Memory

Question 1

Explain why participants in a memory study may find it easier to carry out a 2 visual tasks at the same time than 1 visual 1 verbal task

Answer 1

Participants would find it hard to do two visual tasks at the same time because they would be competing for the same limited resources of the visuo-spatial sketchpad. However, a visual task and a verbal task would use different components

Question 2

Outline and explain the features of cognitive interview

Answer 2

1. reinstating the context – interviewee mentally reinstates the environmental and personal context of the incident, eg sights, sounds, weather etc
2. report everything – interviewer encourages the reporting of every single detail of the event, even though it may seem irrelevant
3. changing order – interviewer tries alternative ways through the timeline of the incident
4. changing perspective – interviewee recalls from different perspectives, eg how it would have appeared to other witnesses.