Memory

Question 1

Explains how Joseph Jacob’s investigated capacity of the short term memory by measuring digit span.

Answer 1

The researcher reads out four digits and the participant recalls these out loud in the correct order. If this is correct then the researcher will read out five digits, then if correct, six digits, and so on, until failure.

Question 2

What were the results of Joseph Jacob’s digit span test?

Answer 2

Mean span for digits across all participants was 9.3 items, the mean for letters was 7.3

Question 3

Describe the multi store model of memory.

Answer 3

Stimulus from the environment —-> sensory register —>(attention) short term memory store—->(rehearsal) long term memory store

Question 4

Describe the sensory register.

Answer 4

Stimuli from the environment passes into here. This comprises of 5 registers for each of the five senses. Coding in each store is specific for each store. The store coding for visual information is the iconic store, and the store coding for sound is the echoic store.

Question 5

Describe short term memory.

Answer 5

Information in here is coded mainly acoustically and lasts for 18 seconds unless rehearsed. It is a limited store so can only contain a certain amount of time before forgetting occurs. The STM memory can store between 5 and 9 items.

Question 6

What is maintenance rehearsal?

Answer 6

It occurs when we rehearse material to ourselves repeatedly, if we rehearse it long enough, the information passes into the long term memory

Question 7

Describe long term memory.

Answer 7

This is the store for information that has been mostly semantically. Psychologists believe that its duration may be up to a lifetime.

Question 8

Describe Bahrick et als study into long term memory.

Answer 8

Many participants were able to remember faces and names of high school classmates almost 50 years after graduating

Question 9

Describe the research support strength of the multi store model.

Answer 9

Baddeley found we mix up words that sound similar in STM, but we mix up words with a similar meaning in the LTM. As LTM is coded semantically and the STM is coded acoustically

Question 10

Explain the limitation of the evidence that there is more than one short term memory store. (MMM

Answer 10

KF’s STM for digits was very poor when they were read out loud, but his recall was much better when he read the digits to himself. Therefore there could be another short term store for non verbal noises, which claims the MSMM is wrong

Question 11

Describe the limitation that prolonged rehearsal is needed for transfer to the long term memory.

Answer 11

According to the MSM, rehearsal is important in terms of frequency. However, psychologists have found that the type of rehearsal is more important. Elaborative rehearsal is needed for long term storage, where information is linked to existing knowledge.

Question 12

Describe episodic memory.

Answer 12

It is a type of explicit memory, which includes memories of personal experiences.
The strength of episodic memories is determined by the strength of the emotions experienced when the memory is coded.
A conscious effort is required to retrieve these memories

Question 13

Where are episodic memories associated with?

Answer 13

The hippocampus

Question 14

Describe semantic memory.

Answer 14

It is a type of explicit memory, and includes knowledge, facts and concepts. They are generally stronger than episodic memories.

Question 15

Where are semantic memories associated with?

Answer 15

The temporal lobe

Question 16

Describe procedural memory.

Answer 16

A type of implicit memory which includes how to perform certain tasks, actions, or skills which have become automatic. They are often acquired through repetition and practice, and are formed often early on in life

Question 17

Where are procedural memories associated?

Answer 17

The cerebellum and motor cortex

Question 18

What are the 3 types of long term memory?

Answer 18

Procedural, semantic and episodic

Question 19

Briefly describe the working memory model (WMM)

Answer 19

The short term memory is not one store, but multiple components. Each component has a different task. Two tasks can be completed simultaneously as long as they use different components.

Question 20

What is the central executive?

Answer 20

The control unit and is responsible for a range of important control processes:
Coordinating the activity needed to carry out more than one processing task at a time
Switching attention between tasks

Question 21

What are the two slave systems of the central executive?

Answer 21

The visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop

Question 22

Describe the behaviour of the slave systems.

Answer 22

They have separate responsibilities and work independently of each other

Question 23

What are the two subunits of the phonological loop?

Answer 23

The articulatory process and the primary acoustic store

Question 24

What is the articulatory process?

Answer 24

It is the inner voice, and is concerned with speech production. It has a limited capacity and is a temporary storage system.

Question 25

What is the primary acoustic store?

Answer 25

It is the temporary storage system for recently heard words. It has a limited capacity and is concerned with speech perception

Question 26

What is the visuospatial sketchpad?

Answer 26

It is specialised for spatial and/ or visual coding. It helps us interact and navigate our physical environment.

Question 27

Why was the WWM widely critisised and what did Baddeley do about this?

Answer 27

It only focussed on STM, but baddely addressed this in 2000 when he added the episodic buffer

Question 28

What are the names of the two subunits which Logie subdivided the visuo spatial sketchpad into?

Answer 28

The visual cache and the inner scribe

Question 29

What does the visual cache do?

Answer 29

Stores visual data

Question 30

What is the role of the inner scribe?

Answer 30

It records the arrangement of objects in the visual field.

Question 31

What does the episodic buffer do?

Answer 31

It is a temporary store for information, and integrates visual, spatial and verbal information processed by other stores. It links the central executive to long term memory

Question 32

Describe the clinical evidence strength of the WMM.

Answer 32

The study of patient KF . After KF’s brain injury had poor short term memory for auditory information, but could process visual information normally. Eg, his recall of digits was better when they were written down rather than when they were read to him. This implies KF’s phonological loop was damaged, but his visuospatial sketchpad was still intact, supporting the idea of the WMM having separate visual and acoustic stores.

Question 33

Describe dual task performance as a strength for the WMM

Answer 33

Dual task performance supports the idea of a separate existence of the visuospatial sketchpad. Baddeley et al’s p’s carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time, and their performance was similar when they performed these activities separately. However when both tasks were visual, or both tasks were verbal, performance declined substantially. Shows there are separate slave systems.

Question 34

Describe the limitation of the central executive’s nature in the WMM.

Answer 34

There is a lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive. Baddeley himself recognised this and said the central executive is the most important yet least understood component of the WMM. The CE needs to be explained more thoroughly rather than simply being described as being responsible for attention. This suggests the central executive is an unsatisfactory component, reducing the credibility of the WMM.

Question 35

Give an example of episodic memory.

Answer 35

A concert you went to last week

Question 36

Give an example of semantic memory

Answer 36

What an orange tastes like.

Question 37

Give an example of procedural memory.

Answer 37

Riding a bicycle

Question 38

Explain the strength of clinical evidence of types of long term memory.

Answer 38

The case study of HM. Episodic memory was severely impaired due to brain damage, however they could remember the meaning of words, and their procedural memories were in tact. This supports the view that multiple stores are present in long term memory, as one can be damaged and others can still be in tact.

Question 39

Explain the conflicting neuroimaging evidence of the LTM.

Answer 39

Buckner and Peterson (1996) reviewed evidence regarding the location of semantic and episodic memory. They concluded that semantic memory is located in the left side of the prefrontal cortex, and episodic memory is located on the right side. However, Tulving’s research links the left prefrontal cortex with episodic memories, and the right with semantic memories.

Question 40

Describe the real world application of the types of LTM.

Answer 40

Understanding types of LTM allows psychologists to help people with memory problems. As people age, they lose episodic memory, as it becomes harder to recall recent memories, however past episodic memories stay in tact. Belleville et al devised an intervention to improve episodic memories in older people. The trained p’s performed better on a test of episodic memory than a control group.

Question 41

What is interference theory in forgetting?

Answer 41

Two pieces of information disrupt each other, resulting in forgetting one piece of information or both, or distortion of memory.

Question 42

What type of memory has interference explained?

Answer 42

Long term memory

Question 43

What is proactive interference?

Answer 43

When an old memory interferes with a new one

Question 44

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 44

When a new memory interferes with an old one

Question 45

Describe the procedure of research on effects of similarity in interference by McGeoch and McDonald.

Answer 45

They studied retroactive interference by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of materials. P’s had to learn a list of 10 words until they could remember them with 100% accuracy. Then, they had to learn a new list.

Question 46

Describe the findings and conclusions of McGeogh and McDonald’s research.

Answer 46

The groups which had a new list with similar words produced the worst recall. This shows interference is strongest when memories are similar.

Question 47

Describe the strength of real world interferences to explain forgetting.

Answer 47

Baddeley and Hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of teams they had played against in one rugby season. Some players missed matches due to injury, and these had the best recall. This shows that interference can operate in at least some real world situations, increasing the validity of the theory.

Question 48

Describe the limitation of interference and cues for interference theory.

Answer 48

Tulving and Psotka gave participants lists of words organised into categories, one list at a time. Recall was about 70% for the first list but decreased as more lists were added due to proactive interference. At the end of the study, the participants were given cues which were the categories of the lists, and recall rose to 70% again. This suggests interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to material that is in the LTM, which is not predicted by interference theory.

Question 49

What is retrieval failure?

Answer 49

Not being able to access memories that are there.

Question 50

What is the encoding specificity principle?

Answer 50

A cue has to be both present at encoding and present at retrieval.

Question 51

What is context dependent forgetting?

Answer 51

Recall depends on external cues, such as a place

Question 52

What is state dependent forgetting?

Answer 52

Recall depends on internal cues, such as emotion or being under the influence of drugs

Question 53

Describe the procedure of Godden and Baddeley’s procedure investigating context-dependent forgetting.

Answer 53

They studied deep sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land hindered their work underwater. The divers learned. A list of words either underwater on land and had to recall them either on land or underwater (4 groups).

Question 54

Describe the findings of Baddeley and Goddens experiment on context dependent forgetting.

Answer 54

Accurate recall was 40% lower in non matching conditions. Therefore external cues being different to those at retrieval leads to retrieval failure.

Question 55

Describe the research on state dependent forgetting by Carter and Cassaday.

Answer 55

They gave antihistamine drugs, which had a mild sedative effect, to their participants. This created an internal physiological state different from their normal state. There again were 4 conditions.

Question 56

Describe the findings from the research into state dependent forgetting.

Answer 56

In conditions where there was a mismatch between internal state at learning and recall, performance was worse.

Question 57

Describe the strength of real world applications of cues.

Answer 57

They can help to overcome some forgetting in everyday life. This can be done as when we have trouble remembering something, it is probably worth making the effort to recall the environment in which we learnt it. This shows how research can remind us of strategies we use in the real world to improve recall.

Question 58

Describe the research support strength of cues.

Answer 58

The studies by Cassaday and Baddeley show a lack of relevant cues can lead to state and context dependent forgetting. Eysenck and Keane argue that retrieval failure is perhaps the main reason for forgetting from LTM. This shows that retrieval failure occurs in real world situations.

Question 59

Describe the recall vs recognition weakness of cues.

Answer 59

Context effects may depend on the type of memory being tested. Godden and Baddeley replicated their underwater experiment but using a recognition test rather than memory. When recognition was tested, there was no context dependent effect. This suggests that retrieval failure is a limited explanation for forgetting.

Question 60

What are the factors affecting the accuracy of EWT?

Answer 60

Anxiety, leading questions and post event discussion

Question 61

Outline Loftus and Palmer’s experiment.

Answer 61

5 groups of participants who watched the same video of a car crash and were asked “about how fast was car A moving when it _____ car B”

Question 62

What were the 5 verb conditions of Loftus and Palmers experiment?

Answer 62

Hit, smashed, contacted, collided and bumped

Question 63

What were the results of Loftus and Palmers experiment?

Answer 63

Contacted- 31.8mph Smashed- 40.5mph

Question 64

What was Loftus and Palmers 2nd experiment?

Answer 64

“Did you see broken glass when car A ____ into car B?” More said yes with the smashed verb

Question 65

What was Gabberts experiment into post event discussion?

Answer 65

Two groups watched a similar video. One group could see some details that the other group couldn’t, like the title of a book the woman was carrying. There was 71% misinformation when the groups could discuss (substitution)

Question 66

What is the evidence supporting memory contamination rather than substitution?

Answer 66

Wright- showed ps film clips. One version where the mugger had light hair, and the other version in which the mugger had dark hair. The two groups said the mugger had “medium coloured hair”

Question 67

What is the practical application of investigating misleading information in EWT?

Answer 67

The justice system Judges cannot ask leading questions Sometimes psychologists will sit in in court to ensure this

Question 68

What is the negative effect of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 68

Weapon focus hypothesis When a weapon is involved, eyewitnesses have a tunnel vision on this weapon and do not remember key details

Question 69

Outline the study investigating the negative effect of anxiety in EWT

Answer 69

Condition 1: participants in a waiting room overheard a heated conversation and saw a man emerge holding a knife covered in blood Condition 2: participants in a waiting room overheard a normal conversation and saw a man emerge holding a pen with a greased hand

Question 70

What were the results of the study into negative effects of EWT on anxiety

Answer 70

The control condition produced more accurate identification of the man when asked to choose from 50 photos

Question 71

What is the positive effect of anxiety on EWT?

Answer 71

Anxiety triggers the fight or flight response, which makes participants more alert

Question 72

Outline the study investigating the positive effects of anxiety on EWT

Answer 72

21 eyewitnesses to a shooting in Vancouver. 13 participated in the study. They were asked to record their anxiety around the time after the shooting Those who were most anxious provided most accurate recall of the shooter 6months after

Question 73

Outline the study to show that the negative effect of anxiety study results may be due to unusualness

Answer 73

Pickel- in a hairdressers, participants had a woman walk past holding either scissors, chicken or a handgun. Eyewitness accuracy was poorer in the high unusualness (chicken)

Question 74

Outline the research support for negative effects of anxiety

Answer 74

Valentine- used heart rate to investigate anxiety. Highest anxiety could not recall the actors face as accurately

Question 75

What are the 4 techniques for the cognitive interview?

Answer 75

1. Report everything 2. Reinstate the context 3. Reverse the order 4. Recall from someone else’s POV

Question 76

Outline the support for the cognitive interview

Answer 76

Khonken et al Combined 55 studies data CI gave an average 41% increase in accurate information compared with standard police interview