coding, capacity, and duration
describe and evaluate research into coding, as investigated by Baddeley
Procedure:
-list of words given to 4 groups of ps to remember, and their mistakes show the encoding
-g1 + g2 acoustically similar/dissimilar
-g3 + g4 semantically similar/dissimilar
Findings:
-g1 worst recall immediately - STM confused retrieving words that sound the same
-g3 worst recall 20 mins - LTM confused by similar meanings
evaluation:
+lab conditions, manipulation of the types of words and control extraneous variables such as noise level. confident in findings, internal validity, cause and effect.
-not clear how long we need to wait before testing LTM - baddeley could have waited longer as there’s longer gaps between learning and recall irl.
coding, capacity, and duration
describe and evaluate research into capacity, as investigated by jacobs, miller (STM), and wagenaar (LTM)
STM:
1. measured digit span - gave ps 4 digits to recall in the correct order out loud. increase by 1 each time until failure
average was 9 for numbers and 7 for letters, concluded STM capacity is 5-9
2. ps can recall 5 words as well as they can recall 5 letters. demonstrated idea of chunking - STM capacity can be increased by grouping bits of information
LTM:
1. diary of 2400 personal events and tested recall of those events. cues were who, what, when, where.
excellent recall with none being completely forgotten., concluded LTM capacity is very large
evaluation
+effects of age are acknowledged - jacobs found that digit span increases with age as memory becomes more complex. estimate of STM capacity accounts for all ages, more credibility
-case studies - wagenaars diary - memories not representative and are subjective. lacks population validity
coding, capacity, and duration
describe and evaluate research into duration, as investigated by peterson & peterson and bahrick
STM:
1. students given a nonsense trigram and a 3 digit number, count backwards to prevent mental rehearsal.
retention interval increase = harder to recall trigrams.
concluded STM has short duration unless we rehearse
LTM:
1. 390 ps from america aged 17-74.
photo recognition - name as many as possible from the photos = 70% accurate after 48 yrs.
free recall - recall names without any cues = 30% accuracy after 48 yrs.
concluded LTM very long duration, longer with cues
evaluation
+meaningful memories as stimuli - yearbook photos of people they saw every day = everyday memories represented. high external validity and generalisable
-artificial stimuli - nonsense trigrams didn’t reflect real life memory activities eg faces. lack external validity
-bahrick couldn’t account for all confounding variables eg long gaps ps weren’t visited, couldv’e gone over yearbook. lowers validity
multi store model
describe the features of the sensory store in the multi store model
encoding - modality specific
capacity - unlimited
duration - 250ms
multi store model
describe the features of the STM in the multi store model
encoding - acoustic
capacity - 7 +/- 2
duration - 18-30s
multi store model
describe the features of the LTM in the multi store model
encoding - semantic
capacity - potentially unlimited
duration - potentially forever
briefly evaluate the multi store model of memory
types of LTM
describe the features of episodic memory store
-the store for personal events
-time stamped
-declarative - make a conscious effort to recall and are aware of this
types of LTM
describe the features of semantic memory store
-store for facts/general knowledge
-not time stamped
-declaritive
types of LTM
describe the features of procedural memory store
-motor skills
-not time stamped
-non declaritive
types of LTM
briefly evaluate types of LTM
working memory model
briefly describe the components of the working memory model by baddeley and hitch
CE - modality free, limited capacity. decides what we pay attention to. active during cognitive tasks
PL - acoustic, limited capacity, preserves info order. contains inner ear (holds speech info) and inner voice (maintenance rehearsal)
VSS - visual and spatial, limited capacity. contains visual cache (form and colour) and inner scribe (position in the visual field)
EB - modality free, limited capacity. takes info from all other parts to form a memory
evaluation of wmm
explanations of forgetting
outline and evaluate the 2 explanations of forgetting
1. interference - proactive (old affects new) and retroactive (new affects old).
study - ps learn 1 list until 100% accuracy. then learn another list - synonyms and antonyms. synonym ps had worst recall of original list
2. retrieval failure - for a cue to work, it must be present at encoding and retrieval = congruence.
incongruence leads to forgetting:
context dependent - environment (external cue) is different
state dependent - physiological state/mood (internal cue) is different
evaluation
eye witness testimony
describe and evaluate the studies into misleading information (leading questions, post event discussion) as a factor affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
leading questions:
-5 groups of ps watched clip of car accident
-asked qs about it, but there was one critical qs - “how fast were the cars going when they _ eachother
-‘contacted’ = lowest mean estimate, ‘smashed’ = highest
post event discussion:
-studied ps in pairs, each watched video of a crime from different povs/angles
-discussed before individual recall test
-71% said things that weren’t in their video, but were discussed vs control group 0%
-displayed memory conformity
eye witness testimony
describe and evaluate the studies into anxiety as a factor affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
