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Flashcards in Memory Deck (80)
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1
Q

Cognitive

A

Refers to our thoughts and mental processes includes intelligence, problem-solving and memory among other things

2
Q

Memory

A

The process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past

3
Q

Short-term memory

A

Memory for immediate events 30 seconds

4
Q

Long-term memory

A

Memory for events that happened in the past, from two minutes to hundred years

5
Q

Duration

A

Length of time memories held for

6
Q

Capacity

A

Amount of information that can be held

7
Q

Encoding

A

How information is stored

8
Q

Peterson and Peterson (STM)

Duration

A

24 undergraduate students, 8 trials - Trigram (eg apt) and remember 3digits also, and count backwards from the number they have been given (3,6,9,12,15,18)
Findings - STM may have a very short duration

9
Q

Evaluation of Peterson and Peterson’s study

- duration of STM

A

Poor external validity

  • use of artificial stimuli in research
  • letters used in trigram do not reflect what people have to remember in real life ~ they have no real meaning

Poor validity
- STM results may be due to displacement ~ counting the numbers, whilst preventing maintenance rehearsal may overwrite the information

10
Q

Bahrick (LTM)

Duration

A

Yearbook study - 392 participants age 17-74
Photo recognition - after 15yrs = 90% after 48 yrs = 70%
Free recall - after 15 yrs = 60 % after 48 yrs = 30%

11
Q

Evaluation of Bahrick’s study

- duration of LTM

A

Good external validity

  • yearbook photos are real memories and personal to participants ~not artificial stimuli
  • findings can be generalised beyond lab setting to real life

Poor internal validity

  • it’s more difficult to control extraneous variables eg participants may have looked at their yearbook after graduation
  • lacks internal validity ~ not sure if we are actually measuring what we set out to measure
12
Q

Miller (STM)

Capacity

A

Made observations of everyday practice
He noted things come in 7s this suggests that that span (capacity) of stm is 7 items
7+/- 2

13
Q

Evaluation of Miller’s study

- capacity of STM

A

Unreliable

  • Overestimated capacity of stm
  • Findings is not consistent across research
14
Q

Jacobs (STM)

Capacity

A

Digit span test - 4 digits and up and asked to recall what the correct order
Found - that the mean span for for digits across all participants was between 3-9 mean span for letters was 7.3

16
Q

Evaluation of Jacobs study

- capacity of STM

A

Poor internal validity

  • conducted a long time ago (1800s) ~ experiments not as controlled
  • cannot say if extraneous or confounding variables altered the results

Poor generalisability
- 6 yr olds ~ 6.6 19yr olds and above ~ 8.6, cannot be generalised to all ages

17
Q

Baddeley (STM/LTM)

Encoding

A

4 groups with lists different words to remember
Acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar, semantically dissimilar
Found, STM coded = acoustically LTM coded = semantically

17
Q

Evaluation of Baddeley’s study

- coding of STM and LTM

A

Poor external validity

  • artificial stimuli ~ doesn’t reflect what people have to remember in real life
  • cannot generalise results of study outside the lab
18
Q

Multi-store model of memory (MSM)

A
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
3 distinct memory stores 
Sensory register 
Short term memory store 
Long term memory store
19
Q

Sensory register (MSM)

A

The first storage system for Anne-Marie. Stores or information from the environment includes visual and auditory information but is only hold for half a second
Visual = iconic Auditory = echoic

20
Q

Short term memory (MSM)

A

Decay - limited duration (18secs)
Displacement - limited capacity (7 +/- 2)
Verbal rehearsal - stores information acoustically(coding)

21
Q

Long term memory (MSM)

A

Unlimited capacity and duration
To retrieve information back into STM the person may require a cue
It’s stores information semantically

22
Q

Cherry - cocktail party effect

A

Asdfgh

23
Q

Broadbent selective filter theory

A

The dichotic learning task - simultaneously sending one message through one ear and another message through the other ear at the same time and repeat what they heard. Participants made fewer mistakes when repeating back ear by ear

24
Q

What did endel tulving sugesst about the MSM

A

It was too simplistic and inflexible in explaining long term memory
Proposed 3 LTM stores for different information

25
Q

Episodic memory

A

The ability to remember events (episodes) from our lives any memory of something we have experienced as events include , event, context and emotions
Eg birthdays and holidays

26
Q

Semantic memory

A

Our knowledge of the world including factual information compare to an Encyclopedia
it’s not time stamped (you won’t remember when you learnt it)
Eg. passwords smell of strawberries

27
Q

Procedural memory

A

Memory for how we do things skills or actions, they often require little conscious awareness to recall them
Eg making tea, driving

28
Q

Evaluation points of 3 stores of LTM

A

Real - life application
Neuroimaging evidence
Clinical evidence
(Strengths)

29
Q

Who is Clive wearing

A

World class musician who had a viral infection in his hippocampus which affected his ability to remember information- is episodic memory is impaired

30
Q

Working memory model (wmm)

A

Baddeley - designed to show how the STM is organised and it’s functions

31
Q

Central executive

A

Monitors incoming data and gets the ‘slave systems’ to work by allocating them roles

32
Q

Episodic buffer

A

This was added in the 2000s

Temporary store which integrates all types of information links to LTM and processes like perception

33
Q

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

A

Asleep system which stores visual and spatial information when required
it has limited capacity

34
Q

Phonological store (phonological loop)

A

Stores the words you hear

35
Q

Articulatory control system

A

Allows the maintenance rehearsal and can hold up to 2 seconds worth of things you can say

36
Q

Long-term memory

A

Unlimited capacity and duration stores information semantically

37
Q

Evaluation of WMM

A

P - clinical evidence, dual task performance, central executive has to work harder when the CE gets more complex tasks
N - lack of clarity , clinical evidence is specific to unique cases

38
Q

Interference

A

When one memory blocks not the memory causing one or both memories to be distorted or completely forgotten

39
Q

Forgetting through interference

A

Forgetting occurs when the informationIs inaccessible despite being available in our memories. Interference makes locating memories more challenging

40
Q

What two types of interference are there

A

Proactive and retro active

41
Q

Proactive

A

Is there an old memory interferes with the new memory being stored
Pro - going forward

42
Q

Retroactive

A

Is when a new memory being like and then interferes with an old stored memory
Retro - going backwards

43
Q

McGeoch and McDonald (forgetting through interference)

A

Conducted a study to see if similar memories have a greater interference problems
Participants learnt a list of words until they had 100% accuracy then learnt new set of words, synonyms, antonyms, unrelated words, nonsense syllables,3 digit numbers, no new list
More similar the information the more likely it will interfere with old memory

44
Q

Evaluation of interference

A

Real life evidence - good external validity
Role in adverts - good application
Overcoming interference - good validity
Artificial materials- lacks ecological (external) validity

45
Q

Forgetting - through retrieval failure

A

A form of forgetting which occurs when we do not have the right cues needed to access a memory. The memory is available within your LTM but is not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided

46
Q

Cues

A

A trigger of information that allows us to access memory. Can be meaningful or indirectly linked by being encoded at the time of learning. Some cues are meaningful (mnemonics) and some are jut present at encoding or retrieval (external or internal cues)

47
Q

What did Tulving do ?

ESP

A

Tulving looked at retrieval failure and found consistent patterns forgetting and called this pattern the encoding specificity principle

48
Q

If a cue is going to be helpful - when does it need to be present

A

Cues must be present at time of memory encoding and at retrieval, if the cues available at encoding and retrieval are different there will be some forgetting

49
Q

Godden and Baddeley - context dependant forgetting

Method

A

Divers learned a list of words either underwater or inland they were then asked to recall the words on land or underwater
1 = learn and recall on land 2 = learn on land recall underwater 3= learn and recall underwater 4 = learn underwater recall on land

50
Q

Godden and Baddeley - context dependant forgetting

results and conclusion

A

In the two matching conditions people did better
40% lower in the non matching conditions

When the external cues available at learning were different to recall it resulted in retrieval failure

51
Q

Carter and Cassaday - state dependant forgetting

Method

A

Gave anti-histamine drugs to participants - which had a mild sedative effect making participants slightly drowsy creating an internal physiological state different from the normal state, participants had to learn a list of words
1 = learn and recall on drug 2 = learn on drug recall not on drug 3 = learn and recall not on drug 4. Learn not on drug recall on drug

52
Q

Carter and Cassaday - state dependant forgetting

Results and conclusion

A

Where conditions mismatched between internal state at learning and recall performance in the memory test was significantly worse

When cues are absent then there is more forgetting

53
Q

Strengths of forgetting through retrieval

A

> impressive range of research supports retrieval failure explanation eg baddeley& godden and carter & cassaday also Michael esyench found retrieval failure may be the reason for forgetting in LTM - increases reliability and validity

> Real life application - when you go in a room you forget why you went there, then return to original room you remember again.

54
Q

Weaknesses of forgetting through retrieval

A

> Questioning context effects - baddeley argues context effects not very strong in real life as it is difficult to find environments completely different from the other - rooms are not that different - lack of external validity

> recall vs recognition - 1980 godden and baddeley replicated their study - the presence of absence of cues only affects memory when you test in a certain way- reduces validity

55
Q

Eye witness testimony

A

The ability of people to remember details of events such as crimes which they have observed

56
Q

Leading questions

A

A question that because of the way it is phrased suggests a certain answer eg the knife was in his left hand

57
Q

Loftus and Palmer (1974)
EWT leading questions - investigating the effects of different types of question on responses to speeds of crashing cars

A

Participants watched clips of cars crashing. Participants were asked a critical question about how fast the cars were going when they hit. 5 groups
Hit,contacted, bumped, collided, smashed

Results - contacted = 31.8 mph, smashed = 40.5 mph

58
Q

What 2 reasons are why leading questions work

A

Response bias

Substitution

59
Q

Response bias

A

Wording has no real effect but just influences how they decide to answer, encourages change in answer

60
Q

Substitution

A

Wording changes memory (more willing to report glass if in the smashed group)

61
Q

Post Event Discussion

A

When wittinesses may discuss the event with other witnesses or other people this may influence the recall of the event

62
Q

Gabbert et al

A

Studied participants in pairs, they watched the same crime from different angles which meant participants saw different elements. They then discussed the event prior to recall.

Findings - 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects they did not see but picked up in discussion, compared to 0% in controls. Concludes witnesses go along with one another

63
Q

Evaluation of misleading information

A

✔️- real life application increases external validity as it is used in improving the legal system making police investigations more cautious when seeking information
✖️ - artificial tasks lack of mundane realism as emotions experienced are very different from the stress of a real accident reducing external validity
✖️- Zagarosa and McCloseky argue lab studies produce demand characteristics
✖️- individual differences with age less accuracy as you get older

64
Q

Anxiety in relation to EWT

A

A state of emotional and physical arousal, characterised by emotions including worried thoughts and feelings of tension. Physical changes including increasing heart rate and sweating. Naturally occurs in times of stress.

65
Q

Yuille and Cutshall positive effect of anxiety on EWT

A

Real life shooting in gun shop in Canada shop owner shot thief dead. 13 participants asked to rate level of stress on a 7point scale. Interviews were help 5 months after incident and they were asked to recall what happened this was compared to their initial statement. Accuracy = little change in accuracy some details were less accurate

66
Q

Findings of Yuille and Cutshall positive effect of anxiety on EWT

A

High stress = 85% accuracy

Low stress = 75% accuracy

67
Q

Evaluation of Yuille and Cutshall positive effect of anxiety on EWT

A

Field study good external validity as it is done in anaturwl environment however low internal validity as it lacks control over extraneous variables
No ethical issues
Self report - subjective making it less valid

68
Q

Johnson and Scott negative effect of anxiety on EWT

A

Led participants to elite they were taking part in a lab study. While sitting in a waiting room (low anxiety condition) they heard an argument as saw a man walk out holding a pen with grease in his hand. (High anxiety condition)heard glass smashing and saw a man walk out holding a paper pen covered in blood

69
Q

Findings of Johnson and Scott negative effect of anxiety on EWT

A

Participants had to pick the man out of 50 photos
Low condition = 49% identified the man
High condition = 33% identified the man

70
Q

Evaluation of Johnson and Scott negative effect of anxiety on EWT

A

Good internal validity as it is lab study

Breaks ethics - Deception and protection of participants as it may cause psychological damage as they creat anxiety

71
Q

Yerkes-Dodsons Law

Stress curve

A

The inverted U theory states that performance or recall will increase with stress up to a certain point (optimum) then it will decrease drastically due to too high stress levels

72
Q

Cognitive Interview

A

A technique developed to improve eye witness testimony

73
Q

What did Fisher and Geiselman argue

A

That EWT can be improved by improving the policies’ techniques when interviewing. They suggest the techniques should be more psychological based, using insights into how memory works to aid people in reporting accurate memories

74
Q

What are the 4 stages in cognitive interview

A
  1. Report everything
  2. Reinstate the context
  3. Reverse order
  4. Change perspective
75
Q

Stage 1 cognitive interview - Report everything

A

Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even though it may seem irrelevant or the witness doesn’t feel confident about it. Seemingly trivial details may be important and may trigger other memories

76
Q

Stage 2 cognitive interview - reinstate the context

A

The witness should return to the original crime scene ‘in their mind’ and imagine the environment and their emotions. This is related to context dependant forgetting

77
Q

Stage 3 cognitive interview - reverse the order

A

Event should be recalled in a different chronological order to the original sequence. This is done to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the even mist have happened rather than the actual events. It also prevents dishonesty

78
Q

Stage 4 cognitive interview - change perspective

A

Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives. This is done to disrupt the effect of expectations and schema on recall. The schema you have for a particular setting generate expectations of what would have happened and it is the schema that is recalled rather than what actually happened

79
Q

What is ‘Enhanced cognitive interview’

A

Fisher et al developed additional elects of the cognitive interview to focus on the social dynamics of interaction. Enhanced cognitive interview includes ideas such as reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the witness to speak slowly and open-ended questions

80
Q

Evaluation of CI and enhanced CI

A

✖️ Time consuming - less likely to use correct version reducing validity
✖️ techniques of CI increase amount of incorrect recall of information 61% reducing validity
✔️ at least 2 techniques used together produces better recall
✔️ research support suggests ECI consistently produces more correct info than standard interview used by police