AQA Psychology A-level: Topic 2 - Memory

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering coding, capacity, and duration of memory, psychological models, types of long-term memory, explanations for forgetting, and factors affecting eyewitness testimony.

Coding

The format or ‘type’ of information stored in each memory store; found to be acoustic in STM and semantic in LTM by Baddeley (1966).

Capacity

The volume of information that can be kept in a memory store; STM is thought to be $7 \text{ ± } 2$ items (Miller), while LTM is unlimited.

Duration

The amount of time information can be stored; STM lasts $18-30 \text{ seconds}$ while LTM is unlimited/very long (over $46 \text{ years}$).

Chunking

Miller’s method of grouping information into sets of $7$ to help increase the capacity of recall.

Digit Span and Letter Span

Jacobs demonstrated that the mean letter span was $7.3$ and the mean digit span was $9.3$.

Petersen et al (1959) Study

Found STM duration is $18-30 \text{ seconds}$ by testing recall of consonant syllables in $24$ undergraduates using counting to prevent rehearsal.

Bahrick et al (1975) Study

Investigated LTM duration using $396$ participants' photo recognition of classmates, which was 90 \text{ %} after $15 \text{ years}$ and 70 \text{ %} after $46 \text{ years}$.

Mundane Realism

The extent to which a research methodology reflects everyday learning experiences and real-life tasks.

Multi-Store Model (MSM)

A representation of memory consisting of the sensory register, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Sensory Register

Store for the $5$ senses with a huge capacity but a duration of less than $\frac{1}{2} \text{ second}$; includes sub-stores like the echoic store.

Maintenance Rehearsal

The process of repeating information to oneself to keep it in the STM; prolonged rehearsal allows transfer to LTM.

Retrieval

The process of transferring information from the LTM back into the STM for use.

Elaborative Rehearsal

Proposed by Craik and Watkins (1973) as the type of rehearsal needed for LTM transfer, involving making links with existing knowledge.

Episodic Memory

A type of LTM for personal events, including details of when and how they occurred and associated people or places.

Semantic Memory

A type of LTM containing our knowledge of the world, such as meanings of words, themes, and concepts.

Procedural Memory

A type of LTM for 'learned skills' like swimming or driving, which are typically recalled unconsciously.

Declarative Memory

Memories that must be recalled consciously; includes episodic and semantic memories.

Non-declarative Memory

Memories recalled unconsciously, such as procedural memories.

Working Memory Model (WMM)

A model suggesting STM is composed of a central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, and episodic buffer.

Central Executive

An ‘attentional process’ with limited capacity that allocates tasks to the slave systems.

Phonological Loop

A slave system in the WMM that processes auditory information via the articulatory process and phonological store.

Visuo-spatial Sketchpad (VSS)

A system processing visual and spatial data, divided into the inner scribe and visual cache, with a capacity of $4-5 \text{ chunks}$.

Episodic Buffer

The storage component of the central executive that integrates data from other stores and links STM to LTM.

Interference

A cause of forgetting where one memory blocks the recall of another; can be proactive or retroactive.

Retroactive Interference

When newer memories block the recollection of older memories.

Proactive Interference

When older memories block the recollection of newer memories.

Retrieval Failure

Forgetting that occurs when cues present at encoding are missing at the time of recall; linked to the Encoding Specificity Principle (ESP).

Context-dependent Forgetting

Forgetting caused by a lack of external cues (e.g., environment) that were present during encoding.

State-dependent Forgetting

Forgetting caused by a lack of internal cues (e.g., mood or biological state) that were present during encoding.

Leading Questions

A form of misleading information in EWT where the phrasing of a question suggests a specific correct answer.

Post-event Discussions

Discussions between co-witnesses that can lead to memory conformity or contamination of eyewitness testimony.

Substitution Explanation

The idea that leading questions actually change the eyewitness' memory of an event.

Anxiety

A physiological response to pressure (e.g., increased heart rate) that can have positive or negative effects on EWT accuracy.

Weapon Focus Effect

The tendency for an eyewitness’s attention to be drawn to a weapon as a source of anxiety, reducing recall of other details.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

The ‘inverted-U’ relationship suggesting that moderate arousal leads to the highest levels of performance/recall.

Cognitive Interview (CI)

A method to improve recall accuracy using four stages: report everything, reinstate context, change perspective, and reverse order.

Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI)

A version of the CI focusing on social dynamics and rapport between the interviewer and eyewitness.