Give and explain the 3 stages of the information processing approach
- Input - the absorption of information through our sensory assets like mouth, nose, eyes and ears
- Encoding - changing the input into electromechanical memory traces
- Output - a behaviour that is the result, information that is recalled
Give and explain the 3 stages of the multi-store model
- Sensory register - similar to input, we get information from the environment, less than half a second
- Short term memory - uses mainly acoustic encoding to remember information for up to 30 seconds and up to 7 chunks of information
- Long term memory - maintenance rehearsal (repetition) and elaborative rehearsal (semantic repetition) sends information into our LTM, with a potentially infinite capacity
Explain the role of attention in transferring information from the sensory register to STM
Our immediate memory is sensory information and we will not even remember it remotely if we do not pay attention to it.
Give the 5 sensory registers
Iconic - the sensory register for visual information
Echoic - the sensory register for echoic information
Gustatory - the sensory register for taste
Olfactory - the sensory register for smell
Tactile - the sensory register for touch and feeling things
What is the role of rehearsal in memory
keeps information in STM, and rehearsed long and well enough, transfers information to LTM
Give the aim, sample, method, results and conclusion for Peterson and Peterson (1959)
Aim - investigating how long short term memory is
Sample - 24 students from the same university
Method - the students were given a set of 3 consonants (trigram) and then told to count backwards in 3s or 4s from a number the experimenter said. Then when cued at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 secs, they had to recall the trigram.
Another version was done where the students were given time to rehearse the trigram before counting
Results - the longer the interval, the less words remembered
3 secs - 80% correct
18 secs - less than 10% correct
Conclusion - short term memory is less than 18 seconds. Rehearsal increases the duration of STM
What is the difference between anterogade and retrogade amnesia?
Anterogade - can’t remember anything after the injury
Retrogade - can’t remember stuff (usually specific events or time periods) from before the injury
How are schemas formed?
Through personal experiences and knowledge gained from media
How do schemas influence memory?
Schemas influence our memory and causes us to ignore or change details when we recall them by creating an expectation of what we think should have happened. When memory is patched up and redone to fit our schemas and fill in missing gaps, it’s reconstructive memory.
Define and give examples for:
1. Familiarization
2. Rationalisation
3. Omissions
4. Transformations
- When we change unfamiliar details to fit with our pre-existing schemas eg. thinking the recent earthquake at home caused a lot of damage when actually the buildings just shook a little
- We add details into our recall to give a reason for something that doesn’t fit with a pre-existing schema eg. witnesses claim they saw the driver looking at their phone before the car crashed because there’s no other reason it could have crashed on a straight road.
- We leave out unfamiliar, irrelevant or unpleasant details when remembering something. Our schema simplifies the information. eg. someone sees a victim of a shooting bleeding out really grotesquely but they remember the victim peacefully lying there as if they are asleep
- Details are changed to make them more familiar eg. thinking an authority figure is a king when they are actually a prime minister
Give the 6 main points of the Theory of Reconstructive memory
- Memory can be inaccurate, not like a video recording
- We don’t store entire memories so sometimes there are gaps
- We often just recall the general idea of the memory
- Memory is an active process which means we will put effort in to get the information to make sense to us (effort after meaning)
- In order for memories to make sense our brain will fill in or “complete” memories with individual expectations
- Expectations come from our schemas (packets of information) that we gain through experience
