Memory Flashcards
(106 cards)
1
Q
define memory
A
the process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past
2
Q
what is coding?
A
the format in which information is changed so that it can be stored in the various memory stores
3
Q
how does the stm code for information?
A
acoustically (based on how it sounds)
4
Q
how does the ltm code information?
A
semantically (based on its meaning)
5
Q
who carried out research into coding?
A
baddeley
6
Q
outline the procedure of baddeleys coding experiment
A
- gave different lists of words to four groups of participants to remember
- group one had acoustically similar words (words that sounded similar)
- group two had acoustically dissimilar words
- group three had semantically similar words (had similar meanings)
- group four had semantically dissimilar words
7
Q
what were the findings of baddeleys coding experiment? explain the findings.
what do the findings suggest?
A
- when asked to recall the words straight away, group one (acoustically similar words) had the worst recall and recalled the least amount of words. this suggests that information is encoded acoustically in the stm.
this is because the stm gets confused when it has to retrieve words that are acoustically similar and muddles them up, resulting in fewer being remembered. - when asked to recall words after 20 minutes, group three (semantically similar words) had the worst recall and remembered the least amount of words. this suggests that information is encoded semantically in the ltm. this is because the ltm gets confused by similar meanings.
8
Q
what is a strength of baddeleys coding research?
A
- was conducted in a controlled laboratory condition. this means there was control over extraneous variables such as noise level, suggesting we can be confident that the coding in the stm is acoustic and the coding in the ltm is semantic. this is a strength because the research has high internal validity as we can establish cause and effect (manipulation of the iv caused the dv)
9
Q
what is a weakness of baddeleys coding experiment?
A
- its not clear how long we need to wait to test the ltm. for example, baddeley tested the ltm by asking participants to recall a list 20 minutes after it was learnt. perhaps, they should have waited longer before measuring the ltm as there are much longer gaps between learning and recall in real life. this is a weakness because the study lacks ecological validity, and questions whether the coding of the ltm is actually semantic
10
Q
what is capacity?
A
how much information can be stored in each memory store
11
Q
what is the capacity of the stm?
what is the capacity of the ltm?
A
5-9 items
unlimited
12
Q
name the 2 researchers that investigated the capacity of the short term memory
A
- jacobs
- miller
13
Q
describe jacobs’ procedure of researching the capacity of the short term memory
A
- developed a technique called the digit span
- researcher gave for example four digits to a participant, and then asked them to recall these in the correct order out loud. if they are correct, the researcher reads out five digits and so on until the participant cannot recall the order correctly. this determines the participants digit span.
14
Q
what were the findings of jacobs’ research into the capacity of the short term memory
A
- the average span was 9.3 for numbers and 7.3 for letters
- 8 year olds could recall an average of seven digits, whereas 19 year olds could remember up to 9 digits
- this provided evidence that the capacity of the stm is 5-9 items
15
Q
what were the findings of millers research into the capacity of the short term memory?
A
found that people can remember five words as easily as they can remember five sentences, demonstrating the idea of chunking.
16
Q
who was the researcher that investigated the capacity of the long term memory?
A
wagenaar
17
Q
how did wagenaar investigate the capacity of the long term memory? desribe the procedure
A
- created a diary of 2400 events that happened in his life over six years and tested himself on his memory of the events - not the dates
- he did this in terms of 4 memory cues (who, what, where, when).
- events were then rated on saliency (distinctiveness), emotional involvement, and pleasantness.
18
Q
what were the findings of wagenaars investigation into the capacity of the long term memory?
A
- he found that he had excellent recall, with no events being completely forgotten.
- this suggests that the capacity of the ltm is very large
19
Q
what is a strength of research into the capacity of the memory?
A
- one strength is that the effects of age are acknowledged. this is because jacobs tested individuals of ranging ages and found that the digit span increases with age because the memory becomes more complex. this suggests that the estimate of the capacity of the ltm accounts for people of all ages. this is a strength because individual differences are taken into account, making the research more credible
20
Q
what is a weakness of research into the capacity of the memory?
A
- often based on case studies. for example wagenaar used his own memories to measure his own long term memory. thus, not only are his memories unrepresentative of the general population, but his rating of them is also subjective
- this is a weakness because his study lacks population validity and the findings are difficult to generalise to others
21
Q
what is duration?
A
the period of time that information can last in the memory stores.
22
Q
what is the duration of the stm?
A
18-30 seconds
23
Q
what is the duration of the ltm?
A
a lifetime
24
Q
which researchers investigated the duration of the short term memory?
A
peterson and peterson
25
outline the procedure peterson and peterson used to investigate the duration of the short term memory
- tested 24 students who each took part in 8 trials
- on each trial, the student was given a consonant syllable (aka a nonsense trigram) to remember, along with a three digit number
- student was then asked to count backwards from that three digit number until they were told to stop
- this counting backwards was to prevent any mental rehearsal of the nonsense trigram
- on each trial they were told to stop after a different length of time - 3,6,9,12,15, and 18 seconds
26
what were the findings of peterson and petersons investigation into the duration of the short term memory?
as time increased, the participants found it harder and harder to remember the trigrams, suggesting the stm has a very short duration, unless the item is rehearsed
27
who was the researcher that conducted an investigation into the duration of the long term memory
bahrick
28
describe bahricks procedure (investigating the duration of the ltm)
- investigated very long term memory
- studied 392 participants from ohio, aged between 17 and 74
- the p's yearbooks were obtained from either the p's themselves or their schools
- recall was tested using a photo-recognition test, where they named as many individuals they could from 50 yearbook photos, or a free-recall test, where they tried to recall all the names from the individuals in the yearbook without any cues
29
what were the findings of bahricks procedure investigating very long term memory duration?
- photo recognition was 90% accurate after 15 years and 70% accurate after 48 years
- free recall was 60% accurate after 15 years and 30% accurate after 48 years
- this suggests that the LTM has a very long duration, and even longer if appropriate cues are provided
30
what is a strength of research into the duration of the memory?
- strength is that some studies use meaningful memories as stimuli. for example, bahrick asked participants to recall yearbook photos of people they saw and went to school with everyday. this means that everyday memories were represented. this is a strength because the results can be generalised to real life memories, and so the study has high ecological validity
31
what is a weakness into research on the duration of the long term memory?
- sometimes makes use of artificial stimuli. for example, peterson and peterson asked participants to remember nonsense trigrams, which do not reflect real life memory activities. so, the findings cannot be generalised to duration in the real world, so the research lacks ecological validity.
32
what is the multistore model of memory?
a representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, the short term memory and the long term memory, and how information is transferred between them.
33
who proposed the multistore model of memory?
atkinson and shiffrin
34
draw the multistore model of memory
the three stores (sensory register>stm>ltm)
between sensory register and stm is attention
between stm and ltm is rehersal
when information leaves the ltm its called retrieval faliure or interference (below ltm store)
when information leaves the sensory register and stm its called decay or displacement (below each of the stores)
35
what is maintenance rehearsal?
the process of repeating an item over and over again in order to remember it
36
what is the sensory register store?
the information at the senses
37
how does information arrive at the sensory register?
through our senses - eyes, ears, skin, and tongue
38
what are the two main stores within the sensory register?
the iconic memory (visual information) and the echoic memory (auditory information)
39
what is the capacity of the sensory register? what is the duration of the sensory register?
capacity is very large, as there are over a hundred million cells in one eye that store data
- the duration is very short, less than half a second.
40
what is the short term memory store?
- the store that holds information on events in the present or immediate past
41
what is the capacity of the short term memory store?
what is the duration of the short term memory store?
5-9 items
18-30 seconds unless its rehearsed
42
what is the long term memory store?
store that holds information about events in the more distant past
43
what is the capacity of the long term memory store?
potentially unlimited
44
what happens when we want to recall information from the long term memory store?
it has to be transferred back to the stm by retrieval
45
what is a strength of the multistore model of memory?
- a wide range of supporting research. for example, when researchers presented participants with a list of words for two seconds and asked them to recall the words in any order they liked, they discovered a primacy-recency effect. the primacy effect is when there is better recall of words at the beginning of a list because those words have been rehearsed in the stm and transferred to the ltm. the recency effect is when there is better recall of words at the end of a list because those words are still in the stm by the time the testing period is over. the words in the middle of the list are displaced from the stm before they could be rehearsed.
this is a strength because it supports the existence of separate stm and ltm stores and therefore the MSM.
46
what is a weakness of the MSM?
- it states the stm is a unitary store, however evidence from case studies suggests this in accurate. for example, shallice and warrington found that after a bike accident, patient KF's memory for verbal information was largely impaired (he couldnt remember information that was spoken to him), however his memory for visual information was unaffected (he could remember information when he saw it written down). this suggests that perhaps there is one stm store that processes visual information and one that processes auditory information. this is a weakness because it questions the validity of the MSM's view of memory
47
what are the three types of long term memory?
episodic memory
semantic memory
procedural memory
48
what is the episodic memory?
a long term memory store for personal events and experiences that have happened in our lives. they require a conscious effort to be recalled
49
what is semantic memory?
a long term memory store for facts and general knowledge of the world. these memories are not time stamped, and require a conscious effort to be recalled.
50
what are the semantic and episodic memory sometimes collectively referred to as?
the declarative memory
51
what is procedural memory?
a long term memory store for motor skills and actions, such as knowing how to drive a car or ride a bicycle. we can recall these memories without a conscious effort, and they are not time stamped.
52
what is a strength of the types of long term memory?
- theres supporting evidence from case studies. for example, in the case study of clive wearing, whilst his amnesia severely impaired his episodic memory, his semantic and procedural memories remained intact. this suggests that there are different stores for long term memory, as if only one is damaged the others can still remain intact. this is a strength as it supports the view that there must be different types of long-term memory
53
what is a weakness of the types of long term memory?
- research into the types of ltm is often conducted on individual patients. for example, the case study of clive wearing is unique case of long-term memory damage, and so it is inappropriate to assume that everybodys ltm is structured in the same way as a brain damage patient's. this is a weakness because the findings cannot be generalised to other people.
54
what are the two explanations of forgetting?
- interference
- retrieval faliure
55
what are the two types of interference?
proactive and retroactive interference
56
what is proactive interference?
when old learning affects the recall of new information, as an older memory interferes with a newer one.
57
how has proactive interference been researched? describe the procedure and the findings
- researchers replicated peterson and petersons experiment
- the participants were presented with nonsense trigrams, at different intervals eg 3,6,9 seconds
- to prevent rehearsal, participants had to count backwards in threes before recalling
- they found that p's typically remembered the trigrams that were presented first, irrespective of interval length
- this supports proactive interference as memory of earlier trigrams, which had transferred to the ltm, was interfering with the memory of new trigrams due to the similarity of the information
58
what is retroactive interference?
- when the learning of new information affects the recall of old information.
59
how has retroactive interference been studied? describe the procedure and the findings
- researchers asked participants to recall street names they had learnt during childhood in their local neighbourhood
- they found that as the number of times someone had moved house increased, so did the number of street names they had forgotten
- this supports retroactive interference as learning of new street names when moving interfered with the recall of the old street names
60
in both proactive and retroactive interference, when is recall the worst?
when the memories are similar
61
how have researchers investigated how interference is affected by the similarity of memories? describe the procedure and the findings
- research was conducted into retroactive interference
- they changed the amount of similarity between two sets of materials
- p's had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy.
- then, they learned a new list.
- group 1's new list was synonyms
- group 2's new list was antonyms
- group 3's new list was related words
- group 4's new list was consonant syllables
- group 5's new list was three digit numbers
- group 6's new list was the same list as the old one
they found that the most similar lists produced the worst recall. this shows that interference is strongest when the memories are similar
62
what are the strengths of the interference theory?
- supported by research conducted in control laboratory environments. for example, researchers demonstrated how retroactive interference can be heightened when memories are similar. this suggests that interference is likely to be one of the ways we forget information from the ltm
- supporting research from baddeley and hitch who found that when rugby players were asked to recall the names of teams they had played throughout the season, those who had played more games had worse recall than those who had played less games. this suggests that the players who played all the games experienced more interference, as new team names caused older ones to be forgotten. this is a strength as findings are ecologically valid
63
what are the weaknesses of the interference theory?
- often conducted in lab environments which do not reflect where interference occurs in real life, or the time between learning and recall. for example, the amount of time researchers give between learning and recall is limited to a few minutes, compared to the months and even years in real life. this suggests that there is an attempt to induce interference in participants during lab studies = low ecological validity
- another weakness is that the research conducted in lab environments often makes use of artificial materials. eg. researchers have used nonsense trigrams when testing interference. this is an issue as they should use real life memories to test interference, to make the findings applicable to real life. this is a weakness as there is a much greater chance of interference in a lab than in real life, therefore biasing results.
64
what is retrieval failure?
a form of forgetting that occurs when information in the long term memory is available (present) but no longer accesible (we cannot reach it)
65
why does retrieval failure happen?
because we dont have the necessary cues to access the memories
66
what is the encoding specificity principle?
a principle that states if a cue is to help recall information, it must be present at encoding (when we learn the information) and at retrieval. if the cues at encoding and retrieval are different, or if a cue is absent at retrieval, there will be forgetting
67
what are the two main types of cues?
internal = level of intoxication, mood etc
external = context, location etc
68
what is context dependent forgetting?
occurs when the environment during recall is different from the environment you were in during learning
69
who carried out research into context dependent forgetting?
what was the procedure?
what were the findings?
godden and baddeley
- asked experienced deep-sea divers to learn lists of words. the divers either learnt the words on land or underwater and then were asked to recall the words in either the same context or a different context. there were four conditions
1. learn list on land recall list on land
2. learn list on land recall list underwater
3. learn list underwater recall list underwater
4. learn list underwater recall list on land
- they found that accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions where the context of recall was different to the context of learning. the external cues available at learning were different to the ones at recall and this lead to retrieval failure.
70
what is state dependent forgetting?
occurs when your mood or physiological state during recall is different from the mood/state you were in when you were learning
71
who carried out research into state dependent forgetting? what was the procedure? what were the findings?
- carter and cassaday
- asked participants to take ant-histamine drugs that had a mild sedative effect, and then learn a list of words and passages to recall. there were four conditions
1. learn list on drug recall list on drug
2. learn list on drug recall list when not on drug
3. learn list when not on drug recall list when not on drug
4. learn list when not on drug recall list when on drug
- they found that performance on the memory test was significantly worse when there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and at recall.
72
what are the strengths of the retrieval failure theory of forgetting?
- supporting evidence from controlled laboratory experiments. eg. carter and cassaday demonstrated that state-dependent forgetting occurs due to the absence of internal cues. this is a strength because due to the controlled environment, they were able to establish cause and effect, which increases the validity of the findings.
- supporting evidence from natural experiments eg. godden and baddeley found evidence for context dependent forgetting with deep sea divers both on land and in the sea, both natural environments. this suggests context dependent forgetting occurs outside the laboratory, and so is not solely an effect of demand characteristics. this is a strength because the study is high in ecological validity
73
what is a weakness of the retrieval failure explanation for forgetting?
- studies into state-dependent forgetting raise ethical issues. for example, during carter and cassaday's study, p's were required to take antihistamine drugs which led to drowsiness and other side effects. this was an artificial change to their internal states, which may have caused distress and a potential lack of protection from harm. this is a weakness as it questions the credibility of psychology as a discipline
74
describe the composition of the working memory model
central executive at the top
visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer and phonological loop in the middle
long term memory at the bottom
75
what is the working memory model an explanation of
short term memory
76
describe the central executive
- the main component of the working memory model
- decides what we pay attention to, makes decisions and allocates tasks to the slave systems
- very little to no storage capacity and can only pay attention to a limited number of stimuli
77
describe the role of the phonological loop
deals with auditory information e.g. spoken or written material and preserves the order in which the information arrives. Coding is acoustic (sound based). The phonological loop plays a key role in the learning of vocabulary, particularly in the early childhood years. It may also be vital for learning a second language.
Baddeley (1986) divided the phonological loop into two parts:
· The phonological store (inner ear) is often referred to as the ‘inner ear’ because it holds speech based information such as words we hear for 1-2 sec.
· The articulatory control process (inner voice) silently repeats the words from the PS on a loop to prevent them from decaying.
78
describe the visuospatial sketchpad
stores and manipulates visual information from the eyes or long-term memory. If you imagine an object and then picture it rotating, you are using your visuo-spatial sketchpad.
· The visual cache – stores visual information e.g., shape and colour.
· The inner scribe - deals with spatial and movement information, e.g. how far or close objects are in relation to each other.
79
describe the episodic buffer
The episodic buffer is dedicated to integrating visual, spatial, and verbal information from the different slave systems into a single unit of information.
80
what is a strength of the working memory model
(Point) A strength of the Working Memory Model is supporting research
(Evidence) Baddeley (1976) conducted an experiment in which participants performed two tasks at the same time (dual task technique):
Procedure: Condition 1: Participants performed two visual tasks at the same time (tracking a light and describing the angles on a hollow letter F). Condition 2: Participants tracked the light whilst performing a verbal task at the same time.
Findings: Ps found it more difficult to do two visual tasks at the same time, as both tasks were competing for the same component of the WMM, showing their different roles.
(Link) These controlled findings support the idea that STM has more than one component.
(Point) The WMM is further supported by clinical evidence.
(Evidence) Shallice & Warrington (1970) studied KF, whose brain was injured in a motorcycle accident. Although KF’s memory for verbal material was poor, his memory for visual information was unaffected. In terms of the working memory model this can be explained by damage to the articulatory loop but with the sketchpad remaining intact.
(Link) This case study supports that STM has more than one store in real life situations.
(Point) Another strength of the WMM is that it has positive practical applications.
(Evidence) WMM is used to help children who have an impaired working memory. For example, Alloway developed several methods to improve the WM of children with ADHD. These including breaking instructions down into individual steps and asking the child to repeat instructions.
(Link) These applications strengthen WMM in its validity in relation to the real world
81
what are the weaknesses of the working memory model
(Point) A weakness of the WMM is that the explanation of the central executive is too vague.
(Evidence) The central executive is the most important component of working memory, but it is the one we know least about. Eslinger & Damasio (1985) argue that the notion of the central executive is wrong and that there are probably several components within the central executive. For example in the case study of EVR, he performed well on tests requiring reasoning but showed poor judgement.
(Link) This Implies that the central executive is not unitary and its explanation is too simplistic.
82
what is eyewitness testimony
a statement given to a court of law by an eye witness who was at the scene of a crime under oath. this includes identification of the perpetrators, details of the crime scene and any other relevant details that may have been seen by the eyewitness
83
who carried out research into leading questions
loftus and palmer
84
what was the procedure for loftus and palmers procedure
Participants watched film clips of car accidents and were then asked various questions about what they had seen. In the critical question (a leading question) participants were asked: ‘About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’. This is a leading question because the verb ‘hit’ suggests the speed the car was going.
There were five groups of participants; each was given a different verb in the critical question, such as 'smashed' 'collided' 'bumped' 'hit' and 'contacted'
Conclusion: This study suggests that the wording of the question can alter the recall of memories from the Ps.
85
what were the findings of loftus and palmers study
the word hit in the question 'About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?' the mean estimated speed by participants changed:
Smashed 40.8
Collided 39.3
Bumped 38.1
Hit 34.0
Contacted 31.8
86
why do leading questions affect ewt?
Response bias: This suggests that the wording of the question has no real effect on the participants’ memories, but just influences how they decide to answer. When a participant gets a leading question using the word ‘smashed’, this encourages them to choose a higher speed estimate.
2. Memory is altered: The wording of the leading question, e.g., ‘smashed’, changes a person’s memory of the film clip. Therefore, those asked the critical question with the verb ‘smashed’, will remember the accident as being more serious than someone asked the same question with the verb ‘hit’ being used.
To find out which is correct, Loftus and Palmer carried out a second experiment. One week after the first experiment, participants were asked whether they had seen any broken glass. Participants who originally heard ‘smashed’ were more likely to answer ‘yes’ than those who had heard the word ‘hit’. It appears that the critical question had altered their memory of the car accident.
87
what is post event discussion?
when several eyewitnesses discuss the crime with each other. This can cause the eyewitnesses to combine incorrect information from other witnesses with their own memories.
88
describe the research into post event discussion and the findings
: Participants were paired up and then watched a 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 being carried by a young woman.
Both participants then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall.
Findings: Gabbert found that 71% of the participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion. In comparison, none of the participants in a control group, without discussion, made the same mistake.
Gabbert suggests that PED reduces the reliability of EWT because witnesses often go along with each other in other to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right and they are wrong. She called this phenomenon memory conformity.
89
what is a strength of research into misleading information
(Point) A great strength of research into misleading information is that it has hugely practical uses in the real world.
(Explain) Possible applications could be adopted by the legal profession (police, lawyers, judges, etc) from this research, for example in development of the Cognitive interview. Loftus claimed leading questions can distort memory and therefore police are careful in the phrasing of their questions.
(Link) Research into EWT is one area in which psychologists believe they can make an important positive difference by improving the way the legal system works.
90
what are the weaknesses of research into misleading information
research uses artificial tasks.
(Evidence) For example in Loftus and Palmer’s study, their participants watched film clips of car accidents rather than witnessing real accidents.
(Explain) This is a limitation because studies that use such artifical tasks may tell us very little about how leading questions affect EWT in real life accidents or crimes. It has been suggested that many answers participants give in lab studies of EWT are the result of demand characteristics and therefore lowers the validity of research into misleading information.
ALSO, loftus and palmers study used STUDENTS who had probably never driven before, so would not have an accurate perception of motor speed
Individual Differences are ignored
(Point) A limitation to this explanation is that individual differences are ignored.
(Evidence) There is evidence that older people are less accurate than younger people when giving eyewitness reports. Anstasi & Rhodes (2006) found that people aged 18- 45 were more accurate than people aged 55-78 years.
(Link) This is a limitation as evidence fails to acknowlege such age differences and also tends to use younger people (eg,students) in their sample. This may mean that research findings should not be generalised to older people, thus lowering the validity of the research
91
how can anxiety have a negative effect on ewt?
Anxiety creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cue, thus worsening recall.
92
describe the research procedure into anxiety and negative impacts on ewt
Participants were led to believe that they were going to take part in a lab study. While seated in a waiting room, the participants heard a heated argument in the next room, followed by a man walking through the waiting area.
- in the low anxiety condition, the man who walked through the waiting area was carrying a pen and had grease on his hands
- in the high anxiety condition, the man was holding a knife that was covered in blood
93
describe the findings of the research into anxiety and negative impacts on ewt
49% of Ps who had seen the man carrying the pen were able to identify him compared to only 33% who had seen the man holding the knife.
Conclusion: This study suggests that anxiety can reduce the reliability of EWT. Loftus claimed that the participants who saw the knife were less accurate because they focused their attention on the weapon (known as weapon focus effect) rather than on the surrounding events.
94
how can anxiety have a positive effect on ewt?
Anxiety is thought to increase the accuracy of an eyewitness because the stress of witnessing a crime or accident triggers the fight-or-flight response. This response increases our alertess, which makes us more aware of what is happening in the situation.
95
describe the research procedure into anxiety and positive impacts on ewt
Yuille and Cutshall (1986) conducted a study of a real-life shooting in Canada. The shop owner shot a thief dead. 13 witnesses to the event agreed to take part in the study. Participants were interveiwed 4-5 months after the incident and these were compared to the original police interviews made at the time of the shooting. The witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they felt at the time of the incident.
96
what were the findings of the research into anxiety and positive impacts on ewt
The witnesses proved to be very accurate in their accounts. Interestingly those Ps who reported the highest levels of stress where the most accurate (88% compared to 75% for the less-stressed group)
Conclusion: This study suggests anxiety can improve memory for EWT
97
what is the 'inverted U theory?'
the relationship between arousal and performance is an inverted U curve, with arousal on the x axis and performance on the Y axis. it states that performance will increase with stress, but only to a certain point, where it decreases drastically
98
what is a weakness of the inverted U theory in explaining how anxiety affects EWT
Point) Although the inverted U appears to be a reasonable explanation of the contradictory findings regarding both the positive and negative effects of anxiety on recall it only focuses on physical arousal.
(Explain) This is an issue as it ignores the fact that anxiety presents in many different forms. For example, it can also be cognitive (based on individuals thought process).
(Link) This matters because by using the inverted U theory we are oversimplifying the relationship between anxiety accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
99
what are the weaknesses of the research into how anxiety affects EWT?
Weapon Focus Effect is Invalid
(Point) The participants who saw the knife in Johnson and Scott’s study may have had poorer recall because they were surprised rather than scared or anxious.
(Evidence) In a study by Pickel (1988) participants were shown a video clip of a man walking up to a hairdresser’s receptionist with either a pair of scissors, a handgun, a wallet or a raw chicken. Eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in the high unusualness conditions (such as the chicken and the gun).
(Explain) This suggests that weapon focus is due to the unusualness of the object in the situation (you would not expect someone to hold up a hairdressers!) rather than anxiety/threat.
(Link) Therefore this suggests that weapon focus is an invalid explanation of eyewitness recall.
Field Studies lack Control
(Point) A weakness of this explanation is the methodology of the supporting research.
(Explain) Field studies, such as that performed by Yuille & Cutshall, involve interviewing real-life eyewitnesses after an event. All sorts of things could have happened to the participants before the interview that the researcher has no control over. For example, they may have seen a report of the event on TV.
(Link) This is a limitation because it is possible that these participant variables may be responsible for the accuracy of recall, thus reducing the validity of field research.
(However) HOWEVER, one benefit of conducting field research is that it is more ETHICAL than Lab based research, where participants are deliberately made anxious.
(Link) This suggests that the ethical benefits of field research may outweigh the issues of control that are outlined above.
100
describe the cognitive interview
The cognitive interview (CI) is a method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories. It uses four main techniques, all based on well-established psychological knowledge of human memory.
These techniques are:
1. Report everything
2. Reinstate the context
3. Report in reverse order
4. Report in changed perspective
101
describe the 'report everything' section of the cognitive interview
Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even though it may seem irrelevant. Seemingly trivial details may be important and, moreover, may trigger other important memories.
102
describe the 'reinstate the context' section of the cognitive interview
The witness should return to the original crime scene ‘in their mind’ and imagine the environment (such as what the weather was like, what they could see) and their emotions (such as what they were their feelings).
103
describe the 'reverse the order' section of the cognitive interview
Events should be recalled in a different chronological order to the original sequence, for example, from the final point back to the beginning, or from the middle to the beginning.
This is done to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event might have happened rather than the actual events. It also prevents dishonestly as it is harder for people to produce an untruthful account if they have to reverse it.
104
describe the 'change the perspective' section of the cognitive interview
Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives. For example, how it would have appeared to other witnesses or to the perpetrator. This is done to prevent witnesses being affected by their expectations rather than what they actually saw.
105
what is a strength of the cognitive interview?
A strength of the cognitive interview is that it is well supported by psychological research.
(Evidence) For example: one researcher showed participants a film of a violent crime. they were later interviewed using the cognitive interview or standard police interview. researcher found that cognitive interview lead to better memory of events, with witnesses able to recall more relevant information compared to the standard interview. another researcher conducted a meta analysis by combining data from 50 studies and found that the enhanced CI consistently provided more correct information than the standard police interview.
Link = real practical benefits as more criminals being caught and charged; benefitting society.
106
what are the weaknesses of the cognitive interview?
(Point) A limitation to the CI is that it is time-consuming.
(Explain) Police may be reluctant to use the CI because it takes much longer than a standard police interview. More time is needed to establish a relationship with the witness and to allow them to relax. Additionally the CI requires special training and many police forces do not have the funds to provide the necessary training.
(Link) This is a problem because the proper version is less likely to be used and the specialist training causes an increased cost to the economy.
The CI produces an increase of inaccurate information
(Point) The techniques of the CI aim to increase the amount of correct information recalled, but the recall of incorrect information may also be increased.
(Evidence) Kohnken (1999) found that although the CI produced a massive increase in correct information; he also found a 61% increase in incorrect information when the enhanced CI was used compared to a standard interview.
(Link) This suggests that police need to treat all information collected from a CI with caution.
There are individual differences in the effectiveness of the CI:
(Point) A final weakness of the CI is that it doesn’t improve recall in all cases.
(Evidence) For example, Geiselman (1999) reviewed many cases and found that in children under 6, recall of events was slightly less accurate possibly due to the complexity of the instructions provided as part of the Cognitive Interview.
(Link) This is a weakness because it shows that the cognitive interview is not effective at improving testimony in all situations.
