memory Flashcards

Question

what is retrieval

Answer 1

When we want to recall information from the LTM, it has to be transferred back into the STM – this process is called

Answer 2

His hippocampus was removed, damaging his LTM He had no memories for events that had just happened and his LTM never improved with practice His STM was intact as he could recall info that was presented to him immediately Evidence that it is possible to suffer damage to one store whilst the other can be relatively unaffected

Answer 3

more in depth explanation for multi store model Studied brain damaged patient KF. They found his STM for digit span was very poor when numbers were read aloud to him however his recall was much better when he was able to read the digits to himself What does this suggest? Atkinson & Shiffrin’s view of a unitary STM was too simplistic There must be one short term store to process visual information and another to process auditory information

Answer 4

the role of rehearsal the more you rehearse something the more likely it is to be remembered e.g learning lyrics of a song the more you play the song the more likley you are to remember the lyrics c: elaborative rehearsal is needed for LT storage. This occurs when you link the info to your existing knowledge, or you think about what it means.

Answer 5

coding capacity duration

Answer 6

the format in which information is stored in memory stores

Answer 7

Research by Baddeley (1966) found that information is coded differently, depending on the store it is going to He split ppts into 4 groups –each group was given a different list of words to remember He looked at words that were either acoustically similar or semantically similar

Answer 8

Group 1 (acoustically similar): words sounded similar (cat, cab, can) Group 2 (acoustically dissimilar): words sounded different (pit, few, cow) Group 3 (semantically similar): words with similar meanings (great, large, big) Group 4 (semantically dissimilar): words with different meanings (good, huge, hot)

Answer 9

when recalling straight away, group 1 (acoustically similar) had the worst recall When recalling after 20 minutes, group 3 (semantically similar) had the worst recall This suggests that: Information is coded acoustically in the STM Information is coded semantically in the LTM

Answer 10

Artificial stimuli Baddeley used word lists that meant nothing to ppts lacks ecological validity

Answer 11

the amount of memry can be held in a mmory store

Answer 12

7 plus minus two

Answer 13

the length of time a memory can be held in a memory store h

Answer 14

Peterson and Peterson (1959) – STM duration Tested 24 undergraduate students across 8 trials On each trial ppts were given consonant syllable to remember (e.g. SMY) and a 3-digit number (e.g.) Ppts had to recall the consonant syllable after an interval of either 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 seconds

Answer 15

90% correct over 3 seconds 20% correct over 9 seconds 2% correct over 18 seconds

Answer 16

Bahrick et al. (1975) Studied 392 ppts from Ohio – ages ranged from 17-74 Yearbooks were obtained from ppts or from old schools They tested recall on photo-recognition on 50 photos and free recall (naming people from their graduating class)

Answer 17

Ppts tested within 15 years of graduating were 90% accurate in photo recognition – this declined to 70% after 48 years Within 15 years 60% were accurate in free recall – this declined to 30% after 48 years

Answer 18

a form of forgetting. when we dont have the necessary cues t access the memory

Answer 19

Tulving (1983) reviewed research and discovered that if a cue is to help us recall information it needs to be present at encoding (when we learn the material) and at retrieval (when we recall the material).

Answer 20

an external cue which triggers a particular memory e.g a smell a photo

Answer 21

Godden and….? (1975) Studied context-dependent cues in deep-sea divers working under water Asked divers to learn a list of words either underwater or on land – they were and then they were asked to recall underwater or on ground results Those who learned and recalled the lists in the same environment had the best recall Regardless of whether it was land or underwater Recall was 40% lower for those in the non-matching conditions

Answer 22

a internal cue that triggers a particular memory e.g mood intoxicated

Answer 23

carter and cassidy Gave anti-histamine drugs to ppts (to treat hay fever) anti-histamines have a mild sedative effect that causes drowsiness Ppts has to learn a list of words and passages of prose They then had to recall the info either on or off the drug Those who learned and recalled whilst off/on the drug had better recall than those who learn and recalled in different states (learn on the drug, recall off, and vice versa)

Answer 24

supporting evidence -Goodwin et al. (1969) investigated cue-dependent forgetting with male medical students. It took place over two days. Day One was for training and learning of tasks, and Day Two was for memory testing. Some participants were drunk on Day One (learning) and some were drunk on Day Two (recall)

Answer 25

Context cues may only be effective depending on the kind of recall Baddeley (1980) replicated the underwater experiment using a recognition task instead of a recall task Ppts had to say whether they recognised a word read to them from a list, instead of retrieving it themselves No context-dependent effect was found – performance was the same in all four conditions Context dependent cues only have an effect when memory is tested in a certain way – low explanatory power

Answer 26

he said that it is very difficult to test this because very rarely are there environments which differ as drastically as on land or under water.

Answer 27

forgetting because one memory blocks another memory Two or more conflicting memories can result in forgetting one or both of them Interference is mostly used for explaining why LTMs are forgotten – they are available, we just can’t access them Examples? Learning a new language or a new song

Answer 28

Proactive interference: forgetting occurs when older memories (already stored) disrupt the recall of newer memories

Answer 29

Retroactive interference: forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored

Answer 30

McGeoch and McDonald (1931) They tested retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials Ppts learned a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy – they then learned a new list There were 6 groups in total with slightly different new lists to learn

Answer 31

Group 1: synonyms – words with the same meanings as the first list Group 2: Antonyms – words with opposite meanings to the first list Group 3: words unrelated to the original ones Group 4: nonsense syllables Group 5: 3-digit numbers Group 6: no new list – they just rested

Answer 32

group 1 had the worst recall showing that interference is stronger when memory is similar

Answer 33

the ability to remember details of a crime or accident which they had observed

Answer 34

mis leading information anxiety

Answer 35

leading questions post event discussion

Answer 36

a question ,which because the way its phrased suggests a different answer

Answer 37

loftus and palmer

Answer 38

Got student ppts to watch film clips of car accidents and then gave them questions about the accident They tested the effects of a critical question (a leading question) which was “about how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” the verb ‘hit’ was changed to a different verb for the other groups These were: contacted, bumped, collided, smashed

Answer 39

The verb ‘contacted’ resulted in an average estimated speed of 31.8 mph The verb ‘smashed’ resulted in an average estimated speed of 40.8 mph

Answer 40

occurs when there is more than one witness to an event. witnesses may discuss with one another what they saw in the event. the discussion may impact the recall when asked in an interview

Answer 41

Asked pairs of ppts to watch a video about a crime – although they watched the same crime, they each watched it from a different point of view (camera angles) This means they saw elements that their pair could not see E.g. one ppt could see the title of the book the woman in the video was holding Pairs would then discuss what they’d seen and then completed a recall test individually

Answer 42

They found that 71% of ppts mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in video They had picked up the details in their discussion In the control group (where there was no discussion), no ppts made mistakes Gabbert et al. concluded that witnesses go along with each other, either to win social approval or because other witnesses are more accurat

Answer 43

research into misleading information can be really useful in the real world Consequences for inaccurate EWTs can serious (such as?) Loftus (1975) – argued that her research suggests that police officers need to be very careful about how they phrase their questions during interviews Doing this could potentially save the legal system lots of money – less people falsely accused of crimes – good for the economy

Answer 44

nastasi and Rhodes (2006) – age differences Suggested that older people are less accurate than younger people when giving EWTs They found that groups aged between 18-25 and 35-45 were more accurate than those aged between 55-78 years This suggests what? Interestingly, however, all groups were most accurate when identifying people in their own age group (own age bias) demand charactersitic Argued that many answers given by ppts in these studies are a result of demand characteristics Generally, ppts like to be helpful and attentive – so if the researcher asks a question and they don’t know the answer, they may just guess to help the researcher

Answer 45

a state of emotional and physical arousal ,which can come in the form of worrying thoughts and feelings tension

Answer 46

Made ppts think they were taking part in a lab study While sat in the waiting room, ppts heard a an argument next door (the real experiment) – two conditions Low anxiety condition: a man walked through the waiting area carrying a pen with grease on his hands High anxiety condition: heard glass smash and a man walked out with a knife covered in blood Ppts were then asked to pick out the man from a group of 50 photos

Answer 47

In the low anxiety condition, 49% of ppts could identify the correct man In the high anxiety condition, 33% could identify him

Answer 48

anxiety triggers the ‘fight or flight’ response (which is?) This response can increase alertness This can improve our memory of an event because we become more aware of the cues in the situation

Answer 49

Conducted a study of a real-life shooting in a gun shop in Canada – the owner shot and killed a thief There were 21 witnesses – 13 agreed to take part in the study Interviews were held 4-5 months after the incident which accompanied the police interviews made at the time of the shooting Accuracy was measured by number of details reported Ppts also had to rate how stressed they felt at the time of the event and were asked about emotional problems since the event

Answer 50

Most importantly, ppts that reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate 88% compared to 75% of the less stressed group

Answer 51

Some have argued that Johnson and Scott’s study is testing surprise rather than anxiety Ppts focused on the weapon because they were surprised, not scared Pickel (1998) – conducted an experiment similar to theirs, but in a hair-dressing salon The confederate either had scissors, a handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken in their hand Eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in the high unusualness conditions (raw chicken and handgun) This suggests that the weapon focus effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/threat

Answer 52

most studies done on anxiety are either field experiments or use natural events What kind of extraneous variables may affect the DV (results?) Time between event and interview (Yuille and Cutshaw) Post-event discussion News/headlines in the media Rehearsal/story telling

Answer 53

Creating/manipulating anxiety has many ethical concerns Causing psychological harm in ppts just for research purposes has been questioned – is it really necessary? Yuille and Cutshall’s study took advantage of an existing event – this is more ethical than creating your own (Johnson and Scott)

Answer 54

Fisher and Geiselman (1992

Answer 55

a method of interviewing witness which helps them retrieve more information for testimony

Answer 56

report everything Witnesses are encouraged to include every detail of the event, even if it seems irrelevant reinstate the context Witnesses should return to the original crime scene or ‘in their mind’ and imagine the environment reverse the order tell the story from a different order change the perspective Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives.

Answer 57

Fisher et al. (1987) developed some additional elements of the CI to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction . Establishing eye contact, reducing anxiety, minimising distractions Getting the witness to speak slowly,

Answer 58

Kohnken et al. (1999) conducted a meta-analysis, combining data from 50 studies They found that the ECI consistently provided more correct information than the standard police interview used by police This shows that there are real practical benefits of using the enhanced version of the CI Police may have a better chance of catching criminals, benefiting society as a whole

Answer 59

Although Kohnken et al (1999) found that the ECI lead to more accurate information recalled (81% increase) They also found that there was a 61% increase in inaccurate information recalled as well (false positives) Key question: should police forces be using the cognitive interview (particularly ECI), even if it means possibly gaining more inaccurate info Time consuming The CI takes significantly more time to conduct compared to a standard police interview Furthermore, CI requires specialist training, something that most police forces cannot afford What are the issues then? Police may be reluctant to use this method in real life due to time constraints Due to training issues, most forces may not be using high quality CI – no time or money

Answer 60

Dual-task performance ⚫ Baddeley et al. (1975) ⚫ Found that ppts had more difficulty doing two visual tasks at once (tracking a light and describing the letter F) than doing both a verbal and visual task at once (why?) ⚫ This is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave system whereas when doing a visual and verbal task there is no competition

memory Flashcards

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