02 Memory Flashcards

Question

Evaluate long term memory

Answer 1

**ADV: Amnesia research** - Patients with amnesia are unable to store new episodic or semantic memories - But procedural is largely unaffected **ADV 2: Brain scans** - Recalling different types of info (events, knowledge or motor skills) causes different areas of the brain to be active on an fMRI **ADV 3: Clive Wearing** + He has a damaged hippocampus due to a viral infection + So he has no episodic memory and cannot form new semantic memories + But procedural is unaffected as he can play the piano but can't learn new pieces = supports three types of LTM **DIS: Low population validity** - Research is typically based on individual isolated cases: Clive, HM - Inappropriate to assume everyone's LTM forms in the same way and generalise the findings to the wider population

Answer 2

Loss of ability to recall something they have previously learnt

Answer 3

Theory claims that forgetting occurs when two lots of information become confused in memory - more likely when information is similar - less likely if there is a gap in learning RETROACTIVE = new learning affects recall of old PROACTIVE = old learning affects recall of new

Answer 4

**ADV 1: Research Support** - Nonsense trigrams and counting back from 100 in 3s before recall at different intervals (3s, 9s, 18s) - Pps remembered those presented first - First trigrams interfered with the later trigrams - Thus PROACTIVE interference **ADV 2: Practical Applications** - Students should be made aware of this so they do not revise similar content at the same time in order to reduce chance of interference **DIS 1: Not valid** - Not a true explanation for forgetting - Information is not actually overwritten and is still in the LTM **DIS 2: Retrieval failure** - Retrieval failure is a better explanation - Divers recalling word lists on land and under water - Words recalled and learnt in the same context were better remembered - Shows support for retrieval cues

Answer 5

- Forgetting occurs in the absence of appropriate retrieval cues - when info is stored, relevant data is stored with it - if retrieval cues are not available at the time of recall, it appears as if you have forgotten the information

Answer 6

Context cues: the environment in which the material is learnt can act as a type of retrieval cue - context cues state cues: an individual's mood can affect their recall; if in similar physical state at recall as the time the info was coded, recall is better facilitated

Answer 7

**ADV1: Godden and Baddeley** - Divers asked to recall word lists on land and underwater - They found that when recall and coding (learning) of information occurred in the same environment - Recall of the words was better as they were provided with appropriate CONTEXT-dependent clues **ADV 2: Darley et al** - PPS who hid money in a large warehouse under the influence of cannabis - Were more likely to recall the location of the money correctly when under that same drugged state **DIS 1: Not strong** - Retrieval cues are not actually that strong - Very often we learn info in a different context to when it is recalled - e.g. we study for our GCSEs in classrooms but we are expected to recall information in a hall

Answer 8

eye witness testimony is the evidence supplied to court by people who have seen a crime based on their memory of the incident (identification of perpetrator or details of crime)

Answer 9

Leading questions: questions phrased in a way to encourage the witness to give a certain answer - Response-bias exp. suggests it doesn't affect memory but the answer the person chooses to give - Substitution-bias exp. suggests it distorts our memories as they contain misleading information

Answer 10

Loftus & Palmer **PROCEDURE:** - 45 American Students - view film of a car crash - asked to estimate speed of vehicle with different verbs "smashed", "contacted" **FINDINGS:** - "contacted" = 31 mph, "smashed" = 41 mph - a week later, asked about broken glass (that wasn't present) - "smashed" = 32% - control = 12%

Answer 11

**ADV 1: Highly controlled** - Loftus & Palmer study is a lab experiment - Highly controlled; reduced chance of extraneous variables - Increased validity - Easy to replicate and assess for reliability **DIS 1: Ecological validity** - Lacks ecological validity - Pps. only watched a video of the car crash - People actually present would have a stronger emotional connections and may be less susceptible to leading questions **DIS 2: Pop validity** - Lacks population validity - All participants were American and students; - Students are typically less experienced as drivers so are not good at estimating speed. - Unable to generalise this to other populations (older = more experienced. = less susc.to leading qs)

Answer 12

memory contamination: the memory of an event can be contaminated through discussing events with others due to misinformation memory conformity: desire for social approval can lead co-witnesses to reach a consensus view of what happened

Answer 13

**Gabbert et al (2003)** - PPS in pairs to watch different videos of the same event so they each got unique details of event - Exp. condition = encouraged to discuss event before individual recall - Control condition = did not discuss before recall - 71% who discussed went on to mistakenly recall details they could not see themselves but they learnt within their discussion

Answer 14

**ADVANTAGE:** - High population validity - Two different populations: students and adults were compared - No significant differences between groups = conclude PED affects younger and older adults in the same way **DISADVANTAGE** - Lacks ecological validity - Pps knew they were part of an experiment so they are likely to pay more attentions to details in the video than they would in real life = findings do not reflect real life where witnesses are exposed to less info

Answer 15

- Anxiety = state of apprehension and fear resulting from threatening situation - High levels can impair physical and psychological functioning - weapon focus effect = the presence of a weapon in a crime can increase anxiety and therefore impair a witness's memory if the crime - witness will often focus on what is the most threatening aspect in the crime - the weapon

Answer 16

**Loftus (1979)** - Exp condition: pps overhear a heated argument, hear sounds of furniture overturned and broken glass, man emerged with letter opener covered in blood - Control: pps overhear discussion about lab equipment failure, man emerges when pen and grease all over his hands - Then asked to identify the man out of 50 pictures - 33% in exp. recognised the photo; - 49% in control - former focused on letter opener rather than the face as it poses a threat to them

Answer 17

**ADV 1: Research Evidence** - Two conditions: - One watched a violent film with boy shot in the head - Other non-violent film of a crime - Less accurate recall with violent film compared to non-violent **DIS 1 : Ecological validity** - Lacks ecological validity - Participants were aware that something may happen as they are in the reception area outside a lab - Affects judgement and validity of study **DIS 2: Ethics** - Violates ethical guidelines - Lack of informed consent, psychological harm, passive deception, (past knife crime history?) **DIS 3: Individual differences** - There are differences in how anxiety affects memory - For some anxiety improves memory. - 110 real life eyewitnesses; bank robberies - Victims were more accurate than onlookers in description of bank robberers

Answer 18

**1. Context reinstatement:** mentally create image of situation e.g. weather, environment, emotional state etc. (acts as retrieval cues to improve recall) **2. Report everything:** encouraged to recall all details about the event, even unimportant as they may highlight details that trigger other memories **3. Recall from changed perspective:** Mentally recreate situation from different povs. Promotes holistic view and reduces influence of schemas **4. Recall in reverse order:** verifies the accuracy of the witness's account, reduces possibility of influence by schemas

Answer 19

- Encourage witness to speak slowly and to relax (to reduce anxiety) - Avoid distractions - Use open-ended questions - Offer comments to clarify statements and improve detail

Answer 20

**ADV1: Research evidence** - Study showed pps a video of a simulated crime - tested recall using cognitive interview, standard interview and hypnosis - CI led to most information being recalled by eyewitnesses **ADV2: Fisher et al** - Fisher et al; trained real police officers in Miami to conduct cognitive interviews - avg of 46% increase in volume of information - 90% of info was verified and accurate **DIS 1: Changed perspective** - Recall from changed perspective misleads witnesses into speculating about the event they witnessed rather than reporting what they actually saw **DIS 2: Expensive + time-consuming** - Time consuming to implement; uses police time, training and resources

02 Memory Flashcards

(44 cards)