Memory Flashcards
(164 cards)
1
Q
what is cognitive psychology?
A
the study of how people learn, structure, store and use knowledge
2
Q
what is memory?
A
the process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past
3
Q
what factors can affect memory?
A
- age
- injury
- anxiety
- trauma
- distractions
4
Q
what is a model?
A
a visual representation / analogy of something that is being described
5
Q
what is capacity?
A
the amount of information that can be held in the memory store
6
Q
what is coding?
A
the format in which information is stored in the memory stores, e.g. visual, acoustic and semantic
7
Q
what is duration?
A
the length of time information can be held in memory
8
Q
what is iconic memory?
A
visual information is coded visually
9
Q
what is echoic memory?
A
sound or auditory information is coded acoustically
10
Q
what is modality-specific?
A
whichever sense is registered will match the way it is consequently held (e.g. taste held as a taste)
11
Q
in what ways can information be encoded in our memory?
A
acoustic, visual, semantic
12
Q
key study
who researched into coding?
A
Baddeley (1966)
13
Q
key study
what was the procedure for Baddeley’s study?
A
- 4 conditions
- words to recall in order
- STM: recall immediately after presentation
- LTM: recall following longer time interval
14
Q
key study
what were the 4 conditions of Baddeley’s study?
A
1: acoustically similar words (e.g. cat, mat, cap, map)
2: acoustically different words (e.g. dog, bin, cup, pen)
3: semantically similar words (e.g. big, large, huge, vast)
4: semantically different words (e.g. huge, good, light, blue)
15
Q
key study
what was the dependent variable in Baddeley’s study?
A
how many mistakes were made in recalling sets of words
16
Q
key study
what were the STM findings of Baddeley’s study?
A
significantly more mistakes in acoustically similar words
17
Q
key study
what was the conclusion for STM coding in Baddeley’s study?
A
STM is encoded acoustically
because ppts made more mistakes on acoustically similar words
18
Q
key study
what were the LTM findings of Baddeley’s study?
A
more mistakes in semantically similar words
19
Q
key study
what was the conclusion for LTM coding in Baddely’s study?
A
LTM is encoded semantically
because ppts made more mistakes on semantically similar words
20
Q
key study
what was lacking in Baddely’s study (1966)?
why?
(AO3 point)
A
mundane realism, so also ecological validity
not a real-life task
21
Q
who did research on capacity?
A
Jacobs (1887)
Miller (1956)
22
Q
key study
what was the procedure of Jacobs’ study (1887)?
A
- serial digit span
- experimenter read out numbers one at a time, steady flat voice, no repeats or speeding up/ slowing down
- “GO” –> ppts immediately write down numbers in correct order
23
Q
key study
what was the average number of digits / letters recalled in Jacobs’ study?
A
digits: 9.3
letters: 7.3
24
Q
key study
which number did Jacobs (1887) not include in his serial digit span?
why?
A
7
because it has more than one syllable (unlike the other numbers) - makes it stand out, so may be remembered more
25
what did Miller (1956) say about STM capacity?
- the Magic Number 7 (+/- 2)
- most adults can store between 5 and 9 items in their STM
26
what did Miller (1956) not specify?
the amount of information that can be held in each slot
27
what does chunking mean?
making info more meaningful through organising it in line with existing knowledge from LTM
28
what is the capacity in LTM?
unlimited / infinite
29
# key study
who did research into duration in STM?
Peterson and Peterson (1959)
30
# key study
who did research into duration in LTM?
Bahrick et al. (1975)
31
# key study
what was the aim of Peterson and Peterson's study (1959)?
to investigate the duration of STM and provide empirical evidence for the multi-store model
32
# key study
what type of experiment was the Peterson and Peterson's study?
lab experiment
33
# key study
how many ppts in the Peterson and Peterson's study?
24
34
# key study
what was the procedure of Peterson and Peterson's study?
ppts were asked to recall trigrams (e.g. THG) after intervals of 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds
35
# key study
how did Peterson and Peterson prevent rehearsal during the intervals?
brown peterson technique:
count backwards in 3s or 4s from a specified number until they saw a red light appear
36
# key study
what were the results of Peterson and Peterson's study?
| (% of trigrams remembered)
3 secs : 82%
6 secs : 56%
9 secs : 34%
12 secs : 24%
15 secs : 18%
18 secs : 10%
37
# key study
what was the conclusion of Peterson and Peterson's study (1959)?
as the retention interval increased, the % of ppts who remembered the trigrams decreased from around 82% after 3 seconds, to only 10% after 18 seconds
the duration of STM is very short - only a couple of seconds
38
# key study
how many ppts in Bahrick et al.'s study (1975)?
age categories?
nearly 400 ppts
aged 17 - 74
39
# key study
what was the procedure of Bahrick et al.'s study?
using high school yearbook photos:
1) photo-recognition of 50 photos
2) free recall - ppts tried to remember people from their graduating class
40
# key study
what were the results of Bahrick et al.'s study?
- 15yrs after graduating: 90% accurate in photo-recognition
- 48yrs after graduation: 70% accurate in photo-recognition
- 15yrs after graduation: 60% accurate in free recall
- 48yrs after graduation: 30% accurate in free recall
41
# key study
what was the conclusion of Bahrick et al.'s study?
the duration of LTM can last from minutes to years
42
what is the sensory register/memory?
where information is stored from the senses
43
what type of coding does the sensory register use?
modality-specific
44
what is the duration of the sensory register?
~250 milliseconds
45
what is the capacity of the sensory register?
unlimited
46
what is the coding for STM?
acoustic
47
what is the duration of STM?
18-30 seconds
48
what is the capacity of STM?
7+/- 2
49
what is the coding of LTM?
semantic
50
what is the duration of LTM?
unlimited
51
what is the capacity of LTM?
unlimited
52
who came up with the multi-store model of memory?
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
53
what type of model is the MSM?
linear model
54
what does the multi-store model consist of?
3 unitary stores
| sensory memory/register, short-term memory, long-term memory
55
how does information pass through the MSM?
(and then recalled)
- pay attention to incoming information in sensory register
- goes into rehearsal loop in STM
- maintenance rehearsal allows the info to pass from STM into LTM
- info retrieved from LTM back into STM
- info recalled from STM
56
where does some of the strongest evidence for the MSM come from?
serial position effect studies and studies of brain damaged patients
57
what is the serial position effect?
when presented with a list of words, ppts tend to remember the first and last few, and forget the ones in the middle
58
what is the tendency to recall earlier words in a list called?
primary effect
59
what is the tendency to recall later words in a list called?
recency effect
60
what was the procedure of Murdock study (1962)?
- ppts learnt lists of words, varying from 10 to 40 words and free recall them
- each word was presented for 1-2 seconds
61
what did Murdock (1962) find?
probability of recalling any word depended on its position in the list - serial position
words at beginning and end more often recalled than middle
62
why does the primary effect happen
| (in the serial position effect)
ppt has time to rehearse the each word from the beginning acoustically, so words from the start go into the LTM
63
why does the recency effect happen?
| (in the serial position effect)
STM can typically hold around 7 items, so words from end of list went into the STM
64
why did ppts not remember words from the middle of the list in Murdock's study (1962)?
what is this referred to as?
| (in serial position effect)
words had been held too long in the STM (due to displacement), and not long enough to be put into the LTM
an asymptote
65
what are 3 types of LTM?
episodic, semantic, procedural
66
who proposed the difference between the 3 types of LTM?
Tulving (1972)
67
what is semantic memory?
concerns facts taken independent of context - shared memories for facts and knowledge of the world. These memories often need to be recalled deliberately
e.g. mathematical knowledge, ice is made of water, etc.
68
what is episodic memory?
more personal memories/events, such as associations of a particular place or time. These memories have to be retrieved consciously with effort. They have 3 elements: specific details of event, context, emotion
e.g. first day of school
69
what is procedural memory?
concerned with learning motor skills - our knowledge of how to do things, such as learned skills, action based, 'muscle memory'. Acquired through repetition and practice. Recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort. They are automatic
e.g. riding a bike, how to read
70
what does declarative and explicit mean in terms of LTM?
conscious recall / knowing that...
71
what does non-declarative and implicit mean in terms of LTM?
don't have to consciously recall / knowing how/that...
72
which type/s of LTM is/are declarative and explicit?
episodic and semantic
73
which type/s of LTM is/are non-declarative and implicit?
procedural
74
where in the brain are semantic memories stored?
left prefrontal cortex
75
where in the brain are episodic memories stored?
right prefrontal cortex
76
where in the brain are procedural memories stored?
basal ganglia and cerebellum
77
what was the case of Dr. S?
- was a neurologist
- fell whilst skiing
- surprised his wife looked old, didn't recognise some younger colleagues
- loss of episodic memory (previous 25yrs were blank)
- procedural and semantic memories intact (continued skiing after accident, also made correct diagnosis of transient global amnesia when he saw the scan of his brain)
78
which 2 people are used as case studies for LTM?
Clive Wearing and HM
79
# key study
In both cases of Clive Wearing and HM, which type of LTM was severely impaired?
what was it a consequence of?
what did this mean for them?
episodic memory
amnesia
they had great difficulty recalling events that had happened from their pasts
80
# key study
which types of long-term memory were still in tact for Clive Wearing and HM?
semantic and procedural
81
# key study
what could Clive Wearing do / not do due to his amnesia?
still knew how to read and play music (was a professional musician), but couldn't remember having learnt piano
82
What was the case of HM?
had his hippocampus removed to reduce severe epilepsy.
personality and intellect stayed intact.
could not form new LTMS, but could remember from before the surgery
83
# key study
what theory do the case studies of Clive Wearing and HM support?
| (think areas of brain)
that different types of LTM are stored in different areas of the brain
84
what type of memory does the Working Memory Model look at?
only STM
85
what is the WMM concerned with looking at?
the part of the mind that is active when we are temporarily storing and manipulating information
86
what is the WMM
| (think *processor*)
an active processor
87
who came up with this model?
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
88
which component has the main role of decision making?
central executive
89
what are the 3 slave systems?
phonological loop
episodic buffer
visuo-spatial sketchpad
90
what is the main purpose of the central executive?
- directs attention to particular tasks
- controls the other systems by determining how resources will be allocated
- decision making and reasoning
- receives information from the slave systems
91
what is the capacity of the central executive?
limited
92
what is the coding in the central executive?
modality free / specific coding
93
what is the main purpose of the phonological loop?
- controls auditory information, subdivided into:
-phonological store (inner ear)
-articulatory process (inner voice)
94
what is the capacity of the phonological loop?
2 seconds worth of information
95
what is the coding in the phonological loop?
acoustic / auditory coding
96
what is the main purpose of the visuo-spatial sketchpad? (inner eye)
- processes visual and spatial information
- visual cache: stores info about visual items (e.g. form and colour)
- inner scribe: stores the arrangement of objects in the visual field
- to hold static images and manipulate them
97
what is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad
3-4 objects
98
what is the coding in the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
visual coding
99
what is the purpose of the episodic buffer?
- general store
- accounts for both visual and acoustic information
- constructs a 'mental episode' of what is being experienced
100
what is the capacity of the episodic buffer?
limited capacity, ~4 chunks
101
what is the coding in the episodic buffer?
modality free / specific coding
102
which case study supports the Working Memory Model?
case study of KF
103
who studied the case of KF?
Shallice and Warrington (1970)
104
what was the case of KF?
suffered brain damage from a motorbike accident.
damaged his STM.
impairment mainly for verbal info, memory for visual information largely unaffected
105
what does the case of KF suggest about stores in the WMM?
there must be separate stores for different types of information (e.g. verbal and visual)
106
how does dual-task performance support the separate existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
ppts had more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks than doing both a visual task at the same time
this is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave system , whereas the visual and verbal tasks have no competition
107
what is an example of verbal / visual tasks?
verbal - repeating words, speaking, *reading*
visual - forming an image of something, mentally counting something, watching TV, *reading*
108
What is forgetting?
refers to a person’s loss of the ability to recall or recognise something that they have previously learnt
109
when does interference (in forgetting) occur?
when 2 pieces of information conflict with each other (competing memories)
110
what does interference (in forgetting) result in?
the forgetting or distortion of one or both memories
111
what is the definition of proactive interference?
previously learnt information interferes with new information that you are trying to store
112
what is an example of proactive interference?
difficulty remembering new students’ names - keep remembering old students’ names from last year
113
what is the definition of retroactive interference?
a new memory interferes with an old one
114
what is an example of retroactive interference?
difficulty remembering old students’ names - keep remembering new students’ names
115
# key study
who showed evidence for interference theory?
Underwood and Postman (1960)
116
# key study
what did Underwood and Postman (1960) do?
- used a paired associated learning task to test effect of interference
- ppts had to learn word pairs from list A and B
- then had to learn a 2nd list (A and C) - which interferes with the 1st list
- presented with stimulus word (1st word) and had to recall the response word (2nd word)
- ppts have their recall tested on either the 1st or 2nd word list
- control condition to see what recall occur when there is no interference
E.g. cat - tree / stone
candle - whale / cloth
117
# key study
In Underwood and Postman’s study (1960), what types of interference were lists B and C?
list B - proactive interference
List C - retroactive interference
118
# key study
what did the findings of Underwood and Postman’s study suggest?
that both proactive and retroactive interference exists
119
When is interference worse?
when the memories (of learning) are similar
120
what did McGeoch and McDonald (1931) study?
How?
retroactive interference
- Changing amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials
- ppts had to learn a list of words until could remember 100% accurately
- then learned new 2nd list (1 group learnt no new list, i.e. no interference)
121
what did McGeoch and McDonald (1931) find?
group who had to learn a 2nd list of synonyms recalled far less items than e.g. group who had no new list (recalled more than twice the number of test items)
122
What did Baddeley and Hitch (1977) do?
- asked rugby players to recall names of teams they had played so far in the season, week by week
123
what did the results of Baddeley and Hitch’s study (1977) show?
What type of interference does this support?
accurate recall did not depend on how long ago the matches took place, but rather how many games they had played in the meantime
Retroactive interference
124
what is the definition of retrieval failure?
an explanation of forgetting based on the idea that the issue relates to being able to retrieve a memory that is there (available), but not accessible. retrieval failure occurs due to the absence of cues
125
when are associated cues in memory first stored?
at the same time as when information is initially placed in memory
126
who came up with the Encoding Specifity Principle (ESP)?
Tulving (1983)
127
what does the Encoding Specifity Principle (ESP) state?
that if a cue is to help us recall information, then it has to be present at encoding, and at retrieval
128
why will there be some forgetting due to cue availabilty?
if the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different, or entirely absent at retrieval, there will be some forgetting
129
what 2 types of cues are there?
external cues (context-depending cues) e.g. smell, hearing
internal cues (state-dependent cues) e.g. how you're feeling, drunk, mental state you're in
130
who did research into context-dependent forgetting?
Godden and Baddeley (1975)
131
what was the procedure of Godden and Baddeley's study (1975)?
- divers had to learn a list of words either on land or underwater
- asked to recall words either on land or underwater
- therefore 4 conditions
132
what were the findings of Godden and Baddeley's study (1975)?
accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching environment conditions
133
what was the explanation for the findings of Godden and Baddeley's study (1975)?
the recall was lower in the non-matching conditions because the environment at time of encoding and retrieval was different, so therefore there was an absence of cues
134
who did research into state-dependent forgetting?
Carter and Cassaday (1998)
135
what was the procedure of Carter and Cassaday's study (1998)?
- looked at the effect of anti-histamines (have a mild sedative effect on ppts, making them feel drowsy)
- this creates an internal physiological state different from the 'normal' state of being awake and alert
- ppts had to learn list of words and passages of prose (either on or off the drug)
- then recall this information
- 4 conditions
136
what were the findings of Carter and Cassaday's study (1998)?
performance on memory test was significantly worse when there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall
137
what was the explanation for the findings of Carter and Cassaday's study (1998)?
when cues were absent, there was forgetting, because we are in a different mental state
(i.e. drowsy when learning info, alert when recalling info and vice versa)
137
What is an eyewitness testimony (EWT)?
EWT is a legal term, referring to the use of eyewitnesses to give evidence in court
137
What are the 3 stages that eyewitness testimony goes through?
1) witness encodes information into LTM (the event and person involved), may be partial as the event occurs quickly, e.g. at night, rapid violent complex action
2) witness retains info for a time. Memories may be lost or modified during retention, other activities may interfere with the memory itself
3) witness retrieves memory from storage. May be presence or absence of info that may affect the accuracy of memory
137
What factors can affect the accuracy of EWT?
- anxiety
- misleading information
- leading questions
- post-event discussion
137
What is a leading question?
A question either by its firm or content, suggests to the witness what answer is desired, or leads him to the desired answer
138
# key study
Who did research into misleading information?
Loftus Palmer (1974)
139
# key study
What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer's study (1974)?
To investigate in general how accurate our inaccurate memory was. Specifically to see te effect of leading questions upon estimates of speed
139
# key study
How many experiments in Loftus and Palmer's study (1974)?
2 experiments
139
# key study
What was the aim of the 1st experiment in Loftus and Palmer's study?
To see if the speed estimates given by ppts upon watching a video of a car crash would be influenced by the wording of the question asked
140
# key study
how many ppts in Loftus and Palmer's 1st experiment?
45 students, various group sizes
140
# key study
what type and design of experiment used for Loftus and Palmer's 1st experiment?
lab experiment
indepedent measures
141
# key study
what was the independent variable in Loftus and Palmer's 1st experiment?
verb used to describe the collision
e.g. hit/smashed/bumped/etc.
141
# key study
what was the dependent variable in Loftus and Palmer's 1st experiment?
the answer give for the speed of the cars
142
# key study
what was the procedure for Loftus and Palmer's 1st experiment?
- ppt watched 7 (5-30 second) films (different order for each group)
- ppt given questionnaire after each film
- 1st question asked to give an account of what they'd seen
- then specific questions on questionnaire
- **critical question** was speed of the cars
- all ppts were asked *"how fast were the cars going when they ____ each other?"*
- blank was filled with either: *hit/smashed/collided/bumped/contacted*
142
# key study
what were the findings of Loftus and Palmer's 1st experiment?
the most violent verb used: *smashed* had the highest mean estimate of speed of 40.5mph, whilst the least violent verb used: *conatcted* had the lowest mean estimate of speed of 31.8mph
142
# key study
what was the conclusion of Loftus and Palmer's 1st experiment?
the response-bias explanation suggests that the wording of the question has no real effect on the ppt's memories, but just influences how they decide to answer. E.g. using *smashed* encourages them to use a higher speed estimate
143
# key study
what was the aim of Loftus and Palmer's 2nd experiment?
to see if the leading question just changed the responses given to the questions, ot whether the ppts' memories had actually altered as a result of the leading questions
144
# key study
how many ppts in Loftus and Palmer's 2nd experiment?
150 students, various group sizes
145
# key study
what type and design of experiment was used for Loftus and Palmer's 2nd experiment?
lab
independent measures
145
# key study
what was the independent variable in Loftus and Palmer's 2nd experiment?
the verb used in the critical question to describe the collision, e.g. *smashed, hit, etc.*
145
# key study
what was the dependent variable in Loftus abd Palmer's 2nd experiment?
*'yes' / 'no'* answer to 'broken glass' question
146
# key study
what was the procedure of loftus and Palmer's 2nd experiment?
- ppts shown a film of a multiple car accident
- describe accident in own words
- answer speed of vehicles question ***or*** no question
- answer *smash/hit* ***or*** no question
- 1 week later, answer *"any broken glass'* yes/no question, in a random list of 10 questions
- predicted 'smashed' would be more often said
146
# key study
what were the findings of loftus and palmer's 2nd experiment?
the number of ppts who claimed to see broken was higher in the 'smashed' group, with 16 ppts saying '*yes*, they had seen broken glass', with 34 ppts saying *no*; compared to the 'hit' group, in which only 7 ppts responded 'yes' to the broken glass question, with 43 saying 'no'; and the control group with only 1 less ppt saying 'yes' than in the 'hit' group (6 'yesses' and 44 'noes'
147
# key study
what was the conclusion of Loftus and Palmer's 2nd experiment?
supported substitution explanation - the wording of the leading question actually changed the ppts memories of the event. ppts who heard 'smashed' were far more likely than the 'hit' and control group to say that they had seen broken glass, when in fact, there was none.
the critical verb altered their memory of the incident.
148
What is post-event discussion?
a conversation between co-witnesses or an interviewer and an eyewitness after a crime has taken place which may contaminate a witness’ memory for the event
149
# key study
what was the procedure of Gabbert's study (2003)?
- ppts studied in pairs
- watched video of the same crime separately, but from different points of view
- both ppts then discussed what they had seen before individually completing a test of recall
150
# key study
what were the findings of Gabbert's study (2003)?
- 71% of ppts mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see in the video but had picked up in the discussion
- corresponding figure in control group was 0%
151
# key study
what was the conclusion of Gabbert's study (2003)?
that witnesses often go along with each other, either to win social approval, or becuase they believe the other witnesses are right / wrong.
this is called **memory conformity**
