Memory Flashcards
(98 cards)
1
Q
What is coding?
A
The format in which the information is stored in the various memory stores
2
Q
What is capacity?
A
The amount of information that can be held in a memory store
3
Q
What is duration?
A
The length of time information can be held in memory
4
Q
How is short-term memory coded?
A
Mainly acousticly
5
Q
What is the capacity of short-term memory?
A
5-9 chunks of information
6
Q
What is the duration of short-term memory?
A
18-30 seconds
7
Q
How is long-term memory coded?
A
Mainly semantic
8
Q
What is the capacity of long-term memory?
A
Unlimited
9
Q
What is the Multi-Store Model of Memory?
A
A representation of how memory works in terms of 3 stores;
- Sensory register
- Short term memory
- Long term memory
10
Q
What is the sensory register?
A
The memory stores for each of our five senses in the echoic store and the iconic store
11
Q
What is the iconic store?
A
The store of visual information
12
Q
What is the echoic store?
A
The store of auditory information
13
Q
What is maintenance rehearsal?
A
- Occurs when we repeat material to ourselves over and over again
- This information is kept in our short-term memories as long as we rehearse it
- If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into our long-term memory
14
Q
What is retrieval?
A
- Material that is stored in long-term memory has to be transferred back into our short-term memory when we want to recall it
15
Q
What are the limitations of the Multi-Store of Memory (MSM)?
A
- Too simplistic
- Doesn’t apply to everyone
- The model could miss out important information
16
Q
What is a unitary store?
A
1 type of store
17
Q
What are the 3 types of long-term memory?
A
- Episodic Memory
- Semantic Memory
- Procedural Memory
18
Q
What is Episodic Memory?
A
- Long-term memory store for personal events
- Time-stamped
- Need to be deliberately recalled
19
Q
What is Semantic Memory?
A
- Long-term memory store for our knowledge of the world
- Facts
- Not time-stamped
- Constantly added to
- Need to be deliberately recalled
20
Q
What is Procedural Memory?
A
- Long-term memory store of our knowledge of how to do things such as waling, talking
- Do not need conscious awareness and it does not need to be recalled, no deliberate effort
21
Q
What is the working memory model?
A
- A representation of short-term memory
- Suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system.
22
Q
What is the central executive?
A
- The component of the WMM that coordinates the activities of the three subsystems in memory
- An attentional process that monitors incoming data, makes decisions and allocates slave systems to tasks
- Limited processing capacity
23
Q
What are the 3 slave systems of memory?
A
- Phonological loop
- Visuo-spatial sketchpad
- Episodic buffer
24
Q
What is the phonological loop?
A
- Deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives
- 1st slave system
25
What can the phonological loop be subdivided into?
- Phonological store
| - Articulatory process
26
What is the phonological store?
- Part of the phonological loop
| - Stores the words you hear
27
What is the articulatory process?
- Part of the phonological loop-
- Allows maintenance rehearsal
- The capacity of this ‘loop’ is said to be two seconds worth of what you can say
28
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
- Stores visual or spatial information when required
- Limited capacity (3-4 objects)
- 2nd slave system
29
What can the visuo-spatial sketchpad be subdivided into?
- Visual cache
| - Inner scribe
30
What is the visual cache?
- Part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad
| - Stores visual data
31
What is the inner scribe?
- Part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad
| - Records the arrangement of objects
32
What is the episodic buffer?
- A temporary store for information
- Integrates the visual, spatial and verbal information processed by other stores
Maintains a sense of time sequencing
- Can be seen as the storage component of the central executive
- Limited capacity of about 4 chunks
- Added to the model in 2000
33
What are the 3 explanations for forgetting?
- Inference (proactive and retroactive)
- Retrieval Failure
- Context-dependent Forgetting
34
What is inference?
Forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one of both memories to be distorted or forgotten.
35
What is proactive inference?
- Forgetting occurs when older memories, already stored, disrupt the recall of new memories
- The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar
36
What is retroactive inference?
- Forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored
- The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar.
37
What was McGeoch and McDonald's aim?
To discover the effects of similarity on the interference of memory
38
What did McGeoch and McDonald do?
- Studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between 2 sets of material
- Participants had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy, then learned a new list
- Group 1- Synonyms
- Group 2- Antonyms - words with opposite meanings to the original
- Group 3- Words unrelated to the original ones
- Group 4- Nonsense syllables
- Group 5- Three-digit numbers
- Group 6- No new list - these participants just rested
39
What did McGeoch and McDonald find?
- When the participants recalled the original list of words, their performance depended upon the nature of the second list
- The synonyms (most similar material) produced the worst recall
40
What did McGeoch and McDonald conclude?
- Similarity of memories produces worsened recall
| - Provides an explanation for forgetting and interference
41
What is a hypothesis?
States what we are testing
42
What are the 2 types of hypothesis?
- Directional
| - Non-directional
43
What is a directional hypothesis?
States the direction of result
44
What is a non-directional hypothesis?
States a relationship but no direction
45
What is the operationalisation of of a hypothesis?
States the method used so there isn’t the possibility of other variables impacting the results
46
What are the 4 variables?
- Independent
- Dependent
- Control
- Extraneous
47
What is the independent variable?
It is manipulated to determine the value of a dependent variable
48
What is the dependent variable?
The thing you measure
49
What is the control variable?
- Variables that are controlled
| - Stay the same
50
What is the extraneous variable?
Things that cannot be controlled
51
What is retrieval failure?
- A form of forgetting
- Occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory
- The memory is available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided
52
What is a cue?
- A ‘trigger’ of information which allows us to access memory
- Cues may be meaningful or may be indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning
- Cues may be internal or external
53
What are insufficient cues?
- A reason why people forget information
- When information is initially placed in memory, associated cues are stored at the same time
- If these cues are not available at the time of recall, it may make it appear as if you have forgotten the information but, in fact, this is due to retrieval failure
54
What is the Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP)?
This states that if a cue is to help us recall information it has to be there at the time of encoding and at the time of retrieval
It states that if the cues at the time of encoding and retrieval are different or entirely absent at retrieval, there will be some forgetting
55
What did Godden and Baddeley aim to do?
Investigate how context impacts forgetting or remembering
56
What did Godden and Baddeley do?
- Divers learned a list of words either underwater or on land and then were asked to recall the words either underwater or on land
- 4 conditions
- Learn on land - recall on land
- Learn on land - recall underwater
- Learn underwater - recall underwater
- Learn underwater - recall underwater
57
What did Godden and Baddeley find?
Accurate recall was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions
58
What did Godden and Baddeley conclude?
- Context impacts upon the recall of memory
- Displays how external cues available in learning that are no longer available at recall affects retrieval therefore increasing the reliability of the theory
59
What was Carter and Cassady's aim?
Investigate how physiological state affects memory
60
What did Carter and Cassady do?
- Gave antihistamine tablets to their participants, making them drowsy
- This creates an internal physiological state which differs from the normal state of being awake and alert
- The participants had to learn a list of words and passages of prose and then recall the information
- 4 conditions
- Learn on drug - recall off drug
Learn on drug - recall on drug
Learn off drug - recall on drug
Learn off drug - recall off drug
61
What did Carter and Cassady find?
- In the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse
- So when the cues are absent then there is more forgetting
62
What did Carter and Cassady conclude?
When the internal cues are absent, recall is significantly worse which again increases the reliability of the theory
63
What is an eye-witness testimony?
The ability of people to remember the details of events, such as accidents and crimes, which they themselves have observed.
64
What can affect the accuracy of eye-witness testimony?
- Misleading information
- Leading questions
- Anxiety
- Post-event discussion
65
What is misleading information?
Incorrect information given to the eyewitness usually after the event
66
What are leading questions?
A question which, because of the way that it was phrased, suggests a certain answer.
67
What is a response bias explanation?
Wording of a question has no enduring effect on an eyewitness’ memory of an event, but influences the kind of answer given
68
What is a substitution explanation?
Wording of a question does affect eyewitness memory; it interferes with its original memory, distorting it accuracy
69
What is post-event discussion?
Witnesses may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses and other people. This may influence the accuracy of each witnesses recall of the event.
70
What can post-event discussion lead to?
- Memory contamination
| - Memory conformity
71
What is memory contamination?
When co-witnesses discuss a crime, the misinformation from other witnesses mix with their own memories
72
What is memory conformity?
Witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right
73
What did Loftus and Palmer research?
The effects of leading questions on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
74
What did Loftus and Palmer do?
- Participants watched videos of car accidents
- Asked leading questions
- The verb of the sentence was changed for each of the groups (hit, contacted, smashed, collided, bumped0
75
What did Loftus and Palmer find?
The leading question biased the eyewitness recall of the event
76
Who investigated post-event discussion?
Gabbert et al
77
What was Gabbert et al's aim?
Study the effects of post-event discussion on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
78
What did Gabbert et al do?
- Participants shown videos of a crime but all from different perspectives
- Then discussed what they saw
79
What did Gabbert et al find?
- 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects of the event that they did not see
80
What did Gabbert et al conclude?
- Support for memory conformity
| - Suggests that post-event discussion affects the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and causes influenced recall
81
What is anxiety?
- A state of physical and emotional arousal
- Worried thoughts and tension
- A normal reaction to stressful events
82
Who supports the idea that anxiety has a negative effect on recall?
Johnson and Scott
83
What did Johnson and Scott do?
- Weapon anxiety
- While seated in the waiting room, participants heard an argument in the next room
In the ‘low anxiety’ condition a man walked out of the room carrying a pen, with grease on his hands
- In the ‘high anxiety’ condition a man walked out of the room holding a paper knife that was covered in blood
84
What did Johnson and Scott find?
- 49% of participants in the ‘low anxiety’ condition were able to identify him
- 33% of participants in the ‘high anxiety’ condition were able to identify him
85
What did Johnson and Scott conclude?
The tunnel theory of memory argues that a witness’ attention narrows to focus on the weapon, because it is a source of anxiety thus suggesting that anxiety can have a negative effect on recall
86
Who supports the idea that anxiety has a positive effect on recall?
Yullie et al
87
What did Yullie et al aim to study?
Whether or not the stress of witnessing a crime or an accident, which causes anxiety, affects recall
88
What did Yullie et al do?
- Study of a real-life shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver, Canada
- The shop owner shot a thief dead
- There were 21 witnesses - 13 agreed to take part in the study
- The interviews were held 4-5 months after the incident and these were compared with the original police interviews at the time of the shooting
- Accuracy was determined by the number of details reported in each account
- The witnesses were also asked to rate how stressed they felt at the time of the incident, using a 7-point scale, and asked if they had any emotional problems since the event, such as sleeplessness
89
What did Yullie et al find?
- The witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change in accuracy within the 5 months - though some details were less accurate such as recollection of the colour of items and age/height/weight estimates
- Participants who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate
90
What did Yullie et al include?
Fight or flight response is triggered by stress which increases our alertness and improves our memory for the event as we are more aware of the cues of the situation
91
What is a cognitive interview?
A method of interviewing an eyewitnesses to help them achieve more accurate memories
92
How many techniques does the cognitive interview use?
4
93
What are the 4 techniques the cognitive interview uses?
- Report everything
- Reinstate the context
- Reverse order
- Change perspective
94
What is report everything?
Witnesses are encouraged to include every detail of the event, even though it may seem irrelevant or the witness does not seem confident about it. Seemingly trivial details may be important and could trigger other important memories.
95
What is reinstate the context?
The witness should return to the original crime scene ‘in their mind’ and imagine the environment and their emotions.
96
What is reverse the order?
- Events should be recalled in a different chronological order to the original sequence
- This is done to prevent people from reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than the actual events
- It also prevents dishonesty as it is harder for people to produce a dishonest account if they have to reverse it.
97
What is changing the perspective?
- Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives.
- This is done to disrupt the effects of expectations and schema on recall
98
What is an enhanced interview?
Reduce eyewitness anxiety, get them to speak slowly, asking open ended questions
