1
Q
define capacity
A
how much information we can hold
2
Q
define duration
A
the certain time period that a memory can be held
3
Q
define coding
A
the format in which memory is stored
4
Q
who researched coding in STM?
What did he find?
A
Baddeley
- coding is acoustic in the STM- word recall was worse with semantically similar word lists.
5
Q
Who researched duration in stm?
what did they find?
A
- Jacobs
- 7+- 2 seconds theory- drawn from words and letter lists read out.
- 9.3 for numbers, but 7.3 for letters (mean digit span)
6
Q
Who researched capacity in stm?
what did they find?
A
- Peterson and Peterson
- maximum of 18 seconds- triplet letters called out, recall decreased as time between recitation increased
7
Q
who researched coding in the LTM?
What did they find?
A
- Baddeley
- code semantically in the LTM, as recall of acoustically similar words was worse in the LTM
8
Q
Who researched capacity in the LTM?
What did they find?
A
- Miller
- we chunk memories - noticed the 7s+-2
9
Q
Who researched duration in the LTM?
what did they find?
A
- Bahrick
- unlimited duration- did this by photo recognition vs free recall of school pics - recall did decrease in 48 yrs of graduating, but memory was still present.
10
Q
Describe the multi- store model of memory.
A
stimulus—> sensory stores ( echoic, iconic) –> (attention) —> STM—-> prolonged maintenance rehearsal + loop —> LTM
11
Q
How does the KF study by Shallice and Warrington show support for the multi-store memory model?
A
- KF, after the motorbike accident only showed that his LTM was unaffected, but he could not recall things in the STM.
- supports the fact that STM and LTM are different memory stores
12
Q
What are some positives about the multi-store model of memory?
A
- case study of KF shows that STM and LTM are two different stores - LTM intact but couldn’t recall STM that as just said.
- also supported by Baddeley’s study- semantically similar words mixed up in LTM, acoustically similar words mixed up with STM.
(sep stores again) - HM’s case study, supports too because he was able to encode new LTMs when his hippocampus was removed.
13
Q
what are the disadvantages of the multistore model
A
- may not be applicable in real life- baddeley used consonants that had no meaning in real life
- doesn’t have multiple STM stores- Shallice and Warrington studying Amnesia- recall was better when patient read to himself- shows that MSM is wrong in that theres only one STM store.
- Type of rehearsal is also improtant in transferring into LTM- MSM doesn’t take this into account.
14
Q
what are the 3 types of LTM?
A
- procedural - how to do something
- Episodic- emotional memories
- Semantic- factual knowledge.
15
Q
Briefly describe how Clive Wearing supports the theory of multiple LTM stores.
A
- can play the piano, love for his wife, but doesn’t remember if he ever played the certain piece of music etc.
- shows that procedural and Episodic memories are intact, but semantic memory is not.
16
Q
What are the strengths of the types of LTM?
A
- Clinical evidence (Wearing) - supports Tulving’s view of multiple LTM stores and that they’re stored in diff sides of the brain.
- RWA: eg with age related recall- episodic memory decreases. Belville et al did study to intervene with ep memory in older people - shows that treatments can be developed with research.
17
Q
what are the weaknesses of the types of LTM?
A
- case study based research- cannot be generalised to general population
- lack of control variables- couldn’t control what happened to pps after or before incident, no knowledge of memory before incidents.
- conflicting neuroimaging shows semantic memory is on the left side of the prefrontal cortex- whereas the research before shows that it was on the right.
- turns out that recall and encoding are on left and right side respectively.
- shows evidence is weak to support LTM types are different al together.
18
Q
Define the working memory model.
A
- a model of STM where it is suggested that dynamic process are controlled by a central executive, and coordinated subunits.
19
Q
Briefly describe the WMM
A
- central executive at the top
- followed by the ‘slave’ subunits: visuospatial sketchpad, phonological loop (auditory and articulatory process), and episodic buffer
- information is thought to flow to and from (back and forth) through these subunits, LTM, and the central executive
20
Q
define the episodic buffer in the WMM
A
- a ‘slave’ component that brings together material from other subsets and acts as a bridge between STM and LTM.
21
Q
What are the positives of the WMM?
A
- Capacity of phonological loop determined by the length of time it takes to say words- not the amount of letters in a word. (proved by Baddeley et al)
- Shallice and Warrington- proved that auditory and visual memory are different stores, found that recall was better visual than auditory when pps read numbers rather than hearing.
22
Q
What are negatives of the WMM?
A
- role of central executive unclear- Baddely himself said that the CE needs to be more specific instead of just ‘attention’ to put it into STM.
- undermines integrity of the WMM.
23
Q
Define retroactive interference
A
- when an old memory interferes with a new memory.
24
Q
Define proactive interference
A
- when a newer memory interferes with an old one.
25
When is interference worse?
- when 2 pieces of information are mosre similar to eachother.
26
Briefly describe the findings and method of studying how similarity affects interference
- McGeough and Mcdonald
- changed the amount of similarity between 2 sets of materials
- pps learned a list of words until 100% accuracy was reached, repeated with another list
- when asked to recall the original list, recall got worse as the lists got more similar.
27
What are the positives of interference theory?
- RWA: Rugby players asked about matches etc- those who had played the most matches had the worst recall compared to those who'd been benched. Suggests that this was due to interference of several games.
- Diazepam study: one group learned word lists under, and the other was a control
- diazepam learning group had worse recall- shows that drug improved recall of material learned beforehand.
- shows forgetting can be due to interference--> less interference= less forgetting.
28
What are negatives of interference?
- many studies require lab settings- artificial tasks so low external validity.
- labs are also easy to manipulate, and interference requires rare conditions.
- so might be better explained by lack of cues or retrieval failure.
-tulving et al- increasing word lists= lower recall, but when cued to recall at then end, recall raised to 70% again. Shows that there was a temporary loss to access to a part of the LTM, not a loss of the memory all together.
29
Explain what is meant by the encoding specificity principle.
- if a cue is added, recall is improved as long as it is present at encoding and retrieval. If not, forgetting might occur.
30
Describe a study that supports context dependant forgetting.
- Godden and Baddeley's deep sea diver study
- had divers study a list of words and recall them in 4 different conditions that included on land, and in water.
- accurate recall was 40% lower than non identical conditions- concluding that external cues were diff from the ones available at recall, leading to retrieval failure.
- so recall is best in identical conditions
31
Describe a study that supports state dependant forgetting
- Carter and Cassady's study
- gave pps antihistamine drugs (made them drowsy)
- had to learn proses and word lists.
- 4 diff conditions involving drug and no drug
- again found that when the pairs were mismatching, recall was much worse
- absence of cues= less recall
32
What are the positives of the retrieval failure theory?
- Carter and Godden and Baddely's studies support- show that lack of relavant cues prevent recall. (RWA) can be used to improve recall in real life situations.
- Eysenck argues that retrival failure is the main reason for forgetting in the long term- in labs and outside- makes it valid
33
what are the negatives of retrieval failure theory?
- diff contexts can have a diff effect on recall- eg recalling in 2 different rooms compared to on the moon for example- VERY different. so shows that all forgetting can't be explained by context dependant forgetting.
- When diver study was re-created with RECOGNISING words, the rate of recall was found to be the same as recall- shows that retrieval failure is a limited explaination for forgetting, and only replies to recall.
34
Define a leading question.
a question that prompts the wanted answer
35
Why do leading questions affect EWT?
- response bias: influences HOW an EW answers, and not their actual memory.
36
briefly describe a study that supports the response bias explanation.
- Loftus and Palmer study
- arranged for 45 pps to watch a clip of an accident
- critical question presented 5 verbs with varying intensities of crash- Contacted, Smashed, Hit, Bumped, and Collided.
- PPs asked how fast was the car travelling when it (verb) the lorry
- highest estimate was found to be smashed, and lowest, collided.
- suggest that leading questions can affect EW answers.
37
Explain what is meant by post event discussion
- when EWs talk to each other about the event before being questioned.
38
How can post event discussion affect eye witness recall?
- memory contamination- causes altered or distorted memory conformity.
- link back to conformity
- actual memory is UNCHANGED
39
briefly outline a study that supports post event discussion
- Gabbert et al's study
- divided pps into pairs
- each watched a video then discussed with each other before recall was tested.
- control group was also present- were not allowed to talk to each other after video was over.
- error for control: 0%
- error for tested group: 71%
suggests that memory conformity affects recall and EWs go with each other.
40
What are the positives of both explaination of EWTs?
- RWA: it can be useful in the justice system, and police and lawyers can use this to phrase their questions, and psychologists can be hired to be 'expert' EWs to prevent inaccurate recall- can help deliver fair verdicts and make sure people are punished.
- Loftus and Palmer study, and Gabbert et al's study provides evidence for both memory conformity and leading questions.
41
What are the negatives of both explaination of EWTs?
- Loftus and Palmer's study- done in a lab, so artificial environment so less external validity.
- Substitution explaination: so EWT may be accurate in some aspects, but not others. In Loftus and Palmer's study, showed central memories were in tact, but peripheral ones were affected by leading qs.
42
Briefly explain the view of Anxiety improving EWT accuracy
- might trigger flight/fight alertness, so improve it by promoting alertness, increased awareness of cues
- Cutshall and Yuille conducted EWT for a shooting- with accuracy being higher for more stressed out pps than those who were not as stressed.
- shows that anxiety may improve accuracy of EWTs.
43
Briefly the view of anxiety reducing the accuracy of EWT
- Anxiety may create arousal in the body, preventing paying attention to important details in the incident
- Johnson and Scott carried out a study in 2 conditions- casual convo and carrying a pen, and heated argument and carrying a bloody knife.
- one group saw each, and the pen group had a 49% accuracy compared to the 33% rate for the knife group (being able to identify the man)
- Tunnel memory ay be the cause- people may be more focused on central events and weapon anxiety may therefore have caused weapon focus.
44
What are the positives of anxiety theory for EWT?
- support for Decrease in recall: Valentine et al: using heart rate to divide groups into low or high anxiety, the high anxiety group's recall was much worse to identify a actor in the London Dungeons Labyrinth
- support for increase in recall: Christianson et al: interviewed indirect and direct witnesses of swedish bank robberies, finding that direct (so more anxious) witnesses had the best recall
45
What are the negatives of anxiety theory for EWT?
- Johnson and Scott's study: Pps may have just been focused due to surprise, not anxiety - which is supported by Pickel's recreation of the study with stranger items like a raw chicken and scissors, and other unusual items - finding that recall was best due to the most unusual situations (the raw chicken)
- in Christianson's study, it may have limited control over confounding variables after interviewing them months later- invalidating their support.
46
Who devised the cognitive interview?
Why?
- Fisher and Geiselman
- Belived that EWT could be improved if police used better, psychologically insightful techniques while interviewing.
47
How does the cognitive interview differ from a normal interview? Breifly describe how they help in an interview scenario
- Context reinstating- related to context dependant forgetting
- Order changing - can prevent dishonesty and prevents reporting expectations
- Perspective change - can disrupt effect of schema on what could've happend
- Recalling everything - can help catch any trivial details
48
what was the 5th element that Fisher added?
How does it help?
- creating a rapport with the witness: eg knowing when to maintain eye contact, allowing the witness to speak slowly.
- this may help prevent eyewitness anxiety and minimise distractions
49
What is a positive of the cognitive interview?
- Kohnken- carried out a meta analysis of 55 studies, comparing CI to ECI - which gave a 41% increase in recall compared to the standard interview.
- shows that CI improves recall compared to standard interview.
50
What are negatives of the cognitive interview?
- Police officers need extensive training and this is time consuming, so might not be ended up being used in real life- ony it's key elements may be used individualy
- Milne and Bull- found that each of the 4 techniques are more helpful in producing accurate recall than all of them in one interview- esp. report everything and context reinstating produced the highest recall.
- therefore this shed some doubt on the credibility of the CI.
AQA A-level psychology
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