1
Q
What is the Multi-Store Memory Model primarily concerned with?
A
Structure and function of memory systems
2
Q
What are the methods to improve short-term memory?
A
- Chunking: Arranging information into larger units
- Chaining: Linking pieces of information together
- Selective attention: Limiting irrelevant information
3
Q
Who conducted research contributing to the multi-store model?
A
Miller, Peterson and Peterson, Bahrick
4
Q
Who was George A. Miller?
A
American psychologist and cognitive psychology founder
5
Q
What was Miller’s famous paper about?
A
The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two
6
Q
What did Miller’s span of memory experiment involve?
A
Participants recalling sequences of digits or letters
7
Q
What is chunking according to Miller’s findings?
A
Grouping information into larger, meaningful units
8
Q
What is the average capacity of short-term memory according to Miller?
A
About 7 items, plus or minus 2
9
Q
What impact did Miller’s research have on psychology?
A
Shifted focus to cognitive processes from behaviourism
10
Q
How did Miller’s work relate to information theory?
A
Linked cognitive psychology with computer science
11
Q
What critique did Miller’s research face regarding working memory?
A
Oversimplification of working memory capacity
12
Q
What did Peterson and Peterson investigate?
A
How quickly information is lost from STM
13
Q
What method did Peterson and Peterson use in their study?
A
Recall tasks with trigrams.
14
Q
What was a key finding from Peterson and Peterson’s research?
A
Recall performance declines with longer retention intervals
15
Q
What was the duration of STM found by Peterson and Peterson?
A
Approximately 15–30 seconds
16
Q
What role did rehearsal play in Peterson and Peterson’s study?
A
It was crucial for maintaining information in STM.
17
Q
Critique of Peterson & Peterson’s research?
A
Trigrams are too artificial.
18
Q
What was Bahrick known for in psychology?
A
Research on long-term memory and permastore
19
Q
What is the “permastore” concept introduced by Bahrick?
A
Some memories remain intact for decades
20
Q
What did Bahrick’s 1975 study focus on?
A
Retention of information from high school.
21
Q
What were the findings of Bahrick’s study on memory recall?
A
Recognition accuracy remained above 70% after 30 years.
22
Q
What theory did Bahrick’s research challenge?
A
Decay theory.
23
Q
Limitations of Bahrick’s sample?
A
They were all from the same high school and same specific cultural group.
24
Q
What is the definition of long-term memory (LTM)?
A
A permanent store holding unlimited information.
25
What are the three types of LTM?
1. Episodic
2. Semantic
3. Procedural
26
What type of memories does episodic memory include?
Personal experiences with context and emotion - they are time stamped.
27
How does emotion affect episodic memory?
Stronger emotion leads to clearer memories.
28
What type of recall is required for episodic memory?
Conscious recall.
29
Which brain area is associated with episodic memory?
Hippocampus
30
What does sematic memory consist of?
Memories of knowledge, facts and concepts.
31
How are sematic memories different from episodic memories?
They are not time stamped.
32
Which brain area is associated with semantic memory?
Temporal lobe
33
What is procedural memory?
Memory of how to perform tasks and skills.
34
Which brain areas are associated with procedural memory?
Cerebellum and motor cortex.
35
What is the major difference between procedural memory and semantic and episodic memory?
It doesn't require conscious recall.
36
Summary of differences in the types of long term memory?
* Episodic: Explicit, personal experiences, hippocampus
* Semantic: Explicit, knowledge and facts, temporal lobe
* Procedural: Implicit, skills and tasks, cerebellum and motor cortex.
37
Who studies Patient HM and in what year?
Milner (1962)
38
What condition did Patient HM have after surgery?
Profound anterograde amnesia.
39
What memory types remained intact for Patient HM?
Short term and procedural.
40
What did Patient HM demonstrate about the hippocampus?
It is essential for encoding new long term memories.
41
What caused Patient HM's condition?
Bilateral hippocampal damage.
42
What abilities did Patient PM retain?
Musical abilities and his implicit memory.
43
What is Patient PM a strength of?
Demonstrating the separation between implicit and procedural memory.
44
What are the strengths of the long-term memory theory?
* Neuroscientific evidence from brain scans
* Case study support from patients like HM
* Real-world applications in treating memory disorders
* Experimental evidence from studies like Tulving's
45
What are the weaknesses of the long-term memory theory?
* Overlapping systems between memory types
* Limited generalisability of case studies
* Difficulty in measuring different memory types
* Alternative models suggesting a continuum of memory
46
Why does memory research use case studies such as Patients PM and HM?
They have rare brain damage that would be unethical to carry out in another way.
47
What challenge is associated with measuring different types of memory experimentally?
Tasks that mix episodic, semantic and procedural components.
48
What does the unitary store model propose about memory types?
Memory types are not as separate as implied.
49
What does WMM stand for?
Working memory model
50
What does the WMM focus on?
STM
51
How does the WMM view short-term memory?
As multiple components handling different information.
52
What are the key components of the WMM?
1. Central Executive
2. Phonological Loop
3. Visuospatial Sketchpad
4. Episodic Buffer
53
What is the role of the central executive?
Directs attention and allocates resources.
54
Does the central executive have a limited capacity?
Yes
55
What types of information can the central executive process?
Information from any sensory modality.
56
What functions does the central executive perform?
Problem solving and decision making.
57
What does the phonological loop consist of?
1. Phonological store
2. Articulatory control system
58
What is the role of the phonological store?
Briefly stores spoken and written words.
59
What is the role of the articulatory control system?
Allows subvocal repetition to maintain information.
60
What is the capacity of the phonological store?
2 seconds of speech based information.
61
What does the visuospatial sketchpad do?
Stores and manipulated visual and spatial information.
62
What is the capacity of the visuospatial sketchpad?
3-4 objects
63
What is the function of the episodic buffer?
Integrates information into a coherent sequence.
64
What are the strengths of the WMM?
* Research support from dual-task performance
* Clinical evidence from case studies (e.g., KF)
* Practical applications in education and rehabilitation
65
Example of dual task research?
Baddeley and Hitch - people can perform 2 tasks simultaneously, but performance degrades if both tasks use the same memory component.
66
What is the case of Patient KF and how does it support WMM?
After suffering brain damage from a motorcycle accident, KF had severely impaired short-term memory for verbal (acoustic) information but was largely unaffected in recalling visual information, suggesting separate auditory and visual stores within STM.
67
What are the weaknesses of the WMM?
- The central executive is a bit vague.
- It doesn't not explain transfer to LTM.
- Case study support lack generalisability.
68
What are the 3 main explanations for forgetting?
1. Proactive interference
2. Retroactive interference
3. Retrieval failure
69
What is proactive interference?
When old information interferes with new information.
70
Example study for proactive interference?
Keppel & Underwood - proactive interference occurred with trigrams.
71
What is retroactive interference?
When new information interferes with old information.
72
Example study for retroactive interference?
Baddeley & Hitch - rugby players who had played more matches could remember fewer of the team names at the end of the season.
73
What are the strengths of interference theories?
- Supporting research theories.
74
What are the weaknesses of interference theories?
- Narrow explanation of forgetting.
- Low ecological validity.
75
What is retrieval failure theory?
Forgetting due to insufficient cues for recall.
76
What is the encoding specificity principle?
Memory is best when cues match encoding conditions.
77
What are the types of retrieval failure?
1. Context-dependent
2. State-dependent
78
What is context-dependent forgetting?
Forgetting due to mismatched environmental cues.
79
Example study of context-dependent forgetting?
Godden & Baddeley - learning and recalling on land or underwater.
80
What is state-dependent forgetting?
Forgetting due to mismatched internal states.
81
Example studies for state-dependent forgetting?
1. Carter & Cassady - forgetting because of antihistamine presence.
2. Goodwin - words learned when drunk were recalled better when drunk.
82
What is a criticism of retrieval failure research?
Relationship between cues is correlational, not causal.
83
Why are eye-witness testimonies (EWTs) important?
They often form the decisions of juries.
84
What percentage of wrongful convictions involved and inaccurate eyewitness testimony?
75%
85
How do schemas impact EWTs?
* Memories are reconstructions, not snapshots
* Active schemas influence memory interpretation
* Witnesses reconstruct memories rather than recall them.
86
Research into cultural influence on schemas?
Bartlett (1932) - War of the Ghosts - Western participants distorted the story to fit their culture.
87
What factors affect the accuracy of EWTs?
- Leading questions
- Post event discussion
88
What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer's (1974) study?
To see if leading questions influenced results.
89
How many participants were there in Loftus and Palmer's experiment 1?
45
90
What did participants in Experiment 1 watch?
Films of traffic accidents.
91
What were the verbs used in the leading questions to describe the collision?
- Contacted
- Hit
- Bumped
- Collided
- Smashed
92
What was the estimate speed of the car for those who heard the verb "smashed"?
40.8mph
93
What was the estimate speed of the car for those who heard the verb "contacted"?
31.8mph
94
What were the conclusions of Experiment 1?
* Eyewitness testimonies can be biased
* Question wording affects memory recall
95
What are the strengths of Loftus and Palmer's study?
* High control over confounding variables
* Practical implications for police questioning
* Easy to replicate
96
What are the weaknesses of Loftus and Palmer's study?
* Low ecological validity
* Biased sample of students
* Demand characteristics present
97
What are cognitive interviews?
A questioning technique to enhance EWT.
98
What are the two key principles of cognitive interviews?
Organisation and cue-dependency.
99
What are the four key features used in cognitive interviews?
1. Reinstate context
2. Change narrative order
3. Change perspective
4. Report everything
100
What is the principle of organisation in cognitive interviews?
* Memory can be accessed in various ways
* Actions can help recall (e.g., sequence of events)
* Related thoughts can aid memory retrieval
101
What doe cue-dependency mean in the context of cognitive interviews?
* Memories are context-dependent
* Recall is easier with original cues present
* Imagination of cues can also aid recall
102
Why is changing the narrative order beneficial in cognitive interviews?
It ensures details are not skipped and gaps filled.
103
What does changing perspective involve in cognitive interviews?
Describing the incident from others' viewpoints.
104
What is required when witnesses are asked to report everything?
To report any information they remember.
105
What did Geiselman and colleagues identify about standard police interview techniques?
* They can negatively affect eyewitness recall accuracy
* Techniques often prompt jumps between memory modalities
* Event recall is often non-chronological
106
What are the initial steps taken by an interviewer in a cognitive interview?
* Help the witness feel relaxed
* Tailor language to suit the individual
* Encourage recreation of internal and external conditions
107
What are the strengths of cognitive interviews according to Fisher et al. (1990)?
* Witnesses reported greater detail in accounts
* More structured than standard techniques
* Appropriate for thorough crime-related interviews
108
What are the weaknesses of cognitive interviews according to Koehnken et al. (1999)?
* Witnesses recalled more incorrect information
* More detailed recall increases mistakes
* Time-consuming compared to standard interviews
109
How is anxiety defined in the context of EWT?
A psychological state of tension and worry.
110
What was the aim of Loftus and Burns (1982) study?
To investigate anxiety's effect on EWT accuracy.
111
What was the procedure in Loftus and Burns (1982)?
Participants watched a video of a violent crime.
112
What were the findings of Loftus and Burns (1982)?
Participants were less accurate when there was a weapon
113
What conclusion was drawn from Loftus and Burns (1982)?
High anxiety reduces EWT accuracy by diverting attention.
114
What was the aim of Johnson and Scott (1976) study?
To examine anxiety's influence on eyewitness memory.
115
What was the procedure in Johnson and Scott (1976)?
Procedure:
* Participants believed they were taking part in a lab experiment.
* While waiting, they overheard an argument in the next room.
They were split into two conditions:
1. Low-anxiety condition: A man walked out of the room holding a pen with grease on his hands.
2. High-anxiety condition: Same argument, but the man walked out holding a bloody knife (suggesting a violent incident).
Participants were later asked to identify the man from a set of 50 photos.
116
What were the findings of Johnson and Scott (1976)?
1. Pen (low anxiety): 49% correctly identified the man.
2. Knife (high anxiety): 33% correctly identified the man.
117
What conclusion was drawn from Johnson and Scott (1976)?
Weapon presence reduces accurate recall of details.
118
What are the strengths of studies on anxiety and EWT?
* Practical implications for the legal system
* Knowledge of weapon focus effect aids police training
* Real-life studies provide ecological validity
* Yerkes-Dodson Law acknowledges complexity of anxiety's effects
119
What are the weaknesses of studies on anxiety and EWT?
* Lack of ecological validity in laboratory studies
* Ethical concerns regarding participant distress
* Overlooking individual differences in anxiety responses
* Contradictory findings complicate conclusions
* Demand characteristics may affect validity
120
What is the definition of post-event discussion?
Discussion among co-witnesses that alters memory
121
What are the key findings of Gabbert et al. (2003) regarding post-event discussion?
* 71% recalled aspects not seen
* Control group with no discussion: 0%
* Indicates memory conformity due to discussion
122
What are the strengths of Gabbert et al.'s study regarding post-event discussion?
* Strong empirical support for PED's effects
* High internal validity due to controlled conditions
123
What is a criticism of lab studies on post-event discussion?
Lack of realism; participants know they are in an experiment
124
What are the real-world applications of understanding post-event discussion in eyewitness testimony?
* Minimize witness discussions in police work
* Changes in handling eyewitness evidence
* Use of cognitive interviews and separate testimonies
Psychology
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