Memory Flashcards
(112 cards)
1
Q
Who investigated coding and what was the procedure? (1966)
A
Baddeley used 4 lists of words, semantically and acoustically similar and dissimilar. He assigned a group of participants to each list and asked them to recall them in the correct order after showing them the lists.
2
Q
What did baddeley find and conclude about coding after his 1966 study?
A
When PPTS immediately (STM) recalled, they found it harder to differentiate acoustically similar words but after 20 mins (LTM), they struggled more with semantically similar words.
Suggests that STM is coded acoustically and LTM semantically.
3
Q
How is STM coded?
A
Acoustically.
4
Q
How is LTM coded?
A
Semantically.
5
Q
What is a strength of Baddeley’s (1966) research?
A
It outlined the existence of 2 different memory stores and lead to the development of the MSM.
6
Q
What is a weakness of Baddeley’s research?
A
It uses artificial, meaningless stimuli, meaning the results may not say much about coding in everyday life.
7
Q
What is coding?
A
The way in which information is organised in memory.
8
Q
What is capacity?
A
The amount of info that can be held in a particular memory store.
9
Q
Who investigated digit span and what did they do? (1887)
A
Jacobs read out a specific number of digits and the participant has to keep recalling until they can’t, one digit is added per correct answer.
10
Q
What did Jacobs find the mean digit span to be in his study?
A
9.3 for digits
7.3 for letters
11
Q
What is a strength of Jacob’s’ research into digit span?
A
Despite it being old, it has held up with time and findings have been replicated despite potentially inadequate controls.
12
Q
Who investigated chunking and what did they say? (1956)
A
Miller believed the capacity of the STM to be about 7 (+/-2) items.
He also stated that words can be remembered JUST as well as letters via chunking (grouping information together).
13
Q
What is a limitation of Miller’s ideas about capacity? (Cowan 2001)
A
He may have overestimated the capacity of the STM.
Research from Cowan (2001) found that the capacity may be closer to the lower end of Miller’s prediction (4+/-1)
14
Q
What is duration?
A
The length of time information can be held in memory.
15
Q
What was the study of STM duration? (Peterson^2) procedure only.
A
Peterson and Peterson tested 24 PPTS in 8 trials each.
Used consonant trigrams (e.g KYS) to remember and a three digit number to count backwards from in threes.
On each trial, they were stopped at varying amounts of time: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 seconds.
16
Q
When was the Peterson and Peterson study?
A
1959.
17
Q
What were the findings from the Peterson and Peterson study?
What was the average recall after 3 seconds compared to 18 seconds?
A
After 3 seconds, average recall was 80%.
After 18 seconds, average recall was 3%.
18
Q
What is a limitation of the Peterson and Peterson study?
A
Artificial stimuli were used with no personal meaning to participants, giving the study low external validity.
19
Q
Outline the study from Bahrick et al. (1975) investigating duration of LTM? Procedure only.
A
392 American PPTS aged 17-74.
Yearbooks collected.
Two tasks:
1.facial recognition from the yearbooks
2.free recall of NAMES from their graduating classes.
20
Q
What were the findings/main takeaways from the Bahrick et al. Study?
A
After 48 years, recall for facial recognition declined to 70% and 30% for free recall. Despite it being less in older people, information was STILL PRESENT, showing duration of LTM may be a lifetime.
21
Q
Why is the Bahrick et al. (1975) a good study?
A
It uses MEANINGFUL STIMULI in the yearbook photos, good external validity.
22
Q
What is the coding of the sensory register?
A
MODALITY-SPECIFIC, it depends on the sense.
23
Q
What is the capacity of the sensory register?
A
Very high as it is constantly receiving lots of environmental stimuli.
24
Q
What is the duration of the sensory register?
A
Very low, gone in less than 0.5s if not paid attention to.
25
How does information pass from the sensory register into the STM? (One word)
Attention.
26
What is the duration of STM? (If stuck think of Peterson^2 research)
18 seconds.
27
What is the rough capacity of STM?
5-9 items (Miller) at first, but was then thought to be more close to 4(+/-1)
28
How does information travel from the STM to the LTM?
Repeated maintenance rehearsal, which is PROLONGED REHEARSAL.
29
What is the believed duration of the LTM? (Think of the Bahrick et al. 1975 study)
Lifetime.
30
What is the capacity of LTM?
Thought to be unlimited.
31
How is memory recalled from the LTM?
Retrieval.
32
What is the evidence for more than one STM store that is a weakness of MSM?
KF had amnesia and his STM for digits was POOR when read to him but much better when he read them to himself, evidence for different stores.
33
What is the limitation of prolonged rehearsal in the MSM?
It is NOT NECESSARY to transfer info into the LTM. Elaborative rehearsal, where info is linked to pre-existing knowledge can also be used.
34
What is elaborative rehearsal?
Where new information is remembered in the LTM by linking it with pre-existing information.
35
What are the three types of LTM?
Episodic, semantic and procedural memory.
36
What are the key ideas of episodic memory?
Our ability to recall personal events (episodes) from our life. Memories are time-stamped. You have to make a CONSCIOUS EFFORT to recall these.
Likened to a diary. Prone to distortion/forgetting.
37
What are the key ideas of semantic memory?
SHARED knowledge of the world. Based on FACTS and likened to an encyclopedia. Not time-stamped. It is constantly being added to, and is also less prone to distortion.
38
What is procedural memory?
“How we do things”, memory for actions and skills. We can eventually recall these without conscious effort. We may find it hard to explain these to somebody else, we just do them.
39
What is the research support from clinical evidence for the existence of separate semantic and episodic memory stores?
HM, could not remember petting a dog but understood the concept of “dog” and also had their procedural memory still intact. This was after surgery/brain infection.
40
What is the conflicting neuro-imaging evidence in relation to episodic and semantic memory?
Research concluded that semantic memory was on the LEFT of the pre-frontal cortex and episodic was on the RIGHT. However, other evidence suggests that the left PFC encodes episodic memory and the right retrieves it.
41
Who proposed the working memory model and when?
Baddeley and Hitch. (1974)
42
What is the capacity of the central executive?
Very low.
43
What is the coding of the phonological loop? (Remember it deals with auditory information)
Acoustic coding.
44
What are the two divisions of the phonological loop?
Phonological store.
Articulatory process.
45
What is the role of the phonological store?
STORES the words YOU HEAR.
46
What is the role of the articulatory process?
ALLOWS MAINTENANCE REHEARSAL, repeating words to stay in working memory.
47
What is the capacity of the phonological loop?
2 seconds worth of what can be said.
48
What is the capacity of the VSS, according to Baddeley?
“Limited” capacity of around 3-4 objects.
49
What is the role of the VSS?
Storing visual/spatial information where required.
50
What are the two divisions of the VSS?
The visual cache.
The inner scribe.
51
What does the visual cache do?
Stores visual data.
52
What does the inner scribe do?
Records the arrangements of objects from the visual field.
53
When was the episodic buffer added to the WMM?
2000.
54
Who proposed the MSM?
Atkinson and Shiffrin.
55
What is the capacity of the episodic buffer?
4 chunks.
56
What is a limitation of the central executive?
There is a lack of understanding of the true nature of it. Just attributing it to “attention” is too vague and tells us little about its role, this challenges the integrity of the WMM.
57
What is the clinical evidence that supports the WMM’s proposition of a separate auditory and visual store?
Patient KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but processed visual information normally. Recall of digits was better when HE read them rather than when they were read to him. Phonological loop was damaged but VSS intact.
58
What is the support from dual task performance for the WMM?
Dual task performances shows that when a task involved two tasks in the same store, performance decreased because they were both COMPETING for the same mental space, proving the existence of the VSS.
59
How many participants did Peterson^2 use for their study on STM memory?
24
60
What is PROactive interference? (Moving forwards)
When OLD information interferes with/ prevents recall of new information.
61
What is RETROactive interference?
(Moving backwards)
When NEW information interferes with/prevents recall of OLD information.
62
What effect does similarity of information have on interference?
It worsens the effect of interference.
63
What is the research into similarity?
(McDonald et al.) (basic procedure)
PPTS had to remember a list of 10 items to 100% accuracy, then having to remember a new list after that.
There were 6 groups, each with a different list.
64
What were the 6 secondary lists that participants in the McDonald et al. study had to learn?
1. Synonyms
2. Antonyms
3. Unrelated words
4. Consonant syllables
5. Three digit numbers
6. No new list (control)
65
What were the findings from the McDonald et al. study?
That SYNONYMS produced the WORST recall, proving that similarity has an effect on interference.
66
What is interference?
When two pieces of information disrupt each other, causing us to forget one/both or have distortions.
67
What is the Baddeley and Hitch rugby study? (Research support for interference)
What’s the counter?
They asked rugby players to name all teams they’d played against during the season. Those that were injured/missing had less to recall. Players that attended the most games had the POOREST RECALL.
Counter: this is a lab study, interference can easily be created in these condition but may not be as common in the real world.
68
What is the research from Tulving et al. that proves interference can be overcome by cues?
They gave PPTS words organised into categories (they did not know the categories). They were asked to recall the lists, started at 70% but went down list by list. When the categories (cue) were revealed, recall went back up to around 70%.
69
What is the drug studies support for interference?
Researchers gave PPTS a word list to remember. Participants took diazepam before and after remembering the list. Those that took it before recalled worse compared to a control placebo group and those that took it after had better recall.
Research suggests that the specific drug prevents taking in new info, indicating that interference can lead to forgetting.
70
Who proposed the encoding specificity principle and when?
Tulving (1983)
71
What is the encoding specificity principle?
It states that if a cue is helpful it must be present during ENCODING and RETRIEVAL.
72
What are the two examples of where non-meaningful cues are used?
Context-dependent forgetting and state-dependent forgetting.
73
What is the research into context-dependent forgetting? (Procedure)
BADDELEY et al. studied deep sea divers. They gave them lists of words to learn/recall in 4 conditions:
Learn/recall underwater
Learn/recall on land
Learn on land recall underwater
Learn underwater recall on land
74
What is context-dependent forgetting with an example?
Where recall depends on an external cue (e.g the weather).
75
What is state-dependent forgetting with an example?
When recall depends on an internal cue (e.g mood).
76
What were the findings from Baddeley’s study on context-dependent forgetting? (Deep sea divers)
Recall was 40% higher in matched conditions, indicating that external cues are important in forgetting.
77
What is the research into state-dependent forgetting?
Researchers gave antihistamines to PPTS as they have a mild sedative effect. They made 4 conditions, mixing whether they learned and recalled a set of items on or off of antihistamines.
78
What did the research into state-dependent forgetting find?
Matched conditions yielded the best performances.
79
What is retrieval failure?
Not being able to access memories that ARE available.
80
What is a weakness of Baddeley et al’s study on context dependent forgetting in relation to recognition?
BADDELEY ET AL. replicated their study, testing recognition instead of recall, finding no difference between conditions this time, indicating that the explanation is limited to only recall.
81
What is a weakness of Baddeley et al’s study on context-dependent forgetting in relation to the nature of the study?
Context effects may not be as strong as thought. The effect is present in the study because ON LAND AND UNDERWATER ARE VERY DIFFERENT. This means the study lacks ecological validity as in the real world you’re not likely to forget something going room-to-room, for example.
82
What is the support for cues in relation to everyday situations? (Use an example).
Baddeley et al. argues it’s important to not underestimate their importance. Think of the example of going to a room after remembering you need to get something, then getting to the room and forgetting what it is, only to go back to the OG room and remember. Cues are applicable to everyday life.
83
How many people participated in Loftus and Palmer’s study?
45.
84
When was Loftus and Palmer’s study?
1974.
85
What was the procedure of Loftus and Palmer’s study?
Participants were put into 5 groups of 9, watching the same clip of a car accident. Each group had a different verb in the question “How fast do you think the cars were going when they HIT each other?”
86
What were the 5 verbs that Loftus and Palmer used in their leading questions study?
Bumped, collided, contacted, smashed, hit.
87
What were the findings from Loftus and Palmers study?
Mean speeds were calculated for each group.
Smashed - 40.5mph
Contacted - 31.8mph
88
What is the response-bias explanation to leading questions?
Suggests that leading questions DO NOT impact memory, just how somebody DECIDES to answer.
89
What is the substitution explanation for leading questions? What is the evidence to support this from the OG study?
Proposes that the wording of a question causes a REAL change in memory. Evidence: PPTS in the study who were given the word “smashed” reported seeing broken glass even though there was none.
90
What is meant by post-event discussion?
How eyewitnesses discuss memories/experiences of a crime amongst themselves.
91
Who conducted research into post-event discussion?
GABBERT et al.
92
What is the research into post-event discussion? (Procedure)
Gabbert et al. paired PPTS and they both watched film of a crime, but filmed from different POVS. They then discussed what they saw afterwards.
93
What were the findings from the research into post-event discussion?
71% of PPTS MISTAKENLY recalled aspects that they didn’t see, compared to a 0% CTRL group.
94
What are the two ways to describe misinformation after post-event discussion?
Memory contamination and memory conformity.
95
What is memory contamination?
When EWT becomes genuinely distorted as they combine misinformation from PED with their own recollection.
96
What is memory conformity?
When witnesses go along with each other either for social approval or because they believe they’re right. Memory remains intact and unchanged.
97
What is the practical application and counterpoint of research into misleading information?
There is practical use for the CJS as they can better understand the severity of misleading questions, courts may use a psychologist to explain the potential costs of EWT.
Counter: research (such as Loftus and palmer) is often lab-based, doesn’t represent the real world. There is also less of an inclination for PPTS in this study to be accurate than in an actual court.
98
What is the evidence against substitution in EWT?
EWT is more accurate for certain aspects of an event than others.
Researchers showed PPTS a clip and they were asked leading questions. Recall was more accurate for central parts of the clip rather than peripheral aspects, these were less resistant to leading Q’s.
99
What is the research that contradicts memory conformity?
Researchers matched PPTS and showed them each a film clip (of a crime) that had been slightly altered (e.g changing hair colour). The participants discussed it in pairs, rather than conforming their memories blended into a mix of both.
100
What is the negative product of anxiety disorder in EWT?
Weapon focus.
101
What was the research from Johnson & Scott on weapon focus? (Procedure)
PPTS were in a waiting room - believed they were in a lab study. One group watched a normal man walk past them after hearing him have a casual conversation. (Low anxiety) Another group heard a heated argument and watched a man holding a blood-covered knife walk past. (High anxiety)
102
What were the findings and conclusions from the Johnson & Scott weapon focus study?
PPTS were asked to pick the man out from 50 photos, 49% were able to from low anxiety group compared to 33% in the high anxiety group.
This can be explained by tunnel theory of memory - people are more focused on central events. (i.e weapons)
103
What is a limitation of Johnson & Scott’s weapon focus study? (Handgun chicken study)
It may not have been testing ANXIETY, it is argued that they were surprised by what they saw rather than scared.
Researchers did an experiment where PPTS watched a hairdressing video, either using scissors, a handgun or a chicken as the tool used. RECALL WAS POORER in unusalness conditions.
Weapon focus is due to unusualness, NOT ANXIETY.
104
What is support for the negative effects of anxiety? (Labyrynth - Valentine and Mesout)
PPTS went through a horror labyrinth at London dungeons, agreed to wear a wired heart monitor and complete a questionnaire after to assess their anxiety. They encountered a scary actor in the maze, and were asked about him after. 75% of low anxiety participants correctly identified him compared to 17% high anxiety participants.
105
Why might anxiety have a positive effect on EWT?
Because your sense of arousal is heightened, fight or flight is triggered and therefore you may be more SENSITIVE TO CUES.
106
What is the study into the positive effects of anxiety on EWT? (Cutshall gun shop) (procedure)
Conducted a study of a REAL shooting at a gun store in Vancouver. Thief was shot dead. 13/21 witnesses took part in the study. They were interviewed 4-5 months after the shooting, interviews were compared to POLICE interviews. Witnesses were also asked how stressed they were at the incident on a 7 point scale and if they’d had emotional problems.
107
What were the findings from research into the positive effects of anxiety on EWT?
Participants were still accurate in their details and it mostly held up well to the police interviews, but those that reported being stressed had the BEST recall.
108
What is the research support for positive effects of anxiety on EWT (Christianson et al.) and the counterpoint?
Interviewed 58 witnesses to bank robberies. They were at varying levels of involvement. The researchers assumed that those directly involved would experience the highest anxiety, but recall was 75%+ for everyone, those directly involved seemingly having the best recall.
Counter: this research was done several months after the robberies, post even discussion could have occurred etc they had no control. Confounding variable.
109
What does the Yerkes-Dodson law (inverted U) state?
That stress will increase performance, but ONLY TO A CERTAIN POINT, after that it gets worsened drastically.
110
Who came up with the inverted U?
Yerkes and Dodson.
111
Why is the inverted U theory limited?
Because it ONLY looks at the physiological response to anxiety, ignores cognitive, behavioural etc.
112
What are the four techniques used in the cognitive interview?
1. Report everything
2. Reinstate context
3. Reverse order
4. Change perspective
