Short-term memory (STM)
The limited capacity memory store. In STM, coding is mainly acoustic, capacity is 7 +/- 2 and duration is 18 seconds
Long-term memory (LTM)
The permanent memory store. In LTM, coding is mainly semantic, it has unlimited capacity and can store up to a lifetime
Coding
The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores
Capacity
The amount of information that can be held in the memory store
Duration
The length of time information can be held in memory
Acoustic
The perception and retainment of of sound
Semantic
General facts
Digit span
A measure of verbal short term and working memory
Chunking
Grouping sets of digits and letters into units
Multi-store model (MSM)
A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, STM and LTM. It also describes how information is transferred from one store to another
Sensory Register
The memory store for each of our five senses. The capacity involves millions of receptors and has a duration of 0.5 seconds
Maintenance rehearsal
The process of repetition to retain memories in the STM
Episodic memory
A LTM memory store for personal events, memories of events, people, objects, places and behaviours. These memories of recalled consciously
Semantic memory
A LTM memory store for our general knowledge. These memories are called consciously
Procedural memory
A LTM memory store for our knowledge of actions including learnt skills. These memories are usually recalled unconsciously
Working memory model (WMM)
A representation of STM. It suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using sub units coordinated by a central decision-making system
Central executive (CE)
The component of the WMM that coordinates the activities of the three sub systems in memory. It allocates processing resources to those activities
Phonological loop (PL)
The component of the WMM that processes information in terms of sound. This includes both written and spoken material. It’s divided into the phonological store and the articulatory process
Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)
The component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial information in a mental space
Episodic buffer (EB)
The component of the WMM that brings together material from the other subsystems unto a single memory rather than seperate strands. It also provides a bridge between working memory and LTM
Phonological store
Stores words you hear
Articulatory process
Allows maintenance rehearsal to keep the sounds in working memory
Visual cache
Stores visual data
Inner scribe
Records the arrangement of objects in the visual field
Interference
Forgetting because one memory blocks another, causing one of both memories to be distorted or forgotten
proactive interference (PI)
Forgetting occurs when older memories, already stored, disrupt the recall of newer memories. The degree of forgetting is greater when the memories are similar
Retroactive interference (RI)
Forgetting occurs when newer memories disrupt the recall of older memories already stored. The degree of forgetting is similar when memories are similar
Retrieval failure
A form of forgetting. It occurs when we don’t have the necessary cues to access memory. The memory is available but not accessible unless a suitable cue is provided
Cue
A trigger of information that allows us access to a memory
Encoding specificity principle (ESP)
For a cue to be helpful it has to be present at time of learning and time of retrieval
Context-dependent forgetting
Recall depends on external cues
State-dependent forgetting
Recall depends on internal cues
Eyewitness testimony (EWT)
The ability of people to remember the details of events which they have observed. Accuracy can be affected by factors such as misleading information and anxiety
Misleading information
Incorrect information given to an eyewitness usually after the event. It can take many forms such as leading questions and post-event discussion
Leading questions
A question which suggests a certain answer due to phrasing
Post-event discussion (PED)
Occurs when there is more than one witness to an event. Witnesses may discuss what they have seen with co-witnesses or with other people which may influence others recall of the event
Anxiety
A state of emotional and physical arousal. Although a normal reaction to stress, it can effect accuracy of detail in EWT
Tunnel theory
People’s memory is enhanced on central events
Yerkes-Dodson law
The relationship between task accuracy and stress
Cognitive interview (CI)
A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories. It uses four main techniques: report everything, reinstate context, reverse the order and change perspective
Enhanced cognitive interview (ECI)
Additional elements to the CI based around social dynamics: minimising distractions, eye contact and open-ended questions
Baddeley - Coding Study
4 groups (acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar and semantically dissimilar)
Lists were handed out for each group and results showed STM is worse acoustically similar and LTM is worse with semantically similar words
Suggests coding is done acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM
Jacobs - Capacity (Digit Span)
Researcher reads out 4 digits at a time and the participant then recalls these (little issue)
Digit span increases until participant struggles
Digit mean is is 9 and letter span 7
Miller - Capacity (Chunking)
Theorised capacity is 7 +/- 2 in STM
people could recall 5 words as easily as 5 letters through chunking
Peterson and Peterson - Duration of STM
24 students with 8 trials each
given an consonant syllable (YCG) and a 3-digit number to count backwards from (stopping rehearsal)
Time increments for countdown in each trial (3, 6, 9, 12 seconds)
3 seconds = 80% accuracy
18 seconds = 3% accuracy
Suggests that STM is approx. 18 seconds unless rehearsed
Bahrick - Duration of LTM
392 American participants
High school yearbooks used for photo-recognition, name recall and free recall
Within 15 years of graduation photo recognition was 90%, 48 years 70%
Within 15 years free recall was 60% and 30% after 48 years
Atkinson and Shiffrin
Developed the multi-store-model (MSM)
Case study - HM
Epileptic and underwent removal surgery on the hippocampus
Damaged STM and destroyed LTM
Procedural memory was able to improve (part of hippocampus was left)
Tulving - LTM Stores
found the MSM to simplistic for LTM
Created three memory store types episodic, semantic and procedural
Case Study - Clive Wearing
Viral infection resulted in retrograde amnesia
Permanent damage to LTM and STM of a few seconds
Procedural and semantic memory remained intact and episodic was destroyed
Buckner and Peterson - Memory Store Placements
Semantic memory was on the left side of the prefrontal cortex
Episodic memory was on the right side of the prefrontal cortex
Baddeley and Hitch - The Working Memory Model
Created the Working Memory Model
An explanation of how one aspect of memory is organised and its function
Consists of four main components - all qualitatively different in terms of coding and capacity
Baddeley - Episodic Buffer
Added the episodic buffer to the WMM in 2000
A temporary store for information which maintains time sequencing
Can be viewed as the storage component of the CE but has a limited capacity of about four chunks
Case Study - KF
After a brain injury KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual normally
KF’s phonological loop were damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was intact
Supporting evidence of seperate visual and acoustic stores
Baddeley et al - Dual Performance Task
Participants carried out visual and verbal tasks at the same time, performance was similar on each when done separately
Performance declined when tasks were of the same category as a result of competition between the same sub-system
McGeoch and McDonald - retroactive interference
Tested by changing the amount of similarity between two sets of material
Participants had to learn a list of 10 words with 100% accuracy and then groups (6) had to learn another list
Synonyms, antonyms, unrelated words, consonant syllables, 3-digits and no list
The most similar material was worst recall showing that interference is strongest with similar information
Baddeley and Hitch - RW Interference
Asked rugby players to recall the names of the teams they had played against during the season
Players played for the same time interval but the number of games varied due to injury
People who played the most had the poorest recall - provides validity to the theory of interference
Tulving and Psokta - Cues in Interference
Gave participants a list of words organised into categories - recall average was 70% for first list but progressively got worse (proactive interference)
At the end, the participants were given a cued recall test and recall rose again to be about 70%
This shows interference causes a temporary loss of accessibility to materials
Coenen and Luijtelaar - Retrograde Facilitation
Gave participants a list of words and later asked them to recall the list, assuming the intervening experiences would act as interference
Found that a list of words learnt when on diazepam, recall was poor but if learnt before recall was better
Meaning the drug improved )facilitated) recall of material learned before
Godden and Baddeley - Context-Dependent Forgetting
Studies deep-sea divers who work underwater to see if training on land helped or hindered
Divers learnt a list of words either underwater or on land and asked to recall in either one of the conditions creating four groups
Accurate recall was 40% lower in non-matching conditions concluding that the external cues available at learning were different from ones available at recall leading to retrieval failure
Canter and Cassaday - State-Dependent Forgetting
Gave antihistamines to participants making them drowsy
Participants had to learn a lost of words and passages of prose and recall the information creating four conditions
When mismatched between internal state at learning and recall memory was significantly worse
Loftus and Palmer - Leading Questions
Arranged 45 participants to watch film then clips of car accidents and then asked about the accident
In the critical question participants were asked to describe how fast the cars were travelling - verb differed
Hit, bumped, contacted, collided and smashed
Contacted mean was 31 mph whilst smashed was 41 mph
This creates bias within EWT
Loftus and Palmer - Response bias Explanation
Leading questions can then alter a person’s memory of the clip
Shown because participants who originally heard smash were later more likely to report broken glass (there was none)
The critical verb then altered the incident to the participant
Gabbert - Post Event Discussion
Studied participants in pairs, each participant watched a video of a crime from different POVs
Both participants then discussed what they had seen before individually being tested on recall
71% repeated aspects as a result of discussion - evidence of memory conformity
Johnson and Scott - Weapon Focus and Anxiety
Participants believed to be part of a lab study while in the low anxiety group participants heard a casual conversation and saw a man walk past with a pen and grease on him
High anxiety condition heard an argument accompanied by breaking glass and a man walked out carrying a knife covered in blood
Participants later picked out the man from a set of 50 photos, 49% recognised the man carrying a pen and 33% recognised the knife
As a result weapon focus could alter memories of the central event
Yuille and Cutshall - positives of Anxiety
A study of an actual gun shooting when a shop owner shot a thief dead
There were 21 witnesses - 13 took part they were interviewed 4-5 months after the incident and these interviews were compared with the original police interviews
Witnesses were asked to rate their stress levels at the time of the shooting and if they had any emotional distress since
Witnesses experienced little change in interviews over 5 months even if accuracy of details slightly declined
Those who reported higher stress are usually more accurate
Fisher and Geiselman - The Cognitive Interview
Created an improved police EWT method
The four main techniques report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order and change perspective
Fisher - The Advanced Cognitive Interview
Developed additional elements to the cognitive interview focuses on the social dynamics of interaction
Includes ideas on reducing anxiety and distractions using open-ended questions
Kohnken - CI Effectiveness Meta-Analysis
Studied 55 studies comparing the CI to standard police interview
The CI gave a 41% accuracy increase as opposed to the police interview
Only 4 studies showed no difference