Memory Flashcards

Question

Explain research support from dual task studies for the working model

Answer 1

P - One strength of the WMM is there is research supporting the assumption that STM has separate components, each with their own limited capacity E - Baddeley and Hitch found that participants could do different tasks if they took up capacity in different stores such as visual and verbal. When participants were asked to compete a verbal task in the Articulatory loop and a separate rask in the central executive, recall was not effected. However, when the same participants were asked to complete two similar tasks, for example both Articulatory loop, then recall on the first task was effected E - Thereforez it shows that the STM Consists of multiple stores, each with their own capacity. Participants easily completed tasks that work on different slave systems as they are no overloading their memory. However, participants who performed two similar tasks activated the slave system and overloaded its capacity so recall from the first task was affected L - This increases the validity of the Working Model

Answer 2

Research support from dual task studies Supported by physiological evidence from brainscans Evidence against the view that the central executive is unitary The WMM doesn't account for all types of memory

Answer 3

A strength of the Wokring memory model is it supported by physiological evidence from brainscans Cohen et Al found that when participants were completing a verbal task, the Broca's area of the brain (responsible for speech production) is the most active, and when participants had to complete a visual task using the VSSP, the Occipital lobe (responsible for visual processing) was the most active. This provides physical evidence for the existence of the phonological loop and VSSP and also supports the phonological loop's role in speeh and auditory based tasks and the VSSP's role in visual tasks Therefore this suggests thag the assumptions made by the WMM ads correct, thus increasing the validity of the WMM

Answer 4

A weakness of the WMM is there is research to criticise the view the CE is unitary This is due to the case study of EVR who had a tumour removed. EVR performed well on reasoning tests which suggested his CE was intact. However, he had poor decision making skills, for example, it would take him hours to decide where to eat This is a weakness because the CE is involved in higher mental processes and the assumption of the WMM is that the CE is unitary so higher mental processes should be completely normal or completely damaged. However, the case of EVR shows some processes of the CE can remain intact while others are damaged. Shows rhag there are several components in the CE and each handles different higher mental processes. In EVR's case one one was damaged Therefore, assumptions regarding the CE is unitary is incorrect and this decreases the validity of the WMM

Answer 5

Processing information is MSM is passive/ WMM is active STM in MSM is one component / STM in WMM has multiple components Information in MSM follows a fixed order / There is interchange between components of WMM and no fixed order Encoding in STM is acoustic / Encoding in DTM is acoustic and visual

Answer 6

One weakness of the WMM is it does does not account for all types of memory For example, Berz found participants were able to listen to instrumental music without impairing performance on other acoustic tasks As participants were able to do this as the same time, this is a weakness as perhaps there is a musical memory component with its own capacity This criticises the WMM as according to it, listening to the music should have overloaded the capacity of the PL and impaired fhe ability of other acoustic tasks Therefore the WMM is incomplete as it fails to account for all types of memory such as musical memory

Answer 7

Strengths : PET scan Real life applications Clinical evidence WEAKNESSES : Semantic and episodic memories not Independent

Answer 8

One strength of Types of long term memory is there is neuro imaging evidence Tulving used PET scans where he gave participants tasks requiring the recall lf semantic and episodic memories. Tulving found that when episodic memories were being recalled, the pre frontal cortex was more active. When semantic memories were being recalled, the posterior region was more active. This provides physical and objective evidence and shows that there are different types of LTM This increases the validity of the fact that there are different types of LTM

Answer 9

Neuroimaging evidence Real life applications (Belleville) Clinical evidence (Clive Wearing) Semantic and episodic memories are not independent

Answer 10

One strength of types of LTM is it has real life applications and can improve the lives of others Mild cognitive impairments often affect episodic memory. Belleville showed that episodic memories could be improved in older people who had a mild cognitive impairment. The trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory than a control group. -This shows that knowing that there are seperate stores in LTM has led to treatment programmes being developed where weak memory is targeted and improved -Types of LTM is highly valuable

Answer 11

A strength of Types of LTM is there is clinical evidence to support it. Clive Wearing contracted a viral disease which caused extensive Brian damage. He lost his Declarative memory as he had no memory of his wedding day but he still had his procedural memory as he still knew how to play the piano. -This shows that the LTM isn't unitary and is made up of seperate stores as one store can be damaged and the other remains intact -This also shows that the stores exist in different parts of the brain -Therefore, this increases the validity of the LTM

Answer 12

One weakness of types of LTM is that the extent to which episodic and semantic memories are distinct is unclear. Some researchers suggest that episodic memories are a gateway to forming semantic memories. For example episodic memories(events-learning about clouds in schools) orginate semantic memories(facts-clouds produce rain) -This is a limitation as the theory of types of LTM presents episodic memories and semantic memories as seperate, distinct stores however research suggests that semantic memories are a gradual transformation of an episodic memory suggesting that they're is a connection between the two memories -As this is not accounted for by the types of LTM, this theory is incomplete and it reduces the validity of it

Answer 13

The Long term memory is a multi part system made up of two or more components containing different types of information

Answer 14

Declarative memory (Explicit - Conscious) Procedural memory (Implicit - Unconscious) Declarative memory is split into Episodic memory and semantic memory

Answer 15

-The ability to remember personal experiences and events from our lives (e.g. birthday parties, wedding day) -Requires a conscious effort to recall - need to search your memory to recall information for an event - A single episode can include multiple memories, such as people, places, objects and this is all bound into one memory episode -The more emotions attached to the memory, the stronger the memory is (e.g. traumatic events are often recalled to due high emotional content) -Time stamped (remember when they happened)

Answer 16

-Contains facts about the world and is always being added to - Need to make a conscious effort to recall a particular fact - Represents the knowledge base for everything you know + less personal + not time stamped

Answer 17

-Procedural memory is a memory for action motor skills which can be recalled without conscious awareness (implicit) - For example, riding a bike depends on a developed skill which can be automatically accessed from the procedural memory - Actions can occur without needing to recall how they happen - Many procedural memories are formed early in life, this involves learning important motor skills such as walking and cycling which are often difficult to explain how to learn

Answer 18

Failure to retrieve information from the Long Term store Interference Retrieval failure

Answer 19

Interference occurs when one set of information competes with another, causing it to be overwritten PROACTIVE INTERFERENCE: Old information disrupts the learning and retention of new information(remeber old address, don't remember new address RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE: New information disrupts the retention of old information(If you change phone numbers, you will remeber the new number but forget the old number)

Answer 20

METHOD: Two groups of participants have to learn paired words (e.g. cat-tree, jelly-moss). The experimental group then learns another list of words where the second paired word is different such as cat-glass, jelly-time. The control group were not given the second list. FINDINGS: Recall of the first list was higher in tbe control group than the experimental group CONCLUSION: This shows retroactive interference as new information disrupted the retention of old information

Answer 21

STRENGTHS: Support for the role of similarity, real life applications WEAKNESSES: Artificiality, incomplete explanations of forgetting

Answer 22

One strength of the interference theory is there is research support for the role of similarity For example McGeoch and McDonald had two groups of participants learn two list of words each. For one group of participants, the second list consisted of synonyms of the first list. For another group of higher in the group where the second list consisted of nonsense syllables(26%) compared that the group where the second list of words consisted of synonyms of the first list(12%) This suggests that interference (retroactive) is more likely to occur when two sets of information are similar. Therefore, this increases the validity of the interference theory as an explanation of forgetting.

Answer 23

One strength of the interference theory is it has real life, practical applications There is a lot of research on the effects of interference when people are exposed to adverts from competing brands within a short period of time. Danaher et Al found that when participants were exposed to two adverts from competing brands within a week, the recall and recognition of the adverts messsge was impaired. Daneher suggested that to improve the memory of the message, the advert must run multiple times a day instead of spread over throughout the week which reduces interference from competing brands This is a strength as it shows that understanding interference can prevent forgetting in real life Therfore, the interference theory is valid as it is an explanation for forgetting

Answer 24

One weakness of the interference theory is the supporting research relies on artificial evidence. The experiments required special conditions such as using paired words. These conditions are rarely used in our day to day life so the research has little relevance to everyday situations. This shows that the interference theory only accounts for a very specific and limited range of instances of forgetting This decreases the ecological validity of the research. As the supporting evidence for the interference throery is invalid this decreases the validity of the theory

Answer 25

One weakness of the interference theory is it is an incomplete explanation of forgetting Forgetting due to interference may be temporary rather than permanent. Ceraso found that if memory was tested again after 24 hours, spontaneous recovery occurred which is when participants now recognised words that they seemed to have forgotten This suggests that interference occurs because memories are temporarily not accessible rather than being lost permanently This shows the interference theory is incomplete as it doesn't explain how memories can be lost permanently This reduces the validity of the theory

Answer 26

-For a cue to help trigger the recall of information, it has to be present at encoding(learning of information) and a Retrieval(when we are recalling it) -If the cues available at Encoding and Retrieval are different or absent, there will be some forgetting

Answer 27

-External cues (places, rooms) -When information is learnt, cues are learnt alongside -If the cues are not present at recall, context dependent forgetting occurs

Answer 28

Godden amd Baddeley PROCEDURE: 18 divers learnt a list of 36 unrelated words either underwater or on land. They were then asked to free recall the words either underwater or on land. FINDINGS: In two of these conditions when the environment contexts of learning and recall were the same, participants had better free recall however, in the conditions where the environmental context of learning and the context of recall were different, recall accuracy was much worse. The external cues available at Encoding and Retrieval were different and this lead to Retrieval failure CONCLUSIONS: His suggests that memory is better when contexts for learning and Retrieval is consistent When information is encoded in the memory , associated contexts are also recorded at the same time such as places. If these contexts are different at tbe time of retrieval, the information Is more likely to be forgotten ing context dependent forgetting

Answer 29

Misleading information Anxiety Misleading information includes leading questions and post event discussions

Answer 30

Evidence provided in a court by a person who has witnessed a crime/incident in order to identify the perpetrator of the crime

Answer 31

The format or the content of a question suggests to the witness what the desired answer is Open question

Answer 32

Refers to any information discussed after the event has happened thag can influence a person's memory of this event This can include discussions with other witnesses , news reports or talking with friends or family members

Answer 33

BACKROUND: Leading questions cab chnage hoe people remeber events and can cause witnesses to give distorted and false testimonies LOFTUS AND PALMER AIM: Investigate the effect of leading questions in distorting the accuracy of eye witness testimonies PROCEDURE: This was carried out in a lab using independent groups design 45 American students were shown 7 films of different car accidents, after each film the students were given questionnaires where they had to describe the accident and answer a series of questions including one critical question This question was 'About how fast were the cars going when they ------ each other' The participants were divided into 5 groups and one of the groups had the verb smashed and another group had the verb contacted. IV: Wording of the question DV: Speed reported by participants FINDINGS: The estimated speed was affected by the verb used When the more impactful verb 'smashed' was used the estimated speed was higher(40.8mph) which was higher than when the verb 'contacted' was used(31.8mph) CONCLUSIONS: Leading questions can distort the accuracy of EWT which reduces the validity of EWT

Answer 34

BACKROUND: Witnesses can be influenced by the views of other witnesses and this can lead to the making false or the stored claims about what they have witnessed GABBERT ET ALL AIM: To investigate the effects of post event information in distorting the accuracy of EWT PROCUDEURE: Participants were split into pairs and each participant watched the video of the same crime , but from different viewpoints This meant that each participant could see elements in the event that the other could not , for example, only one of the participants could see the title of a book carried by a young women - Both participants then discuss what they had seen before individually completing test of recall - In the control group that was no discussion before the test of recall FINDINGS: In the experimental group, 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video, but had picked up in the discussion. The corresponding figure in the control condition was 0% CONCLUSIONS: Witnesses often change their memory and go along with the accounts of others to wins Social approval or becuase they belive other witnesses are right and they are wrong

Answer 35

One strength of research into Misleading information is it is highly reliable Loftus used a variety of controlled experiments which showed different examples of EWT. She had high control over extraneous variables and used a standardised procedure which made her experiments replicable This means other researchers could repeat the study to check for consistency In fact, Loftus conducted a large number of studies into EWT and found the same outcome in all studies which was Misleading information can distort the accuracy of memory Loftus produced replicable research through the use of controlled methods and standardised procedures which provides reliable results on the effects of leading questions on eye witness testimonies

Answer 36

One strength of Loftus and Palmer's research is it has real life, practical applications which are important in cases where the consequences of inaccurate EWT are serious Loftus's research showed that leading questions can significantly distort memory This is a strength as understanding this informs interviews to avoid asking biased, leading questions when gathering information from witnesses This improves the accuracy of the recall of events Therefore, the findings from Loftus's research are useful as it can improve lives

Answer 37

One weakness of Loftus's research is that the task used to test Misleading information is artificial Loftus used a film of a car accident for practical and ethical reasons However, it is difficult to reproduce real life EWT conditions in a lab as real life events often take place unexpectedly and in an atmosphere of high tension This is a weakness as the results of the study may not be applicable to real life as the results would be significantly different Furthermore, Foster et Al found that if participants thought they were watching a real life robbery that was important to a real trial, their identification of the robber was much more accurate than of they did not. This means the study has limited ecological validity which decreases the validity of Loftus's research

Answer 38

One weakness of Loftus's research is there is contradictory evidence from real life research For example, Yuille and Cutshall studed a real life shooting outside a gun shop in Canada. After five months, they asked witnesses two Misleading questions and found that it it did not change the recall accuracy from their original statements. This is a problem as it refutes Loftus's findings and sblws that Misleading information doesn't affect the accuracy of EWT in real life incidences. This reduces the validity of Loftus's findings and conclusions.

Answer 39

-Internal cues such as mood, emotional state, physiological state of person when they first learn the information -If the internal cues are absent at recall, it can lead to state dependent forgetting(change in emotional state)

Answer 40

PROCEDURE: Male volunteers has to learn a list of words when they were either drunk or sore. After 24 hours, they had to recall the list of words. Some were sobre and others got drunk again FINDINGS: participants had higher recall when in the same physiological state at learning and recall(drunk-drunk, sobre-sobre) CONCLUSIONS: This suggests that if mental or physiological states are different at the time of Encoding and Retrieval, for getting is more likely to occur

Answer 41

STRENGTHS: Research support for state dependent forgetting Has practical applications WEAKNESSES: Artificial evidence Extent of forgetting depends on the way memory is being tested

Answer 42

Carter and cassaday have participants either an antihistamine that causes drowsiness of a placebo and had them learnt list of words. After, they had to take antihistamines or a placebo and were asked to recall the same wordsm they found that recall was higher when participants were in the same phsyicological state than when they were in a different physiological state. This shows that if an internal cue is present during encoding and retrieval, you are more likely to remember the information. If the internal cue is absent at recall, forgetting is more likely to occur. This, therefore, increases the validity of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 43

A strength of the retrieval failure ad an explanation for forgetting is it has practical applications Abernethy suggested that when you try to recall information imagine yourself in the room where information was learnt in(mental reinstatement) to rigger the recall of information. This is equally as effective as physically going into the room where information was learnt(context reinstatement) This is a strength as research on Retrieval failure has led to ways to improve recall in everyday life as you can mentally recreate cues to trigger the recall of information This shows the retrieval failure is not purely theoretical and can be applied to real life

Answer 44

A limitation of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting is the evidence it relies on is too artificial For example in Godden and Baddeley's research, the contexts of learning and recall were extremely different as they used being underwater and on land. In the real world, the environments for learning and recall are usually more similar so a change in environment would be less likely to lead to forgetting This limits the application of retrieval failure to explain forgetting in real life as it suggests retrieval failure is due to contextual cues but it doesn't explain forgetting in most everyday situations Since the supporting evidence is invalid this reduces the validity of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 45

One limitation of retrieval failure is the extent of forgetting depends on the way emmeory is being tested When recognition was tested,although the context for learning and Retrieval were different, the recognition accuracy was the same as there was no context dependent effect Shows that context only affects memory when free recall is tested but recognition is unaffected This shows thag retrieval failure is an incomplete explanation for forgetting as it is not applicable in all situations

Answer 46

STRENGTHS: Reliable WEAKNESSES: Artificial, contradictory real life research, breaks ethical guidelines

Answer 47

One strength of Loftus's research is that it is highly reliable Loftus used a range of controlled experiments which showed different examples of EWT. She had high control over extraneous variables and used standardised procedures which made her studied replicable. For example, in Loftus and Burns' study, all the participants in one condition, for example high anxiety, would watch the same, exact video. This means other researchers can repeat the experiment to check for similar findings In fact, Loftus carried kjt a large number of studies into EWT and found the same outcome for all of them which is heightened anxiety can reduce the accuracy of EWT By using controlled and standardised procedures, Loftus has been able to produce replicable research on the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of EWT

Answer 48

One limitation of research into the effects of anxiety is the task used in the research is artificial For example, Loftus and Burn jsed a video of a simulated robbery for practical and ethical reasons. However, it is difficult to reproduce real life EWT conditions in a lab as real life events often happen unexpectedly and in an atmosphere of high tension These means the results are not applicable to real life where events might be recalled differently compared to a lab Furthermore, Foster et Al dound thag if participants thought they were watching a real life robbery important to a real trial their identification of the robber was much more accurate than if they did not The research in controlled settings lacks ecological validity which might not be helpful in understanding the effects of anxiety in real life

Answer 49

One limitation of anxiety and EWT is there is contradictory real life research Christianson and Hubinette carried out a natural experiment where they found emotional arousal actually increases the accuracy of memory. They questioned 110 witnesses who saw 22 real bank robberies. They found that witnesses who had been threatened in some way had higher accuracy of recall of details than those who has been onlookers and less emotionally aroused. This completely opposes Loftus's findings as it shows that heightened anxiety increases the accuracy of recall in real life compared to artificial surroundings. This reduces the validity of Loftus's methodology and findings.

Answer 50

One limitation of research into the effects of anxiety of EWT is that breaks ethical guidelines. For example, the methods used to induce anxiety (violent clips in Loftus and Burns' study) are likely to cause mild harm and this is an issue becuase psychologists are not allowed to cause unnecessary harm to participants. Also, it is ethical to get informed consent from participants but this cannot be done as it will reduce the validity of the research. This means researchers need to decieve their participants by hiding the aim of the experiment This decreases the credibility of research into the effects of anxiety on EWT

Answer 51

A police technique which encourages witnesses to recreate the original context using 4 structured stages: Colourful Rabbits Run Everywhere Causing People (to) Reverse Order Context reinstatement Report Everything Changed Perspective Reverse Order

Answer 52

CONTEXT REINSTATEMENT: Interviewer encourages the interviewee to mentally recreate the environment(weather/smells/people nearby) and how they were feeling by asking the interviewee to think back to before, during and after the event -If there is mental consistency between the incident and mental recreation, witnesses will recall more details. The mental recreation also triggers details of the event which increases accuracy.

Answer 53

REPORT EVERYTHING: Report every detail about the event you can recall event if it seems trivial -Unstrained recall will help remember any information that they have mentally edited out Responsibility of the interviewer to decide what is and isn't important

Answer 54

RECALL FROM CHANGED PERSPECTIVE: Describe the incident from the viewpoint of other people who were present at the time -Provides a more complete recollection of the event and increases accuracy of recall

Answer 55

RECALL IN REVERSE ORDER: Describes the event in reverse order -Helps verify the accuracy of tbe original testimony that was decribed in chronological order

Answer 56

STRENGTHS:Increases the accuracy of recall, More accurate recall compared to other interview methods WEAKNESSES: Requires a significant amount of time and resources Increases inaccurate information

Answer 57

One strength of Cognitive Interviews is there is research support suggesting the techniques used increase accuracy of recall Milne and Bull found that each technique individually produced more information than the standard police interview. They also found that a combination of Report everything and context reinstatement produced better recall than any of the other conditions. This shows that congitive interviews produce better recall accuracy of EWT compared to standard police interviews Therefore, Cognitive interviews can be considered valuable in improving recall of EWT.

Answer 58

One strength of Cognitive Interviews is there is evidence showing that it produces the most accurate recall compared to other interview methods Geiselman et Al showed participants videos of simulated violent crimes. After 48 hours, they were interviewed about the films by an experience Los Angeles police officer using a cognitive interview, hypnosis or a standard police interview. He found that congitive interviews had the most accurate recall, followed by hypnosis and then the standard police interview. This shows that congitive interviews are the most effective interview method as they rooduce the most accurate recall compared to other interview methods. This suggests that congitive interviews are the best method for police to use when gathering information from EWT.

Answer 59

One limitation of Congitive interviews is it requires a significant amount of time and resources Cognitive interviews use a range of different techniques to gather information from witnesses which requires more time than standard interviews This is unsuitable in situations where there are many witnesses so using congitive interviews can be too time consuming Also need to invest in resources for example to provide special training for police however many police forces face financial restrictions so are unable to fo this This means Congitive interviews can't be used in all situations due to these restrictions and therfore reduces its validity

Answer 60

A limitation of Congitive interviews is it can encourage witnesses to recall inaccurate information Kohnken et al carried out a meta analysis(study of other studies) on 55 studies and found an 81% increase of correct information but also a 61% increase of incorrect information when compared to standard police interviews. This is a limitation as it shows that congitive interviews encourage witnesses to recall more false information aswell as accurate information compared to a standard interview. Therefore, although cognitive interviews are used for obtaining additional information, a lot of it is innacurate, therefore reducing the validity of congitive interviews.

Memory Flashcards

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