Memory Flashcards

Question

Explain the conclusion behind Peterson and Peterson- the duration of STM

Answer 1

When rehearsal is prevented, very little can stay in STM for longer than about 18 seconds he found that increasing retention intervals decreased the accuracy of recall of consonant syllables in 24 undergraduates, when counting down from a 3 digit number (preventing mental rehearsal).

Answer 2

• The results are likely to be reliable- it was a laboratory experiment where the variables can be tightly controlled. (Limited the effects of hte extraneous variables) • Only one stimulus was used- the duration of STM may depend on the type of stimulus. • Each participant saw many different trigrams. This could have led to confusion, meaning the first trigram was the only realistic trial. Relatively small sample and all students (not representative) The findings produced hold little ecological validity. This is due to the use of artificial stimuli which has little personal meaning to the participants, and so does not reflect their everyday experiences. This limits their generalisability and findings

Answer 3

Bahrick et al - Very long-term memories (VLTMs) 1975

Answer 4

N= 392 were asked to list names of their ex-classmates (called a 'free-recall' test) They were then shown photos of students in their class and asked to recall their names

Answer 5

After 15 years: Participants could recognise about 90% of names through photo recognition They were about 60% accurate on free recall. After 48 years: After 48 years, free recall had decline to 30% accuracy. After 48 years photo-recognition was about 70% accurate.

Answer 6

This study is evidence of VLTMs in a real-life setting. Recognition is better than recall, so there may be a huge store of information but it is not always easy to access all of it- you just need help to get to it.

Answer 7

• This was a field experiment and has high ecological validity and can be generalised to real life (high external validity) due to the task reflecting what people generally do in real life • However, in a real-life study like this, it is hard to control all the variables, making these findings less reliable- there is no way of knowing exactly why information was recalled well. It shows better recall than other studies on LTM but this may be because meaningful information is stored better. - This type of information could be rehearsed, increasing the rate of recall. • This means the results cannot be generalised to other types of information held in LTM.

Answer 8

The process of converting information from one form to another

Answer 9

Baddeley- Investigating coding in STM and LTM 1966

Answer 10

Participants were given four sets of words that were either acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar or semantically dissimilar. The experiment used an independent groups design- participants were asked to recall the words either immediately or following a 30-minute task.

Answer 11

Results: STM: Worse performance for acoustically similar words. The STM relies heavily on acoustic coding. The similar sounds interfered with each other LTM: Worse performance for semantically similar words. The LTM relies more on semantic (meaning-based) coding. Words with similar meanings interfere with each other Conclusion: The patterns of confusion between similar words suggest that LTM is more likely to rely on semantic coding and STM on acoustic coding

Answer 12

Positives: Baddeley’s research provided strong evidence that STM and LTM are coded differently (acoustically vs. semantically). This was one of the first studies to support the distinction between STM and LTM, contributing to the development of the multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968). It helped psychologists better understand how memory systems function and how information is processed and stored. Controlled lab experiment with a high control of variables. This means that there is a high interval validity. (Results are due to change in the IV) Every participant experiences the same word list. Therefore, this increases reliability. As a result the study can be replicated. Limitations: Practical Limitation – Limited Real-World Application: Baddeley’s study involved recalling word lists, which is very different from how we usually use memory in everyday life (e.g. remembering faces, events, emotions). The task was unnatural, the findings may not apply to real-world memory use. 🔚 This reduces the practical usefulness of the research for understanding memory in real-life settings, like education or the legal system. This is another study that lacks ecological validity through the use of artificial stimuli and the unnatural task. Therefore, cannot be generalised to real life. • There are other types of LTM and other methods of coding which this experiment did not consider. Third variable therefore lacks internal validity. • The experiment used an independent groups design so there was not any control over participant variables. Therefore, the study may lack internal validity as participant variables can affect results.

Answer 13

Jacobs - The capacity of STM 1887

Answer 14

Participants were presented with a string of letters or digits. They had to repeat them back in the same order. The number of digits or letters increased until the participant failed to recall the sequence correctly.

Answer 15

The majority of the time, participants recalled about 9 digits and about 7 letters This capacity increased with age during childhood.

Answer 16

Based on the range of results, Jacobs concluded that STM has a limited storage capacity of 5-9 items. Individual differences were found, such as STM increasing with age, possibly due to use of memory techniques such as chunking. Digits may have been easier to recall as there were only 10 different digits to remember, compared to 26 letters.

Answer 17

Positive: other studies have found similar results supporting its validity Negative: • Jacobs research is artificial and lacks ecological validity due to the unnatural task and use of artificial stimuli. Therefore, the research lacks ecological validity. • Meaningful information may be recalled better, perhaps showing STM to have an even greater capacity. • Also, the previous sequence recalled by the participants might have confused them on future trials. ( order of effects) Very old research therefore may lack temporal validity Lacked adequate control over extraneous variables Confounding variables- noisy room or difficult word lists, may have had a greater influence on accuracy of recall, leading to unreliable results.

Answer 18

Miller (1956) noted that things come in sevens: 7 notes on musical scales, 7 days of the week. This suggests that the capacity of STM is 7 items (plus or minus 2 whilst the capacity of LTM is thought to be unlimited. Miller argued that our capacity for remembering information can be increased if we chunk items together.If we find links between things and group them together then we will remember more.

Answer 19

• Miller may have overestimated the capacity of the STM • Cowan (2001) reviewed other research and concluded that the capacity of STM was only about 4 chunks. The findings produced hold little ecological validity. This is due to the use of artificial stimuli which has little personal meaning to the participants, and so does not reflect their everyday experiences. This limits their generalisability and findings

Answer 20

Memory: The process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past

Answer 21

The information we are currently aware of, or thinking about. The information found in short term memory comes from paying attention to sensory memories

Answer 22

Continual storage of information which is largely outside of our awareness, but can be called into working memory to be used when needed.

Answer 23

STM: Duration: 18-30 seconds. Capacity: seven +/- two items. Coding: primarily acoustic. LTM: Duration: unlimited. Capacity: unlimited. Coding: primarily semantic but can be others.

Answer 24

Capacity is the amount of memory which is available to be stored in your memory

Answer 25

The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores

Answer 26

• This is the way intormation is changed so it can be stored in memory. • Information enters the brain via the senses but is then stored in different forms. 1) Visual 2) ACOUSTiC 3) Semantic There are two sub-divisions: 1. Explicit (declarative) as you can put it into words. These have to be consciously thought about to be recalled. Often formed through several combined memories. These include semantic and episodic memories. 2. Implicit (non-declarative) which is more difficult to put into words. These can be recalled without conscious thought. These include procedural memories.

Answer 27

Personal experiences, these are time stamped. Conscious effort to recall. Strength of memory is influenced by emotion. Episodic memory describes those memories which have some kind of personal meaning to us, alongside details as to when and how these events occurred, as well as the associated people and places.

Answer 28

Concerns factual knowledge an individual has learned. These are not time stamped. Linked to episodic as new knowledge is linked to experience. Semantic memories describe our memories of the world and the associated knowledge e.g the ability to use information related to one concept to help us understand another.

Answer 29

Right Prefrontal Cortex: The prefrontal cortex in the forward part of the frontal lobe is associated with initial coding of episodic memory. Hippocampus: Memories of the different parts of an event are located in the different visual, auditory, olfactory areas of the brain, but are connected together in the hippocampus to create a memory of an episode.

Answer 30

The Hippocampus: Some disagreement over which brain areas are involved in the semantic memory however the hippocampus is thought to be involved. Left Prefrontal Cortex: Coding associated with the frontal and temporal lobes.

Answer 31

Concerned with learning motor skills. Without conscious effort. Difficult to explain in words. Also involved in language.

Answer 32

Motor Cortex and prefrontal cortex: These areas are associated with procedural LTM and aid in the memories of how to walk etc. Cerebellum: The cerebellum helps with timing and coordination of movements, making them smooth and precise. Recent research also suggests a role in higher cognitive processes.

Answer 33

• Henry Molaison and Clive Wearing Episodic memory were severely impaired. They had difficulty forming new experiences after they were affected -Episodic memory severely impaired- For H.M he could not form new experiences after the surgery but could recall his childhood (name,family etc) but struggled to remember 11 years before the surgery. He can’t recall aging and recognize himself in pictures. -For C.W he has a memory span of second, can’t recall past events expect who his wife is and that he has children • Semantic memory partially impaired -In the case of H.M he could remember facts learned before surgery (e.g. WWII, Wall Street Crash) and details of his family/name/childhood facts but could not form new semantic memories. understood the meaning of words and language was intact -For C.W he still can recall general knowledge and knows that he has children and a wife. He also understood meaning of words and language was intact • Procedural memory was not impaired -H.M learned Tennis late in life and improved at drawing a mirror drawing task pf a five pointed star -For C.W he still knows how to play the piano • Supports Tulving's view that the LTM is not a unitary store

Answer 34

Cause: Brain infection (herpes simplex virus) damaged his hippocampus. Effect on LTM: Episodic memory severely damaged – couldn’t remember past events or form new events (seeing his wife leave the room) but remembered who is wife is shown through his strong emotion reaction to her Procedural memory intact – could still play piano and get dressed. Semantic memory partially intact – knew he is a father with. Wife and children but not his children’s names or ages. Other signs: Kept writing in a diary that he had just “woken up,” showing his memory reset every few minutes. Supports the idea that LTM is not unitary – it has separate stores for episodic, semantic, and procedural memory.

Answer 35

Cause: Suffered from epilepsy after a head injury at age 7. Treatment: At age 27, underwent brain surgery (removal of parts of temporal lobe, including hippocampus and amygdala) to treat seizures. Outcome: develop severe amnesia- Episodic memory severely impaired- For H.M he could not form new experiences after the surgery but could recall his childhood (name,family etc) but struggled to remember 11 years before the surgery • Semantic memory partially impaired -In the case of H.M he could remember facts learned before surgery but could not form new semantic memories Procedural memory was not impaired -H.M learned Tennis late in life and improved at drawing a mirror drawing task pf a five pointed star

Answer 36

Brenda Milner's early tests were simple recall tasks, testing H.M.'s ability to recall events from his childhood, from his adult life before the operation and from his experiences after the operation. She also tested his short and long term memory recall. Finally, she tested his other cognitive faculties, like IQ, perception and general knowledge. Milner also tested H.M. with maze tasks. H.M. attempted to trace the correct route through the maze with his finger. Milner then tested him over and over with the same maze to see if H.M. would remember the route, even if he didn't remember having attempted the task before. In the 1962 case study, Milner asked H.M. to copy a five-pointed star by drawing between the lines of a template. However, H.M. could only see the reflection of the star and his hand in a memory. This made the task difficult. As with the maze task, Milner asked H.M. to re-attempt the task many times, to see if he grew more skilled at the procedure even though he didn't remember doing it before. Other tests were carried out on H.M.. For example, the effect of reinforcement and punishment was investigated, to see if mild electric shocks would help H.M. to remember correct answers. Later, under the direction of Suzanne Corkin, brain scanning technology was used to improve our understanding of H.M.'s condition.

Answer 37

Henry Molaison (H.M.): Memory loss: Developed severe amnesias and can only form new memories for 30 seconds Old memories: Remembered childhood and teenage memories well (before age 16). Cognitive abilities: -Normal perception, above-average IQ, good language, and stable personality. -Poor sense of smell. Episodic memory severely impaired- -Repeated same childhood stories without knowing when he respected it. -Didn’t recognise his older self in photos (no memory of aging).Could remember childhood and some long-term memories before the operation although had gaps in memory from the 11 years before surgery. Semantic memory partially impaired Knew major historical facts (e.g. WWII, Wall Street Crash) before surgery -new details abotu his family and his name and childhood facts -Understood meaning of words and language was intact Procedural memory: No improvement in maze tasks, but showed learning in mirror star tracing task (even though he couldn’t remember doing it). -Later in life learned how to play tennis - Supports separate LTM stores – especially difference between episodic and procedural memory.

Answer 38

Milner's qualitative data shows a clear difference between short term and long term memory. They suggest that the hippocampus plays a vital role in transforming short term memories into long term memories, because this was something H.M. (whose hippocampus had been removed in the operation) couldn't do. Milner's quantitative data and the later qualitative data suggests a more complex structure for memory. H.M. did not improve at the maze task because, when he figured out the correct route through the maze, he immediately forgot it. However, he got better at the star task, despite forgetting his previous attempts. Later in life, he learned to play tennis. This suggests H.M. remembered skills even if he forgot events. H.M wast test through recall test and remembered some items of general knowledge (the moon landings, the Kennedy assassination), even though he couldn't remember the events taking place.Additionally, some aspects of his episodic memory was intact (childhood, name and family) Milner termed this sort of memory "unconscious memory", but Eron Tulving later termed it procedural memory (skills) and semantic memory (general knowledge) and procedural memory

Answer 39

Generalisbility- Scoville & Milner reviewed 9 patients who had undergone resection surgery, but the others were sufferers of schizophrenia and depression whose symptoms interfered with memory testing. H.M. was unusual in that he suffered from "clean" amnesia - his memory loss was his only problem. This makes him much more representative of ordinary people. On the other hand, H.M was a unique case as it was only performed once by Scoville Thi means we cannot find out how normal H.M was as we never recorded his memory before the operation Reliability- Milner used tried-and-tested memory tests and puzzles. Most of these had been designed by other memory researchers and many of them were replicated on H.M. by later researchers like Suzanne Corkin. They all showed consistent results with H.M. - а great example of standardised procedures and test-retest reliability.On the other hand, as H.M is dead it is difficult to replicate, Valdity- The strength of H.M. as a case study is the validity of his condition: H.M. suffered from "pure" or "clean" amnesia with few other symptoms and was willing to work with researchers to understand the brain. Ethics- H.M. consented to his surgery in 1953. No one warned him about the memory side-effects because no one understood the function of the hippocampus at that time. H.M. continued to consent to taking part in research for the rest of his life - every time it was explained to him, which was many times, daily, for over 50 years! Critics point out that H.M. was in no position to withhold his consent - he was entirely dependent on the researchers for his care and did not understand his situation. It could be argued that H.M. was a "human guinea pig" whose sad condition was exploited by researchers.

Answer 40

• Brain scans have been conducted whilst performing memory tasks. • Tulving (1994) found that episodic and semantic memories were both recalled from the prefrontal cortex. • This area is divided into two one on each hemisphere of the brain. • Left prefrontal cortex – semantic memories • Right prefrontal cortex – episodic memories. •Supports the idea that different types of memory are located in different physical areas of the brain.

Answer 41

Belleville et al, 2006: Midl cognitive impairments most commonly affect episodic memories and so an increased understanding of episodic memory, alongside the differences between different types of LTM, may lead to improved, increasingly targeted treatments for mild cognitive impairments. • Specific treatments developed to help with episodic memory impairment especially as people get older they developed mil cognitive impairment. ( 28 participants with MCI and 17 healthy controls used). • The participants were trained face- name association (associating a name with a face) , list recall (remembering a list of words) and text memory (remembering details from a story) • Trained participants performed better on a test of episodic memory after training, than the control group - This study supports the idea that episodic memory is a distinct type of LTM, because it can be specifically targeted and improved. - It also shows that understanding the different types of LTM (like episodic vs procedural) can lead to better treatments for memory problems in older people.

Answer 42

• Cohen and Squire (1980) disapprove Tulving idea of the LT stores and think that there are only two types of LTM. • Procedural- non-declarative • Declarative (combination of episodic and semantic). Declarative memories must be recalled consciously (i.e. episodic and semantic), whilst non-declarative memories may be recalled unconsciously (i.e. procedural). They argued that episodic and semantic memory are too similar and should not be separate stores. However, this is a different classification and organisation system as the one used by Tulving, suggesting that his depiction of LTM is not entirely accurate.

Answer 43

Believed memory is not just one store but a number of different stores: • 2 visual tasks at once showed poorer performance compared to 1 visual and 1 verbal means no interruption. This shows separate stores for visual and verbal information • Focused on STM ONLY and believed it was not a unitary store (like MSM)!! • LTM i seen as a more passive store that holds previously learned material for use by the STM when needed. The supports the idea of a STM that is not a single unitary store

Answer 44

Key component in model: • Functions: • Direct attention to tasks • The central executive decides what working memory to pay attention to. • E.G, two activities sometimes come into conflict such as driving a car and talking. Rather than hitting a cyclist who is wobbling all over the road, it is preferable to stop talking and concentrate on driving. The central executive directs attention and gives priority to particular activities.

Answer 45

• Limited Capacity - Data arrives from the senses but it can't hold it for long. • Baddeley (1986) uses the metaphor of a company boss to describe the way in which the central executive operates. Makes decisions about which issues deserve attention and which should be ignored. • They also select strategies but can only do a limited number of things at the same time. The boss of a company will collect information from a number of different sources such as from the inner ear and eyes and information held in a large database (LTM).

Answer 46

Limited Capacity • Deals with auditory information and preserves word order - Inner Ear • Baddeley (1986) further subdivided it into: • Phonological store (holds words heard) • Articulatory process (holds words heard/seen and silently repeated (looped) like an inner voice. This is a kind of maintenance rehearsal.

Answer 47

• Visual and/or spatial information stored here - Inner Eye • Visual = what things look like • Spatial = relationships between things • Limited capacity • Logie (1995) suggested subdivision: • Visuo-cache (store)- store form and colour • Inner scribe- stores spatial movement and relationships

Answer 48

• Baddeley (2000) added episodic buffer as he realised the WWM needed a more general store. • Slave systems deal with specific types of information. (Phonological loop,visu-spatial sketcpad and episodic buffer) which are controlled by the central excecutive. • Buffer extra storage system but with limited capacity. • Integrates information which are processed by all the other stores in order to create a single, unified episode. It is crucial for linking STM and LTM

Answer 49

• Shallice and Warrington (1970)- show that KF had very poor STM recall for auditory stimuli, but increased STM recall for visual stimuli. This suggests that the components of memory which process auditory and visual stimuli are separate (as described in the WMM through the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad). • Supports the existence of a separate visual and acoustic store. Disapproves the MSM and the idea that the STM is a single unitary store

Answer 50

Positives: Supporting research: Baddeley et al (1975)-Participants were given a visual tracing task (they had to track a moving light with a pointer). At the same time they were given one of two other tasksParticipants had more difficulty doing two visual tasks than doing both a visual and verbal task at the same time. This supports the idea that the central executive has a very limited processing capacity (as predicted by the WMM) and that the slave systems are in competition with each other for these tasks and resources. Supporting research: Klauer and Zhao (2004) -supported this idea by asking participants to carry out one of two primary tasks, either a visual task or a spatial task. At the same time as doing this task they were asked to do either a spatial interference task, a visual interference task or no secondary task (control condition). They found that performance of the spatial task was much poorer for people who were simultaneously carrying out the spatial distracter task than for people who were doing the visual distracter task and vice versa. Supporting brain studies: Studies using positron emission tomography (PET) scans have also provided evidence for separate spatial and visual systems. There appears to be more activity in the left half of the brain of people carrying out visual working memory tasks but more in the right half of the brain during spatial task. Limitations: Over-reliance on artificial tasks (Theoretical limitation): Although dual-task studies show that people struggle to do two tasks using the same store (e.g. two visual tasks), these tasks (e.g. tracking a light and describing angles) lack everyday relevance.This means findings might not generalise well to real-world multitasking, which often involves more complex and meaningful tasks.

Answer 51

• Baddeley et al (1987) • Participants were shown words and then wer told to immediate recall • Recall was much better for sentences (related words) than unrelated This suggest that participants were using semantic understanding from LTM to help with recall. This shows that not all information is stored in the phonological loop and viso-spatial sketch pad and that the episodic buffer is used as a ‘general’ store. This is used as a limited capacity store that integrates different types of information from different sensory stores between the STM and LTM

Answer 52

• Baddeley (2003) “the CE is the most important but the least understood component of working memory The term ‘process' is vague, and the central executive may be made up of several sub-components or even be part of a larger component itself in working memory. This lack of a comprehensive explanation for each component of WMM draws doubts about the accuracy of its depiction of working memory.

Answer 53

• Baddeley et al. (1975)- word length effect: People can recall more short words than long words. This is because there is a finite space for rehearsal in the articulatory process. - WLE (word length effect) disappears if a person is given an articulatory suppression task. This blocks rehearsal, providing that the phonological loop relies on silent repetition. This shows that the phonological loop rehearses information verbally and that the system of recall is time-based not a number of items like in MSM.

Answer 54

• Braver et al. (1997) – has demonstrated a positive correlation between an increasing cognitive load processed by the central executive (as marked by increasing task difficulty) and increasing levels of activation in the prefrontal cortex. This supports the idea that the central executive has the role of allocating tasks to slave systems and has a limited processing capacity, as reflected by the increased brain activation levels, thus suggesting that the WMM is accurate in its mechanism of the central executive.

Answer 55

• STM is described as being acoustically encoded (Baddeley), having a capacity of 7+/- 2 items (Miller) and a duration of 18-30 seconds (Peterson). Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat the new information to ourselves, allowing the information to be kept in the STM. Prolonged maintenance rehearsal allows the information to pass into the LTM, whilst a lack of such rehearsal causes forgetting.

Answer 56

• LTM is described as being semantically encoded, having an unlimited capacity and a very long duration (over 46 years, as shown by Bahrick et al). In order to remember information, 'retrieval' must occur, which is when information is transferred back into the STM, and will continue to pass through the maintenance loop afterwards.

Answer 57

Through representing them as separate stores. For example, STM is encoded acoustically with a small duration , whilst LTM is encoded semantically and has a much longer duration. Therefore, the MSM portrays an accurate view of the differences between the two types of memory, as supported by Baddeley and Miller.

Answer 58

• Interference occurs when the recall of one memory blocks the recall of another, causing forgetting or distorted perceptions of these memories. Interference can be retroactive (new memories block the recollection of old memories) or proactive (old memories block the recollection of new memories).

Answer 59

Proactive interference: Forgetting occurs when older memories, disrupt the recall of newer memories. For example: you have difficulties learning the names of the students in your psychology class instead you keep remembering the names of the students in your maths group last year.

Answer 60

Forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored. For example: you have difficulties remembering the names of the students in your psychology group last year because you learnt the names of your psychology class this year.

Answer 61

• Memory traces gradually decay over time. • During any delay a memory is subject to the effects of time and interference from other experiences. • Memories seem to be forgotten because we no longer have the appropriate reminders. • You are more likely to forget something you did not pay attention to when it originally happened. • You are more likely to forget or get mixed up with similar pieces of material.

Answer 62

• Aim: to find out if new learning interferes with previous learning. • Procedure: Participants were divided into two groups. Group A were asked to learn a list of paired words i.e. cat, tree, they were then asked to learn a second list of paired words i.e. glass,table etc. Group B were asked to learn the first list of words only. Both groups were asked to recall the first list of word pairs. • Results: Group B recall of the first list was more accurate than the recall of group A. • Conclusion: This suggests that learning items in the second list interfered with participants' ability to recall the list. This is an example of retroactive interference.

Answer 63

Positives: Controlled lab conditions: The research was conducted in a highly controlled setting allowing the research to establish cause and effect for the explanations for forgetting Supporting research: There is research which shows that if the material is similar interference is more likely to occur. McGeoch & McDonald studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials. Participants had to learn 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy. They then learned a new list. There were put into 6 groups who learnt different types of lists. Those who had the most similar material produced the worst recall Therefore this would suggest that interference is strongest when material is similar. Real-world application to advertising: When people are exposed to adverts from competing brands within a short period of time. Danahar et al (2008) found that both recall and recognition of an advertiser's message were impaired when participants were exposed to two advertisements for competing brands within a week. The effect of their advertisement diluted by interference. Negatives: Limited ecological validity: Underwood & Postman used artificial word lists, which may not reflect real-life memory tasks (e.g. remembering faces, places, or meaningful facts). This means interference may be overestimated in controlled lab settings. Individual differences: Some people may be less affected by interference due to better memory strategies or higher cognitive control, which the studies don’t account for. Limited generalisibility: The controlled lab setting and artificial task may not reflect real-life memory processes, so the findings may not be fully generalisable to how forgetting happens in natural settings.

Answer 64

• Most of the evidence supporting this theory comes from laboratory studies i.e. Underwood and Postman. • This is a strength as the extraneous variables can be controlled and these experiments can be replicated so reliability can be tested, for example the memory tests would have been completed in rooms with no distractions, they could also control the word lists and make sure that all groups received the same lists. • This means that the results should be reliable.

Answer 65

• There is support for the influence of interference in every day life. • Baddeley & Hitch showed this with memories of rugby matches, however long ago the match had been played it was the most recent match which could be recalled. • This is evidence to support the effect of retroactive interference in a real life setting.

Answer 66

Underwood and Postman: • Laboratory studies use artificial material (i.e. word lists). • This means they are meaningless to the participants so they do not represent every day situations when we have to remember things which have meaning to us i.e. a shopping list. • This means that it is difficult to generalise the findings to everyday life. Baddeley and Hitch: • There are some methodological problems with research completed in laboratories for interference • Baddeley (1990) states that the tasks given to participants are too close in time to each other and, in real life, these kinds of events are more spaced out so the effect might be different. • This means that we may not be able to generalise the findings to real-life settings.

Answer 67

McGeoch & McDonald studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials. Participants had to learn 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy. They then learned a new list. There were 6 groups who learnt different types of lists. Those who had the most similar material produced the worst recall Therefore this would suggest that interference is strongest when material is similar.

Answer 68

- The artificial stimuli used in these tasks, such as learning lists of random words with no personal meaning to the participants, means that the findings of interference studies are likely to have low mundane realism. This is because in real life, we are likely to learn lists of meaningful information, such as revision topics for psychology, which we draw links upon and also which have personal meaning to us. These factors may also influence the extent of forgetting, rather than interference Interference has been consistently demonstrated in several studies, but particularly in lab experiments. This increases the validity of the theory, due to the use of highly-controlled conditions in lab experiments, standardised instructions alongside the removal of the biasing effects of extraneous and confounding variables. A second methodological criticism of interference studies, further suggesting that they lack mundane realism and reliability, is that they are often conducted in very short spaces of time, with participants recalling their words 1 or 2 hours after they have learnt them. This does not reflect the normal passage of time in everyday life, where we often find that several days pass until we need to recall such information e.g. in the case of an exam. Therefore, this suggests that interference is unlikely to be a valid explanation for forgetting from the LTM.

Answer 69

They studied a natural experiment using rugby players from a team who had played a varying number of games throughout a season.Some players had played in every match, while others missed games due to injury or other reasons.The players were asked to recall the names of the teams they had played against earlier in the season.Importantly, the actual amount of time that had passed since each game was less important than the number of games played in between. Players who had played more games in between had worse recall of earlier opponents.This shows that interference from newer memories (newer games) made it harder to recall older ones—retroactive interference.It suggests that interference, not just passage of time, is a major factor in forgetting.

Answer 70

Retrieval failure suggests that forgetting occurs when the 'cues' (triggers of information recollection) present at the time of encoding the information are not present at the time of recall. This describes Tulving's 'encoding specificity principle' (ESP- Tulving = “the greater the similarity between the encoding event and the retrieval event, the greater the likelihood of recalling the original memory.”

Answer 71

• Bearing in mind that these cues can be associated with internal or external factors, there are two types of forgetting: context-dependent and state-dependent • Context-dependent forgetting occurs when our external cues at the time of encoding do not match those present at recall. State-dependent forgetting occurs when our internal cues at the time of encoding do not match those present at recall.

Answer 72

Aim: To see if people who learn and are tested in the same environment will recall more than those who learn and are tested different environments.

Answer 73

Method: Participants were deep sea divers. They were divided into four groups. All groups were given the same list of words to learn. > Group 1: learnt underwater and recalled underwater • Group 2: Learnt underwater and recalled on shore > Group 3: Learnt on shore and recalled on shore > Group 4: Learnt on shore and recalled underwater

Answer 74

Results: Groups 1 and 3 recalled 40% more words than groups 2 and 4.

Answer 75

Recall of information will be better if it happens in the same context that learning takes place.

Answer 76

Aim: to investigate state dependent forgetting Procedure: Gave anti-histamine drugs to their participants. The anti-histamine has a mild sedative effect. This creates an internal physiological state different from the normal state of being awake and alert. The participants had to learn list of words and passages of prose and then recall the information Groupl: Learn on drug - recall when on it. Group 2: Learn on it - recall when not on it. Group 3: Learn not on drug - recall when on it. Group 4: Learn not on it - recall when not on it. Results: In the conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance on the memory test was significantly worse. Groups 1 & 4 performed best Conclusion: this supports the state-dependent memory theory as when cues were absent then there is more forgetting.

Answer 77

Eysenck (2010) : Argues that retrieval failure is the most likely cause of forgetting in long-term memory (LTM). -This highlights how powerful the theory is suggesting that in many cases, the memories are still stored but cannot be accessed without appropriate retrieval cues (like context or internal state). High Validity from Lab Experiments: • Much of the research (Godden & Baddeley, Carter & Cassaday) is done in well-controlled lab settings. • This means extraneous variables are minimized, increasing internal validity. • The cause-and-effect relationship between cues and recall can be more confidently established. Retrieval failure is also supported by real-world evidence” - For example, when you walk into a room and forget why, then remember once you return to the original location — this supports the role of context-dependent cues.

Answer 78

• Baddeley (1997) argued that context effects are not very strong, especially in real life. • He stated that the context need to be very different for any effect to be seen. • This is a limitation because it means that the real-life applications of retrieval failure due to context cues does not actually explain much forgetting.

Answer 79

Strengths (Evaluation Points): Challenges overgeneralisation of retrieval failure: It shows that retrieval cues don't always cause forgetting ,especially not for recognition tasks - making the explanation more nuanced and realistic showing that context dependent forgetting affect recall but not recognition. Improves understanding of when retrieval failure occurs: By comparing recall and recognition, the study helped clarify when retrieval failure is most likely.Cues matter more for recall, where you have to actively retrieve information without help.This deepens our understanding of how memory works in different types of tasks. Carefully controlled design: The 1980 study, like the 1975 one, used controlled environments (on land and underwater), improving internal validity. Limitations: Still artificial in nature: Learning word lists underwater isn't representative of everyday memory use, which limits ecological validity. Limited to one type of cue (context): The study only looks at external context cues. It doesn't tell us about other retrieval cues, like state (e.g., mood, drug effects).

Answer 80

Strengths: Supported by research e.g Godden amd Baddeley adn Carter and Cassaday. Both Studies showed better recall when the context/state was similar to when it was encoded and recalled. Limitations: • It is not testable! • In experiments where the cue produces the successful recall of a word, we assume that the cue must have been encoded at the time of learning.If not, we assume it hasn’t been encoded (assumption)The encoding specificity principle suffers from cyclical reasoning due to its over-reliance on assumptions. Other explanations for forgetting: Interference or decay may be better for explaining forgetting in some situations

Answer 81

• Eyewitness testimony refers to the information recalled about a crime by an eyewitness. The accuracy of such an account can be reduced through the influence of misleading (incorrect) information in the form of leading questions and post-event discussions.

Answer 82

Participants were asked to wait outside the lab and 'over heard what they thought was a genuine exchange Condition 1 - Heard an amicable discussion about equipment failure and then a man came out with greasy hands holding a pen. Condition 2 - Heard a hostile exchange and the sound of breaking furniture and then a man came out holding a bloody knife Participants were given 50 photographs and asked to identify the man from each condition People who witnessed the peaceful scene had a better recall and were more accurate in recognising than those who witnessed the hostile condition. Pen = 49% accurate recall, bloody knife = 33% accurate recall. They believed that the anxiety caused by the weapon (blood stained knife narrowed the focus of the participant and took some attention from the man's face.

Answer 83

• An explanation for the weapon-focus effect is that the weapon narrows the field of attention and thus reduced information to be stored This is where in violent crimes, arousal may focus the witness on more central details of the attack (for example: weapon) than the more peripheral details (for example: what else was going on and what the perpetrator looked like).

Answer 84

Participants watched a film clip of a car crash and then gave speed estimates of the cars based on the leading question of "About how fast were the cars going when they x into each other?" ", with each group being exposed to a different critical verb. Those exposed to the verb "smashed" gave a speed estimate 8.7 mph greater than those who'd heard "contacted". Therefore, this shows that leading questions, because of the way they are phrased, suggest that there is a correct answer.

Answer 85

The effects of leading questions can be explained using the idea of response bias (leading question influences our asnwer) whereas Loftus and Palmer's study supports the substitution explanation (i.e.leading questions change the eyewitness' memory of the crime), with each group being exposed to a different critical verb. Those exposed to the verb "smashed" gave a speed estimate 8.7 mph greater than those who'd heard "contacted".

Answer 86

Aim: To investigate how post-event discussion between co-witnesses can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. Method: - Participants were put into pairs using a matched-pairs design. - Each member of the pair watched a video of the same crime, but from different angles, meaning each person saw things the other could not (e.g. one might see a thief take money, the other might not). - After watching, participants either: - Discussed what they had seen (post-event discussion group), or - Did not discuss and completed the recall task individually (control group). - Then, all participants completed a test of recall individually. Findings: - 71% of participants in the post-event discussion group mistakenly recalled details they had not seen themselves, but which were mentioned by their partner. - In contrast, the control group (no discussion) had 0% false information recalled. Explanation: This demonstrates the concept of memory conformity: - People may change their memory or report false details because they trust others’ accounts more than their own — especially if they feel uncertain. - Post-event discussions can be influenced by misleading details, media coverage, or assumptions of a crime - This shows that eyewitness memory is not always reliable and can be easily distorted by social interactions.

Answer 87

Lack of ecological validity: The artificial tasks and stimuli of Loftus and Palmer Gabbert EWT al reduces the ecological validity of the findings and the mundane realism of the methodology. For example, the film clips of the car crashes do not expose participants to the anxiety of experiencing a real-life car crash. This anxiety may either have a negative (Johnson and Scott) or positive (Yuille and Cutshall) effect on the accuracy of EWT, thus biasing the findings. Participant variables: It is difficult to estimate speed. However, some groups can find it easier than others (taxi drivers/ police officers). The driver of the car isn’t mentioned , however if it was i could affect results. The type of car may have affected results. Lack of Emotional Realism: • In real crimes, witnesses are often highly anxious or fearful - lab studies can't ethically replicate that level of emotional arousal. • The Yerkes-Dodson Law suggests moderate anxiety improves performance, but high anxiety can impair it — lab settings often fail to test this accurately. !Johnson & Scott's weapon focus study may not fully capture real fear or threat levels, and critics argue it may measure surprise, not anxiety. Demand characteristic: Participants may have guessed the aims of the study and changed their answer leading to response bias. In Loftus and Palmer participants may change their answer due to the use of the verb in order to please/displease the experimenter not as their memory changed.

Answer 88

Incorrect information given to the EW usually after the event

Answer 89

A question that suggests a certain answer.

Answer 90

Occurs when there is more than one witness to an event. Witnesses may discuss what they have seen with other co-witnesses. This affects accuracy.

Answer 91

• An important explanation of organisation in human memory relies on the concept of schemas. • These are simplified, generalised representations of things based on our experience. • Memory capacity limitations prevent us from remembering precise details about our everyday lives, but schemas allow us to overcome these limitations because we can summarise the regularities in our lives. • There is a cost to this, however, in that we may mistakenly 'recall' events that never really happened, because they make sense within a particular schema.

Answer 92

Strengths : • This study has many applications: - Police questioning witnesses - Teachers asking/setting questions Controlled lab study: - Conducted in highly controlled conditions, allowing researchers to isolate the effect of the leading question. - Increases internal validity and makes the cause-and-effect relationship more clear. Weaknesses: Low ecological validity: The video of a car crash isn’t emotionally arousing like a real accident would be.. In real life, EWT often involves stress, shock, and trauma, which can affect memory differently.So the findings may not generalise well to real-world crimes. Demand characteristics / response bias: Participants might have guessed the study’s aim and altered their answers based on what they thought was expected.This challenges whether their memory was truly altered, or if they were just influenced in how they responded. Only tested university students: -The sample may not be representative of the general population.Students are often more educated and used to test conditions, which may affect how they respond compared to other age groups or witnesses. e

Answer 93

Anxiety is a physiological response to external pressures, characterised by an increased heart rate, vasoconstriction of blood vessels, increased sweat production etc. Anxiety can have either a positive or negative effect on the accuracy of EWT.

Answer 94

• The positive effect of anxiety on the accuracy of EWT was demonstrated by Yuille and Cutshall (1986), who followed up 13 eyewitnesses, 5 months after a real-life shooting at a shop in Canada. The researchers found that eyewitness accuracy was still high after this period, with an 11% higher accuracy of recall for those eyewitnesses who ranked their anxiety as 'high' (compared to 'low') at the time of the shooting and using a 7-point anxiety scale. There were, however, small discrepancies over estimates of height, weight and clothing. This supports the idea that heightened anxiety draws our attention to external cues through the 'fight or flight' response, where such attention may have given us an evolutionary advantage by increasing our chances of escaping and survival.

Answer 95

The Yerkes-Dodson Law suggests that there is an 'inverted-U' relationship between increasing arousal and increasing performance (in this case the accuracy of EWT), with moderate arousal yielding the highest levels of performance. If it is too high than accuracy of recall may fall However, this can be considered as an overly-simplified explanation of anxiety because it does not take into account the multiple factors which make up arousal i.e. cognitive, behavioural, emotional etc.f

Answer 96

There are significant ethical issues associated with exposing participants to distressing situations (Johnson and Scott) and forcing them to recall traumatic crimes which have occurred in the past (Yuille and Cutshall). This breaches the BPS guideline of the right of the participant to be protected from psychological harm, thus meaning that a cost-benefit analysis would be needed to compare the associated ethical costs with the benefits of increased knowledge of the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of EWT.

Answer 97

Real-life studies, particularly with the use of field studies, are particularly susceptible to the biasing effects of extraneous variables which have not been controlled. For example, Yuille and Cutshall could not have controlled the influence of post-event discussions, which has been suggested to reduce the accuracy of EWT, as demonstrated by Gabbert et al. This, alongside media influences in the form of TV report, and the effects of individual schemas, means that field studies of EWT may be flawed in that they lack reliability.

Answer 98

• The cognitive interview is a method of interviewing eyewitnesses, which is thought to be particularly effective in increasing the rates of accurate recall.

Answer 99

Fisher and Geiselman (1992) Reviewed memory literature – people remember things better if they are provided with retrieval cues. The technique they devised had 4 components: 1. Report everything = Even seemingly insignificant details may be important or trigger the recall of larger events, by acting as a 'cue' (think back to retrieval failure!). • 2. Reinstate the context = Recalling the weather, location and mood of the day prevents context-dependent forgetting by reminding the eyewitness of their external cues at the time. • 3. Change the perspective = Recalling events from the perspective of the victim or persecutor prevents the eyewitness' account from being affected by their own schemas or pre-conceived perceptions of how the crime, in their opinion, happened. • 4. Reverse the order = Recalling events in a different order, other than chronological, reduces the ability of the eyewitness to lie (as it is simply difficult) and also reduces the impact of schemas on their perception of events.

Answer 100

• An amended version of the Cl that seeks to build a trusting relationship between interviewer and witness and improve the quality of the communication between the two. • The interviewer not distracting the witness with unnecessary interruptions/questions. • The witness controlling the flow of information. • Asking open ended questions • Getting the witness to speak slowly. • Participants being reminded not to guess and to use the 'don't know' option when necessary. • Reducing anxiety in witnesses. • Modified versions of both types of interview have been developed, for example, with children.

Answer 101

• Improving effectiveness of questioning witnesses in police interview • Applied findings from psychological research to this area

Answer 102

Real-life field study with actual detectives in Florida. It compared standard police interviews to the ECI.. The ECI produced 47% more useful information than standard interviews.. in conclusion the ECI improves the amount of accurate information without increasing inaccuracies. Although cognitive interviewing produces can result in recall of additional items, there is a bigger increase in the amount of correct information recalled, compared to a standard interview.

Answer 103

Kennel and Wagstaff: The cognitive interview may have little practical value, due to being too time-consuming and requiring specialist skills. For example, Kebbel and Wagstaff argued that only a few hours of training, as is possible for many police forces, is insufficient to adequately train interviewers, especially for the enhanced social understanding required for the enhanced cognitive interview. Therefore, this lack of time for training may explain why some forces may be unimpressed with the Cl. Kohnken et al (1999): The Cl does not only increase the recall of correct information by 81%, but also increases the recall of incorrect information by 61%, as suggested by Kohnken et al (1999). This appears counterintuitive when considering that the chief aim of the Cl was to improve the accuracy of recall of correct information and so increase the reliability of eyewitness testimonies as a whole.

Answer 104

Mello and Fisher (1996): When Cl and normal interview techniques were tested on both older adults' (72 years) and younger adults' (22 years) memory, Cl was better for both. Therefore, CI is a better technique to use during interviews to recall information. Fisher et al: Real-life field study with actual detectives in Florida. It compared standard police interviews to the ECI.. The ECI produced 47% more useful information than standard interviews.. in conclusion the ECI improves the amount of accurate information without increasing inaccuracies. Kohnken et al (1999): The Cl does not only increase the recall of correct information by 81%, but also increases the recall of incorrect information by 61%, as suggested by Kohnken et al (1999). Despite the additionally recall of incorrect information there is a greateramoutn fo information recalled from CI than standard interview techniques

Answer 105

Method: Participants watched a crash, asked either "smash” , “hit” or no question (control). A week later, they were asked "Did you see any broken glass?" Results: "Smashed" group was more likely to falsely remember seeing glass - even though there was none. Conclusion:Leading questions can alter memory and cause false memories.

Answer 106

Positive: Practical value: Gabbert’s findings have strong practical value for the justice system. The research shows how post-event discussion can distort eyewitness memory, which has helped shape police procedures, such as keeping witnesses separated.This supports the use of the cognitive interview to reduce the effects of misleading information. This shows the study is ecologically useful and has real-world impact on legal settings. Laboratory experiment: The study used a controlled lab environment, which allowed researchers to control variables like what each participant saw and how they discussed it.This means the study has high internal validity, because we can be more confident that post-event discussion was the cause of memory distortion. Limitations: Alternative explanation: Gabbert’s results could be explained by memory conformity, rather than actual memory distortion. Some participants may not have truly changed their memory, but simply went along with their co-witness to avoid social conflict or because they lacked confidence in their own memory.This limits the internal validity of the conclusion, as it may reflect social influences rather than genuine memory errors. Low ecological validity: Lab experiment using videos of a crime, the task lacks emotional realism. In real-life crimes, witnesses may be under stress, and memory may be influenced by emotions, fear, or other real-world pressures. Therefore, the study has low ecological validity, and the results may not fully apply to real eyewitnesses in actual crimes.

Answer 107

Research into EWT, particularly studies by Loftus and Palmer (on leading questions) and Gabbert et al. (on post-event discussion), has been highly useful in improving the accuracy and reliability of eyewitness accounts in real-world settings: Practical application: changes in how to conduct interviews (avoid leading questions (cognitive interview/ enhanced cognitive interview) Handle witnesses separately to prevent post-event discussion use of cognitive interview- a technique developed to improve memory recall without introcding misleading inflation Research in EWT influenced the UK government which found that misleading information has contributed to wrongful conviction. Therefore, courts have become more cautious of single EWT

Answer 108

4-letter sequence: K, T, V, L Justification: This sequence doesn’t form a real word, acronym, or abbreviation and has no repeated letters. This increases cognitive demand as participants can’t group or chunk the letters together, so it tests true STM capacity. 5-letter sequence: M, Q, Z, H, R Justification: This sequence also avoids making a word or recognisable abbreviation and contains no repeated or rhyming letters. Without meaning or patterns, it’s harder to remember, making it a valid test of STM limits.

Answer 109

Dual-task performance refers to a research method used in cognitive psychology where a person is asked to perform two tasks at the same time, to test the capacity and independence of different components of memory

Answer 110

Tulving - Investigating different LTM stores (1985)

Answer 111

Using PET and fMRl to scan their brains, participants were asked to complete memory tasks.

Answer 112

Results showed that both episodic and semantic memories are recalled from the same brain region- the prefrontal cortex, but differ in terms of hemisphere; semantic memories are left and episodic memories are right.

Answer 113

This research has been further supported and indicates that long term memories are stored and recalled in different brain regions and different hemispheres.

Answer 114

Positives: Scientific Method – Objective and Reliable Tulving used neuroimaging techniques (e.g. PET scans) to show that episodic and semantic memories are stored in different areas of the brain. This gives the study high internal validity and objective, scientific evidence for different LTM stores. Highly Controlled and Replicable: As a lab-based study, Tulving’s research was tightly controlled, which means standardised procedures and controlled variables. This increases reliability because the study can be replicated to test for consistency across participants and settings. Supports Theory Construction and Hypothesis Testing: Tulving’s findings support the idea that LTM is not a unitary store. His work allowed researchers to build on the multi-store model, proposing that semantic and episodic memory are separate subsystems. This is useful in developing more accurate models of memory, like the LTM model and working memory model. Limitations: Tulving theory is too simple: Tulving’s theory focused mainly on the division between semantic and episodic memory.However, research since then (e.g. Cohen and Squire, 1980) suggests that these may not be completely separate systems — they could be part of a larger declarative memory system. Additionally, Tulving’s work neglects other important types of LTM, such as: Procedural memory/. Therefore: His theory may be too simplistic and doesn’t fully explain the complexity of long-term memory, which limits its theoretical completeness.

Memory Flashcards

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