Pmt Memory flashcards
(61 cards)
Define capacity
A measure of the amount of info that can be stored in memory
Deftine coding
Refers to the way that info is modified so it can be stored in memory info can stored in the form of visual, acoustic, semantic codes
Define duration
A measure of how long a memory can be stored before it is no longer avaliable
Describe Peterson and Peterson’s study on STM duration
Participants were given a nonsense constant triad and a three digit number eg. THX 512. The participants then had to count down in threes from their three digit number during a retention period of either 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds, after which they had to recall the triad they were given.
Describe Baddeley’s study on coding in LTM and STM
Baddeley gave participants word lists to learn - one semantically similar & acousitically different or one semamtically different & acoustically similar
- Participants struggled short term with list 2 and long term with list 1
- Therefore Baddeley concluded that the LTM store is encoded semantically and the STM is encoded acoustically
Define Proactive Interference
When past learning interferes with attempts to learn something
Define Retroactive Interference
When current attempts at learning interfere with the recollection of past learning
Describe Goodwin’s study on state dependent forgetting
Goodwin (1969) researched ‘state dependent forgetting’. Particpnats had to learn a word list drunk or sober. Recall of the words was best when they were drunk during both encoding and recall and the same for when sober
Explain the case of HM
Scoville and Milner (1957) studied HM who had his hippocampus removed to treat his epilepsy. He was unable to from new LMTs but could form STMs
Describe Abernathy’s study on context dependent forgetting
Abernathy (1940) context dependent forgetting.
Sudents were tested in different conditions: by their regular instructor in their usual teaching room/different one, or a different instructor in their usual teaching room/different one.
The results were best when tested in their usual room by their usual instrucctor
Components of the cognitive interview
- Mental reinstatement of events; done to provide contextual and emotional cues that make memories more accessible
- Report everything: even irrelevent info, may trigger the recall of another one, or allow small pieces of info to be pieced together
- Change order: done to remove any schemas that may impact EWT
- Change perspective: done to minimise the effects of schemas
Describe Johnson and Scott’s study on the effects of anxietty on the accuracy of EWT
Participants heard an argument and then saw a man run past holding a grease covered pen (low anxiety group) or a knife covered in blood (high anxiety group)
In the low anxiety situation, indentification of the man was 49% accurate but dropped in the high anxiety situation to 33%
Two types of declarative memory
Semantic
Episodic
Define Procedural memory
Memory concerned with knowing how to do things which become automatic through repitition
Who conducted research on the effects of misleading info on EWT
Loftus and Palmer (1974)
Describe research related to retrieval failure
Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) gave participants a list of 48 words from 12 different categories.
Recall was 60% accurate when the category was given as a retrieval cue whereas without the retrieval cue the accuracy of recall was 40%
Define cues
Things that triggers memories, such as a room or category that a word belonged to
Define semantic memory
Memory concerned with knowledge of facts
Define episodic memory
Memeory concerned with the knowledge of life events
Define eyewitness testimony
The ability of a person to remmeber events they have witnessed, usually with the effect that they have to testify about what they have seen in court, ot indentify ther perpetrator of the crime
Capacity of the STM
7 +/- 2 (Jacobs)
Define capacity
The volume/amount of info which can be kept in any memory store at any one time
Define coding
The format of which info is stored in each memory store
What type of coding is used in STM
Acoustic