Memory

Question 1

Coding, capacity and duration of memory

Trigger words

Answer 1

Coding: changing format of information
Capacity: amount of information held in memory
Duration: length of time information remains in memory

Question 2

Coding, capacity and duration studies

Answer 2

• Baddeley: coding in STM and LTM
  STM is acoustic = immediate bad recall for acoustically similar words
  LTM is semantic = bade recall after 20 mins for semantically similar words
• Jacobs: capacity of STM
  Digit span = read 4 digits and increases until they cannot be recalled in the correct order
  Participants repeated 9 numbers and 7 letters on average in the correct order immediately after they were presented
• Miller: capacity of STM
  Miller’s magic number 7+/-2 = the span of STM = improved by chunking: grouping sets of digits/letters
• Peterson and Peterson: duration of STM
  consonant syllable to remember & a 3 digit number to count backwards = found after 18 seconds, average recall fell to 3% = shows duration without rehearsal lasts for 18-30 seconds
• Bahrick et al: duration of LTM
  recognition test of 50 high school photos: 70% recalled accurately after 48 years but free recall test of names was less accurate

Question 3

Multi-store model of memory: Atkinson and Shiffrin

Trigger words

Answer 3

• Sensory register: a stimulus from the environment with one store for each sense
  duration: less than a second; capacity: high; coding: depends on visual or auditory sense
  = little info passes from this so attention is needed
• STM:
  duration: 18-30 secs unless rehearsed; capacity: 5 to 9 items; coding: acoustic
• Prolonged rehearsal:
  needed to pass info from STM to LTM
• Maintenance rehearsal:
  when we repeat material to ourselves and is kept in STM as long as we rehearse it
• LTM:
  permanent memory store & to recall material stored in LTM, it’s transferred back to STM by retrieval
  duration: lifetime; capacity: unlimited; coding: semantic

Question 4

Types of long term memory

Trigger words

Answer 4

• Episodic memory:
  stores life events = these memories are complex & are time-stamped: remember when they happened = need to make conscious effort to recall them
• Semantic memory:
  stores knowledge of the world = less personal and about the knowledge we all share
• Procedural memory:
  stores memories for actions and motor skills = recall occurs without awareness or effort

Question 5

Working memory model of STM

Trigger words

Answer 5

• Central executive:
  allocates the slave systems to tasks & monitors data = limited storage capacity
• Phonological loop: deals with auditory information and the order the info arrives - includes:
  
  • Phonological store = stores the words you hear
  • Articulatory process = allows maintenance rehearsal
• Visual-spatial sketchpad:
  stores visual/spatial information (recall how many windows) - subdivided into: visual cache= stores visual data & inner scribe= records arrangement of objects
• Episodic buffer:
  a temporary store of information = integrates visual,spatial,verbal info from other stores = maintains time sequencing: recording events

Question 6

Explanations for forgetting: interference

Trigger words

Answer 6

• Interference:
  when two pieces of information are in conflict = forgetting occurs in LTM as we can’t access memories
• Proactive interference:
  old memories disrupts new memories (teacher learns many names in the past but can’t remember current class)
• Retroactive interference:
  new memories disrupts old memories (teacher learns new names this year but can’t remember current class)
  case study:

Question 7

Explanations for forgetting: Retrieval failure

Trigger words

Answer 7

• Cue-dependent forgetting:
  Failure to recall information due to an absence of cues ‘tiggers’
• Encoding specificity principle:
  cues help retrieval if the same cues are present at encoding (learn material) and at retrieval (recall) = closer retrieval cue to the original cue, the better the cue works
• Meaningful cues:
  material to be remembered
• Context- dependent forgetting:
  when memory retrieval is dependent on an environmental cue (weather/place)
• State- dependent forgetting:
  when memory retrieval is dependent on an internal cue, state of mind (upset/drunk)
  study: Godden and Baddeley

Question 8

Eyewitness testimony: Misleading information

Trigger words

Answer 8

• Leading questions:
  questions phrased in a way that prompts a particular answer
• Response-bias explanation:
  wording of a question influences answers, not the
  eyewitness’s memory of an event
• Substitute explanation:
  wording of a question affects eyewitness memory by interfering with the original memory, distorting its accuracy
  study: Loftus and Palmer
• Post event discussion:
  a source of misleading information where witnesses discuss what they saw afterwards
• Memory contamination:
  when co-witnesses discuss a crime,

Question 9

Eyewitness testimony: Anxiety

Trigger words

Answer 9

study: Johnson and Scott: anxiety has a negative effect
- Low anxiety condition
- Hgh anxiety condition
- Tunnel theory of memory
- Weapon focus
study: Yuille and Cutshall: anxiety has a positive effect
- Inverted U theory by Yerkes and Dodson
- Deffenbacher

Question 10

Eyewitness testimony: cognitive interview

Trigger words

Answer 10

• Report everything
• Reinstate context
• Reverse order
• Change perspective
• Enhanced cognitive interview