Memory - Explanations of Forgetting Flashcards
1
Q
What is the interference theory?
A
- idea that forgetting occurs in the LTM when two memories are in conflict
- more likely to happen when two memories are similar
2
Q
What is proactive interference?
A
- when an old memory interferes with the recall of a new memory
3
Q
What is retroactive interference?
A
- when a new memory interferes with the recall of an old memory
4
Q
Why is interference worse when memories are similar?
A
- PI = the previously stored info makes it more difficult to store new info
- RI = the new info overwrites previous memories (similar)
5
Q
What was the procedure of McGeoch and McDonald’s (1931) study?
A
- aim = to see if interference had an impact on forgetting
- 6 groups of ppts had to learn a words until they were 100% correct
- 5 groups of ppts had to learn a new list
- g1 = synonyms
- g2 = antonyms
- g3 = unrelated words
- g4 = nonsense syllables
- g5 = 3-digit numbers
- g6 = control group
- they were then told to recall the first list
6
Q
What were the results of McGeoch and McDonald’s study?
A
- the control group recalled the most no. of words
- control group
- numbers
- nonsense syllables
- unrelated words
- antonyms
- synonyms (recalled the least as the words in the second list were similar to those from the first list)
7
Q
What are the strengths of interference as an explanation of forgetting?
A
- supported by many controlled lab studies
- extraneous variables are minimised
- e.g. McGeoch and McDonald’s study
- realistic studies have also been conducted (Baddeley and Hitch (1977))
- rugby union players (those who played every match/those who missed some games) asked to recall names of the teams they played against
- players who played the most games forgot (proportionately) more games than those who had played fewer games
- they believed that this took place due to retroactive interference
8
Q
What are the weaknesses of interference as an explanation of forgetting?
A
- most supporting evidence are lab studies
- the use of unrealistic material means that these studies lack ecological validity
- in lab studies, the time period between learning the words and recalling them tends to be quite short
- in real life, there is usually a much longer gap, so the supporting research may lack validity/not reflect real life
- research has shown that interference can be overcome by using cues
- Tulving and Psotka (1971) gave ppts 5 lists of 24 words (with categories)
- recall for the first list = 70%, this decreased as the lists went on
- but when cues (categories) were given, the overall accuracy increased to 70%
- ** cues are needed to retrieve info from the LTM **
9
Q
What is retrieval failure due to the lack of cues?
A
- where the info stored in the LTM cannot be retrieved due to the lack of cues
- the cues associated with that info is also stored at the same time
10
Q
What is the encoding specificity principle?
A
- Tulving (1983) suggests that the cues can help with retrieval if the same ones are present at coding and retrieval
- meaningful cues can be used
- cue which are not linked meaningfully can also be used (may relate to context in which the learning occurs e.g. weather, mental state)
11
Q
What was Tulving and Pearlstone’s (1966) study?
A
- ppts had to recall 48 words that belonged to 12 categories (gem type)
- when the cue was present, the overall recall was 60%
- without the cue, the recall fell to 40%
- supports idea thar retrieval is better when there are cues to help trigger the memory
12
Q
What is context-dependent forgetting?
A
- occurs when the environment during recall is different from the environment during learning
13
Q
What was Abernethy’s (1940) study?
A
- group of students were tested weekly but arranged in four different groups
- same teaching room/same instructor
- same teaching room/different instructors
- different rooms/same instructor
- different teaching rooms/different instructors
- those tested by the same instructor in the same room performed the best (context memory cues)
- ** able students were the least affected and less able students were the most affected **
14
Q
What was Godden and Baddeley’s (1975) study?
A
- 18 divers had to learn lists of 36 unrelated words
- each ppt participated in 4 conditions
- learn/recall on beach
- learn on beach/recall under water
- learn under water/recall on beach
- learn/recall under water
- recall was better when the environment during learning/recall was the same
- shows how context (cues) played a huge role in their recall
15
Q
What are the strengths and weaknesses of Godden and Baddeley’s study?
A
- weaknesses:
- Baddeley argued that context effects may not be strong in real life as contexts must be really different to actually see context effect
- ** Abernerthy’s study proved that normal real life contexts (classrooms) are able to show how context/external cues impacts recall **
- context-dependent forgetting may depend on the type of memory being tested
- when Godden and Baddeley’s experiment was repeated with recognition instead of recall, performance was the same overall
- so retrieval failure due to absence of cues only occurs when an individual had to recall info rather than recognise it
16
Q
What is state-dependent forgetting?
A
- occurs when your mood/physiological state during recall is different from your mood/physiological state during learning
17
Q
What was Carter and Cassaday’s (1998) study?
A
- ppts had to learn and recall lists of words/passages (4 conditions)
- g1 = learn and recall on drug (anti-histamines)
- g2 = learn not on drug/recall on drug
- g3 = learn/recall not on drug
- g4 = learn on drug/recall not on drug
- ppts recalled best when their internal state matched during learning and recall
- when internal cues are absent, forgetting is more likely
18
Q
What are the strengths of the retrieval failure explanation?
A
- range of research (controlled lab and real-life):
- Godden and Baddeley (divers study)
- Goodwin (1969) = male ppts asked to remember a list of words either drunk or sober
- after 24 hours, they were asked to recall them either drunk or sober (those who were in the same state during learning and recall performed best)
- context/state dependent cues have real life applications:
- remembering these cues can improve memory
- they are also used in the Cognitive Interview (showing that research into forgetting is successful in real life application)
19
Q
What are the weaknesses of the retrieval failure explanation?
A
- retrieval cues do not always work:
- our learning does not relate to just cues (other factors may be affecting our recall)
- research supporting RF mainly focuses on word lists/passages which lacks ecological validity (lacks realism as these are not the only things we learn)
- difficult to test encoding specificity principle:
- certain cues may be meaningful to some but not to others and we do not know how they are encoded
- so retrieval failure as an explanation is not very powerful (as it can be subjective)
20
Q
What is eyewitness testimony?
A
- an account given by people of an event that they have witnessed
21
Q
What can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?
A
- misleading information:
- leading questions = questions that suggest to the witness what answer is desired
- post-event discussions = where witnesses of an event discuss what happened after the event
22
Q
What was Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) study?
A
- 45 students were showed a video of a car accident
- each group of ppts were asked “how fast were the cars going when they ___ each other?”
- hit
- collided
- smashed
- bumped
- contacted
- lowest estimated speed = contacted (31.8 mph)
- highest estimated speed = smashed (40.5 mph)
- in the second experiment, they found that ppts who originally heard “smashed” were more likely to report there being broken glass (there was none)
- this critical verb altered their memories
23
Q
What was Loftus and Zanni’s (1975) study?
A
- ppts were shown a video of a car accident and were asked if they had seen “a/the” broken headlight
- a = 7% said yes
- the = 17% said yes
- the word “the” was leading as it implied that there was a broken headlight
24
Q
How does post-event discussion affect accuracy of EWT?
A
- memory contamination = witnesses mix info from other witnesses into their own memories
- memory conformity = witnesses pick up details from EWT of other witnesses because of social approval or because they believe other witnesses are right
25
What was Gabbert’s (2003) study?
- 60 students from Uni of Aberdeen and 60 adults watched a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet
- ppts were tested individually/in pairs
- the ppts in pairs had actually seen different perspectives of the same crime (only one witnessed the girl stealing)
- 71% of ppts in the co-witness group had recalled information that they had not seen
- control group = 0%
- 60% said that the girl was guilty despite them not seeing her commit a crime
- ** shows how witnesses will absorb info from other witnesses due to post-event discussion **
26
What are the strengths of the effects of misleading info on EWT?
- most supporting research are well-controlled lab studies:
- good control over extraneous variables makes the results more valid
- these studies can also be easily replicated making it reliable
- e.g. Loftus and Palmer/Zanni/s ppts experienced the same standardised and procedure
- important applications to real life:
- due to the effect of leading questions, police have to be careful of the way they phrase interview questions
- Gabbert’s study shows the dangers of post-event discussion and its impact on the legal system
27
What are the weaknesses of lab studies into EWT?
- watching a video is very different to watching a real event in real time
- watching a staged event does not cause anxiety (small amount of it can increase accuracy)
- in real life, EWT can have serious consequences but not in a study so ppts may be less motivated to be accurate
- there is a risk of demand characteristics in lab studies (effects the validity of EWT research):
- Yullie and Cutshall (1986) = 13 witnesses of a real crime were interviewed 5 months after the event
- they were asked 2 leading questions (did not affect accuracy)
- shows that EWT is more accurate/less affected by leading questions in real life
- many of Loftus’ experiments involved students as ppts which may not be a representative group
28
What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law?
- the relationship between emotional arousal (anxiety) and performance looks like an inverted ‘U’
- it shows that as stress increases, performance also increases up to a certain point at which it then decreases drastically
- Deffenbacher (1983) believed that too much/less anxiety will affect recall accuracy
- a medium amount of anxiety will aid most recall
29
What was Johnson and Scott’s (1976) study?
- weapon focus effect
- ppts sat outside the lab and heard one of the 2 situations:
- low anxiety = friendly convo, man emerging with pen and greasy hands
- high anxiety = argument, man emerging with blood stained paper knife
- ppts then had to identify the man out of 50 photos
- pen = 49% accuracy
- knife = 33% accuracy (focused more on the weapon than the man)
- shows how anxiety generated by the weapon diverted attention away from the face of the man
30
What was Christianson and Hubinette’s (1993) study?
- positive effect
- 58 real witnesses were questioned about a bank robbery in Sweden (4-15 months after event)
- all witnesses had 75% accuracy of the details
- those who were the most anxious had the best recall
- shows that high anxiety actually enhanced accurate recall
- Yuille and Cutshall (1986) found witnesses of a real-life shooting in Canada gave the most accurate recall 5 months later
31
What are (strengths)/weaknesses of anxiety as a factor affecting EWT?
- anxiety may not cause weapon focus:
- Pickel (1998) believed that surprise caused this instead
- high threat/low surprise = scissors
- high threat/high surprise = handgun
- low threat/low surprise = wallet
- low threat/high surprise = whole raw chicken
- ** identification was least accurate in the high surprise conditions instead of the high threat ones **
- field studies lack control:
- confounding variables may have affected the results
- e.g. those with the highest levels of anxiety may have been closer to the event
- witnesses’ recall may also have been effected by extraneous variables like post-event discussion
- ethical issues:
- in most lab studies anxiety was deliberately created and ppts were also deceived (e.g. staged argument)
- although natural studies are more ethical, they have less control over variables
- Yerkes Dodson Law is too simplistic:
- anxiety is very difficult to measure accurately as it has many different elements
- it cannot always be measured through physiological means
- individual differences:
- an individual’s personality characteristics may be affecting their recall instead
- Bothwell (1987) found that highly anxious people were less accurate with increased stress levels, while stable individuals had a much better accuracy with high anxiety levels
32
What are the four principles of the cognitive interview?
- context/mental reinstatement:
- mentally recreate the physical/psychological environment of original incident
- “Try to remember the scene, weather, how you were feeling…”
- report everything:
- interviewer encourages the reporting of every detail of the event without leaving anything out
- recall of all details can help to form a clearer picture of the event as memories are interconnected with one another
- recall in changed order:
- reversing the order of the events can help to trigger extra memories and prevents dishonesty
- it also prevents the pre-existing schema influencing what you recall
- recall from changed perspective:
- interviewee is asked to recall the event from multiple perspectives
- this helps to disrupt the schemas that people may have about certain people
33
What are the principles of an enhanced cognitive interview (Fisher (1987))?
- actively listen
- open ended questions
- pause after each response
- avoid interruption
- encourage use of imagery
- adapt language to suit witness
- avoid judgemental comments
- minimise distractions
34
What are the strengths of the cognitive interview?
- research suggests that it is effective:
- Gieselman (1986) = intruder wearing blue rucksack enters and steals slide projector
- 2 days later ppts are questioned using a standard or cognitive interview (leading question : “the guy in the green backpack…”)
- those in the cognitive interview were less likely to recall the rucksack as being green (reduces the effect of leading questions)
- meta-analysis of 53 studies found that an increase of 34% in the amount of correct info generated in CI than in SI
- the use of a combination of techniques in the CI is more effective than just one technique
35
What are the weaknesses of the cognitive interview?
- CI can be very time consuming
- the CI requires lots of training in order to see good results
- many studies testing its effectiveness were lab studies (may not generalise to everyday life)
- the CI technique is less effective with children:
- Gieselman (1999) found that the technique lead to children under 6 reporting events less accurately
- however, it is more effective with children 8 years or above
