Memory-paper 1 Flashcards
(24 cards)
Describe the cognitive interview
(6 marks)
1)Reinstate the context- interviewee reinstated the environment (e.g. weather)
2)Report everything- interviewer encourages the ppt to report every detail.
3)Changing order- interviewer tries alternative ways through the timeline of the incident.
4)Changing perspectives- interveiwee recalls from different perspectives.
5)Features of enhancing cognitive interview to facilitate recall- focus on social interactions, reducing anxiety/ distractions, slow speech, use of open ended questions.
Outline the central executive.
(2 Marks)
Has a supervisory function and controls slave systems. It has limited capacity but can process information from any sensory modality
Outline the phonological loop.
(2 Marks)
A limited capacity, temporary storage system for holding verbal information in a peach based form.
Outline the Visio-spatial sketched.
(2 Marks)
A limited capacity temporary memory system for holding visual and spacial information.
Explain one strength and one weakness of the working memory model.
(4 Marks)
Weakness: Very little is known about how the central executive works or evidence from brain scans suggesting the central executive is not unitary.
Strength: Research support such as dual task studies and psychological evidence from brain scans.
Describe artificial stimulus as a weakness of the multi-store model.
Peterson and Peterson’s study used consonant syllables which have no meaning. In real- life our memories are based on important things, this implies the MSM has low external/ ecological validity.
Describe contradictory findings of the MSM.
Shallice and Warrington studied KF, an amnesia patient. KF’s STM for digits was poor when read to him, but much better when he read them. This suggests there is more than 1 type of STM, despite the MSM only having one type.
Describe how the MSM only having one type of rehearsal is a limitation.
Craik and Watkinson found that there are 2 types of rehearsal. Maintainance rehearsal; as described in the MSM, and elaborative rehearsal; which is needed to transfer information from STM to LTM. Elaborative rehearsal occurs when information is linked to existing knowledge.
Describe research support for types of long term memory.
Peterson et al demonstrated that semantic memories are recalled from the left prefrontal cortex, whilst episodic memories were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex. This supports the different stores of LTM as well as showing they have different neurological basis.
Describe the practical application of types of long term memory.
Belleville pointed out that most cognitive impairments mostly affected episodic memories and so understanding episodic memory may lead to improved, increasingly targeted treatments for mild cognitive impairments.
Describe further research support for LTM.
(HM and Clive Wearing)
Both HM and Clive Wearing showed how one type of LTM can be impaired (episodic in these cases) but other types of LTM will be unaffected. E.g. Clive Wearing could still play piano and understand the concept of music but could not remember his wife.
Describe how KF is supporting clinical evidence of the WMM.
Shallice and Warrington studied KF, who has amnesia. KF’s STM for verbal information was poor but he was able to process visual information. This suggests only his phonological loop was damaged leaving other areas of memory in tact.
Describe how the lack of clarity of the central executive is a limitation of WMM.
Cognitive psychologists suggest the central executive has limited explanatory power. Baddeley himself recognised the central executive is the most important yet least understood component of the WMM. This lack of further detail challenges the WMM’s integrity.
Describe why lack of control is a counterpoint to KF for the WMM.
KF got amnesia from a motorbike accident, it is unclear whether there were separate cognitive impairments which may have affected performance of memory tasks. The lack of control challenges evidence that comes from clinical case studies.
Describe how research into interference theory have good control.
Interference has been consistently demonstrated in several lab experiments. This increases the validity of the findings due to the highly- controlled conditions in lab experiments, standardised procedures and removal of bias.
Describe research support for interference theory.
Baddeley and Hitch found that in a group of rugby players that has to recall their last game and the number of games they’d played that season, the number of games played is more important than the total time they’d played for. This demonstrates interference as the more games they’d played, the more likely they’re to have the newer games interfere with the older games.
Describe how artificial stimulus is a weakness of interference theory.
Learning lists of random words with no personal meaning to the ppts, means the findings are likely to have low mundane realism. This is because in real life we are likely to learn important information, which we can draw links apon, and having meaning to us.
Describe how research into retrieval failure has everyday application.
Research into retrieval failure can be used to improve recall. This is a basic principle in the cognitive interview, a method of improving EWT recall is called ‘context reinstatement’. This shows how the research reflects strategies used in the real- world to improve recall.
Describe why the Encoding Specificity Principle not being falsifiable is a limitation of retrieval failure.
Retrieval failure is supported by research that shows forgetting occurs in the absence of cues - the Encoding Specificity Principle. When cues produce successful recall we assume its because the cue we present at the time of learning. If a cue does not produce successful recall we assume the cue was not present at the time of learning. However, there is no was of independently establishing whether or not cues had been encoded. Therefore, the ESP is not able to be scientifically tested so we cannot be certain if forgetting is due to retrieval failure.
Describe supporting evidence for retrieval failure.
Eysenck argues retrieval failure may be the main reason for forgetting in LTM. The research support increases the validity of the explanation, especially when the research is conducted in real-life situations as well as the highly controlled conditions of the lab.
Describe real-world application of research into misleading information.
Research into misleading information is hugely important as the practical uses in the real world where EWT are inaccurate could have serious consequences. Psychologists sometimes act as witnesses and explain the limits of EWT to the jury. This suggest research into EWT in an area in which important differences to lives are made.
Describe how artificial tasks is a limitation of research into misleading information.
Loftus and Plamer showed a video of a car crash, start to finish, however in real life the people involved in the crash only see a small part of the crash. The person also has a stronger emotional connection to the incident. Foster et al suggests that in the real world, what you remember as an eyewitness has important consequences, which is not the case in research studies.
Describe contradictory findings for memory conformity.
Skagerberg and Wright showed their ppts a clip of a person getting mugged and told the to discuss what they’ve seen.
In one version the mugger had dark brown hair, in another the mugger had light brown hair. It was found that ppts often didn’t report what they saw or what they heard from co-witnesses, but rather ‘blend’ of the two. This suggests that memory itself is distorted through contamination by misleading information and is not the result of memory conformity.
