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Flashcards in Memory Deck (30)
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1
Q

What is coding?

A

Format in which info is stored in various memory stores

2
Q

What is capacity?

A

Amount of info that can be held in a memory store

3
Q

What is duration?

A

Length of time info can be held in memory

4
Q

What is short-term memory (STM)?

A

Limited capacity memory store
Coding = acoustic (sounds)
Capacity = 7+/-2 items
Duration = 18 - 30 seconds

5
Q

What is long term-memory (LTM)?

A

Permanent memory store.
Coding = semantic (meaning)
Capacity = unlimited
Duration = lifetime

6
Q

What is the MSM?

A

Presentation of how memory works in terms of 3 stores: sensory register, STM and LTM. and how info is transferred from one store to another, how it’s remembered and forgotten.

7
Q

What is the sensory register?

A

Memory stores for each of our 5 senses:
vision (iconic store) = coding is visual
hearing (echoic store) = coding is acoustic
capacity is huge (millions of receptors) but info only lasts half a second.

8
Q

Who came up with the MSM?

A

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

9
Q

What is Episodic memory?

A

LTM store for personal events, when they occurred, people, objects, places and behaviours involved. (Have to make a conscious effort to retrieve)

10
Q

What is semantic memory?

A

LTM for knowledge of the world, facts,words and concepts. (Need to be consciously recalled).

11
Q

What is Procedural memory?

A

LTM store for knowledge of how to do things, memories of learnt things e.g. riding a bike, driving a car. (Retrieved unconsciously)

12
Q

What is the WMM?

A

The working memory model - representation of STM, suggesting it is a dynamic processor of different types of info using sub units coordinated by a central decision-making system. (Made up of the central executive, Phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad and Episodic buffer.

13
Q

What does the central executive do?

A

Coordinates activities of the 3 subsystems in memory and allocates processing resources to those activities.

14
Q

What does the Phonological loop do?

A

Processes info in terms of sound, both written and spoken material included. Divided into the Phonological store and the articulatory process.

15
Q

What does the visuo-spatial sketchpad do?

A

Processes visual and spatial info in a mental space (our inner eye).

16
Q

What does the Episodic buffer do?

A

Brings together material from other subsystems into single a memory rather than separate strands and provides brief between working memory and LTM.

17
Q

What is interference?

A

Forgetting because one memory blocks another causing one of both memories to be distorted or forgotten

18
Q

Name the 2 times of interference:

A

Proactive and retroactive

19
Q

What is proactive interference?

A

Forgetting occurs when older memories disrupt recall of newer memories. Degree of forgetting is greater when memories are similar.

20
Q

What is retroactive interference?

A

Forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored. Greater when memories are similar

21
Q

What is retrieval failure?

A

Form of forgetting. Occurs when we don’t have necessary cues to access memory. It’s accessible but not unless a suitable cue is provided.

22
Q

What is a cue?

A

A trigger of info that allows us to access a memory. Some may be meaningful while others may be indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning.

23
Q

What are the 2 types of cues?

A

External (environment)

Internal (mood/degree of drunk ness)

24
Q

What is eye witness testimony (EWT)?

A

Ability of people to remember details of events (accidents/crimes) which they have observed first hand.

25
Q

What can affect the accuracy of EWT?

A

Misleading info
leading questions
anxiety

26
Q

What is misleading information?

A

Incorrect info given to the eyewitness usually after the event. It can’t take many forms: leading questions, post-event discussion between people/co-witnesses

27
Q

What is a leading question? Plus give an example.

A

A question which because of the way it’s phrased suggests a certain answer e.g. did the accused have blonde hair? Suggesting he did.

28
Q

What is post-event discussion (PED)?

A

When there is more than one witness to an event, so may discuss what they ha e seen. This may influence accuracy of their recall of an event.

29
Q

What is anxiety (in EWT)?

A

Emotional and physical arousal.
Emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension.
Physical changes include increased heart rate and sweat.
It is a normal reaction to stressful situations but can affect accuracy and detail in EWT.

30
Q

What is the cognitive interview (CI)?

A

Method of interviewing eyewitness to help them retrieve more accurate memories.
Uses 4 main techniques: report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order (prevent reporting their expectations), change perspective (disrupt schema on recall)