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Flashcards in Memory Deck (66)
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1
Q

What does encoding do?

A

Translates info into a form in which it can be used then putting the coded info into the memory.

2
Q

What are the 3 forms of retrieval?

A

Free recall (simply remembering info), cued recall (something cues the stored info) and recognition (identify info previously learnt)

3
Q

What is the coding of sensory memory?

A

In the form in which its received

4
Q

What’s the duration of sensory memory?

A

1/4 second - visual

4 seconds - auditory

5
Q

What is the coding used for STM?

A

Mainly phonological (auditory or sound-based)

6
Q

What is the duration of STM?

A

18-30 seconds

7
Q

How many items can the STM hold?

A

5 to 9

8
Q

What coding is used in LTM?

A

Mainly semantic

9
Q

What are the duration and capacity of LTM?

A

Unlimited

10
Q

Describe the Baddeley study into coding for LTM.

A

Presented participants with words that were;
- acoustically similar (caught, short, bought)
- semantically similar (huge, great, big)
- acoustically dissimilar (foul, old, deep)
- semantically dissimilar (pen, day, ring)
When LTM was tested, less semantically similar words were recalled.
This suggests that we encode info in our LTM semantically - because when words are linked by meaning they are less likely to be remembered due to not being able to give them an individual meaning.

11
Q

What is Peterson and Peterson study?

A

Claim that info held in STM disappears within 20 secs if not rehearsed.
People had to remember 3 nonsense letters, immediately after they were given a 3 digit number to count backwards in 3s from. The time they were given to count gradually increased.
As the time increased they found it harder to remember their original nonsense number.

12
Q

If info is not encoded in the sensory memory what happens to it?

A

It fades away

13
Q

How is info lost from STM?

A

Through decay and displacement

14
Q

How is info lost from LTM?

A

Through decay/retrieval, failure/interference

15
Q

Who came up with the multistore model of memory?

A

Atkinson and Shiffrin

16
Q

What does iconic memory refer to?

Multistore

A

The visual sensory memory

17
Q

What does echoic memory refer to? (Multistore)

A

The auditory sensory memory

18
Q

What is the recency effect?

A

When you remember the words which you heard most recently.

19
Q

What is the primacy effect?

A

When you remember the words that you heard first on the list

20
Q

Which psychologist looked into the primacy and recency effect?

A

Murdock

21
Q

Describe patient HM.

A

He suffered from epilepsy, had surgery to help it and was left with anterograde amnesia so he couldn’t make new memories. He then couldn’t transfer information from the STM to the LTM, supporting the idea of separate stores.

22
Q

Describe Clive Wearing.

A

He suffered from severe herpes which destroyed his hippocampus. He could remember certain pieces of info, such as recognising his wife and playing the piano, but lost the ability to form new memories after the illness.

23
Q

Evaluation of the multistore memory.

A

✅ provided the basis for much research into memory and remains an important milestone in our understanding of the structures and processes involved in memory.
❌ recently, many researchers have questioned the idea of separate short-term and long-term memories. Nairne sees STM as a tiny, highly active part of the LTM.
❌ view of rehearsal as simple rote rehearsal or verbal repetition. Studies have shown that rehearsal involving elaboration of materials is more effective than simple rote rehearsal. We know from experience that some material is remembered whether we rehearse or not.
❌ the model can be seen as oversimplified as it suggests that we have a single store of LT memories. Other researchers (tulving) have suggested that there is more than one type of LT store.
❌ many studies support various aspects of the model, although a lot of the research might be criticised because it involves testing memory in an artificial way.

24
Q

What does the levels of processing model focus on?

A

Focuses on the process of memory rather than the structure of it.
-how it works not what it looks like

25
Q

What is incidental learning procedure?

A

When you don’t know that you will have to recall the words so you don’t focus on memorising them.

26
Q

What is rote rehearsal?

A

Simply reacting the information over and over.

27
Q

What is elaborative rehearsal?

A

Involves elaboration of the material, e.g. Weaving into a story. Involves thinking about the meaning of the material so processed deeper.

28
Q

Describe the Craik and Tulving study.

A

Participants were presented with a list of 60 words about which they had to answer one of three questions. The qs were asked out loud whilst they saw the words on the projector. They had to write down yes or no. After, they were given a recognition test where they were presented with 180 words and had to tick the ones that they had been asked qs on.
The findings confirmed their ideas about LOP. Approx 17% of words in appearance condition were recalled, 37% in rhyming condition and 65% in the meaning condition.
Shows that the qs asked about meaning of the word were processed deeply where as the qs about the appearance were processed shallowly.

29
Q

Evaluation of LOP?

A

❌ the theory emphasises the importance of the process rather than the structure and now what you do during learning effects memory so it’s not very comprehensive.
❌ it’s impossible to measure the depth of processing therefore a lot of the evidence is based on assumptions because it could just be that it takes more time to process info by meaning rather than because info is processed more deeply.
✅ it explains why significant and meaningful events can be readily remembered such as flashbulb memories because they are processed at a deeper level which leads to increased recall.

30
Q

What is the central executive?

A

The controller - coordinates the memory system and allocates resources to the other 2 systems.

31
Q

What’s the phonological loop?

A

The sound system - processes sound based info.

32
Q

What’s the visuospatial scratch pad?

A

The inner eye - we can image and manipulate visual and spatial info.

33
Q

What is the articulatory control/loop?

A

The inner voice - limited capacity verbal rehearsal component, which is used to prepare speech and to think in words

34
Q

What is the primary acoustic store?

A

The inner ear - limited capacity auditory rehearsal system which receives sound info from the environment

35
Q

Describe the Paulesu study.

A

Wanted to investigate the phonological loop in working memory.
Participants had to either memorise a series of letters or to rehearse the sounds of the letters in their heads. The blood flow in their brains were also monitored at the same time using a PET scanner.
The sound rehearsal produced increased blood flow in BROCAS area while the letter-memory task was associated with another part.
It appears that the phonological loop has two components, one which stores sounds (primary acoustic store) and one which involves mental rehearsal (articulatory loop)

36
Q

Evaluation of WMM

A

❌ the empirical evidence for the model is based on lab experiments, so lacks ecological validity.
❌ we know little about the most central part of the model; the central executive. The model does not explain its role, or have evidence of it.
✅ it’s a much more flexible model than the multistore model and sees memory as active, rather than passive as it considers how we use STM in everyday life.
✅ it explains the problems that brain damaged people suffer from; I.e. If only the phonological loop is damaged, visual tasks would remain possible.

37
Q

What are the 3 processes involved in memory?

A

Encoding, storage and retrieval

38
Q

What is episodic memory in LTM?

A

It’s the LTM for events or episodes which we’ve experienced ourselves or from someone else. Such memories are usually linked in our memory to a particular time and place. E.g. Remembering the events of our first day at school.

39
Q

What is semantic memory in LTM?

A

It’s the LTM for information about the world or world knowledge. This includes general knowledge and meaning of words. Such memories can be used without reference to when and where the info was learnt. E.g. Knowing that grass is green.

40
Q

What is procedural memory in LTM?

A

Is a motor or action-based memory. E.g. The memory of how to ride a bike. It cannot be consciously inspected and is non-declarative, meaning it’s very difficult to put into words. Usually remembered as ‘knowing how’ memory.

41
Q

Describe the Tulving study (episodic and semantic memory)

A

Wanted to see if semantic and episodic were separate memory systems located in diff areas of the brain.
He was his own participant. He had quantities of radioactive gold injected into his bloodstream and thought about semantic and episodic memories. Scanners monitored blood flow in the brain.
2 memory tasks showed distinct patterns of blood flow in the brain. Episodic involved increased blood flow in front of brain. Semantic involved increased blood flow in back of brain.
Supported the view that episodic and semantic memory are located in diff areas of the brain.

42
Q

What causes trace decay?

A

Unless information is rehearsed, the trace connections between neurons (which make a memory permanent) are not sufficiently fixed and fade away

43
Q

Which study links to trace decay?

A

Peterson and Peterson - as the intervals got longer they couldn’t remember the number as well.

44
Q

Evaluation of decay

A

❌ we know that we do recall things after we haven’t thought about them for a long time as we can remember how to ride a bike without practising.
❌ many old people can recall incidents from their youth in great detail. Unless they have recalled the instance many times throughout their lives, the trace should have decayed according to the theory.
❌ it fails to explain WHY we forget things that we have no used; there is no evidence to support memory traces fading, so it’s difficult to test why it happens.
✅ it does have good applications to real life; such as a possible explanation for re-learning. It’s as though going over something previously learnt just once can strengthen an existing trace, e.g. Calculating formulas on excel.

45
Q

What are the two types of interference theory?

A

Proactive - the effect of interference in the short term memory.
Retroactive - the effect of interference in the long term memory.

46
Q

Describe Dallenbach the cockroach experiment.

A

2 cockroaches learnt a maze. One gets put to bed comfy in a matchbox with cotton wool whilst the other is left to roam all night. The one that was put to bed remembered the maze better than the one who was left to roam as there was no interference.
Interference affects learning and memory.

47
Q

What is the theory of interference?

A

That interference in the STM will prevent memories from being laid down in the LTM and so will cause forgetting.

48
Q

Proactive is when…

A

Previous learning makes it difficult to retain new info

49
Q

Retroactive is…

A

When newly learnt info makes it difficult to recall old memories.

50
Q

Evaluation of interference theory?

A

✅ there is a lot of evidence that backs up the idea that interference causes certain types of forgetting.
✅ it’s a credible theory because it’s backed up by our own everyday experience. E.g. Windscreen wipers going backwards.
❌ it’s hard to be specific that interference has happened and not trace decay or displacement which can also explain some of the findings.
❌ most of the strongest evidence is provided by lab experiments which lacks ecological validity and may therefore not truly explain the nature of memory in real life.

51
Q

What is retrieval failure?

A

Info in the LTM isn’t always accessible when required so at this point it is forgotten. We have cues and context to try and help us to remember and retrieve the info and memories.

52
Q

Describe the godden and Baddeley study.

A

There were 2 groups. They heard 40 unrelated words either on the beach or 10ft under water. Then they had to recall the words either in the same environment as remembered or the alternative one.
They found that more words were recalled if they were in the same environment to remember and recall. Recall=10% better when both underwater and 15% when both on dry land.
This study demonstrates that recall performance is best when the environmental context for learning and recall are the same.

53
Q

Evaluation of retrieval failure.

A

✅ baddeley - no doubt of importance of cues in retrieval.
✅ lots of application to real life.
✅ realism - context of dependent recall demonstrated many times (imagining, sights and smells)
✅ consistent with LOP. Deep processing involves making links with what we know.
❌ G and B study only used free recall not recognition.
❌ some studies lack EV.
❌ Procedural memories are not explained by retrieval failure; most procedural memories, e.g. How to ride a bike, are not effected by retrieval cues so it doesn’t explain all types of forgetting.

54
Q

Where does displacement only occur?

A

In the short term memory because of the limited capacity within this store.

55
Q

Explain displacement in Millers 7+/- 2

A

Any new info which is added on top of this 5-9 will push out (or displace) an older piece of info.

56
Q

Describe Shallice’s study.

A

He used the serial probe technique, where 16 digits are rapidly presented to participants who are then given one digit (the ‘probe’) and have to report the digit which followed.
It was found that the nearer the end of the sequence the probe was presented, the higher the accuracy of the answer.
This shows that the start of the list is displaced and near the end of the list the digits are in the STM.

57
Q

Evaluation of displacement theory.

A

✅ theory is consistent with Atkinson and shiffrins model of STM.
❌ As Atkinson and shiffrins description of STM gave way to the WMM, displacement theory because less popular.
❌ displacement is a fairly limited explanation of forgetting as it can only explain forgetting from STM.
❌ In studies involving an interference task, forgetting may be due to decay because of spare time between learning and recall, rather than being due to displacement.
❌ doesn’t explain forgetting in STM.
❌ Shallice study could also be explained by decay or interference.
❌ studies which support this (Shallice and Murdock) lack EV.

58
Q

What is consolidation?

A
When neurotransmitters (acetylcholine) either inhibit or stimulate the performance of neurons. 
Consolidation is the process of permanent change in the brain cells.
59
Q

Describe the Drachman and Sahakian study.

A

The investigate how the process of consolidation can be disrupted.
The experimental group was given a drug which blocks acetylcholine. They had to learn a list of words, complete a distractor task for 60 secs and then recall the words. Performance was compared to a control group who didn’t receive drug treatment.
The control group could recall twice as many words as the experimental group.
The findings show that consolidation squired the use of specific neurotransmitters and also that this process can be disrupted.

60
Q

What are stage one and two of making a memory? (Consolidation)

A

Stage 1: quickly - due to initial fixation of memory.

Stage 2: links established between new memory trace and existing memories.

61
Q

Describe Hebb’s cell assemblies.

A

Hebb proposed that groups of neurons were activated in response to info being transferred from our senses. These cell assemblies retained info long enough for a permanent memory to form. This can take up to 30 mins.

62
Q

Evaluation for consolidation.

A

✅ consistent with what we know about the nervous system and how the brain processes info.
✅ links bio and psych approaches.
❌ HM
❌ no evidence about how long it takes to consolidate.
❌ most cases of forgetting in real life don’t involve interference with drugs/blow to head - maybe lack of consolidation only occurs rarely in real life.
❌ lacks ecological validity - wouldn’t learn lists of words normally, not real memories.

63
Q

What is repression?

A

When we forget things because we want to.

64
Q

Describe the Williams study.

A

See if people recall incidents of childhood abuse.
129 people who were abused between 10 months and 12 years. Interviewed age 18-31.
Extended interview about sex history 38% failed to report the abuse that was documented by hospital. Only said they were abuse, not specific.
Participants failed to recall specific incidence of abuse because these were repressed.

65
Q

What is dissociative amnesia?

A

Failure to recall unpleasant or traumatic experiences. In serious cases people can forget who they are or where they come from. Sometimes they can change identity all together.

66
Q

Evaluation of repression?

A

❌ theory can’t be tested easily as you can’t see it so can’t measure it - unfalsifiable.
❌ in Williams study there may be other reasons why they didn’t tell about abuse.
❌ findings of dissociative amnesia can’t be generalised.
❌ we do recall unpleasant events.
❌ ethical issues - upsetting and causing harm.
❌ artificial - lacks ecological validity.
✅ people who have experienced upsetting events more likely to suffer disorders.