memory

Question 1

who did research into coding?

Answer 1

Baddeley
acoustically similar & dissimilar
semantically similar & dissimilar
STM- acoustically similar words were worst
LTM- semantically similar words were worst

Question 2

who did research into duration of STM?

Answer 2

Peterson and Peterson
24 undergraduate students
they were given consonant syllables to remember then a 3 digit number- had to count backwards from
this was to prevent rehearsal
on each trial they stopped after a different period of time
suggested that STM has a short duration unless rehearsal occurred

Question 3

who did research into duration of LTM?

Answer 3

Bahrik
studied 392 participants aged between 17-74
recall was tested (1)photo recognition (2)recall of names
participants tested within 15 years if graduation were about 90% accurate in photo recognition ,, 60% in names
after 48 years, recall declined to about 70% for photo recognition,, 30% in names
proves LTM can last a long time

Question 4

who did research into capacity?

Answer 4

Jacobs

Question 5

how is STM and LTM stored?

Answer 5

• acoustically (STM)

- semantically (LTM)

Question 6

what is the capacity of STM and LTM?

Answer 6

STM-7+/-2

LTM- limitless

Question 7

what is the duration of STM and LTM?

Answer 7

STM- under a minute

LTM- endless

Question 8

evaluation of Baddeley’s research

Answer 8

artificial stimuli- no use if meaningful material, careful about generalising
findings have limited application

Question 9

evaluation of Jacob’s study

Answer 9

lacking validity- was conducted a long time ago where research would be subject to lack of adequate control
confounding variables may not of been controlled
results in this study have been supported by other research

Question 10

who did research into chunking?

Answer 10

Miller
7 days of the week, 7 notes on the musical scale
this suggests that the spam of STM is about 7 items +/- 2
they do this by chunking

Question 11

evaluation of Miller’s study

Answer 11

may have overestimated the capacity of STM

Cowan found that it was only about 4 chunks

Question 12

evaluation of Peterson and Peterson’s study

Answer 12

meaningless stimuli- trying to memorise consonant syllables doesn’t reflect most real- life memory activities
lacks external validity

Question 13

evaluation of Bahrick’s study

Answer 13

high external validity- when studies on LTM were conducted with meaningless pictures, recall rates were lower
confounding variables aren’t controlled- his participants may have looked at their yearbook

Question 14

who introduced the MSM?

Answer 14

Atkinson&Shiffrin

Question 15

what are the steps in MSM?

Answer 15

-environmental stimuli
-sensory register (iconic, echoic, other sensory stores)
-attention
-STM - response(remembering)
-prolonged rehearsal -maintenance rehearsal
-LTM
Retrieval

Question 16

Evaluation of MSM

Answer 16

• supporting research- Baddeley- supports the models are independent from each other
• more than one type of STM- KF- when digits were read aloud, memory was poor, however when he was able to read them himself his memory was much better
• artificial materials- digits, letters used in studies have no meaning
• more than one type of LTM- we have one type of memory to remember how to ride a bike however we have another for our memories of facts and the world

Question 17

who realised that the msm model’s view of LTM was too simplistic and inflexible?

Answer 17

Tulving

Question 18

what’re the 3 types of LTM?

Answer 18

episodic- personal events/ memories
semantic- knowledge of the world
procedural- knowledge of how to do things - tie laces

Question 19

what is the central executive?

Answer 19

attentional process that monitors incoming data, makes decisions and allocates slave systems to tasks

Question 20

what is the phonological loop?

Answer 20

first slave system- deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives.
it is subdivided-
the PHONOLOGICAL STORE, which stores the words you hear
the ARTICULATORY PROCESS, which allows maintenance rehearsal

Question 21

what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 21

second slave system- stores visual and/or spatial information when required
subdivided into:
the VISUAL CACHE, which stores visual data
the INNER SCRIBE, which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

Question 22

what is the episodic buffer?

Answer 22

third slave system-
added to the model by Baddeley
its a temporary store for information, integrating the the visual, spatial, and verbal information processed by other stores and maintaining a sense of time sequencing- recording events that are happening.

Question 23

evaluation of WMM

Answer 23

-clinical evidence- SHALLICE&WARRINGTON- KF
supports the existence of a separate visual and acoustic store- however evidence from brain damaged patients may not be reliable because it concerns unique cases with patients who have had traumatic experiences
-dual task performance- BADDELEY- shows that participants had more difficulty doing two visual tasks than doing both a visual and a verbal task at the same time - meaning there must be a separate slave system that processes visual
-lack of clarity- the central executive needs to be more clearly specified than just simply being ‘attention’- WMM hasn’t been fully explained
-brain scanning studies- BRAVER- gave participants tasks that involved the central executive while they were having a brain scan- they found greater activity in the left prefrontal cortex- activity in this area increased as the task became harder-this makes a lot of senses in terms of the WMM; as demands on the CE increase, it has to work harder to fulfil its function.

Question 24

what are the two types of interference?

Answer 24

proactive- occurs when older memories, already stored, disrupt the recall of newer memories. The degree of forgetting is again greater when the memories are similar
retroactive- when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored.the degree of forgetting is again greater when memories are similar.

Question 25

what are the three types of LTM?

Answer 25

episodic- store fro personal events, have to be retrieved consciously sand with effort
semantic- knowledge of the world, usually need to be recalled deliberately
procedural- knowledge of how to do things, no use of conscious or deliberate effort

Question 26

evaluation of the 3 types of LTM

Answer 26

Clinical evidence- CW- episodic memory was severely impaired as a result of amnesia, however, his semantic memory was relatively unaffected, supporting the view that they’re separate LTM stores in different areas old the brain
Neuroimaging evidence- the left prefrontal cortex involved recalling semantic memories however the right prefrontal cortex involved recalling episodic memories. This is a strength as there is physical reality in the different types of LTM.
RLA- BALLEVILLE demonstrated that episodic memories could be improved in older people who had a mild cognitive impairment. The trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training than a control group- benefit in being able to distinguish between types of LTM- enables specific treatments to be developed.
Lack of control- CW study has provided useful information however there is a serious lack of control of all sorts of different variables in clinical studying- therefore is a criticism.

Question 27

interference theory procedure and findings

Answer 27

procedure- McDonald studied retroactive interference by changing there amount of similarity between two sets of material.
participants were asked to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy.
they then learned a new list.
there were six groups of participants with different lists

findings- when the participants were asked to recall the first list of words, their ability to remember them depended on the nature of the second list of words. The most similar material produced the worst memory recall.
proves interference is strongest when the m material is similar.

Question 28

evaluation of interference theory

Answer 28

-lab study evidence- thousands of lab experiments conducted into this explanation for forgetting such as Mccdonald’s research. strength because lab experiments maintain control over irrelevant influences and thus give us confidence that interference is a valid explanation for at least some forgetting
-artifical materials- stimulus material was a list of words, limitation as the use of artificial tasks makes interference much more likely in the lab. interference may be as likely an explanation for forgetting as in everyday lift as it is the lab.
-real life studies- BADDELEY&HITCH- asked participants to remember the names of the teams they played so far in that season, week by week. Most if the players missed some games. The research showed that accurate recall;ll didn’t depend on how long ago the games took place, much more important was the number of games they played in the meantime. Shows that interference explanations can apply to at least some real life situations
-use of cues- Tulving gave participants five lists of 24 words, each list organised into 6 categories.
the categories weren’t explicit but it was presumed that it would be obvious for the participant. Recall was about 70% for the first word list but this feel as each anticipant was given each additional list to learn.
at the end they were given a cued recall test- they were told the names of the categories of words as a cue- recall ability rose again to 70%: thus proving interference effects can be overcome with cues.

Question 29

what is enoding specificity principle?

Answer 29

if a cue is used to help us recall information it has to be there during encoding as well as retrieval.
if the material is different then this may result in some forgetting

Question 30

context dependant forgetting

Answer 30

GODDEN&BADDELEY
experiment with sea divers where they were asked to remember a list of words
4 conditions created
the recall ability in the matching conditions was 40% higher than in non-matching

Question 31

state dependant forgetting

Answer 31

CARTER&CASSADAY
experiment with anti histamine which makes you slightly drowsy
participants were asked to remember lists of words and passages of pros to recall
4 conditions created
performance of memory recall was worse in the mismatched conditions

Question 32

evaluation of retrieval failure

Answer 32

supporting evidence- Eysenck, argued that retrieval failure was the main reason for forgetting with LTM, this is a strength as supporting evidence provides validity to the explanation.
questioning context effects- Baddeley, context effects aren’t actually that strong, contexts have to be very different for an effect to be seen, limitation because RLA of retrieval failure due to contextual cues doesn’t explain much forgetting
recall vs recognition- BADDELEY repeated their underwater study, but instead of recall they tested recognition. particpant’s were asked whether they recognised the word read out to them from the list. when recognition was tested there was no context dependant effect, limitation because it means that the presence or absence of cues only affects memory when you test it in a certain way
unfalsifiable-the ESP cannot be tested, we suppose that to produce successful memory recall, the cue must be encoded in time of learning. if a cue doesn’t result in successful memory recall, then we assume the cue wasn’t encoded during learning- however we cant test this.

Question 33

who did research into leading questions?

Answer 33

Loftus and palmer
arranged for participants to watch a video recording of an accident of two cars colliding
they were then asked how fats the cars were going when they …
different verbs were used
they found that the the verb contacted had a lower mean speed in comparison to smashed

Question 34

what is the response bias explanation?

Answer 34

suggests that the wording of a question has no real effect on the participants’ memories, but just influences how they decide to answer

Question 35

what was the substitution explanation?

Answer 35

where the wording of a leading question actually changes the participants’ memory of what they saw in the video
the critivcasl verb altered their memory.

Question 36

what is misleading information?

Answer 36

incorrect information given to the eyewitness usually after the event. it can take many forms such as leading questions and post-event discussions between eye-witnesses and/ or other people.

Question 37

experiment into post-event discussion

Answer 37

GABBERT
participants watched a video of the same crime however from different perspectives. both participants then discussed what they saw.
research found that 71% of those who had had discussions about the video recalled aspects that didn’t occur in comparison to the control group which discuss the video with 0%.
concluded that eye-witnesses often go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe that the other eye-witness is correct. (memory conformity)

Question 38

what is the weapon focus effect?

Answer 38

where a witness diverts their attention to the weapon the perpetrator is holding thus leaving less attention for other details in the scene and leading to memory impairments later for those other details such as there face of the attacker

Question 39

what is heroes Dodson law?

Answer 39

proves arousal in anxiety increases performance to a certain extent but if a person feels a higher level of anxiety then the accuracy of recall significantly decreases

Question 40

evaluation of the effects of anxiety

Answer 40

• weapon focus affect- participants focus on the weapon because they’re surprised not scared (PICKEL)- conducted a study in a hair salon using scissors a raw chicken handgun and a wallet. eyewitness accuracy was significantly lower on unusual items- handgun and chicken. weapon focus effect due to unusualness not anxiety/ threat
• field studies lack control- researches usually use real life eyewitnesses sometime after the event. all sorts of things happen inbetween- which researchers have no control over. discussions may occur, effects of being interviewed by the police. extrenuous variables therefore may be to blame for the accuracy of recall. the effects of anxiety may be overwhelmed by these other factors and impossible to assess by the time the participants are interviewed.
• ethical issues- participants may be subject to psychological harm- it doesn’t challenge the findings of the study but the need for such research.
• inverted u is too simplistic- anxiety is hard to define and measure accurately. it has many elements- cognitive behavioural, emotional and physical. the inverted u explanation assumes only one of these is linked to poor performance- physical arrousal. therefore too simplistic as it doesn’t take into account other factors such as age

Question 41

what is the cognitive interview and what does it include?

Answer 41

Fisher et al
Report everything
Reinstate the context
Reverse the order
Change perspective

Question 42

the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 42

Fisher found that additional elements to the ci was needed regarding the dynamics of the interaction- for example, the interviewer needs to know when to create eye contact and when to not to reduce feelings of anxiety. the ECI also aimed to reduce distractions and asking open ended questions

Question 43

evaluation of the CI

Answer 43

• time consuming- requires special taking as well as building a rapport with the eye-witness so that they feel less anxious takes time. therefore the full proper ci may not be used all the time and as a result eye-witness testimonies may not prove the aimed results
• some elements more valuable- Bull found that ‘report everything’ and ‘context reinstatement’ produced the best recall then any other conditions. this is a strength as it proves that even two aspects of the CI improve eye witness testimonies
• Support- Kohnken combined 50 studies and found that CI consistently improved eye-witness testimonies in comparison to normal police interviews. this is a strength as it proves there are real life practical benefits of the police using the CI- it proves that police have a greater chance of charging criminals which is beneficial to society as a whole
• increase of innacurate information- whilst increasing the amount of correct information recalled ( 81% ), it also increased the amount of incorrect information recalled- 61% increase of incorrect information in comparison to the standard interview