Memory

what is memory

the process by which we retain and recall information about events that have happened in the past

what are the two types of memory

short term

long term

what is short term memory

memory for immediate events which disappear if not rehearsed

sometimes called working memory

what is long term memory

events that have happened in the past from 2 minutes to 100 years ago

permanent memory store

what is duration of memory

the length of time memory can be held in the memory store

what is the capacity of memory

the amount of information that can be stored

what is coding of memory

the format in which information is stored in the memory stores

process of converting information from one format to another

what is acoustic coding

information is stored in the form of sounds

what is semantic coding

information is stored in the form of the meaning of the experience

describe the method of baddleys study into coding

• participants were given one list of words and asked to recall them in the correct order

• group 1- acoustically similar words

• group 2- acoustically dissimilar words

• group 3- semantically similar

• group 4- semantically dissimilar

what were the findings of Baddeleys study into coding

• when they were asked to recall words immediately after hearing it- stm- did worse with acoustically similar words

• when they were asked to recall words after a 20 minute interval they did worse with semantically similar words

what were the conclusions into Baddeleys study into coding

stm is coded acoustically

ltm is coded semantically

why did joseph jacobs suggest its easier to recall digits than numbers

there are only 9 digits whereas there are 26 letter

describe joseph jacobs study into the capacity of stm

• 1887

• used the digit span technique

• found that the average span for digits was 9.3 items and 7.3 for letters

describe george millers findings

• 1956

• reviewed psychological research

• found that the spam of immediate memory is about 7 items, sometimes more sometimes less

• 7+-2

• miller also found that if we chunk things together we can remember more

evaluate the stm dependance on modality

• average stm capacity when using ASL was 5+-1 items

• visual modalities showed higher capacity

• shows capacity of stm varies according to the type of information that is coded and the way its presented

evaluate Endress and szabo capacity of stm

• showed it had no inherent limits when it comes to remembering information

• interference from similar items which are already in our memory leads to the appearance of limited capacity

• e.g. remembering new phone numbers- difficult because we have remembered other numbers and these intrude into the recall of the new number

describe peterson and petersons study into the duration of stm

• 1959

• investigated the duration of short-term memory using a trigram recall task.

• participants were asked to remember trigrams while counting backward to prevent rehearsal.

• duration decreased with the increase of a retention period

describe the duration of ltm

• permanent storage

• lasts from days to a lifetime

• unmeasurable

• also involves memory for future information

what is prospective memory

the ability to store memory for future events and retrieve it at the appropriate time

such as remembering to attend an appointment or take medication.

evaluate the duration of stm

• testing was artificial

• lacks ecological validity due to laboratory settings and tasks that do not reflect real-life memory use.

• however- can have some relevance to everyday life- e.g. phone numbers and postcodes

evaluate the duration of ltm

• may be sensitive to interference is they were recalled

• function of reconsolidation is to strengthen important memories and prevent forgetting

• suggests that reconsolidation it may be possible to weaken or erase painful or traumatic memories- e.g. found in ptsd

evaluate stm being acoustically coded

• Brandimote et al 1992

• found participants used visual coding in stm if they were given a visual task and prevented from doing verbal rehearsal during retention interval

• suggests that although stm is primarily acoustical it is not exclusively so

evaluate ltm being exclusively semantic

• Frost 1972

• showed LT recall was related to visual as well as semantic

• concluded that pictures are encoded differently depending on task

evaluate stm and ltm being individual

• neuroimaging shows similar brain regions activate during stm and ltm

• suggests that they are not entirely seperate

who created the multi-store model of memory

Atkinson and Shiffrin

1968

describe the sensory register

• place where information is held at the senses

• capacity is large

• constantly receives information- most receives no attention and remains in the sensory register

• brief duration- 0.5 seconds

describe attention

if a persons attention is focuses on one of the sensory stores- data is transferred to stm

first step of remembering something

describe memory decay

• result of lack of rehearsal

• disappearance of the memory

describe maintenance rehearsal

repeating things you want to remember over and over again

largely verbal

more the information is rehearsed, the better it is remembered

describe memory retrieval

• getting information from ltm

• involves information passing back through stm- then is available for use

describe the case of HM

• scoville and milner 1957

• HMs brain damage was caused by an operation remove hippocampus from both sides of the brain to reduce epilepsy

• his personality remained intact but he could not form new LTMs

• could remember things before the surgery

what is the conclusion of HMs case

provides support for the MSMs notion of separate stores- as Hm was unable to transfer new info from STM to LTM

evaluate the msm being too simple

• working memory model shows working memory is divided into different stores

• however, the MSM does not account for the complexities of memory processes, such as different types of long-term memory and the role of encoding.

who created the wmm

baddeley and hitch 1974

why did baddeley and hitch think that stm was not just one model

• if you do two things at the same time and they are both different tasks, you do less well than if you do them individually

• if you do two things and the same time and one is visual and the other involves sound, you do them as well simultaneously than you would individually

• suggests there is more than one store for visual and auditory processing

describe the central executive

• directs attention to particular tasks- determining how resources are allocated

• very limited capacity

• no capacity for storing data

describe the phonological loop

• limited capacity

• deals with auditory information

what are the subdivisions of the phonological loop

phonological store

articulatory process

describe the phonological store

• holds the words you hear

• capacity is describe in terms of duration- limited to the amount you can see within 1.5-2 seconds

• acoustic coding

describe the articulatory process

• used for words heard or seen

• words are silently repeated- form of maintenance rehearsal

describe the visuo-spatial sketchpad

• limited capacity- 3-4 chunks

• seperated into visual cache and inner scribe

describe the visual cache

stores information about visual items

describe the inner scribe

stores the arrangement of objects in a visual field

when did baddeley add the episodic buffer to the wmm

2000

why was the episodic buffer added to the wmm

• he thought model needed a general store which can explain why some patients with amnesia can remember passages from a book almost immediately despite having no long-term recall

describe the episodic buffer

• storage system with limited capacity- approximately 4 chunks

• integrates information from the ce, pl and vss

• maintains a sense of time sequencing

• sends information to the LTM

describe the study of kf

• his forgetting of auditory information was greater than forgetting of visual information

• auditory forgetting was worse for verbal material but not for meaningful sounds

how does the study of KF support the wmm

• brain damage seemed to be restricted to the PL

• acoustic info is kept in the PL

• VSS is iconic coding- so keeps important information

describe Baddeleys dual task effect

participants asked to perform two tasks at a time

• 2 visual tasks

• 1 visual and 1 verbal tasks

found that participants performed better during 1 visual task and 1 verbal task

how does baddeleys dual task experiment support the wmm

• shows that the PL and VSS work independently

• participants can carry out tasks simultaneously when using different modalities.

• more capacity when different modalities were used together

describe baddeleys word length effect

• participants asked to remember shorter and longer words

• found that fewer longer words were recalled

• also found word length effect disappears if given and articulatory suppression task

how does baddeleys word length effect support the wmm

• shows the phonological loop has a limited capacity for processing auditory information.

• longer words take more time to rehearse, resulting in poorer recall compared to shorter words.

evaluate the methodology of the wmm experiments

• used lab experiments- controlled conditions- lowered internal validity

• lacks ecological validity due to artificial tasks

• results may not generalize to real-life memory situations

evaluate the central executive being too vague

• central executive doesnt really explain anything and it is largely unclear of what it does

describe the brain scan evidence for the episodic buffer

• fmri scans of participants while they completed visual and spatial tasks- separately and integrated

• found different patterns of activation in the brain- separate= posterior brain regions- integrates= prefrontal cortex

• This suggests that the episodic buffer may act as a bridge between different types of information processing in the working memory system.

what is forgetting

a person’s loss of the ability to recall or recognise something that they have previously learned

what theories replaced the decay theory

interference theory

retrieval failure

what is retrieval failure

memory is still there but you are unable to access it

what is interference

where two lots of information become confused in memory

one memory blocks another, causing one or both of the memories to be forgotten or distorted

why is forgetting likely

we can’t access memories even though they aren’t available as interference between memories makes it harder for us to locate them- experienced as forgetting

what are the types of information

proactive interference

retroactive interference

what is proactive interference

where old learning/memories affect the recall of new information

what is retrospective interference

where new learning/memories affect the recall of old information

what were the tasks in the McGeoch and McDonald study

1931

Ps given a list of 10 adjectives- list A

given list B during a 10 minute resting interval

recalled list A after 10 minutes

what were the findings of the McGeoch and McDonald stfudy

if list B was synonymous of list A, recall was poor- 12%

is list B was nonsense, 26% recall

if list B was numbers- smallest effect- 37% recall

what was the conclusion of the McGeoch and McDonald study

interference is strongest the more similar the items are

what is the encoding specificity principle

• argues that for a cue to be helpful in recall, it has to be present at encoding and retrieval

• if the cues at encoding and retrieval are different, or the cues are completely absent at retrieval, there will be some forgetting

what is retrieval failure

the memory is inaccessible due to the lack of cues, but the memories are available

what is a meaningful cue

related to what you are trying to remember

what is a non-meaningful cues

not related directly to what is being remembered

what is an external contextual cue

features of the environment when the memory was encoded

e.g. classroom

what is an internal contextual cue

physical and/or mental state when the memory was encoded

e.g. stresses, happy, relaxed or drunk

what is context-dependent forgetting

being in a different place at recall may inhibit memory

external cues are available at learning are different from those at recall- leads to retrieval failure

what is state-dependent forgetting

being in a different mood/state of arousal at recall may inhibit memory

internal cues at learning are different from those at recall- leads to retrieval failure

e.g. drunk vs sober

describe Godden and baddeley’s study into retrieval failure

deep sea divers worked underwater and they had to learn a list of words either on land or underwater

4 conditions

recall was 40% lower in the non matching context conditions

evaluate godden and baddeleys study of retrieval failure

low ecological validity

lacks mundane realism

contexts are extremely different from one another- rare for this to be replicated in real life

internal physiological differences may cause the true effect

describe carter and cassaday’s study into retrieval failure

gave anti-histamine drugs to their participants- had a mild sedative effect

creates a different internal state

participants learned lists of words and a passage of prose and then recalled the information

done in different conditions

recall was worse with a mismatch between state at encoding and retrieval

evaluate the carter and cassaday study into retrieval failure

individual differences- may make them more or less drowsy

ethical issues- giving participants a drug they don’t need

what is an eyewitness

someone who has seen or witnesses a crime

what is an eyewitness testimony

the ability of the person who saw the crime to remember the details of the events they have observed

they provide this evidence in court

what is a leading question

a question that, either by its form or its content, suggests to the witness what answer is desired or leads them to the desired answer

what is a post event discussion

a conversation between two eye-witnesses or an interviewer and an eye witness after a crime has taken place which may contaminate a witness’ memory for the event

describe Loftus and Palmer’s research

substitution explanation- wording changes the participants memory of the film clip

the actual speed for contacted was 31.8mph and for smashed was 40.5mph

describe the limitations of post event discussion

eyewitness testimonies may becomes contaminated and therefore affects the accuracy of their recall

witness may combine information from other witnesses with their own memories

describe Gabbert et al. research

each participant watched a video of the same crime from a different perspective and then discussed

found that 71% of the participants recalled aspects of the event that they had no seen in the video - memory conformity

what is anxiety

a state of emotional and physical arousal

the emotions include having worried thoughts and feelings of tension

physical changes include an increased heart rate and sweating

describe anxiety as having a positive effect on recall

physiological arousal triggers fight or flight which increases alertness and improves memory as we are more aware of cues in the situation

describe anxiety as having a negative effect on recall

creates physiological arousal which prevents us paying attention to important cues so recall is worse

describe the tunnel theory

argues that a witness’ attention narrows to focus on a weapon as it is the source of the anxiety

this leads to the weapon focus effect where this tunnel focus then negatively affects the recall of the overall event

describe the yerkes-dodson law

performance increases with arousal up to an optimum point and then declines with further increases

describe Johnson and Scott’s research

1st, man left a lab with a pen and grease on his hands

2nd, sound of breaking glass and crashing, followed by a man leaving the lab carrying a paper knife covered in blood

49% of p’s identified the man holding the pen but 33% identified the man with the knife

evaluate Johnson and Scott’s research

realism of the event would affect the anxiety felt

fake situation

describe Christianson and Hubinette’s research

witnesses from real bank robberies were interviewed after the crime

some were further from the crime and some were personally threatened

those who were most anxious and threatened during the crime had the best recall

what is a cognitive interview

memory enhancing technique to help witnesses recall more details about an event

what is the definition of report everything

the witness is encourages to include every single detail of the event, even if they seem irrelevant

why is reporting everything important in a cognitive interview

witnesses may not realise that some details are important, and these may trigger other important memories

define reinstating the context in cognitive interviews

the witness should return to the original crime scene in their mind and imagine the environment and their emotions

why is reinstating the context important

recalling how you felt and the environment could act as context and state cues for information about the event