Memory

Question 1

What is coding?

Answer 1

the format in which information is stored in various memory stores

Question 2

what is capacity?

Answer 2

the amount of information that can be held in a memory store at a given time

Question 3

what is duration?

Answer 3

the lengths of time information can be held in a memory store

Question 4

what is short term memory?

Answer 4

the limited capacity memory store. Coding is mainly acoustic, capacity is between 5 and 9 items on average, duration is between 18-30 seconds

Question 5

what is long term memory?

Answer 5

the permanent memory store. Coding is mainly semantic, it has unlimited capacity and can store memories for up to a lifetime

Question 6

what was the aim of Baddeley’s research (1966)?

Answer 6

research coding in LTM and STM

Question 7

What was Baddeley’s procedure?

Answer 7

used word lists
4 sets of word lists- acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar, semantically dissimilar
participants had to recall the word lists
done immediately to assess STM and after 20 minutes to assess LTM

Question 8

What was Baddeley’s findings?

Answer 8

participants given the list of acoustically similar words had the worst recall
participants given the list of semantically similar words had the worst recall

Question 9

What was Baddeley’s conclusions?

Answer 9

the lists that had poor recall showed that the words had become confused.
For the immediate recall, acoustically sounding words were not remembered well. This suggests STM is acoustically coded
For the delayed recall, semantically sounding words were not remembered well. This suggests LTM is semantically coded

Question 10

What was the aims of Jacob’s research (1887)?

Answer 10

research capacity of STM

Question 11

What was Jacob’s procedure?

Answer 11

developed a technique to measure digit span- how many items an individual can remember, in sequence and repeat back in order

Question 12

What was Jacob’s findings?

Answer 12

found the mean span for digits across participants was 9.3 items
found that the mean span for letters across participants was 7.3

Question 13

What was Jacob’s conclusion?

Answer 13

memory can hold 7-9 items

Question 14

What was Miller’s aim (1956)?

Answer 14

research capacity of STM

Question 15

What was Miller’s procedure?

Answer 15

observed that things come in sevens
also used the digit span technique, but “chunked” items into groups

Question 16

What were Miller’s findings?

Answer 16

found people could recall 5 words, as well as they can recall 5 letters (via chunking)

Question 17

What was Miller’s conclusion?

Answer 17

used the term ‘the magical number 7’ to describe the capacity of STM

Question 18

What was Peterson and Peterson’s aims (1956)?

Answer 18

Research duration of STM

Question 19

What was Peterson and Peterson’s procedure?

Answer 19

24 students took part in 8 trials and were given a trigram such as BNT and a three digit number and asked to count backwards to prevent rehearsal. They were stopped after either 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds. This was the retention interval

Question 20

What were the findings of Peterson and Peterson’s?

Answer 20

found that STM lasts about 18 seconds after this very few people correctly recall the consonant syllable

Question 21

What was the conclusion of Peterson and Peterson’s experiment?

Answer 21

suggests STM may have a very short duration, unless it is rehearsed

Question 22

what is a limitation of baddeley’s study?

Answer 22

•did not use meaningful material
•words had no personal meaning to participants
•when information is meaningful people will use semantic coding even in STM

Question 23

what’s a limitation of jacob’s study?

Answer 23

•it was conducted a long time ago and early research such as this, often lacked control of extraneous variables. For example,some participants may have been distracted.

Question 24

What’s a limitation of Miller’s study?

Answer 24

•may have oversimplified capacity in STM
•Cowan (2001) reviewed other research and concluded that the capacity of STM was only 4 chunks which is lower than Miller’s estimate of 7+/-2. This means the accepted capacity of STM may be accurate.

Question 25

what is a limitation of Peterson and Peterson’s study?

Answer 25

•used artificial stimuli
•consonant syllables/ trigrams do not reflect real life memory activities
•study lacks external validity

Question 26

Strength and limitation of Bahrick et al’s study?

Answer 26

•high external validity
•using real-life meaningful memories means that the findings are more likely to accurately represent memory in the real world
•confounding variables were not controlled such as the fact some of the participants may have recently overlooked their yearbook photos

Question 27

what is the multi store model of memory?

Answer 27

a representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called sensory register, short term memory and long term memory. It describes how memory is transferred from one store to another, how it is remembered and forgotten.

Question 28

what is the sensory register?

Answer 28

the memory stores for each of our five senses, such as vision (iconic) and hearing (echoic).The capacity of the sensory register is huge and information lasts for a very short time- less than half a second.

Question 29

who developed the multi store model of memory?

Answer 29

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

Question 30

what is episodic memory?

Answer 30

a long term memory store for personal events. It includes memories of when the events occurred and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved. Memories from this store have to be received consciously and with effort.

Question 31

what is semantic memory?

Answer 31

a long term memory store for our knowledge of the world. This includes facts and what words and concepts mean. These memories usually also need to be recalled deliberately.

Question 32

What is procedural memory?

Answer 32

a long term memory store for our knowledge of how to do things. This includes out memories of learned skills. We usually recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort.

Question 33

what are explicit memories?

Answer 33

can be inspected and recalled consciously

Question 34

what are implicit memories?

Answer 34

unable to be consciously recalled

Question 35

what are strengths of the different types of LTM?

Answer 35

•neuroimaging evidence
- there is evidence from brain scans to show that different types of memory are stored in different parts of the brain.
•clinical evidence- HM could learn new procedural memories but not episodic or semantic memories.
•real life application- allows treatments to be developed. Belleville showed that episodic memories could be improved in individuals who had mild cognitive impairment.

Question 36

what is a limitation of different types of LTM?

Answer 36

•argument about whether episodic and semantic memory should be separate.
•Cohen and Squire disagree with Tulving’s division of LTM into three types, instead arguing there should be 2.
•very difficult to separate episodic and semantic memory as they are both stored in the prefrontal cortex suggesting some similarity.

Question 37

what are strengths of the WMM?

Answer 37

•Shallice and Warrington’s study of patient KF who had suffered brain damage. KF had poor STM ability for verbal information but could process visual information normally.This suggests just his phonological loop had been damaged leaving other areas of memory intact.
•Studies of dual-task performance support the separate existence of the visio-spatial sketchpad. Baddeley et al showed that participants had more difficulty doing two visual tasks than doing both a visual and verbal task at the same time.
•Brain scanning studies support the WMM. Braver et al (1997) gave their participants tasks that involved the central executive while they were having a brain scan and found greater activity in an area known as the left prefrontal cortex. As difficulty of the task increased, the activity in the left prefrontal cortex also increased. This suggests that there is a biological basis to the central executive component of the WMM, increasing the validity of the model.

Question 38

what are limitations of WMM?

Answer 38

•evidence from case studies of patients with brain damage need to be treated with caution. May not be reliable as it concerns unique cases with patients who have had traumatic experiences. Baseline measurements are not taken so there is no control to compare the performance after the injury.
•Cognitive psychologists suggest there is a lack of clarity over the central executive. Needs to be more clearly specified than just being an attentional process. WMM could be viewed as incomplete.

Question 39

who developed the WMM?

Answer 39

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Question 40

what is the central executive?

Answer 40

manages attention, and controls information from the the two “slave” stores. It processes information in all sensory forms but it is only able to deal with one strand of information at a time.

Question 41

what is the phonological loop?

Answer 41

temporarily retains language-based information in auditory form and holds the amount of information that can be spoken out loud in two seconds
•the articulatory rehearsal process of language, allows maintenance rehearsal
•the phonological store which holds auditory speech information and the order in which it was heard

Question 42

what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 42

•temporarily retains visual and spatial information.
•can hold 3 to 4 objects at one time
•consists of the visual cache which stores visual information about form and colour; the inner scribe which deals with spatial relationships and the arrangement of objects

Question 43

what is the episodic buffer?

Answer 43

•facilitates communication between the components of the WMM and long-term memory
•integrates information from the other stores and maintains a sense of time sequencing
•can hold 4 chunks of information

Question 44

what’s the difference between the central executive and episodic buffer?

Answer 44

•central executive is the “sorter”
•controls where the information is going- PL or VSS
•episodic buffer is the link between the central executive and long term memory. Before it was introduced there was no way information from the LTM could enter the WMM
•episodic buffer also holds information together and remembers the sequence of information

Question 45

Dual task: if one store is utilised for both tasks

Answer 45

task performance is poorer than when they are completed separately

Question 46

Dual Task: if the tasks require different stores

Answer 46

performance would be unaffected when performing them simultaneously

Question 47

what is interference theory?

Answer 47

forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten

Question 48

what is proactive interference?

Answer 48

forgetting occurs when older memories that are already stored, disrupt the recall of newer memories. The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar

Question 49

what is retroactive interference?

Answer 49

forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories that are already stored.

Question 50

What did McGeoch and McDonald research?

Answer 50

retroactive interference

Question 51

what was McGeoch and McDonald’s procedure?

Answer 51

•participants had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy
•participants then had to learn another list of words
•there were 6 different conditions

Question 52

what were McGeoch and McDonalds findings?

Answer 52

recall of the original list was dependent on the nature of the second list. The most similar material, group 1 synonyms, had the worst recall.

Question 53

What was McGeoch and McDonalds conclusion?

Answer 53

interference is strongest when the memories are similar

Question 54

what are strengths of interference theory?

Answer 54

•McGeoch and McDonalds research
•Baddeley and Hitch asking rugby players the names of teams they had played in a season. Accurate recall did not depend on how long ago the matches took place, but the number of matches that had been played. Shows interference explanations can apply to at least some everyday situations.

Question 55

what are limitations of interference theory?

Answer 55

•artificial stimuli- greater chance interference will be demonstrated in lab experiments, than in real life, due to artificial nature of the stimuli. Therefore can’t be generalised to everyday situations.
•lacks mundane realism- learning information for a study on interference does not represent real life. Studies are designed to cause the maximum amount of interference. Studies into interference may overemphasis interference as an explanation of forgetting. This reduces applicability of the explanation in the real world.

Question 56

what is retrieval failure theory?

Answer 56

a form of forgetting. It occurs when we do not have the necessary cues to access memory. The memory is available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided.

Question 57

what is a cue?

Answer 57

a “trigger” of information. May be meaningful or indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning.

Question 58

what is the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 58

recall of information is best when there is a large overlap between the information available at the time of retrieval and the information in the memory trace.

Question 59

what is context dependent forgetting?

Answer 59

a form of forgetting where recall occurs in a different external setting to coding

Question 60

what is state dependent forgetting?

Answer 60

a form of forgetting where recall occurs in a different internal setting to coding.

Question 61

what was the aim of Godden and Baddeley’s research?

Answer 61

to investigate cue-dependent forgetting

Question 62

what was the procedure of Godden and Baddeley’s research?

Answer 62

divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land

Question 63

what were the findings of Godden and Baddeley’s research?

Answer 63

in conditions where learning and recall conditions matched, recall was 40% higher, than in non-matching conditions.

Question 64

what were the conclusions of Godden and Baddeley’s research?

Answer 64

external cues available at learning help to trigger memories

Question 65

what was the aim of Carter and Cassaday’s research?

Answer 65

to investigate state-dependent forgetting

Question 66

what was Carter and Cassaday’s procedure?

Answer 66

antihistamine drugs were given to their participants. Mild sedative. Participants had to learn a list of words and then recall the information when they were either under the influence of the antihistamine or in a normal state.

Question 67

what were the findings of Carter and Cassaday’s research?

Answer 67

in conditions where there was a mismatch between the internal state in learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse

Question 68

what are the conclusions of Carter and Cassaday’s research?

Answer 68

internal cues available at learning help to trigger memories if they are also there at recall

Question 69

what are strengths of retrieval failure theory?

Answer 69

•a range of laboratory, field and natural experiments support the idea. For example, Godden and Baddeley (1975) demonstrated the importance of context-dependent learning and Carter and Cassaday (1998) demonstrated the importance of state-dependent forgetting. Research support increases the likelihood that this is a valid explanation for forgetting.
•There are real life applications from research into retrieval failure. Baddeley’s research into context dependent forgetting helps to explain a common occurrence we all experience in our everyday life of forgetting when the environment changes. When we are having trouble remembering something, it is probably worth making the effort to remember where we were when we learnt it- this is one of the basic principles of the cognitive interview.

Question 70

what are the limitations of retrieval failure theory?

Answer 70

•the research conducted to support this explanation is very different to how forgetting occurs in the real world. Baddeley argued that context effects are not actually very strong in real life, Contexts must be very different before an effect is seen. This is a limitation because it means that forgetting due to retrieval failure does not actually explain forgetting in the real world.
• It may be impossible to test context dependent forgetting. In an experiment where a cue produces the successful recall of a word, we assume the cue must have been encoded at the same time as learning. If the cue does not produce recall, we assume it was not encoded. However, these are just assumptions. This may mean that the experiments have low external validity. Reducing the validity of supporting research, reduces the validity of the explanation for forgetting.

Question 71

what is eyewitness testimony?

Answer 71

the evidence given in court or a police investigation, by someone who has witnessed a crime or accident.

Question 72

what is misleading information?

Answer 72

incorrect information given to an eyewitness following an event. It gives them the wrong impression. This can be during post-event discussion or take the form of leading questions.

Question 73

what is a leading question?

Answer 73

a question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer

Question 74

what is post-event discussion?

Answer 74

occurs when there is more than one witness to an event. Witness may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses or with other people. Repeat interviewing also creates a form of this. It may influence the accuracy of each witness’s recall of the event.

Question 75

what did Loftus and Palmer (1974) investigate?

Answer 75

investigated the effect of leading questions on eyewitness accounts

Question 76

what was Loftus and Palmers first experiment?

Answer 76

•45 American students watched a video of a car crash and were asked a specific question about the speed of the cars
• Loftus and Palmer manipulated the verb used in the question: “smashed/collided/bumped/hit/contacted”
•found the estimated speed was affected by the verb used
•shows that the accuracy of EWT is affected by leading questions and that a single word in a question can significantly affect the accuracy of our judgements

Question 77

what was Loftus and Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 77

•150 students divided into 3 groups
•watched a video depicting a car accident
•changed the verb when asking about the speed. The control group was not asked about the speed.
•one week later the participants returned and were asked questions including: “Did you see any broken glass?” (there was no broken glass)
•the verb smashed has connotations of a faster speed and broken glass and this question led the participants to report seeing something that was not actually present
•their memory for the original event was distorted by the question used one week earlier, demonstrating the power of leading questions

Question 78

what is the response bias explanation?

Answer 78

the wording of the question has no real impact on the participants’ memories, it just influences how they decide to answer.

Question 79

what is the substitution explanation?

Answer 79

the wording of a question can actually change the participants’ memory. This was demonstrated in Loftus’ second experiment, where the participants had their memory altered depending on which word they had heard in the original question.

Question 80

What did Gabbert et al investigate (2003)

Answer 80

post event discussion

Question 81

what was the aim of Gabbert et al’s study?

Answer 81

investigated the effect of post event discussion on the accuracy of EWT

Question 82

what was Gabbert et al’s procedure?

Answer 82

•60 students from the University of Aberdeen and 60 older adults recruited from a local community participated. Watched a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet, but it had been filmed from different perspectives
•they were then either tested individually (control group) or in pairs (co witness group) on their recall
•participants in the co witness group were told that they had watched the same video but they had seen different perspectives of the same crime and only one person had actually witnessed the girl stealing.
•all participants then completed a questionnaire

Question 83

what was Gabbert et al’s findings?

Answer 83

•71% of the witnesses in the co witness group recalled information they had not actually seen. The control group did not recall any information that they had not seen.

Question 84

what was Gabbert et al’s conclusion?

Answer 84

these results highlight the issue of post event discussion and the powerful effect this can have on the accuracy of EWT

Question 85

what was a strength of Loftus and Palmer’s investigation?

Answer 85

•had a great deal of control. It was a lab experiment and therefore because of the control of extraneous variables, we know that the only thing impacting on the DV was the IV. This means that the verb in the question impacts on the rating of speed and the memory of glass. Therefore, the results have greater internal validity.

Question 86

what are limitations of Loftus and Palmers study?

Answer 86

•research lacked mundane realism. Task involved watching a car crash. Participants probably guessed they were going to be asked questions about the video. In everyday life you do not know that you are going to be a witness so you might not be as aware of what is going on. Also the emotion that might be present during a car crash will not be there when watching a video. This reduces the validity of this supporting evidence.
•Loftus and Palmers experiment lacked population validity. All of the participants were university students. Students may not be experienced drivers which may impact on their susceptibility to leading questions. The result may not be generalisable to other groups.

Question 87

what were the strengths of Gabbert et. al’s study?

Answer 87

•has increased population validity. The study used two different populations- students and older adults. The results between the two groups were similar. This suggests that people of all ages are equally impacted by post event discussion. The results can be applied to more people.
•had a great deal of control. It was a lab experiment and therefore because of control of the extraneous variables, the only thing impacting on the DV was the IV. This means that post event discussion can change peoples memories of the event. Therefore the results have higher internal validity.

Question 88

what was a limitation of Gabbert et al’s study?

Answer 88

•lacked mundane realism. Task involved watching a video of a crime where money was stolen from a wallet. Participants probably guessed they were going to be asked questions about the video. In everyday life you do not know you are going to be a witness so you are less aware of what is going on. Also the emotion that might be present during a real crime would not be there when watching a video. This reduces the validity of the supporting evidence.

Question 89

what is a strength of misleading information?

Answer 89

•practical applications of research into misleading information. Geiselman and colleagues designed the cognitive interview to ensure that police officers do not ask leading questions. This means that memory retrieval is more accurate. The impact of this is that innocent people are less likely to be convicted of a crime they did not commit based on EWT.

Question 90

what are limitations of misleading information?

Answer 90

•research into misleading information uses artificial tasks. Loftus and Palmer got participants to watch a video of a car crash. This is a very different experience from witnessing a real accident, which reduces the external validity of the findings. This means that research into this area may tell us very little about how leading questions impact EWT in real life.
•there are individual differences in the accuracy of EWTs. Anastasi and Rhodes (2006) found that people between 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate in eyewitness reports than people between 55-78. This means that studies need to use participants of varying ages to ensure their results are generalisable to a large number of people.
•Although research into misleading information shows that it has an impact on the accuracy of EWT this may not be true in the real world. Participants in an EWT study usually know they are in a study. They know that the answers they give will not have horrific or significant effects. In the real world, EWT could have serious and far-reaching consequences so misleading information may have less of an impact on the accuracy of EWT. Therefore, lab studies into misleading information may underestimate the accuracy of EWT as a result of the lack of consequence, reducing their external validity.
•Lab experiments may have low external validity. Zaragosa and McCloskey (1989) argue that many answers participants give in studies of EWT are the result of demand characteristics. They think they have guessed the aim of the study. This may mean they are more susceptible to leading questions in a study. However, an eyewitness in court may anticipate being subject to leading arguments so they may be more able to avoid being misled.

Question 91

what is anxiety?

Answer 91

a state of emotional and physical arousal