Memory Topic 2

Question 1

define coding

Answer 1

the way information is stored in different memory stores

Question 2

outline the research on coding

Answer 2

Baddeley’s study: gave 4 different groups of pps a different list of words to memorise: grp 1- acoustically similar, 2- acoustically dissimilar, 3- semantically similar, 4- semantically dissimilar. Found that when asked to recall from STM (right away) acoustically similar did the worse, whilst when asked to recall from LTM, semantically similar performed worst recall. Conclusion: STM is coded acoustically, and LTM is coded semantically.

Question 3

define capacity

Answer 3

how much info a memory store can hold

Question 4

outline the two studies done on capacity

Answer 4

1) Jacobs: he measured digit span. researchers read out 4 digits to pps and they had to recall in correct order. If the order was correct, researchers added another digit until they could no longer recall in the correct order. Found that for digits the mean span was 9.3 and for letters it was 7.3.

Miller: observed that many things come in 7s. e.g. 7 days of the week. concluded that STM for capacity is 7 +/- 2.

Question 5

Research on duration of STM

Answer 5

Peterson and Peterson: study done on 24 students. They gave each one a consonant syllable to remember and also a 3 digit number to count backwards from until they were told to stop (done to prevent maintenance rehearsal). They were told to stop counting at varying points: after 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds. At 3 seconds, recall= 80%, 18 seconds 3%. STM duration= 18 seconds.

Question 6

Research on Duration in LTM

Answer 6

Bahrick et al: studied LTM in 392 American graduates aged 17-74. Recall was tested using photo recognition of 50 photos some of which from their graduating class and it was also tested using free recall where they had to name all pps in their graduating class. They found that after 15 yrs graduation, 90% accuracy for photo recognition and 60% for free recall. After 48 yrs graduation, 70% accuracy photo recognition and 30% free recall. LTM can last up to a lifetime.

Question 7

Evaluation of studies on coding, capacity and duration

Answer 7

For Baddeley, Jacobs and Peterson and Peterson: artificial stimuli was used and not meaningful material- difficult to say how their findings can relate to everyday life situations.
Bahrick et al: has external validity as meaningful stimuli used.
Jacob: been replicated many times to produce the same findings.

Question 8

describe how information flows through the multi-store model of memory

Answer 8

all info enters the sensory register. if you pay attention to the info it goes into the STM store. If prolonged rehearsal is done it goes into the LTM. In retrieval it goes back to the STM.

Question 9

The sensory register

Answer 9

this is the first part of the MSM. All info first passes into here. It has five different memory stores for each sense. Coding in this store depends on the sense e.g. the store coding for visual info is iconic memory and the store coding acoustically is for echoic memory. The duration is less than half a second. it has a very high capacity.

Question 10

The short term memory store in the MSM

Answer 10

coded acoustically, duration= 18 seconds limited capacity. If prolonged rehearsal happens then it goes into LTM.

Question 11

the long term memory store in the MSM

Answer 11

permanent memory store. codes semantically. believed to have duration lasting for lifetime. capacity- unlimited.

Question 12

Evaluation of the multi-store model of memory

Answer 12

PEEL+: strength, supporting research that STM and LTM are separate stores. e.g. Baddeley found that asking pps to recall from STM- did worse on acoustically similar whilst when asking to recall from LTM did worse on semantically similar- indicates that STM codes acoustically and LTM codes semantically highlighting that they are different stores as the MSM suggests. However, many studies, including Baddeley, Jacobs, and Peterson and Peterson that show the differences between STM and LTM use artificial stimuli. This lowers the validity of their findings as they do not reflect everyday life. This means that perhaps information is stored differently when its more meaningful information as it would be in everyday life, limiting the findings of these studies, and therefore limiting the MSM.

PEEL+: Limitation, evidence for more than one STM store. Shallice and Warrington study on KF- had amnesia due to brain injury from motorcycle accident. STM for digits when read to him= poor but when read to himself significantly improved. This supports the idea that within the STM there are separate stores for sound and visual info. However, it’s unclear whether KF had any other cognitive impairments which may have affected his performance on the memory task. In addition to this, this is a case study only done on one person and so it is difficult to generate nomothetic laws of behaviour for an entire population.

Question 13

name the 4 parts of the working memory model

Answer 13

1) central executive
2) phonological loop
3) visuo-spatial sketchpad
4) episodic buffer

Question 14

central executive function

Answer 14

monitors incoming data, focuses our limited attention, and coordinates the activities of the 3 subsystems.
it has a limited capacity.
does not store information.

Question 15

phonological loop

Answer 15

deals with auditory info and so codes acoustically. it maintains the order in which info arrives.
divided into: phonological store which stores word heard and read, and the articulatory process which is responsible for maintenance rehearsal.

Question 16

visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 16

stores visual and spatial information. it has a limited capacity.
subdivided into:
1) visual cache- stores visual info
2) inner scribe- deals with spatial and movement based data.

Question 17

Episodic Buffer

Answer 17

a temporary store for info, integrating all auditory, visual and spatial information into one memory. It maintains the order of events in which the memories happened. Links WMM to LTM.

Question 18

Evaluation of the WMM

Answer 18

PEEL+: a strength is supporting research. In Shallice and Warrington’s case study they studied a client called KF who had experienced brain injury. When words read to him he struggled to recall from STM but when he read them to himself, he could easily recall them. Phonological loop damaged but visuo-spatial sketchpad still worked. However, unknown whether KF had other cognitive problems which may have affected his ability to do well in the memory task. Furthermore, it is a case study so it is difficult to create nomothetic laws from just one study.

PEEL+: limitation is research contradicting the WMM. In the case study of EVR, after he had his tumor removed, part of his central executive (CE) still worked as he had a high IQ. However, he no longer had the ability to make decisions which suggests that part of his CE was damaged. Criticises WMM as suggests incomplete. In addition to this, Baddeley further suggests that there’s a lack of clarity over the nature of the CE. He claims that it’s the most important part of the WMM, yet the least info is known about it further indicating that the WMM is incomplete.

Question 19

what are the three types of LTM

Answer 19

1) episodic memory
2) semantic memory
3) procedural memory

Question 20

episodic memory

Answer 20

recalling memories of events from our lives.
it’s time stamped (remember when they happened)
must make a conscious effort to recall

Question 21

Semantic memory

Answer 21

memory for shared knowledge of the world
not time stamped
don’t make conscious effort to recall
less vulnerable to forgetting then episodic

Question 22

procedural memory

Answer 22

the memory for skills and actions
they eventually become unconscious
it’s not time-stamped
difficult to describe in words

Question 23

Evaluation of long term memory

Answer 23

PEEL+: supporting research from case study. Clive Wearing had a damaged hippocampus. He was unable to remember an event 30 seconds after it happened but he could remember how to play the piano and remembered his wife. This shows that his episodic memory was damaged whilst his semantic and procedural memory remained intact. This supports the idea that there are different long term memory stores. However, there is a lack of control over variables in this study. This is because the researchers had no control over what happened in Wearing’s life before the infection which means that they don’t know how much damage was caused by the infection. Furthermore, it is a case study and so only done on one person making it difficult to generalise the findings to all.

PEEL+: there’s supporting evidence that LTM has different types of memory from brain scans. In Buckner and Peterson’s study they found in their review of neuroimaging evidence that semantic memory is located on the left side of the prefrontal cortex and episodic memory is on the right. However, this has been challenged by Tulving who found that coding of episodic memory occurs on the left side of the prefrontal cortex and retrieval happens on the right side. This is significant as the two findings indicate a lack of agreement between researchers on where different types of long term memory are located. Therefore, although there is evidence that there are different types of long term memory due to different locations, the locations are not confirmed and so lowers the validity and understanding of different types of LTM.

Question 24

interference theory- why does forgetting occur?

Answer 24

forgetting occurs when two pieces of information from memory disrupt each other causing forgetting of one or both memories, or distortion of the memories.

Question 25

what are the two types of interference

Answer 25

proactive interference - when older memory interferes with a newer memory retroactive interference - when a newer memory interferes with an older memory.

Question 26

Procedure of McGeoch and McDonald's study

Answer 26

all participants had to learn the same list of 10 words until could remember completely. The participants were then given a new list to learn. There were 6 different conditions, and the participants in each condition were given a different list. Condition 1 were given synonyms to the original list, 2- antonyms to og list. 3 were given unrelated words, 4- consonant syllables, 5- 3 digit numbers and group 6 weren't given a new list as they acted as control group.

Question 27

Evaluation of Interference theory as an explanation for forgetting

Answer 27

PEEL+: A strength is that there's supporting research from McGeoch and McDonald's study. They found that when asking pps to recall the original list of words after learning a new list, the group who had to learn synonyms produced the worst recall. This clearly shows that earlier memory can be blocked by later memories which is an example of retroactive interference. The study also shows that the effect of interference is more likely to take place when the memories are similar. In addition to this, a methodological strength of the study is that it as high levels of control since it was a lab experiment, meaning that all extraneous variables were controlled ensuring that any forgetting that did take place was definitely due to interference increasing the validity of the study. Therefore, McGeoch and McDonald's findings are good evidence to support interference theory. PEEL+: Supporting research from Baddeley and Hitch. They asked rugby players to recall the names of teams they had played that season. All the players had played for the same interval of one season but the number of games played varied due to injury. They found that players who played the most games, had the poorest recall. This shows that interference does occur in real world situations increasing the validity of interference as an explanation for forgetting. However, although interference may cause some forgetting in everyday life, this is unusual as the conditions for forgetting happen due to interference are rare. The conditions must be similar to one another in order for the two memories to interfere which doesn't happen on an everyday basis. This indicates perhaps forgetting is not due to interference and is better explained by other theories such as retrieval failure.

Question 28

retrieval failure due to absence of cues- why do ppl forget?

Answer 28

ppl forget due to an absence of cues. when information associated with a memory is originally stored, cues associated with it are also stored. if the cues are not available during recall, then retrieval failure will happen and the memories that are there will not be accessible.

Question 29

who introduced the encoding specificity principle and what does it state?

Answer 29

introduced by Tulving if a cue will be useful, it must be present at the time of learning and at the time of retrieval. If the cues during learning and retrieval are different then some forgetting will happen.

Question 30

what are the two examples of non-meaningful cues and explain them.

Answer 30

1) context-dependent forgetting: recall is dependent on the external cues. if external environment is not the same at learning and recall then some forgetting will happen. 2) state-dependent forgetting: recall is dependent on the internal cues. if the internal environment is not the same at learning and at recall then some forgetting will happen.

Question 31

procedure and findings of study on state-dependent forgetting

Answer 31

done by carter and cassidy gave pps an antihistamine drug which made them drowsy putting them in a different physiological state to their normal one which is much more alert. there were 4 different conditions for the pps to learn the words: 1) learn on drug, recall on drug, 2) learn on drug, recall off drug, 3) learn off drug, recall on drug, 4) learn off drug, recall off drug. they found that when the internal states were different, their performance dropped significantly. this shows that when there's an absence of cues= forgetting.

Question 32

research on context-dependent forgetting: only procedure

Answer 32

Godden and Baddeley gave divers a list of words to learn either on land or underwater. There were 4 different conditions for learning and recalling: 1) learn on land, recall on land, 2) learn on land, recall underwater, 3) learn underwater, recall on land, 4) learn underwater, recall underwater.

Question 33

Evaluation of forgetting due to absence of cues

Answer 33

PEEL+: research supporting context-dependent forgetting as part of retrieval failure theory. In Godden and Baddeley's study, they found that recall dropped by 40% when the participants had to either learn the words on land and recall underwater or learn underwater and recall on land. This clearly provides evidence that if the external environment is different at learning and at recall then forgetting will occur due to an absence of cues. However, this research has been criticised since Baddeley points out that the different conditions in real life of when learning and recalling happen aren't so different. This means that this study may show that forgetting only occurs when the two situations are extremely different. Therefore, although this research does support context-dependent forgetting, it lacks in generalisability to real life and so this lowers the validity of the study. PEEL+: there's supporting evidence for retrieval failure. In Tulving and Psotka's research they gave pps a list of words organised into categories. Once the pps learnt the first list they were given the second list. The pps were not told the categories it was organised into. For the first list, there was 70% accurate recall, but as they added on another list, recall declined. However, at the end of the procedure the pps were told the categories and recall rose again to 70%. This clearly shows that when cues are present less forgetting occurs. However, this study may be scientifically invalid. That's because there is no way to scientifically test if the cue has been encoded or not. The researchers have made assumptions that if recall rose then the cue would have been encoded. This lowers the scientific validity of the study and also decreases the theory that forgetting is due to an absence of cues.

Question 34

define leading questions

Answer 34

these are questions from the interviewer that encourage a certain answer which could influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Question 35

Loftus and Palmer's study: procedure

Answer 35

45 pps watched clips of car accidents and were then asked questions on the clips. The critical question was 'how fast were the cars going when they ... each other'. There were 5 different conditions, and in each condition a different verb was used to describe how the cars interacted: contacted, bumped, hit, collided and smashed.

Question 36

Loftus and Palmer findings

Answer 36

when collided was used the mean speed estimate was 31.8. when smashed was used it was 40.5.

Question 37

Explanation of why leading questions affect eye witness testimony

Answer 37

can be explained by the response-bias explanation. How the question is worded does not affect their memory of the event. It influences how they choose to answer.

Question 38

define post-event discussions

Answer 38

this is when eyewitnesses discuss the memories of the event with one another influencing the accuracy of recall of the event.

Question 39

Gabbert et al's study: procedure

Answer 39

pps were placed in pairs and then each pair watched a video of the same crime but from different perspectives. The pps then discussed what they had seen in the video before completing a test. they were compared to a control group where no discussion took place.

Question 40

Gabbert et al's study: findings

Answer 40

they found in the paired group 71% of pps recalled events not from their video but rather what they had heard from the discussion. In comparison in the control group, there was 0% inaccurate recall.

Question 41

give the two reasons post event discussion affects eye-witness testimony

Answer 41

1) memory contamination: when two witnesses discuss what they saw in an event, it causes their testimonies to become distorted. this is because their memory becomes combined with the memories of other witnesses. 2) memory conformity: witnesses may change their testimony in order to go along with the other witnesses. This may be for social approval or as they think the other witnesses are right.

Question 42

Evaluation of misleading information affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Answer 42

PEEL+: A strength is that Loftus and Palmer's study has high internal validity which increases the validity of their findings. This is because their study was a lab study and so all extraneous and confounding variables were controlled. This ensures that any difference in the mean estimated speed was definitely due to the different verbs used. Furthermore, it means that the study is replicable and can be done in similar experiments, further increasing the validity of the study. However, due to the high control over variables, it lowers the external validity of the study. The study does not properly represent real life situations meaning that it lacks mundane realism. One example of this may be that watching a video of a car crash is completely different to experiencing one in real life and so how people report information would also be different. PEEL+: there's real world application into the research on misleading questions and post-event discussions. There are severe consequences for inaccurate recall of an event. Loftus pointed out that officers should be extremely careful in the way they phrase their questions to the eyewitnesses in order to ensure that no leading questions are asked. This is because leading questions can lead to a distortion of memory. Furthermore, officers should try to prevent any witnesses from discussing the event after it happened as it can lead to memory contamination and memory conformity. They should also attempt to ask the eyewitnesses separately which would further low the probability of memory conformity happening. This would ensure that eyewitness testimonies are more accurate. However, other researchers such as Foster et al suggest that what the eyewitnesses remember is much more important in real life than in a study and so the pps may be less accurate in recall in a study than they would be in real life.

Question 43

define anxiety

Answer 43

unpleasant state of emotional and physical arousal. It's characterised by tension, worried thoughts and physical change

Question 44

procedure of research that anxiety has negative effect on recall and who carried it out

Answer 44

Johnson and Scott: pps thought they were waiting to take part in a lab study. There were two different conditions: in the first condition, which was the low anxiety level one, the pps heard a normal conversation in the next room and then saw a man walk out with grease on his hands and carrying a pen. In the second condition which was the high anxiety level one, the pps heard a heated argument in the next room and heard glass smashing. they then saw a man walk out with a bloody knife. The pps then had to identify the man from 50 photos

Question 45

Johnson and Scott findings

Answer 45

49% of pps in the low-anxiety condition who saw the man carrying a pen were able to identify the man. In comparison, in the high anxiety condition who saw him carrying a knife, only 33% were able to identify him.

Question 46

Johnson and Scott Conclusions

Answer 46

they concluded that this happens for two reasons: 1) tunnel theory: anxiety creates a physical and emotional arousal in the body causing an individual's attention to become narrowed and focused on only part of the situation. They don't pay attention to any other cues and so they cannot recall other aspects. 2) Weapon focus: when a weapon is present, they are more likely to focus on this and don't pay attention to anything else.

Question 47

procedure of research on anxiety having a positive effect on recall and who conducted it

Answer 47

Yuille and Cutshall study: they interviewed 13 witnesses to an actual shooting in a gun shop in Canada where the shop owner shot a thief. They interviewed them 4-5 months after the incident. They compared their findings to the police reports from the time of the shooting and determined accuracy by the number of details reported on each account. They also asked the witnesses how stressed they were during the incident and whether they've had any emotional problems since.

Question 48

Yuille and Cutshall findings

Answer 48

there was little change in the accuracy of the details reported after 5 months. Those with the highest stress levels produced the most accurate recall of around 88% whilst the less stressed witnesses accurately recalled around 75% after 5 months.

Question 49

Yuille and Cutshall conclusion/ explanation

Answer 49

in real world situations anxiety does not seem to effect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and may actually enhance it. This is because anxiety triggers the body's 'fight or flight response' increasing alertness and so the individual becomes more aware of the cues, improving their memory.

Question 50

What is the Yerkes Dodson law

Answer 50

lower levels of anxiety/ arousal produces a less accurate recall. as arousal increases, memory also increases until the optimum point. Once anxiety reaches the optimum, any increase in arousal will produce a less accurate recall.

Question 51

Evaluation of anxiety as a factor affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Answer 51

PEEL+: Supporting evidence that anxiety has positive effects on recall. In Christianson and Hubinette's study they interviewed 58 witnesses to a bank robbery in Sweden. Some of the witnesses were indirectly involved as they were by bystanders and some who were workers at the bank were directly involved. The researchers assumed that those directly involved would be the most anxious and so produce the worst recall. They found that recall was over 75% accurate in all witnesses and those with more anxiety produced the most accurate recall. However, Christianson and Hubinette only interviewed the witnesses 4-15 months after the event and so had no control over what the participants did between them. Their accuracy and also anxiety may have been affected by other factors such as post-event discussion. This makes it more difficult to measure anxiety by the time the witnesses were interviewed, lowering the validity of their findings. PEEL+: A strength is that there's supporting research that anxiety has a negative effect on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. Valentine and Mesout conducted a study in the Horror Labyrinth at the London dudgeon where the participants would experience a series of scary events, including one where a scary actor would step out and block the participants. After their visit, the participants completed a state-anxiety questionnaire and were also asked to do identify the scary actor from a series of photos. They found that when anxiety was higher, the accuracy of the participants memory significantly decreased. This indicates that anxiety does reduce the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, especially since this study was done in a real world environment where the pps did not know they were participating in a study, therefore lowering the likelihood of demand characteristic being an issue. However, there are ethical concerns from this study since the pps experienced high levels of stress without giving any consent. This suggests that the pps may have been put at additional harm to what they would normally experience in every day life. This lowers the ethical validity of the study and so challenges whether it was appropriate to be carried out.

Question 52

what is the cognitive interview

Answer 52

it is a way of interviewing witnesses to help them to remember more accurate information about the event. Fisher and Geiselman suggest that eyewitness testimony can be improved if the police use better techniques which are based on the psychological knowledge of human memory.

Question 53

what are the 4 techniques of the cognitive interview

Answer 53

1) report everything 2) reinstate the context 3) reverse the order 4) change the perspective

Question 54

report everything technique of CI and why is it important

Answer 54

witnesses are encouraged to say every detail of the event even if it may seem irrelevant. This is important as their memories will be interconnected and so by stating one thing, it can lead to remembering something else.

Question 55

Reinstate the context technique of the CI and why is it important

Answer 55

witnesses encouraged to mentally return to the event in their mind. They are also told to imagine the environment and their emotions at the time. This is important as it may provide cues for them to make more memories accessible.

Question 56

Reverse the order technique of the CI and why is it important

Answer 56

witnesses asked to recall the events in a different order than the original sequence. This is important as it prevents them from saying what must have happened and instead they say what actually happened. it also prevents dishonesty as harder to lie when saying it backwards.

Question 57

Change the perspective technique of the CI and why is it important

Answer 57

witnesses are asked to recall the event from someone else's point of view. This is important as it reduces the effects of schema. Schema causes the witness to say what they expect to happen instead of what actually did happen.

Question 58

what is the enhanced cognitive interview and who introduced it

Answer 58

introduced by Fisher et al. they added elements to the CI that help the social aspect of the interview. The interviewer should know when to establish eye contact, reduce witness anxiety, minimise any external distractions, ask open ended questions, and encourage the interviewee to speak slowly.

Question 59

Evaluation of Cognitive Interview

Answer 59

PEEL+: A strength is that there's supporting evidence that it works. Kohnken et al conducted a met-analysis of 55 studies. They combined the data from these studies and compared the cognitive interview with the standard police interview. They found that the CI gave an increase in accurate information recalled by 41% compared to the standard interview. Only 4 of the studies showed no difference between the two types of interview, therefore supporting that the CI does work. However, Kohnken et al also found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by the pps. When the ECI was used, the amount of inaccurate info increased more than with the CI. Perhaps the CI may sacrifice the accuracy of the statement for more details, even if they're incorrect. This lowers the validity of their study as well as lowering the validity of the CI indicating that when using the CI or ECI it should be done with caution. PEEL+: A limitation is that not all the elements of the cognitive interview are equally effective. For example, in Milne and Bulls study, they found that when each technique was used by itself, more information was recalled than when the standard police interview was used. They also found that when report everything and reinstate the context were used together, this produced better recall than when any other elements or other combination of elements were used. This clearly highlights that perhaps not all parts of the CI are useful, casting unsureness on whether the CI works effectively. In addition to this study, there is also evidence that the CI isn't equally effective for all people. For example, in Mello and Fisher's study, they compared the effectiveness of the CI on older and younger men. In their study, participants watched a video of a crime and were then interviewed about what they saw. some were interviewed using the standard police interview and some with the CI. they found that older adults produced better accurate recall with the CI than younger adults. However, both age groups recall was better with the CI than standard. Therefore, although this study does show that the CI is better than the standard interview, it also indicates that it is more effective on older eyewitnesses than younger.