Memory

Question 1

describe the multi store model of memory

Answer 1

Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968

Question 2

3 strengths of MSM

Answer 2

-Empirical evidence of separate stores (e.g. Beardsley 1997 fMRI found different areas active when engaging in differe
nt tasks)
- structure and process included in model
-stepping stone to further research

Question 3

3 problems of MSM

Answer 3

-too simplistic
-STM/LTM are not unitary stores (eg Shallive and Warrington 1970 KF had verbal problems but not visual with STM)
-processing is not just rehearsal (eg Craik and Tulving 1975 levels of processing

Question 4

coding capacity and duration of sensory memory

Answer 4

coding- according to senses
capacity- unlimited
duration- split second

Question 5

coding capacity duration of STM

Answer 5

coding- acoustic
cap- 5-9 items
duration- 30 secs

Question 6

coding cap duration of LTM

Answer 6

coding- semantic
cap- unlimited
duration- unlimited

Question 7

describe the working memory model

Answer 7

Baddeley and Hitch 1974

Question 8

3 strengths of WMM

Answer 8

• empirical evidence to support (eg Baddeley et al 1975 word length effect)
• more reflective of complexity of mem (interactive)
  -more emphasis on process than structure

Question 9

2 problems of WMM

Answer 9

-the most important part (central executive) is the least explained
-case studies of brain damaged patients- no before + after data

Question 10

types of LTM and what they mean

Answer 10

episodic - experienced events
semantic- knowledge and concepts
procedural- skills and actions

Question 11

which types of LTM are declarative (explicit)

Answer 11

episodic and semantic, procedural is implicit

Question 12

what is proactive interference

Answer 12

old info affecting new

Question 13

what is retroactive interference

Answer 13

new info affecting old

Question 14

Henk Schmidt (2000) case study forgetting

Answer 14

people sent a questionnaire and asked to fill in street names of childhood neighbourhood and asked how many times they had moved

the finding suggest that learning new patterns of street names when moving house makes recalling an older pattern of street names harder

Question 15

what is context dependent failure

Answer 15

external retrieval cues (enviro diff at recall than at coding)

Question 16

what is state dependent failure

Answer 16

internal retrieval cues (internal enviro diff at recall than at coding)

Question 17

evaluation of cue dependent forgetting

Answer 17

many studies supporting are lab based therefore lacking ecological validity
however many psychologists see cdf as main reason for forgetting

Question 18

what is repression

Answer 18

the placing of traumatic memories into the unconscious mind in order to reduce the anxiety they produce

Question 19

Loftus and Palmer 1974 experiment 1 method

Answer 19

university students shown 7 clips of car crashes and asked to write an account of what they could recall and answered specific questions, the key question an estimate of the speed of the vehicles. there were 5 conditions with them varying through which verb was used in asking key question

Question 20

Loftus and Palmer 1974 experiment 1 findings and evaluation

Answer 20

found that students who were asked key question with more violent verbs had higher mean estimates of speed

this showed that misleading info in the form of a leading question can affect memory recall of eye witnesses

Question 21

Loftus and Palmer 1974 experiment 2 method

Answer 21

150 Ps viewed a video of a car crash, 50 asked a key question with verb ‘smashed’, 50 ‘hit’ and a control group of 50 weren’t asked at all. one week later they were questioned about their memory of the event with the key question ‘did you see any broken glass?’ (there wasn’t any)

Question 22

Loftus and Palmer 1974 experiment 2 findings and eval

Answer 22

found that Ps were twice as likely in the ‘smashed’ condition to recall the false memory of the broken glass than the control group

this showed that misleading info in the form of post-event info can also affect memory recall of eye witnesses

Question 23

eval of Loftus and Palmer in general

Answer 23

• lab experiment centred on artificial task (watching vid) and as such lacks relevance to real life scenarios and lacks ecological validity
• results may have been due to demand characteristics rather than genuine changes in memory

Question 24

what is post event discussion

Answer 24

when the recalling of events by one witness alters the recall of another witness, which can be a result of memory conformity

Question 25

Gabber et al (2003) post event discussion method

Answer 25

videos of crimes shot from different perspectives with different info in each film shown to pairs of Ps. 71% of pairs who were allowed to discuss what they had seen included elements of the film they hadn't seen in their version. This is compared to 0% in pairs who weren't allowed to discuss

Question 26

Gabber et al (2003) post event discussion findings and eval

Answer 26

this shows witnesses will change their account of crimes to match other witnesses' testimony, possibly as an attempt to gain social approval resulting in memory conformity

Question 27

what is a main criticism of ewt

Answer 27

anxiety in ewt- ewt research uses artificial scenarios that have no emotional involvement for witnesses. Real life events have a high anxiety content often that can greatly affect recall

Question 28

Yerkes dodson inverted U hypothesis

Answer 28

moderate anxiety produces optimal performance

Question 29

what is weapon focus effect

Answer 29

if a person is carrying a weapon then witnesses focus on the weapon rather than the persons face, negatively affecting their ability to remember facial details of armed criminals

Question 30

case study showing anxiety negatively

Answer 30

Deffenbacher (1983)- performed meta analysis of 21 studies examining role of anxiety in the accuracy of ewt finding heightened anxiety tended to negatively affect the memory of eye witnesses

Question 31

case study showing anxiety positively

Answer 31

Ginet and Verkampt (2007)- produced moderate anxiety in Ps by telling them fake electrodes attached to them would give electric shocks. their recall of minor details of a traffic accident viewed on video was superior to Ps with lower anxiety

Question 32

process of cognitive interview and who made it

Answer 32

Fisher and Geiselman (1987) -change of narrative order -change of perspective -mental reinstatement of context -report everything

Question 33

compare standard interview to cogint

Answer 33

similarities- both ask eyewitness about events, 1 on 1, conducted by professional differences- cogint more time consuming and professional must be trained for cognitive interviews

Question 34

what is the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 34

aims to make interviewee more relaxed and establishes a rapport before the interview starts. also includes a debrief and opportunity for questions afterwards

Question 35

eval of cogint

Answer 35

Geiselman and Fisher found the cogint works best when used within a short time following a crime rather than a long time afterwards, suggesting recall is enhanced best when cogints are conducted immediately after incident has occured