Memory Flashcards
Define capacity
This is a measure of the amount of information that can be stored in memory.
Define coding.
This refers to the way that information is modified so it can be stored in memory. Information can be stored in the form of visual, acoustic or semantic codes.
Define duration.
This is a measure of how long a memory can be stored before it is no longer available.
Describe Peterson and Peterson’s study on STM duration.
Participants were given a nonsense consonant triad and a three digit number (e.g. THX 512) The participants then had to count down in threes from their three digit number during a retention period of either 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds, after which they had to recall the triad they were given.
Describe Baddeley’s study on coding in LTM and STM.
1) Baddeley (1966) gave participants word lists to learn- one semantically similar p, acoustically different, and one semantically different, acoustically similar.
2) Participants struggled short-term with list 2, and long-term with list 1.
3) Baddeley concluded that LTM is encoded semantically and STM acoustically.
Define ‘Proactive Interference’
Refers to when past learning interferes with attempts to learn something new.
Define ‘Retroactive Interference’
This refers to when current attempts at learning interferes with the recollection of past learning.
Describe Goodwin’s study on state-dependent forgetting
Goodwin (1969) researched ‘state dependent forgetting’. Participants had to learn a word list either drunk or sober. Recall of the words was best when they were drunk during both encoding and recall or sober during both encoding and recall.
Briefly explain the case of HM.
Scoville and Milner (1957) studied HM who had his hippocampus removed to treat his epilepsy. He was unable to form new LTMs but could form STMs.
Describe Abernathy’s study on context dependent forgetting.
Abernathy (1940) ‘context dependant forgetting’. Students were tested in different conditions: by their regular instructor in their usual teaching room/different one, or by a different instructor in usual teaching room/different one. Results were best when tested in their usual room by their usual instructor
List the components of the Cognitive Interview.
1] Mental reinstatement of events- done to provide contextual and emotional cues that make memories more accessible.
2) Report everything- even irrelevant information, may trigger the recall of another one, or allow small pieces of information to be pieced together.
3) Chnage the order- done to remove any schemas that may impact eyewitness testimony.
4) Change perspective- done again to minimise effects of schemas.
Describe Johnson and Scott’s study on the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
Participants heard an argument and then saw a man run past holding a grease covered pen (low anxiety) or knife covered in blood (high anxiety). In the low anxiety situation identification of the man was 49% accurate but only 33% in the high anxiety scenario.
List the two types of declarative memory.
1) Semantic memory
2) Episodic memory
Define Procedural memory
This is the memory that is concerned with knowing how to do things (like ride a bike/drive a car) which eventually, through repetition become automatic.
Who conducted the research on the effects of misleading information on eyewitness testimony.
Loftus and Palmer in 1974
Describe research related to retrieval failure
Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) gave participants a list of 48 words from 12 different categories.
Recall was 40% accurate without retrieval cues.
Recall was 60% accurate when the category was given as a retrieval cues.
Define ‘cues’ in regards to memory.
These are the things that serve as triggers to a memory. They may be things about the memory like the category a word belongs to, or the room in which you learned it.
Define semantic memory.
This is the memory that is concerned with knowledge of facts, like the capital city of a country.
Define episodic memory
This is the memory that is concerned with the knowledge of life events such as the first day of school.
Define eyewitness testimony
This refers to the ability of a person to remember events they have witnessed, usually with the effect that they have to testify about what they have seen in court, or identify the perpetrator of the crime
