Memory

encoding

The process of changing information from one form to another so that it can be stored for later recall.

Storage

information is kept in your brain for a period of time

Retrieval

The process of accessing information that has been stored in your brain and being able to use it.

Episodic

Describes memeory for personal events e.g people,objects,places behaviours involed

Semantic

is a store for our knowledge of the world. Includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concept means

Procedural

Is our knowledge of how to do things. Includes memories of learned skills/skilled actions. Usually we recall these memory without making a consious or deliberate effort.

The multi store model of memory

• memory happens when we recieve info from a stimulis from the environment

• then it goes to your sensory register eyes,ears,fingertip,nose

• sensory memory has a high capacity but short duration unless paid attention to but if you do tranfers to your STM

• STM, limited capacity 5-9 chunck of info can be stored, conding accustic,duration 30 sec

• prologed maintainace rehersal

• LTM, unlimited capacity,coding semantic,lifetime duration

Strength of MSM

• evidence for different memory store

• clearly shows coding in STM is acoustic and LTM is semantic

• support views that stores are seperate/independent

Weakness of MSM

• too simple

• model suggest we have two stores/research found store have seperate parts

• memory is more complex than MSM

Weakness of MSM

• use artificial memory task

• study required participants to recall word list

• does not focus on the different ways we use memory

Primacy effect

refers to what happens first - words that appear in the being of the list are more likey to be recalled than the words in the middle of the list.

Recency effect

refers to what has happend most recently - words that appear towards the end of the list will be heard most recently and will be stored in STM so reacall for thses words are the best.

Murdocks Serial position curve study

Aim- Memory of words was affected by number of word a person had to remeber

Method

• 103 psychology students tested in groups

• each listened to 20 different word list which varied in length of 10-40

• Results

• recall was related to postition of words on the list

• higher recall fisrt few words

• highest recall final few words

Conclusion

• serial position effect

• recency effect was the strongest since it was still in the STM

• First few words rememberd since reherased the logest and still in the LTM

• supports the MSM

Strength of Murdock’s Study

• carried out in a very controlled lab which increases the validity of the findings

• familiarity of the words and speed of the list could be controlled

• nothing could affect the dv or findings

Weakness if Murdocks’s Study

• represents a small part of what we do with our memory

• can only tell us how we deal with artificial tasks

• does not refelct how we use our memeory in our every day lives/ lacks mundane realism

Strength of Murdock’s Study

• research with amnesia supports conslusions

• people who have amnesia and can’t store LTM don’t show a primacy effect but show a recency effect

• proof primacy effect is related to LTM

The theory of reconstructed memory

• memeory is an active process

• store fragments of info when needed to recall we build on them into meaningful whole

• results is that elements and memeories are not accurate

• the info we store in our LTM been changed before recorded

• we record small pieces and recombine them to tell a full story

• each time the story is told elements combine is slightly different

• social and cultural expectations influence storage and/or recall

“Effort after Meaning”

• we focus on the meaning of events

• afterwards we make effort to try to make sense

  of the fragments in more familar terms

• invovles changing bits of memory to make them “fit”

Bartlett’s war of Ghost Study Aim

Aim

• how memory is reconstructed when people are asked to recall something repeatedly over a period of weeks/months

• use a story from a different culture to see how culture expectations effect memory

Bartlett’s war of Ghost Study Method and results

Method

• used serial reproduction

• participants read the war of ghost story recalled it 15 min after

• next partcipants read the reaclled version

• he kept a succsesive recall to track what had changed

  Results

• participants rememberd different parts of the story and interpretate the story with their own social and culture expectations

• story shortend and phrases were used from participants own culture

Bartlett’s war of Ghost Study conclusion

• transformation makes material eaiser to remeber

• don’t remeber detail remember fragments use our own knowledge of social situations to reconstruct memory

• indviduals remember meaning and invented details that fit their culture expectations to make it simple to remeber therefore it becomes our memory

Bartlett’s war of Ghost Study weakness

• conducted casually/no set standard about where and how to recall info

• participants not givin clear instructions/but when givin recall was more accurate

• recall is more accurate then what bartlett suggested

Bartlett’s war of Ghost Study weakness

• own belief might of effected how he interpretated data

• barttlet analyased the data/decided what was accurate recall and not( bais effect the data)

• can not fully trust the results of study

Bartlett’s war of Ghost Study weakness

• study unsual not reflected on everday memory process

• most memory from realife experiences not culture expectations

• tells us very little about everyday memory

Memory as an active process: Bartlett’s war of Ghost Study

• memories fromed through reconstruction

• if info to be remember is unfamiliar/unusual people will impose more familar expectations to make story more familiar

• expectations based on cultural knowledge or schemas

Interference

forgetting may occur if two memories compete with each other. one memory prevents us accessing the other.

proactive interference

when older information prevents the recall of newer information

Retroactive interference

when more recent information gets in the way of trying to recall older information

Context

is the situation in which something happens it can act as a cue to recall information thus enhancing the accuracy of memory.

False memory

a memory for something that did not happen but feels as if it were a true memory.