memory

Question 1

sensory register capacity

Answer 1

very large

Question 2

sensory register duration

Answer 2

half a second

Question 3

sensory register coding

Answer 3

modality specific

Question 4

short term memory capacity

Answer 4

5 - 9 chunks of information

Question 5

short term memory duration

Answer 5

18 - 30 seconds

Question 6

short term memory coding

Answer 6

acoustically

Question 7

long term memory capacity

Answer 7

unlimited

Question 8

long term memory duration

Answer 8

lifetime

Question 9

long term memory coding

Answer 9

semantically

Question 10

evidence for MSM

Answer 10

• peterson and peterson their finding suggest our stm fades in under 30 seconds if we are not rehearsing

Question 11

criticism of msm

Answer 11

• too simplistic
• doesn’t explain the different types of LTM
  -demand characteristics
• lacks ecological validity
• Batrick et al US graduate students
• shown classmates photos years later
• 90 % remembered faces and names 34 years later
• decline after 48 years particularly for faces
• Clive wearing weakness for MSM because suggests there are multiple forms of long term memory
• not all rehearsed memory enters the long term memory

Question 12

working memory model components

Answer 12

• central executive
• visuospatial sketch pad
• episodic buffer
• phonological loop (articulatory control system and phonological store)

Question 13

baddeley and hitch (working memory model)

Answer 13

• proposed that memory is not just one store but a number of different stores
• focused on STM only -> not a unitary store
• wmm is concerned with the parts of the mind that are active when we are presented with new info

Question 14

central executive

Answer 14

• controls attention coordinates and coordinates the actions of the other components
• briefly stores info
• very limited capacity
• can store info in any sense modality
• considered the most importantpartof thy wmm

Question 15

phonological loop

Answer 15

• responsible for processing sound based info. Later investigation to the proposal of 2 subsystems
• articulatory process - the inner voice - allows us to repeat verbal information in a loop. Actively repeating this allows for it to remain in the working memory
• phonological store - the inner ear- a limited capacity, auditory rehearsal systems which receive sound information from the environment and stores it. It also receives auditory info from the inner voice above, so we can hear what we think

Question 16

the visual spatial sketch pad

Answer 16

• the inner eye
• temporary memory with limited capacity
• used for holding visual spatial information
• inner scribe- record the arrangement of objects in a visual field - spatial details

Question 17

episodic buffer

Answer 17

• more general store
• integrates information from all other areas, whereas the slave system only deals with specific types of information
• limited storage capacity the episodic buffer adds more

Question 18

WMM strengths

Answer 18

-The WMM provides an explanation for parallel processing (i.e. where processes involved in a cognitive task occur at once), unlike Atkinson and Shiffrin’s MSM.
-A Shallice and Warrington (1974) case study reported that brain-damaged patient KF could recall visual but not verbal information immediately after its presentation, which supports the WMM’s claim that separate short-term stores manage short-term phonological and visual memories.
-The model was developed based on evidence from laboratory experiments, so confounding variables could be carefully controlled to produce reliable results (that can be replicated).

Question 19

WMM weaknesses

Answer 19

-Despite providing more detail of STM than the multi-store model, the WMM has been criticised for being too simplistic and vague, e.g. it is unclear what the central executive is, or its exact role in attention.
-Results from laboratory experiments researching the WMM will often have low ecological validity (i.e. may not relate to real life), as tasks such as repeating ‘the the the’ are arguably not representative of our everyday activities

Question 20

leading questions

Answer 20

Leading questions are those that suggest a certain answer in the way that they are worded

When dealing with eyewitness testimony (EWT) it is vital not to use leading questions as this could affect the memory of the eyewitness and the accuracy of their testimony, for example:

‘Did you see the knife?’ (leading) as opposed to ‘Did you see a knife?’ (not leading)

Leading questions are a form of misleading information (also known as post-event information) as they can prompt the eye witness, to recall events incorrectly, for example:

‘Did you see the blue panel on the car?’ as opposed to ‘Did the car have a coloured panel?’

Leading questions may result in response bias

The eye witness does not answer the question accurately: they answer in the way that they think they should answer

Question 21

loftus and palmer procedure

Answer 21

nvestigated the effect of leading questions on eyewitness recall

Procedure:

Forty-five student participants (split into five groups) were shown films of car traffic accidents

After the films, each group was given a questionnaire to complete which included a critical question in which the verb used to describe the car accident was changed:

‘How fast was the car travelling when it _____ the other car?

The verbs were: hit, contacted, smashed, collided, bumped

Each group had a different verb as part of their questionnaire

Each verb constituted one condition of the independent variabl

Question 22

loftus and palmer findings

Answer 22

The dependent variable was measured as estimated speed in miles per hour:

The lowest estimated speed was for ‘contacted’ = 31.8 mph

The highest estimated speed was for ‘smashed’ = 40.8 mph

The researchers concluded that information after the event in the form of a leading question can result in unreliable EWT

Question 23

strengths of loftus and palmer

Answer 23

There is real-world application with studies into the effect of leading questions as the findings can be applied to legal fields and the criminal justice system

This means that there is importance to the accuracy of EWT to ensure that innocent people are not convicted of crimes due to poor recall of events from a witness

Supporting evidence comes from further research that shows memories of childhood visits (to Disneyland) can be altered or falsified by the presence of misleading information (pictures of incorrect Disney characters)

This suggests that misleading information can create inaccurate memories of events which could falsify an EWT

Question 24

weaknesses of loftus and palmer

Answer 24

Lab studies (such as Loftus & Palmer 1974) lack ecological validity because they do not represent real-life situations:

Eyewitnesses to car accidents are likely to experience high levels of stress which does not happen with lab-based research

Participants in lab studies may not take the experiment seriously or give the same motivation if they were witnessing a real-life situation

Answers given by participants may be prone to demand characteristics

The above observations suggest that the research into leading questions may not have relevance to real-life EWT

EWT research does not account fully for individual differences

Some people are aware of and can avoid being affected by leading questions

Some people may feel over-excited, nervous, fearful having witnessed a crime in which case it would be their emotional state rather than the use of leading questions that impaired their memory

Question 25

post event discussion

Answer 25

Post-event discussion Post-event discussion (PED) is another type of misleading information This involves eyewitnesses discussing the events and their experiences after it has occurred PED can occur in multiple forms such as: discussion with other eyewitnesses questioning by legal/crime teams and interviewers

Question 26

Research by Gabbert et al. 2003 investigated the effect of PED Procedure:

Answer 26

Pairs of participants (students and older adults) each watched a different film clip of the same crime so each had a unique view of the event Pairs were able to discuss what they had witnessed before carrying out a recall test of the event seen in the video

Question 27

results by Gabbert

Answer 27

Findings: A large proportion (71%) of eyewitnesses who had discussed the crime made mistakes when recalling the events In pairs where no discussion had taken place 0% of mistakes in recall were made This suggests that PED can lead to inaccurate eyewitness testimony An explanation for the effect PED can have on an eyewitness is memory contamination: Eyewitness testimonies can become altered and distorted because of discussions with other eyewitness Information from all eyewitnesses is thought to combine forming incorrect memories This 'pooling' of ideas and opinions could lead to groupthink

Question 28

evaluation of gabbert

Answer 28

Evaluation Strengths Two different populations were investigated as part of the study by Gabbert et al., students and older adults, which gives the study high population validity This suggests that PED affects people in all populations in a similar way The research performed by Gabbert et al. was a lab study Lab studies are easy to replicate; this means there is high reliability to the findings of the investigation Limitations There is low ecological validity because the participants as part of Gabbert et al. knew they were taking part in a study Participants were likely to have paid close attention to the details of the video clip This means that the results do not reflect a real-life crime had it been witnessed Gabbert et al. could not explain why the effects of PED occurred so the memory distortion could be due to: pressure to conform to other eyewitnesses poor memory, where people build new information into their memory of the event and are unable to distinguish between what they have seen and what they have heard