Module 2- Memory L1-6 Flashcards

1
Q

Define cognitive psychology

A

concerned with people’s thought processes and how these affect their behaviour

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2
Q

What is memory

A

process of retaining learned info, and accessing this info, when it is needed.

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3
Q

Why is memory important

A

important factor in how human beings process information.

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4
Q

Three processes in memory

A

Coding, Storage, Retrieval

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5
Q

What is coding

A

The way information is changed so that it can be stored in memory

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6
Q

What is storage

A

Keeping information within the memory system until it is needed.

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7
Q

What is retrieval

A

Recovering information stored in the memory system when it is
required.

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8
Q

What are the memory stores

A

Sensory registers, STM, LTM,

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9
Q

What is the sensory register

A

Contains unprocessed impressions of info received through the senses
-Separate sensory store for each sensory input. (Iconic, echoic)

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10
Q

What is STM

A

temporary store for information received from the SR.

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11
Q

What is LTM

A

permanent store holding limitless amounts of info for long periods of time, potentially a lifetime.

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12
Q

How do STM and LTM differ

A

terms of coding, capacity, duration, and how information is lost.

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13
Q

Define capacity

A

amount of info that can be held in memory before new incoming information displaces it.

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14
Q

Define duration

A

amount of time information can be held in a memory store before it is lost due to decay.

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15
Q

Coding in SR

A

-modality specific (each sensory store codes info differently)

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16
Q

Coding in STM ( Baddeley 1966, procedure and findings)

A
  • Baddeley (1966)
  • investigated coding in STM
  • gave participants four lists of words to recall. (List A= sounded similar , List B= sounded dissimilar, List C= similar meanings, List D= dissimilar meanings)
  • argued STM coded acoustically -> participants performed worse with A than B, but no difference between C and D.
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17
Q

Conclusion of Baddeley experiment (coding in STM)

A
  • coded acoustically

- Theorised that as STM organises info based on how it sounds, similar sounding words can become muddled.

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18
Q

Coding in LTM (Baddeley 1966)

A
  • repeated experiment to test coding of LTM.
  • tested participant’s recall of lists after 20m delay to ensure info had passed into LTM. -Recall of C worse than D.
  • No difference between A and B
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19
Q

Conclusion of Baddeley experiment (coding in LTM)

A

concluded LTM is coded semantically.

- LTM organises info based on its meaning, so words with similar meaning can become confused.

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20
Q

Evaluation of Baddeley (coding in LTM +STM)

A

+ strength- lab experiment= easy to replicate as variables have been closely controlled so reliability can be assessed
- weakness -lack ecological validity. The material (lists of unconnected words) which participants needed to recall was artificial, as was the laboratory setting.

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21
Q

Capacity of SR

A

Unlimited

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22
Q

Capacity of LTM

A

Unlimited

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23
Q

Capacity of STM (Jacobs 1887)

A
  • digit span test- determine the capacity of STM.
  • Gave participants several sequences of digits/ letters, asking them to repeat each sequence immediately after given , in correct order. Sequences got longer by one item each time.
  • Jacobs found on average we can hold 9.3 digits and 7.3 letters.
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24
Q

Capacity of STM (Miller 1956)

A
  • Miller (1956) reviewed psychological research studies and concluded that the span of STM is 7 (+/) 2.
  • Try to recall more info than we have capacity for, new incoming info displaces old info.
  • Found people can recall five words as easily as five letters, and so chunking can help us remember more.
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25
Q

Define chunking

A

Grouping large amounts of information into smaller groups

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26
Q

Evaluation of Capacity of STM (Jacobs)

A

+ strength- Jacob’s research= first to acknowledge that STM capacity
gradually improves with age.
- weakness - conducted a long time ago= may not been done to the same scientifically rigorous standard as research today = validity of the findings is in question.

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27
Q

Duration of SR

A

250 milliseconds

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28
Q

Duration of STM (Peterson and Peterson 1959)

A
  • used nonsense trigram’s to test STM duration.
  • to prevent participants keeping info in STM, maintenance rehearsal used, asked to count backwards from 100 in threes.
  • After 3 seconds recall was accurate 90% of time
  • After 9 seconds recall was accurate 20% of time
  • After 18 seconds it was only accurate 2% of the time.
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29
Q

Conclusion of duration of STM (Peterson and Peterson)

A

info in STM lasts for 18-30 seconds without rehearsal, before lost due to decay.

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30
Q

Evaluation of duration of STM ( Peterson and Peterson 1959)

A

+ strength -high level of control (used standardised procedures to ensure all participants experienced same process)

  • fixed timings for participants to count backwards from.
  • eliminated noise and other factors that could have had an influence on memory.
  • weakness - possibly caused by interference rather than by STM having short duration = Possible earlier learnt trigrams became confused with later ones.
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31
Q

Duration of LTM (Bahrick 1979)

A

400 participants given photo recognition test = shown 50 photos, deciding if they belonged to their classmates or not.

  • In free recall test participants asked to list names they could remember from class-
  • free recall of identifying FACES of school friends
  • 90% accurate after 15 years
  • 70% accurate after 48 years (decline)
  • Free recall of NAMES of classmates
  • 60% accurate after 15 years
  • 30% accurate after 48 years (decline)
32
Q

Conclusion of duration of LTM (Bahrick 1979)

A

duration is potentially a lifetime BUT sometimes we have retrieval failure and need retrieval cues to access this information.

33
Q

Evaluation of duration of LTM (Bahrick 1979)

A

+ strength- higher ecological validity than Peterson and Peterson (duration of STM 1959) as the material was more relevant to everyday life.
- weakness- problematic to control for extraneous variables, e.g. people staying in touch after left school or how many participants have looked in their yearbook since leaving school.

34
Q

What is the multi store model of memory (MSM)

A
  • developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
  • attempts to explain how info flows from one memory store to another.
  • 3 permanent structures in memory system: SR, STM, LTM.
  • Each memory store differs in capacity, duration, coding and how information is lost from them.
35
Q

What enters the SR

A

Environmental stimuli received through senses

36
Q

What is the SR

A
  • short duration store retaining unprocessed impressions of information received through the senses
  • has separate sensory store for each sensory input
37
Q

Examples of sensory stores in the SR

A

Iconic store = visual info

Echoic store= auditory info

38
Q

How does info move from SR to STM

A

Attention - attended to and acoustically coded into STM

Selected for further processing in STM, or lost due to decay

39
Q

Why can similar sounding info in STM be confused

A

STM is coded acoustically

40
Q

What is the STM (MSM)

A
  • temporary store for information received from the SR before it is transferred to LTM.
  • info may be recalled at this point and then forgotten before it is transferred to LTM
41
Q

Why is STM limited capacity (7+-2)

A

So info can be displaces by new incoming info

42
Q

Why does info decay quick from STM

A

Due to short duration (18-30s), needs rehearsal info

43
Q

What is maintenance rehearsal

A

repeatedly verbalising or thinking about the info

44
Q

What is elaborative rehearsal

A

where info is organised in a meaningful way

45
Q

How is info kept in the STM

A

Maintenance rehearsal

46
Q

How does info move from STM to LTM

A
Elaborative rehearsal ( for more permanent storage)
- if rehearsed enough, semantically coded into LTM
47
Q

What is the LTM

A

permanent store holding vast amounts of information for long periods of time.

48
Q

How is info recalled from LTM

A

Retrieved by STM (STM

49
Q

Why can we sometimes not access info from LTM

A

Due to retrieval failure, may need retrieval cues to help access

50
Q

Draw MSM

A

draw MSM

51
Q

Evaluation of MSM

A

Neurobiological evidence, Laboratory experiments, General evaluation

52
Q

Neurobiological evidence to support MSM (Scoville 1957)

A

+ Scoville (1957) treated patients (HM) epilepsy by removing hippocampus.

  • HM unable to code new LTM memories
  • STM unaffected
  • supports the idea of separate STM and LTM.
53
Q

Neurobiological evidence to support and criticise MSM (Shallice and Warrington (1970)

A
  • Shallice and Warrington (1970) reported case of KF
  • support -motorbike accident = reduced STM capacity of 1/2 digits, normal LTM .
  • supports the idea of a separate STM and LTM
  • criticise- Poor STM for verbal tasks, not visual tasks= suggests more than one type of STM, contradicts MSM
  • Criticise- MSM states LTM retrieved by STM, therefore STM damaged, difficult to retrieve LTM but KF access LTM without any difficulty.
54
Q

Laboratory experiment to support MSM (Murdock 1962)

A

+Murdock (1962) gave participants long list of words to recall in any order (free recall experiment).

  • Words at beginning and end were recalled better than middle (serial position effect) -beginning = constantly rehearsed and transferred to LTM (the primacy effect)
  • end = recalled as still in STM (the recency effect).
  • This supports the idea of separate and distinct STM and LTM.
55
Q

General evaluation of MSM (oversimplified)

A
  • over simplified= assumes one type of STM and LTM.
  • Research studies indicate several types of STM (phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad).
  • Research indicate several types of LTM (episodic memory, semantic memory, procedural memory)
56
Q

General evaluation of MSM (Baddeley and Hitch 1974)

A
  • Baddeley and Hitch (1974) claimed MSM cannot explain multitasking
  • If one type of STM then multi-tasking not possible, but ppl multitask all the time e.g. radio while driving
57
Q

Who developed the Working Memory Model

A

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

58
Q

Why did Baddeley and Hitch develop the WMM

A
  • questioned MSM (one type of STM and LTM and inability to multitask)
  • believed STM was more complex
59
Q

How did STM and LTM differ in MSM and WMM

A
  • WMM= STM seen as active store holding several pieces of info while they are being worked on
  • WMM= LTM seen as passive store, only holding previously stored info to be used by STM when needed
60
Q

Components of WMM

A
  • Central executive
  • phonological loop (phonological store, articulatory loop)
  • Visuo-spatial sketchpad (visual cache, inner scribe)
  • Episodic buffer
61
Q

What does the Central executive do

A
  • drives WMM, allocates data to the slave systems.

- Manages cognitive tasks (mental arithmetic, reasoning and problem solving)

62
Q

Why can people multitask

A

People have limited attentional capacity
- automated tasks make less attentional demands on central executive and leave us free to perform other tasks
E,g, driving with radio

63
Q

Why can an old driver listen to the radio and a new driver may not be able to?

A

Old driver, driving has become automated task that doesn’t make many attentional demands, so can listen to radio

64
Q

What is the phonological loop?

A

component of WMM , deals with spoken and written material. It has two sub-components - phonological store and articulatory loop

65
Q

What is the phonological store?

A
  • Inner ear

- linked to speech perception and holds info in speech-based form (i.e. spoken words) for 1-2 seconds.

66
Q

What is the articulatory loop?

A
  • inner voice
  • linked to speech production, used to rehearse and store verbal information from phonological store. allows for maintenance rehearsal.
67
Q

What does the Visuo- spatial sketchpad do?

A
  • inner eye
  • stores and processes info in a visual or spatial form. (Used for navigation)
  • has 2 sub components - visual cache and inner scribe
68
Q

What does the visual cache do?

A

stores visual material about form and colour.

69
Q

What does the inner scribe do?

A

handles spatial relationships

70
Q

What is the episodic buffer?

A

limited capacity store, integrating info from all other WMM components and LTM.

71
Q

Why did Baddeley add the episodic buffer?

A
  • realised model needed a general storage component to operate properly
  • slave systems =processing and temporary storage of specific types of info
  • central executive = no storage capacity
72
Q

Evaluation of the WMM

A

Neurobiological evidence, laboratory evidence, general evidence

73
Q

Neurobiological Evidence supporting WMM (Shallice and Warrington 1970)

A

+ Shallice and Warrington (1970) reported case of KF

  • motorbike accident = poor STM for verbally presented words but not visually presented words.
  • suggests more than one type of STM, as WMM states (phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad).
74
Q

Laboratory Experiments supporting WMM (Baddeley and Hitch)

A

+ Baddeley and Hitch (1974) gave participants dual task.

  • Complete reasoning task (uses central executive) and at same time, reading aloud task (uses phonological loop).
  • Participants could do both tasks simultaneously very well, supporting the idea of separate components in STM.
75
Q

Laboratory Experiments supporting WMM ( Baddeley et al 1975)

A

+ Baddeley et al. (1975) participants given brief visual presentations of lists of words.
-Lists made of short words or long words. -asked to recall list immediately in correct order, found participants recall more short words than long ones (word length effect) -supports idea that phonological loop can hold as many as can be said in 1.5 to 2 s rather than 7 (+/- 2) (MSM)

76
Q

General evaluation of WMM (practical applications)

A

+ WMM has practical applications- has improved understanding of how people learn to read and so helped psychologists to assist Dyslexic

77
Q

General evaluation of WMM (CE vague)

A
  • criticised WMM as idea of a central executive is vague and untestable.
  • Damasio (1985) case of EVR, cerebral tumour removed.
  • good reasoning skills, suggested central executive intact, but couldn’t make decisions, suggests his central executive was damaged.
  • case study strongly indicates that the central executive is more complicated than the WMM claims.