Memory key terms

Anxiety

A state of emotional and physical arousal. Anxiety is a normal reaction to socials stressful situations but can affect the accuracy of recall of an event, both positively and negatively

Capacity

The amount of information that can be stored in memory

Central executive

A component of the Emmy that contains attention and the activity of the three slave systems

Coding

The way in which information is transformed in order for it to be stored in memory

Cognitive interview

An interviewing method used to improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. It includes four stages: report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the context, and change perspective

Context-dependent failure

These refer to external cues, for example, the context of the environment

Cue

A 'trigger' of information that allows people to access a memory

Duration

The length of time information can be held in memory

Echoic memory

The part of the sensory register which stores auditory information

Episodic buffer

A component of the WMM that brings together material from the phonological loop and the visuospatioal sketchpad. It also provides a bridge between short term and long term memory

Episodic memory

Along term memory store for personal events. It includes memories for when the events occurred and also of the people, objects, places, and behaviours involved. Memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously and with effort

Eyewitness testimony (EWT)

This is someone's ability to recall details about an event they have observed. EWT usually refers to witnesses of crimes or accidents. The accuracy of EWT can be affected by factors such as misleading information, leading questions or anxiety

Iconic memory

The part of the sensory register which stores visual information

Interference

This is when forgetting occurs because one memory blocks another and this causes one or both memories to be distorted or forgotten when the memories are similar

Leading question

This is question that is phrased in a way which suggests a particular answer eg "was the knife in the accused left hand?"

Long term memory (LTM)

The permanent memory store which has unlimited capacity and the duration is up to a lifetime. Information is coded semantically (by its meaning)

Misleading information

This refers to false information given to a witness after an event but before they recall what they observed (often called post-event information). Examples of misleading information are 'leading questions' or 'post event discussion'

Multi-store model (MSM)

A model showing how memory is organised. Including the sensory register, short term memory and long term memory. It describes how information is transferred from one store to another and how it can be forgotten

Phonological loop

A component of the WMM that processes all sound based information. This incliudes spoken and written information. It is divided into two parts

the phonological store (often referred to as the 'inner ear' and stores sounds) and the articulatory control system (often referred to as the 'inner voice' where words and sounds are verbally rehearsed)

Post-event discussion

This takes place when there is more than one witness to an event. Witnesses may discuss what they have seen with other witnesses or other people. This discussion may affect the accuracy of their recall of the event

Proactive interference

This is forgetting when older memories, already stored, disrupt the recall of newer memories. Forgetting is more likely to occur is memories are similar to

Procedural memory

A long term memory store for how to do things. This includes skills of how to do things. We are able to recall memories easily and without much effort

Retrieval Failure/ Cue-dependent failure

A form of forgetting. It happens when the cues to access a particular memory aren't available. The memory is available but not accessible unless the cue is there

Retroactive interference

This is forgetting when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories which are already stored. Forgetting is more likely to occur if the memories are similar

Semantic memory

This is a long term memory store of our knowledge of the world. This includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean. We usually need to recall these memories deliberately

Sensory register

The memory store for each of our five senses. For example, vision (iconic) and hearing (echoic). The capacity of the sensory register is huge, but duration is very short (less than half a second)

Short-term memory (STM)

The memory store with limited duration (18-30 seconds), limited capacity (5-9 items) and acoustic coding (mainly by how something sounds)

State-dependent failure

These refer to internal cues, for example mood, being drunk or being under the influence of drugs. Forgetting may occur if these cues aren't available at the point of remembering

Visuospatial sketchpad (VSS)

A component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial information. Often referred to as the 'inner eye'

Working memory model WMM

A model of short-term memory only, it suggests that short term memory is an active process which has different stores for different types of information. Includes the components: Central Executive, Visio-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, and phonological loop