Memory Flashcards
1
Q
What did Jacobs (1887) find about capacity? 2 things
A
Average digit span = 9.3
Average letter span = 7.3
2
Q
What did Miller (1956) find about capacity?
A
Research concluded that the span of immediate memory is about 7 +/- 2 items.
Around 7 chunks, either words or letters
3
Q
Criticism for Miller’s study.
A
- Miller’s findings have not been replicated.
- Capacity may be even more limited Cowan (2001) research STM likely to be limited to 4 chunks
4
Q
Size of chunk matters, evaluation Simon (1974) refines our capacity
A
-People had a shorter memory span for larger chunks, such as 8 word phrases rather than short chunks like 1 syllable.
5
Q
Capacity coming down to individual differences. Digit span increased with age suggested by Jacobs
8 year olds how many digits?
19 year olds?
A
6.6
8.6
Increases might be due to changes in brain capacity.
6
Q
What did Peterson and Peterson (1959) do research into?
A
Duration of STM
7
Q
What did Bahrick (1975) do research into?
A
Duration of LTM.
8
Q
What did Peterson and Peterson do?
A
Ppts learned a series of nonsense triagrams. Learning and recall all within 30 seconds. Some ppts did straight recall some did a timed delay of (3-18) seconds and had to count backwards in 3’s for a changing number before recall.
9
Q
What did Peterson and Peterson find?
A
Straight recall = 90% correct recall
Recall through 18 sec delay = 2% recall
Concluded STM lasts 18 secs if verbal rehearsal is prevented.
10
Q
Describe what Bahrick (1975) did?
Remember he did duration into LTM
A
400 ppts.
Asked ppts to name classmates from their last class at school (over 48 years ago).
2 groups, 1 had a yearbook and 1 did not.
11
Q
What did Bahrick find?
A
ppts with Yearbook on average 70% correct for photo recognition. ppts without (control) on average 15% correct.
12
Q
What are 2 criticisms for P+Ps study into STM duration?
A
- The testing for STM, lacked ecological validity because remembering consonant syllables does not truly reflect everyday life.
- STM results may be due to displacement because the numbers may have displaced the syllables.
13
Q
What did Baddeley do research into in 1966?
A
Coding LTM.
14
Q
Describe what Baddeley did in 1966 into coding?
A
ppts were given acoustically similar or acoustically dissimilar words in a list. Some were given semantically similar/dissimilar.
Used a 20 min delay to try to remove STM.
15
Q
Who proposed the multi-store model of memory and what year?
A
Atkinson + Shiffrin (1968)
16
Q
What is the sensory register in MSM?
A
Information held at the senses, eg: ears, nose.
17
Q
What is maintenance rehearsal?
A
Repetition of information will help prolong information in STM and will help it develop into LTM
18
Q
What is retrieval in the MSM?
A
Process of getting info from LTM involves info passing through STM
19
Q
What are all of the stages in order for the MSM? (6)
For information to be found what then needs to happen at the end. (1)
A
- An environmental stimuli
- Goes to your sensory memory
- Person’s attention focuses on it
- Tf info into STM
- Maintenance rehearsal has to take place
- Transfers into LTM
-Retrieval
20
Q
What are all of the stages in order for the MSM? (6)
For information to be found what then needs to happen at the end. (1)
A
- An environmental stimuli
- Goes to your sensory memory
- Person’s attention focuses on it
- Tf info into STM
- Maintenance rehearsal has to take place
- Transfers into LTM
-Retrieval
21
Q
What are two strengths of the MSM?
A
- Lab studies support capacity, duration and coding and ideas with separate stores.
- Beardsley found Pre frontal cortex active during STM but not LTM, Tf must be 2 separate stores.
22
Q
What are two weaknesses of the MSM?
A
- Too simple, suggests STM and LTM are 2 unitary stores which you cannot go in and out of. Research does not support this.
- LTM must involve more than just maintenance rehearsal
23
Q
Who proposed the Working Memory Model and what year?
A
Baddeley (1974)
24
Q
What is the central executive?
A
Focus attention on important tasks. Monitors and coordinates all other mental functions in WM.
Controller of slave systems
25
What is the phonological loop?
Deals with auditory information + preserves order of information.
26
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad split into?
Visual
Split into:
-Visuo cache = colour of things
-Visual scribe = Where things are.
27
What is the episodic buffer?
Integrates information from central executive, phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad. General storage for both acousic and visual information.
28
What is a limitation of the central executive? (Not an evaluation point!)
Central executive has no storage capacity that's why Baddeley came up with the episodic buffer.
29
What are all of the stages for the WMM? (4)
All of these stages are flexible!!
- Central executive
- Receives input from visuo-spatial sketchpad or phonological loop
- Transfers back to central and moves for temporary storage in episodic buffer.
- Then moves to your long term memory
30
What are two strengths of the WMM?
- Active stores unlike very static MSM, presents memory as being conscious. (Flexible)
- Increase from 1 modality to 2 compared to MSM
- Supported by research about the dual tasks.
- Case studies on brain damage have been conducted that show that the short term memory and LTM are separate - also been individuals where their phonological loop has been affected but their spatial awareness is still intact.
31
What are two weaknesses of the WMM?
- Central executive is theoretical (little research made)
- Only 2 modalities a counter argument.. could be more.
- Limited capacity duration and focus..
- only based on STM
32
What is episodic memory? 3 elements
(emotion) Memory concerned with personal experiences
- specific details of event
- context
- emotion
33
What is semantic memory?
(knowledge) Shared memories for facts and knowledge. These memories may be concrete, such as knowing that ice is made of water
34
What is procedural memory?
(unconscious) Skilled memories usually acquired through repetition and practice. Less aware of these memories as they are automatic.
35
2 strengths for the types of long-term memory?
- Supporting evidence from brain scans: episodic associated with hippocampus / frontal lobe. Semantic relies on temporal lobe. Procedural uses cerebellum. Tf supports there are 3 different types of memory.
- Case studies show that there is a distinction between procedural and decalarative memory where ppts have had the hippocampus damaged
36
A weakness for the types of long term memory?
-Suggestion of another type of LTM, implicit memory may exist unconscious and automatic. Other theories of LTM may be too simplistic.
37
Describe Muller's research into retroactive interference?
- Gave ppts nonsense syllables to learn for 6 minutes
- After retention interval asked ppts to recall lists
- Performance worse if ppts had been given intervening tasks between initial learning and recall.
38
What is retroactive interference?
current attempts to learn something new interferes with past learning.
39
What is proactive interference?
Past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something new.
40
Describe Underwood's research into proactive interference?
ppts memorised 10 or more lists, then after 24 hours only remembered 20% of what they learned. If they only learned 1 list recall was 70%.
41
Describe research into the similarity of test materials in interferences.
- Ppts given a list of 10 adjectives
- Learned list B 10 minutes later
- List B was a list of synonyms of list A, recall was 12%
- 24% if List B were different words
Interference is stronger if words are similar.
42
2 strengths of interferences'.
-real world application, helping advertising companies to make their adverts most effective Tf people spend money
43
2 weaknesses of interferences'.
- Research lacks ecological validity, lists of artificial words may not relate to everyday uses of memory.
- Individual differences, individuals with a greater working memory span were less susceptible to proactive interference.
44
What did Tulving and Thomson (1973) come up with about the encoding specificity principle?
Memory is most effective if information that was present at encoding is also available at the time of retrieval. eg: sitting your exam in the same room you need the info for the exam for.
45
Describe what Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) did?
| categories*
- Asked ppts to recall words
- Split into 2 groups, 1 with words split into categories other without.
- When words were in categories, retrieval was 60%. When they were not it was 40%
- Tf recall was better when there was a meaningful link to learning material.
46
What is state dependent forgetting?
Your mental state may also act as a cue (Goodwin 1969)
47
2 strengths of retrieval failures.
Considerable evidence to support this theory of forgetting from laboratory experiments. The ecological validity of these experiments can be questioned, but their findings are supported by evidence from outside the lab.
However retrieval cues don’t always work. More complex things to remember are less easily triggered by single cues. Context effects are largely eliminated when learning meaningful material.
-cognitive interviews have changed
48
2 weaknesses of retrieval failures.
- possibility of confounding variable of opportunity as Ppts could rehearse the words if they didn’t have to change environment.
- Retrieval cues do not always work, can explain everyday forgetting
49
What research is there into state dependent forgetting?
- Asked male ppts to remember a list of words when they were either drunk or sober.
- Ppts asked to recall lists after 24 hrs, some sober and some had to get drunk again.
- Recall scores suggested = Learned when drunk is more available when in the same state later.
50
Describe what Godden and Baddeley (1975) investigated into context-dependent forgetting?
asked deep-sea divers to memorise a list of words.
- Group 1 on beach trying to remember words then half recall on beach, half underwater. Group 2 underwater remembering words half then recall on beach, rest stay underwater
- recall in the same environment (i.e. context) which that had learned recalled 40% more words than those recalling in a different environment.
51
Which 2 people did a key study into eyewitness testimony : misleading information?
Loftus and Palmer (1974)
52
What was L+P experiment 1 about?
- 45 Students shown 7 films of different traffic accidents
- After each film ppts given questionnaire and asked to describe crash.
- One group given "about how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?"
- Other 4 groups given Q with a verb ranging between "smashed" and "contacted".
- Mean speed for "Smashed" 40.8 mph
- Mean speed for contacted 31.8 mph.
53
What can be found from experiment 1 into misleading information then?
Leading questions affect the response given by ppts.
54
What was L+P experiment 2 about?
- 50 students into 3 groups watching film lasting 1 min.
- Week later groups asked "did you see any broken glass when the cars hit?"
- once again if "smashed" was the verb 16 said yes 34 said no. "hit" = 7 yes, 43 no
55
What can be found from experiment 2 into misleading information then?
leading questions did change the actual memory of the ppt had for the event as there was no broken glass.
56
What is post event discussion?
Conversing between co-witnesses or an interviewer and an eyewitness after a crime has taken place -- may contaminate evidence
57
What is conformity effect?
Co-witnesses may reach a consensus view of what actually happened, may be incorrect and misleading
58
What research did Gabbert (2003) do into conformity effect and what findings were made?
- ppts in pairs, each partner watched a different video showing different unique things.
- One condition told to discuss findings after event. 71% that did went on to mistakenly recall items.
59
What is repeat interviewing and what is the problem with them?
Each time eye-witness tested, possibility comments from interviewer will become incorporated into recollection of events.
As it is so time consuming, leading questions are more likely which alters individuals memories.
60
2 strengths of leading questions and post event discussion.?
- relieves stress talking about it, if it was stressful it will prove you are not alone
- EWT in real life does not lack ecological validity - witnesses to an armed robbery in Canada remembered very well 4 months after crime took place
61
2 weaknesses of leading questions and post event discussion.?
- Response bias in Loftus and Palmer's experiment, ppts may have responded to how the question was presented to them.
- Individual differences, age is important when assessing the reliability of an EWT. A small population of society and all of similar age - students.
62
Why does stress have a negative affect on EWT accuracy?
Stress has a negative affect on memory as well as performance. Automatic skills are not affected by stress arousal but performance on complicated cognitive tasks is reduced by stress.
63
What were Johnson and Scott's (1976) key study into EWT anxiety trying to find out?
Weapon focus effect- view that a weapon in a criminal's hand distracts attention from other features. Tf reducing accuracy of identification.
64
Describe Johnson and Scott's (1976) key study into EWT anxiety.
- Ppts in a waiting room, hearing an argument in a adjoining room and then saw a man run through the room carrying either a pen covered in grease or a knife covered in blood.
- Ppts later asked to identify man from a set of photographs
65
What were the findings from Johnson and Scott's (1976) key study into EWT anxiety?
- Support idea of weapon focus effect
- Mean accuracy identifying man holding pen was 49% 'low anxiety!'
- Knife was 33% as it is a high anxiety.
- Attention can be drawn to weapon itself, away from person's face.
66
Why can anxiety have a positive affect on accuracy?
Alternative argument suggesting high anxiety creates more accurate and more enduring memories.
67
Describe Christianson + Hubinette's (1993) research into positive effects of anxiety and the findings.
- Evidence of enhanced recall when questioned 58 real witnesses to bank robberies in Sweden.
- Interviews conducted 4/5 months after robberies
-Findings : All witnesses showed generally good memories 75% accurate - those most anxious recalled best.
68
What is resolving the contradiction?
| inverted U*
Deffenbacher (1983) reviewed 21 studies of the effects of anxiety of EW memory. Found 10 studies showing higher arousal levels to increased EW accuracy and found 11 showing opposite effect.
69
What does the real life EWT suggest about accuracy of EWT's? (2)
- suggests post event info may not affect memory in a real life EWT.
- suggests anxiety of armed robber did not affect the accuracy of EW - suggests anxiety has a positive affect.
70
1 strength of EWT and the effects of anxiety?
-knowing high or low anxiety influences people, it has helped police change their cognitive interviews to better support interviewees.
71
2 weaknesses of EWT and the effects of anxiety?
- Most of this research has been conducted in a lab, Tf lacks ecological validity. In a real life study witnesses know their testimony will have consequences so may be more careful - affect what they say.
- Small, enthnocentric samples have been used so low population validity.
- Studies do not show whether memory is temporarily distorted or whether distortion is permanent.
72
What is mental reinstatement of original context during a cognitive interview?
Recall the scene, the weather, what you were thinking and feeling.
People find it difficult to think back to the scene of the crime sometimes because it was very distressing. Tf retrieval cues are needed eg: "What were you doing that day"
73
What is cognitive interview?
a police technique whereby different techniques are used to try and encourage people to recreate the crime.
74
What is changing the order during a cognitive interview? and why
Reversing order in which events occurred.
| Bc recollections are influenced by schemas -shortcuts
75
What is changing the perspective during a cognitive interview?
Interviewee asked to recall incident from multiple perspectives, helps to build a picture of the scene again from different angles.
76
1 strength of the cognitive interview.?
-Kohnken (1999) found that CI gained 34% more information than the normal techniques.
77
2 weaknesses of the cognitive interview.?
- individual differences, older adults coping better but may given less accurate descriptions
- Time consuming
- Quality may suffer as quantity is being asked for. Kohnken found 81% increase of correct info, also a 61% increase of incorrect info.
78
What are the 4 components of a cognitive interview?
- Mental reinstatement of original context.
- Report everything.
- Change order.
- Change perspective.
