Memory- Encoding and recall Flashcards
(171 cards)
1
Q
What is visual encoding?
A
Memories that are stored visually (think windows on your house)
2
Q
What is acoustic encoding?
A
Memories that you heard and can hear again (like humming your favourite song)
3
Q
What is semantic encoding?
A
Facts that you don’t really have to think about (like knowing the animal, elephant, and being able to use it in a sentence)
4
Q
What is cued recall?
A
When something’s on the tip of your tongue, someone gives you a clue and suddenly you remember it
5
Q
What is free recall?
A
When you remember something without cue or clues (all by yourself)
6
Q
What is recognition?
A
When you don’t remember something but you recognise it. (Multiple choice questions, you recognise one of the answers more than the others)
7
Q
What is episodic memory? (LTM)
A
Memory for events (episodes) from your life. Like your 11th birthday
8
Q
What is semantic memory ? (not encoding) (LTM)
A
It’s like your personal encyclopaedia. It holds all the facts and figures and other useful information that you need to know.
9
Q
What is procedural memory? (LTM)
A
Procedural memory, also known as muscle memory, is your memory on how to do things. (In my case, how to play the saxophone or clarinet)
10
Q
How could you remember this sequence of letters? FYIBBCFAQITVKGUSAATM
A
Chunking (group them into meaningful letters) FYI BBC FAQ ITV KG USA ATM
11
Q
Tell me a bit about Baddeley’s study
A
-The aim was to see if there was a difference in the types of encoding in short term and long term memory
-Group A had to remember a list of words that rhymed
Group B had to remember a list of normal everyday words
Group C had to remember a list of synonyms (but they had to wait 20 mins)
Group D had to remember a list of normal words (they also had to wait 20 mins)
-Groups B and D did better than groups A and C, do you remember why?
12
Q
What is long term memory?
A
Memories that are stored for long periods of time. There are three types
-Episodic
-Semantic
-Procedural
Things are encoded into your long term memory when they are repeated
13
Q
Pro and con of Baddeley’s study being taken in a lab
A
Pro- there are less distractions as it’s a controlled environment and the tests are easier
Con- since it was taken in a controlled environment, the results don’t tell us how the brain works in the real world with background noise and stress.
14
Q
Pro and con of random sampling
A
Pro- it includes people and minds of all sorts so the results tell us how everyone thinks
Con- some people that are randomly selected might not be stable or they might have a disability so severe they are unable to do the experiment
15
Q
Coding, Capacity and Duration in sensory memory
A
Coding: can be visual and acoustic
Capacity: is very high in sensory memory
Duration: not very long, information remains in your sensory memory for less than half a second unless you pay attention to it
16
Q
Coding, capacity and duration in short term memory
A
Coding: tends to be acoustic
Capacity: on average between 5 or 9 items or chunks of information
Duration: less than 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed
17
Q
Coding, capacity and duration in long term memory
A
Coding: tends to be semantic
Capacity: potentially unlimited
Duration: potentially up to a lifetime
18
Q
What is serial position?
A
Describes the tendency of people to recall the first and last words in a list of words best. It is the position of the words that influences the likelihood of their recall
19
Q
What is coding?
A
The format in which information is stored in various memory stores
20
Q
What is capacity?
A
The measure of the amount of information that can be held in a memory store
21
Q
What is duration?
A
How long information lasts in your memory
22
Q
What is interference ?
A
Interference is when we have two conflicting memories. One prevents us accessing the other.
23
Q
What is reconstruction?
A
Fragments of stored information are reassembled to make a story. Our cultures and minds reassemble these fragments to make a story that makes sense for us.
24
Q
Reconstructive memory, social and cultural influences.
A
Social/cultural expectations may influence our recall. For example. In Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts study, hunting seals was remembered as going fishing, and in that picture with the mugger, people always remembered the mugger being the black man with the open razor.
25
Effort after meaning
We focus on the meaning of events. Afterwards we make an effort to interpret the meaning into more familiar terms
26
What is a repeated measures design?
An experimental design where the same participants take part in each condition of the experiment
27
What is an evaluation?
An evaluation is key criticisms on a psychological study. A good way to make a good evaluation is to have a:
Point
Explanation
and Conclusion
28
What is context?
The situation in which something happens. Context can act as a trigger to memories, making memory more accurate
29
Ethical design in psychology experiments
Requires a balancing act between the benefits of the research and the costs or risk of harm to participants. For example, implanting false memories could be seen as unethical
30
What is false memory?
When you remember something that didn’t actually happen, but it feels like it did
31
What are false memories based on?
They are based on reconstructive memory
32
What is primary data?
Data that has been generated by the researcher himself/herself, surveys, interviews, experiments, specially designed for understanding and solving the research problem at hand
33
What is systematic sampling?
When you have a system for your sampling. For example, say you have 20 people. For your sample you could take every second person to be a participant in the study.
34
What is a debriefing?
A debriefing is where you tell the participants what the study was about at the end of a study. Like in the ‘lost in a mall’ study they were told which memory was false
35
One criticism of false memory
It’s unethical. If a false memory is implanted successfully, you have just controlled someone’s memory. Even if you implanted a memory that someone actually used to like cars, you’re taking away their right to an opinion. They’re losing their autonomy
36
What is an independent measure design?
Where different participants are used in each condition of the independent variable.
37
What is a matched pairs design?
Where each condition uses different participants, but they are matched in terms of important characteristics, e.g., gender, age, intelligence, etc
38
What is perception?
The organisation’s n and interpretation of sensory information by the brain to understand the world around us. This may involve basic perceptual processes like separating objects from the background
39
What is sensation?
The physical stimulation of sense receptors by the environment, such as light striking the retina at the back of the eye or sound waves processed by the ear
40
What is the difference between sensation and perception?
Can be summed up as the difference between feeling and thinking. Sensation is our body detecting a stimulus in the environment. Perception is how are brain organises and interprets these sensations.
41
What is Gregory’s constructivist theory?
Gregory suggested that there is a clear difference between perception and sensation. He said that perception is a combination of stimulus information, and the brain using past experience to make sense of the sensations.
42
What is Gibson’s direct theory?
He saw perception and sensation as pretty much the same thing. He argued that the image which reaches the eye contains all the information we needed to understand the thing we are looking at.
43
What are visual cues?
Visual information from the environment about movement, distance etc
44
What are visual constancies?
Our ability to see an object as the same even if the actual image received by the idea has changed
45
What is retinal disparity?
The way the left and right eye view slightly different images. The size of the difference gives the brain information about depth and distance
46
What is relative size?
Refers to the fact that smaller objects in the visual field appear further away
47
What is occlusion?
Describes the fact that objects that hide or are in front of others appear closer to us
48
What are binocular depth cues?
Cues that are only detected when both eyes are used such as convergence and retinal disparity
49
What is convergence?
It’s to do with how hard the eye muscles have to work to view objects. The closer an object is, the harder the eye muscles have to work, and this gives information about depth and distance
50
What is height in plane?
The objects higher up n the visual field appear further away
51
What is linear perspective?
When parallel lines converge in a way that suggests distance
52
What are monocular depth cues?
Perceptual cues which can be detected with one eye
53
Describe the Ponzo illusion
It’s an example of a misinterpreted depth cue. These are usually to do with size or length. In this illusion the horizontal line higher up in gene image appears longer than the horizontal line towards the bottom. Both lines are actually the same size
54
Describe the Müller-Lyer illusion
Another misinterpreted depth cue. This is also rp do with the distortion of line length. This time the vertical line with the outgoing arrows is perceived as longer than the other line. They are the same size.
55
Describe Rubin’s Vase
It’s an ambiguous figure. After staring at this illusion for a few seconds, you should be able to see both the faces and the vase. Both are correct so your brain cannot decide which one to focus on
56
Describe the Ames Room
Another misinterpreted depth cue. The trick is the shape of the room. Although to the observer looking through the peep hole, the room would appear to be square in shape, it’s actually a trapezoid.
57
What is ambiguity?
The way in which some images or stimuli can be in more than one way
58
What is fiction?
When a figure is perceived even though it is not part of the image or stimulus presented, for example the Kanizsa triangle
59
What are misinterpreted depth cues?
Some visual illusions rely on misinterpreted depth cues in order to ‘work’. The brain sees linear perspective in the picture creating the impression of difference, and mistakenly applies the rule of size constancy
60
What is size constancy?
The brain’s ability to perceive familiar objects as the same size, despite changes in the size of the image on the retina
61
What are visual illusions?
The unconscious ‘mistakes’ of perception. In fact they are not really mistakes, but are normal, relatively consistent phenomena which are subject to regular rules of perception.
62
What is motion parallax?
A type of monocular depth cue that provides the brain with important information to do with movement. Objects that are far away appear to move more slowly as we move than objects that are close to us
63
What is nature? (psychological term)
The aspects of behaviour that are inherited. The term ‘nature’ does not simply refer to traits or abilities present at birth but to any determined by genes, including those that appear, for example, at puberty
64
What is the Kanizsa triangle and how does it work?
Makes it look like there is a second triangle over the first even though there is nothing there. This works using illusory contours which creates the impression that the overlapping triangle has continuous edges all the way around it
65
What is the Müller-Lyer illusion and how does it work?
We unconsciously perceive the vertical line with the fins facing down as being the outside corner of a building which would be projecting out at us. At the same time we see the line with the fins pointing up as being the inside corner of a room which would be stretching away from us. This is an example of size constancy and misinterpreted depth cues
66
Explain optic flow patterns?
When we are moving- in a car, plane, or on foot- the point we are moving towards stays stationary while the rest of the view seems to rush away from it. These optic flow patterns are detected by our eyes and let our brain know that we are moving. The information the brain gets allows us to make judgements about the speeds d direction of movement. If there is no ‘flow’ the brain knows that we are not moving
67
Gibson’s direct theory of perception said that perception was ‘innate’. What does innate mean?
Innate in this case means that it’s natural, we were born into it and our brain doesn’t have to see something and then perceive it, we can just look at something and know what we do with it
68
What is inference?
A process involving taking information in front of you and drawing a conclusion about what it means based on other things you know. E.g. someone is smiling, you infer that they are happy or pleased, but then you realise that someone is standing on their foot and their smile was actually a grimace
69
What are visual cues?
They help us perceive depth, distance, size and shape of objects. This means that our perception is accurate and we make good judgements, but sometimes they can be wrong like in the Müller-Lyer illusion
70
What is nurture?
Aspects of behaviour that are acquired through experience
71
When is Gibson’s theory useful?
Gibson’s theory is better at explaining perception when the viewing conditions are clear and unambiguous.
71
When is Gregory’s theory useful?
Gregory’s theory is more appropriate when the viewing conditions are unclear and we need to ‘go beyond’ the evidence in front of our eyes
72
What is emotion?
Emotion is a strong feeling or mood that has motivational properties. Emotion can either increase or decrease sensitivity to aspects of our environment.
73
What is perceptual set?
The tendency or readiness to notice certain aspects of the sensory environment whilst ignoring others
74
What is culture?
Culture refers to the beliefs and expectations that surround us. We are not conscious of living in a culture just like a fish would not be conscious of living in water, yet it powerfully influences us
75
What is an extraneous variable?
A variable not being investigated that has the potential to affect the outcome of a research study. It is any factor not considered an independent variable that can affect the dependent variables or controlled conditions
76
What is central tendency?
It’s basically another word for ‘average’ whether it’s mean, median or mode
77
What is motivation?
I refers to the forces that ‘drive’ your behaviour. It encourages an animal to act. For example, hunger is a basic drive state which pushes an animal to seek food, or, getting low marks May drive you to work harder
78
What is expectation?
It’s a belief about what is likely to happen based on past experience. Expectation affects perceptual set because you are more likely to notice or attend to certain stimuli because you are anticipating them
79
Optic array
Everything we can see at any one time
80
What is schema?
a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. Simply put, a schema describes patterns of thinking and behavior that people use to interpret the world
81
The brain stem
It develops early because it controls vital autonomic functions. It passes information to and from the brain and the body
82
What is the cerebellum?
It’s the ‘little brain’ at the base of the brain above the spinal cord that coordinates movement with sensory input and also has a role in cognition
83
What is the cortex?
The outer covering of the brain where mental processing takes place
84
What is the thalamus?
The key hub of information in the brain, relaying sensory and motor signals to the cortex
85
What is the womb?
The part of a mother’s body where the baby develops. It is located in the lower abdomen, between the bladder and the rectum. It provides a cushioned environment for the developing baby as it is filled with liquid.
86
What are autonomic functions?
The word ‘autonomic’ means ‘automatic’. It refers to functions in the body which we do not consciously control, such as a heart beat, digestion and emotions such as fear
87
What is cognition?
Cognition refers to ‘thinking’ and all mental processes
88
What is nature?
Refers to genetic influences, characteristics you inherit from your ancestors e.g autism
89
What is nurture?
Nurture refers to all other influences - how you were raised, your experiences and your environment in general
90
What did Gibson think about nature and nurture and how they helped/affected perception?
Gibson believed that perception was all about nature. He thought that the real world presents sufficient information for direct perception without inference.
91
What did Gregory think about nature and nurture and how they helped/ affected perception?
Gregory believed that both nature and nurture were responsible for how we perceive things. He thought that perception uses inferences from visual cues and past experiences to construct models of reality
92
How does infection affect a baby in the womb?
Infections such as rubella can cause brain damage, most especially hearing loss if a mother develops the illness during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Even though the infection is biological, this still counts as nurture because it is the baby’s environment that caused the effect
93
How does smoking affect a baby in the womb?
It’s well known that mothers who smile give birth to smaller babies. Smoking affects the size of the brain as well as the body because nicotine slows down brain growth
94
Can hearing voices in the womb affect which voices babies like to hear outside the womb?
Babies appear to recognise their mother’s voice immediately after birth. This shows that the brain is changing before you are born in response to external stimuli. Perhaps even more surprising is that babies respond to particular phrases in a book e.g the cat in the hat.
95
What is piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
The way children think is different at different ages/stages of their childhood. The way they think changes as they get older.
96
What is accommodation?
A form of learning that takes place when we acquire new information that changes our understanding of a topic to the extent that we need to form one or more schemas to deal with the new understanding.
97
What is assimilation?
A form of learning that takes place when we acquire new information or a more advanced understanding of an object, person or idea
98
What is a schema?
A mental framework of beliefs and/or expectations that influence cognitive processing. We are born with some schemas but they develop in complexity with experience of the world.
99
What is the difference between assimilation and accommodation ?
Assimilation is adding information to an already existing schema whereas accommodation is making a new schema to help us understand an object.
100
What is conservation?
The ability to realise that quantity remains the same even when the appearance of an object or group of objects changes. For example, the volume of liquid stays the same when poured between vessels of different shapes
101
What is Piaget’s theory of conservation?
Piaget demonstrated that younger children find it difficult to understand the idea that quantities do not change. Younger children think quite differently from older children who might say to themselves ‘Well it does look like more but I know there can’t suddenly be more water.’
102
What is egocentrism?
A person’s tendency to only be able to see the world from their own point of view. This applies to both physical objects and arguments in which a person can only appreciate their own perspective.
103
Piaget’s study of egocentrism
Piaget demonstrated how young children display egocentrism in his three mountains task. He showed that most children under 7 can only think in their own personal perspective. From the age of 7 onwards they develop the ability to ‘decentre’ or see the world from multiple viewpoints. Piaget believed this was another example of the unique way that younger children think about the world.
104
What is a foxed mindset ?
People with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence is fixed in their genes. (Doing well or winning prizes is evidence of their ability)
105
What is a growth mindset?
People with a growth mindset believe at any time you can always get a little bit better
106
What is praise?
To express approval of someone else and what they have done. Praise is awarding and increases motivation
107
What is self-efficacy?
A person’s understanding of their own capabilities. High self-efficacy influences motivation
108
What is learning style?
‘Learning style’ refers to a person’ relatively consistent method of processing and remembering information.
109
What is learning style?
Learning style refers to a person’s relatively consistent method of processing and remembering information
110
What is a target population?
‘Target population’ refers to the group of people a researcher is interested in studying. It’s not necessarily the whole population of a country, but could be more specific such as school students
111
What is meant by sampling from the target population?
A sample is a group of people who take part in an experiment or other research study. The sample is selected from among the people in a target population. For example, say the target population is a group of school students. The sample would consist of a smaller group of school students from that population.
112
What is generalising in sampling?
Generalising means concluding that the findings from the sample will also be true of the wider population
113
What is opportunity sampling ?
Selecting a group of research participants on the basis of who is easily available. A lot of these samples are biased as the people who are easily available may not be representative of the target population.
114
What is random sampling?
Where every member of the target population has the same chance of being selected. The best way to be sure that everyone has the same chance of being selected is to number every member of the population using a complete list, and then use a random number generator or table to select the participants
115
What is systematic sampling ?
Uses a procedure that avoids groups of people being selected together, e.g by picking every tenth name on a school register. These samples tend to be representative, but it’s not possible to guarantee that they are unbiased. This depends on the characteristics of the target population. The starting point has to be random, after that the selection of participants at set intervals reduces bias by avoiding the selection of pre-existing groups.
116
What is stratified sampling?
Involves selecting people in order to maintain the overall proportions of the target population in categories that the researcher considers to be important. A true stratified sample has exactly the same proportions as the population. Stratified samples are representative, but only in the characteristics that they have been stratified. They may be biased in other ways.
117
What is dual coding?
A useful concept where learners can use their senses together. For example combining both verbal and visual information improves the rate at which people later remember information.
118
What is an experiment?
One of the most important research methods. It allows researchers to study human behaviour in a controlled and systematic way, by changing one variable and measuring the effect this has on the other variable
119
What is a variable?
Any characteristic, attribute or environmental condition that can vary
120
What is normal distribution?
One in which the middle values are common while more extreme ones are progressively rarer, resulting in a graph that shows the frequency of values of the variable as a bell-shaped curve
121
What is the IV?
The variable that is manipulated (the independent variable). This is the cause.
122
What is the DV?
The variable that is measured is called the dependent variable. The level of this variable forms the data that a researcher analyses. This is the effect.
123
What is the EV?
The extraneous variable. This is a variable other than the IV which could affect the DV. E.g. the amount of time available is a variable that Nat affect scores in a DV, and must be kept constant
124
What is a hypothesis?
A scientific prediction of what is expected to happen. Usually the hypothesis predicts that the IV will have an effect on the DV and also gives a rationale for this prediction based on last research.
125
What is an alternative hypothesis?
Where the prediction that the IV will affect the DV in an experiment
126
What is a null hypothesis?
A prediction of what will be found if the alternative hypothesis is not supported by the data.
127
What is a repeated measures design?
Where all participants complete all conditions of the experiment
128
What is an independent group design?
When the participants are randomly divided into groups, and each group takes part in a single condition.
129
What is a control condition ?
A condition that is simply used for comparison. It’s used as a baseline.
130
What does experimental design mean?
The way that participants are allocated to the conditions of the study.
131
What are standardised instructions ?
Information/ instructions that is given to every participant at the start of the study. All these instructions must be exactly the same
132
What is counter balancing?
Where the order of conditions is balanced so participants don’t all complete the conditions in the same order as each other. This avoids order effects.
133
What is one problem of independent group design?
They can suffer from participant variables (an EV). This is where differences between the participants, like different ability levels, can affect the outcome.
134
How do we minimise extraneous variables in independent groups designs?
Randomly allocating participants to different conditions of the experiment.
135
What is a matched pairs design?
A design where participant variables are controlled for by matching them up between participants.
136
What is an advantage of matched pairs designs?
One advantage is that specific participant variables can be controlled by matching them up between participants
137
What is a disadvantage of matched pairs designs?
Matching variables up does not control all EVe and is more time-consuming to do than any other design.
138
What are ethical standards?
Standards that ensure that people are treated fairly. Participants should be treated with respect and should come to no harm (including psychological harm e.g. stress, embarrassment).
139
What are some ethical procedures?
Informed consent from participants (people must know what they’re signing up for), a right to withdraw (participants have the right to withdraw at ANY point during the study, debriefing participants at the end of the study, data confidentiality (their data will not be shared)
140
List some examples of non-experimental research
Observation, interviews & questionnaires, case studies. These get more in-depth results. Two key types of data: qualitative and quantitative
141
What is an observation study?
A study that involves studying behaviour as it happens and recording data in the form of notes or videos, this often involves naturalistic observation.
142
What is inter-observer reliability and why is it useful
The extent to which different observers record the same data from the same observation. It allows the psychologists to compare their results and findings, making it more reliable than having just one person recording results.
143
What is a weakness of an observation study?
It’s unethical. Because psychologists are not allowed to invade the participants’ privacy, they have to tell them they will be recorded, making the results less valid as they know they’re being watched.
144
What is a strength of an observation study?
It’s easier and more reliable to gather data on behaviour as it happens.
145
What is the difference between an interview and a questionnaire?
Interviews tend to be face-to-face whereas questionnaires are completed on paper or computer
146
What are the two types of questions in these research methods?
Open questions: allows the participant to answer however they like.
Closed questions: give participants a pre-determined choice of possible answers.
147
What is a case study?
An in-depth study of one individual or a small group typically involving several techniques such as brain scans and ability tests.
148
What type of information would you gather in a case study?
Primary data and secondary data.
149
Benefits of case studies?
They are extremely valuable for studying unusual or unique cases e.g. people with rare psychological disorders or brain damage
150
What is a correlation study?
Studies that allow us to obtain data from any source, it has to be quantitative which shows a variable on a scale from high low.
151
Strength of a correlation study
Secondary data is normally used, this means that correlation can be used to study issues that would be impractical or unethical to study via an experiment
152
What are co-variables?
Two variables that are being studied, IV and DV aren’t used as correlation studies do not demonstrate which variable is having an effect on which.
153
Main weakness of a correlation study
Correlation does not demonstrate causation
154
How is data displayed in correlation studies?
In a scatter graph, these show us a clear positive or negative correlation
155
What is correlation strength?
How close the points are to forming a line on the graph. The closer they are to forming a line, the stronger the correlation is.
156
What is a confederate?
Research actors who are commonly employed in psychology experiments to secretly participate along with actual subjects
157
What is conformity ?
When people change their views, actions, choices, to fit in more with a group
158
What is normative conformity?
Seeking the approval of a group or person (the desire to be liked)
159
Dispositional factors of conformity
The presence of an ally, the size of the majority, anonymity, task difficulty
160
What is obedience?
Obedience is doing something you’re told to do. Obedience might involve doing something you would prefer not to do or something you believe to be wrong.
161
Autonomous state vs agentic state
In an autonomous state people feel personally responsible for their actions whereas in an agentic state people allow others to direct their actions and they no longer feel responsible for their behaviour, as their actions are attributed to the person giving the instructions.
162
What are some unethical problems with Milgram’d study?
Use of deception, pressure from the experimenter to continue even after they asked to withdraw (taking away the participant’s right to withdraw), convincing the participants that they were actually harming a person (screaming from the other room).
163
What are dispositional factors?
Factors about the individual, such as personality.
164
What is an authoritarian personality?
An authoritarian personality displays higher levels of obedience to authority.
165
What is prosocial behaviour?
The positive impact of human actions
166
What are some factors affecting bystander intervention?
Presence if others (if there are more people present, the less likely they are to help), Expertise and similarity to the victim (if other people don’t perceive the situation as an emergency people are less likely to help, people are more likely to help if the victim is similar to them, people are more likely to help if they feel they have the expertise), Cost of helping
167
What is identification?
When people act collectively because they identify with a group in some way. E.g. because they all support the same football team, they dress the same
168
What is deindividuation?
When the presence of a crowd or group leads to the loss of sense of individual identity. Deindividuation leads people to follow group norm rather than individual norms. It can lead to people acting more aggressively when they are part of a crowd
169
What is social loafing?
Where individuals put in less effort when there’s a larger group than when they are own their own. E.g. singing in assembly
170
What is culture?
This refers to the ideas and customs Ira group or society that influence the behaviour of the people that are part of that group.
