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A Level Psychology P1 > Memory > Flashcards

Flashcards in Memory Deck (27)
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1
Q

Coding, Capacity & Duration - What is coding?

A
  • The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores.
2
Q

Coding, Capacity & Duration - What is capacity?

A
  • The amount of information that can be held in a memory store.
3
Q

Coding, Capacity & Duration - What is duration?

A
  • The length of time information can be held in memory.
4
Q

Coding, Capacity & Duration - Give an example study of coding.

A
  • Alan Baddeley (1966).
  • Gave different lists of words to 4 groups of participants to remember:
    1 = words sound similar = acoustic similar
    2 = words sound different = acoustic dissimilar
    3 = words with similar meanings = semantically similar
    4 = words with different meanings = semantically dissimilar
  • STM recall = worse with acoustically similar.
  • LTM recall = worse on semantically similar = info coded semantically in LTM.
5
Q

Coding, Capacity & Duration - Give an example study of capacity - digit span.

A
  • Joseph Jacobs (1887).
  • Researcher gives e.g 4 digits and then ppt asked to recall these in the correct order out loud.
  • If correct, researcher reads out 5 digits and so on until ppt can’t correctlys recall.
  • Determine an individual’s digit span.
  • Mean was 9.3 for digits.
6
Q

Coding, Capacity & Duration - Give an example study of capacity - span of memory and chunking.

A
  • George Miller (1956).
  • Made observations of everyday practice.
  • Things come in 7’s = musical scale, days of the week, deadly sins etc.
  • Capacity of STM about 7+/-2 items.
  • People recall 5 words as well as 5 letters, do this by chunking digits or letters into small groups.
7
Q

Coding, Capacity & Duration - Give an example study of duration of STM.

A
  • Margaret and Lloyd Peterson (1959).
  • 24 undergrad students. Each took part in 8 trials.
  • On each trial student given a consonant syllable (e.g YGC).
  • Given 3 digit number, told to count backwards until told to stop = prevent rehearsal.
  • Each trial stopped at different times, 3 secs, 6, 9, 12, 15 etc.
  • Asked for consonant syllable. STM very short duration, unless repeated.
8
Q

Coding, Capacity & Duration - Give an example study of duration of LTM.

A
  • Harry Bahrick et al. (1975).
  • Studied 392 ppts from Ohio aged 17-74.
  • High school yearbooks obtained.
  • Recall tested differently: photo recognition test, 50 photos, some from year book and free recall test = ppts recalled names of their graduating class.
  • Within 15 years of graduation = 90% accurate - photo recognition
  • After 48 years of graduation = 70% accurate - photo recognition.
  • Within 15 years of graduation = 60% accurate - free recall.
  • Within 48 years of graduation = 30% accurate - free recall.
9
Q

Multi-Store Model of Memory - What is MSM?

A
  • A representation of how memory works in terms of 3 stores.
  • Sensory register, STM and LTM.
  • Describes how info transferred from 1 store to another, how it’s remembered and how it’s forgotten.
10
Q

Multi-Store Model of Memory - Explain the sensory register.

A
  • For 5 senses.
  • Duration = less than 1/2 a second.
  • Capacity = high e.g over 100 million cells in one eye.
  • Coded = differently depending on info e.g. two main stores iconic & echoic = coded visually in iconic and acoustically in echoic.
  • Passes to STM if you pay attention to it.
11
Q

Multi-Store Model of Memory - What is the short term memory?

A
  • Duration = about 30 secs unless rehearsed.
  • Capacity = 5-9 items roughly.
  • Coded = acoustically.
  • Maintenance rehearsal = repeat material to ourselves over and over again. If rehearse for long enough it passes to LTM.
12
Q

Multi-Store Model of Memory - What is the long term memory?

A
  • Potentially permanent store.
  • Duration = years.
  • Capacity = unlimited.
  • Coded = semantically (in terms of meaning).
  • When we want to recall, has to transfer back to STM by a process called retrieval.
13
Q

Multi-Store Model of Memory - Describe the case study of HM.

A
  • Brain surgery to relieve his epilepsy = gone wrong.

-

14
Q

Types of LTM - What is episodic memory?

A
  • Recall events from our lives.
  • ‘Time-stamped’ = remember when they happened.
  • One memory = several elements e.g place, people, object, behaviours etc, all interwoven.
  • Make conscious effort to recall them = may be quick but still aware of it.
15
Q

Types of LTM - What is semantic memory?

A
  • Knowledge of the world.
  • Not ‘time-stamped’, less personal and more about facts we share.
  • More than just facts, contains an immense collection of material which is constantly being added to.
  • Need to be recalled deliberately.
16
Q

Types of LTM - What is procedural memory?

A
  • How to do things e.g skills, actions.

- Recall these without making a conscious or deliberate effort.

17
Q

Working Memory Model - What is the working memory model?

A
  • A representation of STM. It suggests STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system.
18
Q

Working Memory Model - What is the central executive?

A
  • The component of the WMM that co-ordinates the activities of the three subsystems in memory. It also allocates processing resources to those activities.
  • Very limited processing capacity.
19
Q

Working Memory Model - What is the phonological loop?

A
  • Processes information in terms of sound.
  • Includes both written and spoken material.
  • Divided into two parts:
    Phonological store = stores words.
    Articulatory process = allows maintenance rehearsal.
20
Q

Working Memory Model - What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

A
  • Component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial information in a mental space often called our ‘inner eye’.
  • Limited capacity = Baddeley (2003) 3-4 objects.
  • Divided into two parts:
    Visual cache = stores visual data.
    Inner scribe = records arrangements of objects in visual field.
21
Q

Working Memory Model - What is the episodic buffer?

A
  • Component of WMM that brings together material from te other subsystems into a single memory, rather than separate strands.
  • Provides a bridge between working memory and LTM.
  • Links working memory to LTM and wider cognitive processes such as perception.
22
Q

Forgetting: Interference - What is interference?

A
  • Forgetting because one memory blocks another causing one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten.
  • There are two types.
23
Q

Forgetting: Interference - What is proactive interference?

A
  • When older memories disrupt the recall of newer memories.

- Usually when memories are similar.

24
Q

Forgetting: Interference - What is retroactive interference?

A
  • When newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories.

- Usually when memories are similar.

25
Q

Forgetting: Interference - Outline a study on interference as an explanation of forgetting.

A
  • McGeoch and McDonald (1931).
  • Studied retroactive interference by changing amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials.
  • Ppts had to learn a list of words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy, then given a new list to learn.
  • 6 groups of ppts who had to learn different types of lists.
  • When recalled original list of words, performance depended on nature of second list. Most similar = worst recall.
  • Shows interference strongest when memories = similar.
26
Q

Forgetting: Retrieval Failure - What is retrieval failure?

A
  • A form of forgetting. Occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory.
  • Memory available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided.
27
Q

Forgetting: Retrieval Failure - What is a cue?

A
  • A ‘trigger’ of information that allows us to access a memory. Such cues may be meaningful or may be indirectly linked to being encoded at the time of learning.
  • For example cues may be external (environmental) or internal (mood).