses to an armed robbery and checked their recall against security footage - they found that 84% of the information recalled was correct, and that the witness who reported a higher level of emotional impact had the most accurate recall So, we can see that research supports both possibilities, and anxiety can be a negative and positive effect on EWT

Answer 58

Johnson and Scott (1976) carries out an experiment which demonstrates the powerful role that anxiety can play in undermining accuracy of EWT Participants were told to come into an office to take part in an study and were told what happened wasn’t the actual experiment, just something that happened while they wre waiting, and were exposed to 1 of 2 conditions: 1 - they overheard a low-key discussion about equipment failure - a person then emerged holding a pen with grease on his hands 2 - they overheard a heated and hostile exchange - after the sound of breaking glass and crashing chairs, a man emerged holding a knife covered in blood Participants were given 50 photographs and asked to identify (a recognition task) the man who has come out of the room They found that those who had witnesses the man with the pen were able to accurately identify him 49% of the time whereas those who had seen the man with the bloody knife (so very anxious) were only able to accurately identify him 33% of the time (significantly different and lower) This suggest that anxiety decreased the accuracy of EWT It was concluded that this finding was due to a phenomenon known as tunnel theory (where people have enhanced memory for central events), specially that of weapon focus - witnesses will concentrate on the weapon which in turn distracts attention from the appearance of the person holding the weapon This does however have ethical issues as the study is exposing people to more psychological harm to participants than they would have done had they not been in the study and there was a lack of consent due to the deception of the fact that they weren’t aware that this was the actual study

Answer 59

This study was supported by a later piece of research carried out by Loftus and Burns (1982) Participants were asked to watch a video of a crime Half of the participants watched a non-violent version and half watched a violent version, in which a young boy was shot in the face Those who saw the violent version were less accurate in recalling information about the crime

Answer 60

It was also supported by a more recent piece of research by Valentine and Mesout (2009) which was conducted in London Dungeon (not weapon focus but anxiety) People who visited London Dungeon were asked to take part in a study They were fitted with a heart monitor, which was used to split them into low anxiety groups and high anxiety groups (higher heart beat shows higher anxiety)(very objective) They were then asked questions about their experience, and those in the high anxiety group answered the questions less accurately than those in the low anxiety group This supports the weapon focus study

Answer 61

However, one criticism that has been of the Johnson and Scott study is that it might be lack of internal validity - i.e. it might not actually measure what it claims to measure, and may not have actually measures the effect of anxiety on EWT For example, it may be that the reason the participants were focused on the weapon is because they were surprised at what they saw, rather than scared Pickel (1998) conducted an experiment using scissors, a handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken as the hand-held items in a hairdressing salon EWT was significantly poorer in the high unusualness conditions (gun and chicken) compared to scissor which, even though they could be a weapon, are not unusual This is a limitation because it suggest that the weapon focus effect could be due to unusualness rather than anxiety, and therefore weapon focus research tells us nothing specifically about the effects of anxiety

Answer 62

Witnessing a stressful event creates anxiety which triggered the fight or flight response This increases alertness which may improve memory for the event as we come more aware of cues in the situation Fight or flight response: Stressor (seeing a crime) is perceived -> hypothalamus activates the pituitary gland -> this activates the sympathetic branch of the ANS -> send signal to adrenal glands which secret adrenaline -> adrenaline circulates through your body - causes perspiration, increased respiration, pupil dilation, blood pressure and most importantly, increased alertness

Answer 63

We have already seen from the study by Yuille and Cutshall (1986) showed that witnesses to a real life crime were overall very accurate in their accounts of the event, even 4-5 months after the shooting (Accuracy was measured by comparing then number of details reported in the original interviews at the time of the shooting and their later accounts) In addition to this, when they were asked about the event 4 months later, the witnesses were also asked how stressed they felt at the time of the incident (measured on a 7 point scale), and also whether they had any emotional problems since (e.g. sleeplessness). Studying the results more closely showed that those participants who had reported the highest levels of stress more most accurate (88% accuracy vs 75% accuracy of those who were less stressed) This further suggests that anxiety does not have a detrimental effect on the accuracy of EWT in a real-world context, and may even enhance it

Answer 64

A similar piece of research was carried out by Christianson and Hubinette (1993) They interviewed 58 witnesses of real bank robberies. Like Yuille and Cutshall, they found that victims were accurate in their recall and remembered details about what the robber wore, their behaviour and the weapon used, with recall more than 75% accurate even after up to a 15 month interval. The victim (bank workers) who were also presumably more anxious, also had better recall than bystanders This also suggests that anxiety enhanced the accuracy of the EWT

Answer 65

Neither Yuille and Cutshall nor Christianson and Hubinette had control what happened to their participants in the intervening time between the original robbery and follow-up interviews This means that anything, such as post-event discussion, could have occurred

Answer 66

So the evidence as to whether emotion enhances or impedes memory is unclear However, the Yerkes Dodson curve which shows the relationship between emotional arousal and performance on a task may provide an answer It says that low and high arousal have the worse performance rate, but a medium level of arousal is optimum in remembering This suggests that lower levels of anxiety produce lower level of recall accuracy and that our results will increase with anxiety - but only to a certain point, after which it decreases dramatically This appears to be a reasonable explanation as to why research into the effects of anxiety on EWT has such different findings However, we also need to remember that there are a great many ways in which people react to shocking events - some get angry, some are scared, and others may feel no emotion until the event is over, remaining calm throughout As there are such great individual differences between people, can we really come to any overall generalisations about the effect of emotion on memory?

Answer 67

Research into the accuracy of EWT has had important applications for the way in which police question witnesses The standard police interview consists of the witness free recalling why at they had seen, followed by the police asking the witness specific questions As a result of research into factors affecting the accuracy of EWT, Fisher and Geiselman (1992) developed the cognitive interview designed to be used by police investigators to increase thr accuracy of EWT

Answer 68

1) Recreate (or reinstate) the context of the original incident - get witnesses to try and recall an image of the crime scene and details liken weather, lighting, smells etc (take the witness back to the crime scene or watch a reconstruction or imagine themselves there) - this links back to retrieval failure and context-dependant forgetting - putting the witness back in the same environment because it provides memory cues - sometimes witnesses can asked their emotions (state-dependant retrieval) 2) get the witness to report every detail - anything they can remember even if it does not seem to have a bearing on the crime - all information might be relevant so it is important that it gets reported - might tell the police something new - may trigger other memories of the event 3) get the witness to recall the event in different offers - in reverser, for example - for start at the most memorable event and work backwards or forwards from there - helps identify a witness who is lying because if you have made up a scenario that you are telling police, it is harder to recall a fictional event backwards - links to your working memory ~ if you are a real witness, you will use your VSS to envision the crime, and your PL to talk through it backwards ~ you can do this and use 2 separate sub stores ~ if you’re a fake witness or lying, you will only use the PL to do both, which will overwhelm the WM and they will struggle 4) get witnesses to change perspectives - ask them to try and describe the incident from the perspective of other people who were there at the time, e.g. bystanders or the criminal - disrupts schemas ~ mental short cuts, so there can be errors as seen in the Allport and Postman subway study - changing perspectives forces you to think harder which should reduce reliance on schemas

Answer 69

Geiselman et al tested the effectiveness of the cognitive interview by comparing it with standard police interviewing techniques 89 students were shown a video of violent crimes and 48 hours laters were questioned individually by American detectives, PIs or CIA investigators using either the cognitive interview technique or the standard police interviewing technique Each interview was also taped and analysed for accuracy of recall Participants were tested on: The number of correct items recalled The numbers of errors made, including - the number of items that were incorrectly recalled - for example saying that the assailant had black hair instead of brown hair - the number of confabulated items - the number of items described that were not actually shown in the video Findings: Cognitive interview - correct items=41.5 incorrect items=7.3 confabulated items=0.7 Standard interview - correct items=29.4 incorrect items=6.1 confabulated items=0.4 Conclusions: The cognitive interview draws more correct results than the standard interview however it also draws more incorrect items, but not a significant amount

Answer 70

- Fisher et al (1989) trained a group of detectives from Florida in the use of the cognitive interview and assessed their performance when interviewing genuine witnesses - they found that when compared to the pre-training levels, there was a 47% increase in the amount of information gained from witnesses - Bekerian and Dennett (1993) carried out a meta-analysis of 27 cognitive interview studies and found that in all 27 cases, the cognitive interview provided more accurate information than any other interviewing technique - Kohnken et al. (1999) carried out a meta-analysis of 55 studies comparing the CI (and enhanced CR) with the standard interview - the CI gave 41% increase in accurate information compared to the standard interview, with the CI showing an improvement in accurate information replaced in 51/55 - Holliday (2003) showed that the cognitive interview is also useful for interviewing children - he showed 2 groups of children, 1 aged 4-5 and 1 aged 9-10, a 5 minute video of a child’s birthday party - the next day, all of the children were interviewed about what they had seen on the video, using either a standard interview or a CI - once again, it was found that the of the CI resulted in more correct details being recalled

Answer 71

- Kohnken et al. (1999) also found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants, especially when using the enhance CI - police officers must therefore still treat EWT from CIs and enhanced CIs with caution - some aspects of the CI are more effective - Milne and Bull (2002) found that a combination of “report everything” and “reinstate the context” produced better recall than any of then other elements or combinations of them - this shows that the original CI has its limitations as not all of its elements are equally effective or useful - the CI is time-consuming - it takes more time (e.g. to establish a rapport with the witness and to allow them to relax) and training (special training is requires and many forces do not have resources to provide this)

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