Memory Paper 1 struggles Flashcards
(27 cards)
What is short-term memory ?
the limited capacity memory store. Coding is mainly acoustic and is between 5-9 items on average. Duration is between 18-30 seconds.
What is long-term memory ?
Coding is mainly semantic it has unlimited capacity and can store memories for up to a lifetime
What did Peterson and Peterson study about the memory ?
they researched the duration of the STM.
How did Peterson and Peterson conduct their study ?
participants are given a trigram (three-letter nonsense syllable) and then asked to count backwards from a certain number for a specified time. They are then asked to recall the original trigram
What did Baddeley study about the memory ?
he researched coding in the STM
How did Baddeley conduct his study ?
he gave different list of words to four groups of participants to remember and then they had to immediately recite it back.
What did Jacobs study about the memory ?
he wanted to test the capacity of the STM
How did Jacobs conduct his study ?
participants would recall 4 digits and then would add on a digit every time they got the sequence right until they make a mistake.
What did Miller study about memory ?
he researched the capacity of the STM
How did Miller conduct his study ?
he noticed how things were usually arranged in groups of 7.Therefore he thought that the capacity of the STM was about 7 or more items.
What did Bahrick study about the memory ?
he studied the duration of the LTM
How did Bahrick conduct his study ?
high school year books were collected from individuals and recall was tested in various ways: photo recognition and free call. The results showed that after 50 years people were about 90% accurate in photo recognition and with free call after 15 years this was about 60% accurate, dropping to 30% after 48 years.
LTM Evaluation.
- Clive Wearing study:
he was a world class musician who suffered from brain damage. His episodic memory was severely impaired. However he still understood the meaning of words , therefore his semantic memory was still intact. In addition he could still walk, speak and play the piano brilliantly , therefore proving that his procedural memory was still intact. This case study proves that there are 3 different LTM’s as his episodic memory was not working but his semantic and procedural were working .This is good external validity. - Conflicting neuroimaging evidence:
one limitation is that there are conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain. For example Randy Buckner and Steven Peterson reviewed evidence regarding the location of the semantic and episodic memory. They concluded that semantic memory is located on the left side of the prefrontal cortex and episodic memory on the right. However other research states that it is the opposite. This challenges any neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory as there is poor agreement on where each type might be located. - Another strength is that understanding types of LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems. For example as people age they experience memory loss and this is specific to episodic memory. So for example Sylvie Belleville devised a plan to improve episodic memories in older people. The trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training than a control group. This shows how distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed.
What is the function of the sensory register in the Multi store model of memory ?
it is our first storage system for memory. It stores all the information received from the environment. It encodes visual and auditory information and only last for half a second and has a very large capacity
Give me an evaluation of the working memory model ?
- patient KF had amnesia. He had a good visuospatial sketchpad , however he had a poor phonological loop. This proves how there are different slave systems in the WMM.
- there is a lack of information about the central executive and how it works.
- the studies of dual-task performance support the existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad. When Baddeley’s participants carried out a visual and a verbal task at the same time their performance on each was similar to when they carried out the tasks seperately.However when both tasks were visual performance on both declined substantially. This is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave subsystem, whereas there is no competition when completing a verbal and visual task together. This shows how there has to be separate slave systems.
- Hunt study (1980) to investigate the limited capacity of the central executive. The method was the participants would perform a psycho motor task and a spatial intelligence task at the same time. The findings showed that as the spatial intelligence task became more difficult, performance on the psycho motor decreased. Hunt concluded that both tasks require the central executive, however due to its limited capacity, it was unable to maintain performance on both. Proves his hypothesis.
What is meant by leading questions?
a question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer.
What is an eye witness testimony ?
the ability to remember details of an event, such as accidents and crime, which they themselves have observed. Accuracy of EWT can be affected by factors such as misleading information.
What is a study based around leading questions ?
Loftus and Palmer conducted this experiment and their aim was to the investigate the effects of different types of question on responses to speeds of crashing cars. Their method was participants watched film clips of car accidents and were given questions about the accident. Participants were asked a ‘ Critical question ‘ about how fast the cars were going when they ‘hit’ each other. Five groups were give different verbs: hit,contacted,bumped,collided and smashed.
What is post event discussion ?
this is where there is more than one witness and witnesses may discuss the event with other witnesses , or with other people.This may influence the witness recalling of the event.
What is the study based on post-event discussion ?
this was conducted by Gabbert. The method was that participants studied in pairs.They watched the same crime from different angles, therefore participants saw different elements.Then they discussed that events before recall.The study showed that 71% of participants mistakenly recalled aspects they did not see but picked up in discussion, compared to 0% in controled environment.Concludes witnesses go along with one another.
What are the two explanations for post-event discussion ?
- Memory contamination:
when co-witnesses to a crime discuss with it each other, their eye-witness testimonies may become altered and distorted.This is because they combine misinformation from other witnesses with their own memories. - Memory Conformity :
Gabbert concluded that witnesses often go along with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right and they are wrong.
Give me an evaluation for misleading information.
- One weakness is that Gabbert’s study was in a lab setting. Watching videos of something such as a car crash is not the same as experiencing it first-hand because we experience no stress or emotions when watching these sorts of videos and emotions can play a huge role in memory. This point is well illustrated by Foster who argues that what you remember in real life has very serious consequences but in an artificial study, consequences dont exist, so you are going to remember as much.This means that Gabbert’s study lack external validity.
- However one strenght is that misleading information has huge benefits in ensuring the criminal justice system is as fair as possible. Due to research such as Loftus, police are very aware of the need to avoid the use of leading questions and how they phrase questions as the way they phrase their questions can distort recall and this could have huge implications in court.
What were the two studies conducted around anxiety ?
- Yuille and Cutshall
- Johnson and Scott
Give me a summary of the Yuille and Cutshall study ?
their aim was to see if anxiety had a positive effect on the accuracy of the recalling of an event. They used a real life shooting in Vancouver. Shot owner had shot a thief and killed him.21 witnesses were present and 13 agreed to take part in the study. Participants were interviewed 4-5 months after the original interview. Accuracy was determined by number of details recorded. The study showed that the participants accuracy of the recalling of the event was still quite accurate and only small details were forgotten and misplaced.
