PSYCHOLOGY - Forgetting & Remembering

Forgetting

Often seen as a failure in either the availability of memories or their accessibility

Motivated Forgetting

one theory of forgetting that sees forgetting as a (kind of) positive phenomenon, i.e. not a failure to achieve some goal. When knowledge or memories of some event is terrible enough to cause deep disturbance to a subject, that subject may subconsciously repress recollection of the event as a defence mechanism.

Decay Theory

focuses on the well-known phenomenon of forgetting increasing over time. Decay theory claims that the reason that memories get less reliable over time is that neurological decay, such that, if the memory is not regularly rehearsed and repeated, the physical structure that encodes and represents it will disappear.

Interference Theory

is less concerned with the passage of time, and instead focuses on what occurred before, during and after learning. It can be split into two types: retroactive interference and proactive interference.

Retroactive interference

more recent learning interferes with recall of earlier learning. E.g. someone may learn to drive a car with manual transmission and later learns to drive an automatic. If they go back to a manual car, he may try to drive it as an automatic.

Proactive interference

earlier learning interferes with later learning. E.g. a person has difficulty learning Spanish having already learnt Italian.

Retrieval Failure

forgetting occurs when the correct retrieval cues are not produced to get at the contents of memory. The clearest sign of this type of forgetting is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, where subjects know that they know a word, can even describe it, but cannot correctly produce it at the proper time.

Recall

it means you can access information without cues.

Free Recall

occurs when a person must recall many items but can recall them in any order.

Cued Recall

occurs when a person is given something to remember and is then given cues during testing to aid in the retrieval of memory.

Serial Recall

occurs when people tend to recall items or events in the order in which they occurred.

Recognition

happens when you identify info that you have previously learned after encountering it again. It involves a process comparison.

Relearning

involves learning info that you previously learned.

Convenience sampling

involves simply asking anyone who happens to be there if they would like to participate. For instance, asking students in the library if they would be willing to complete a survey.

Convivence sampling - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages: The quickest and easiest way to obtain participants

Limitations: Sample may not be representative, since the people who happen to be in that one location may not have all the characteristics of the target population.

Snowball Sampling

when participants are asked to refer other people they know (ex. family or friends) who would be willing to participate in the study.

Snowball Sampling - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages: An easy way to obtain participants, especially in studies which involve hard-to-reach populations.

Disadvantages: Participants will all know each other and come from the same social circle, which suggests that the sample may not represent everybody in the target population.

Random Sampling

when every person in the target population has an equal chance of being sampled. Typically, researchers will have the names of every person in the target population, and will select names at random.

Random Sampling - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages: This should result in a very representative sample, and so the findings from the sample can be generalized to the entire target population.

Disadvantages: The most expensive and time-consuming sampling method, and often not feasible to carry out. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the people you randomly choose will agree to participate.

Stratified Sampling

involves dividing the population into subgroups or strata based on certain characteristics that are relevant to the research. Random samples are then taken from each stratum, ensuring representation from all segments of the population.

Stratified Sample - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages:

•Efficient and manageable: by organising a population into groups with similar characteristics, researchers save data collection time.

•Cheap: costs are minimized as researchers save money by dividing a large population into smaller groups.

Disadvantages:

Planning: Researchers must ensure that every member of the population fits into only one stratum and that all the strata collectively contain every member of the greater population.

Sampling errors: can occur when the sample does not accurately represent the population as a whole.

A population can’t be organized into subgroups if there are too many differences within the population.

Random Allocation

•refers to the allocation of participants to conditions in an experiment (experimental condition and control condition). Used to control individual differences between the participants.

Random Allocation - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages:
Random allocation greatly decreases systematic error, so individual differences in responses or ability are far less likely to affect the results

Disadvantages:
While randomisation assures an unbiased assignment of participants to groups, it does not guarantee the equality of these groups. There could still be extraneous variables that differ between groups or group differences that arise from chance.

Extraneous Variables

Variables other than the independent variable that could affect the participant’s performance in the study.

Confounding Variables

This refers to (extraneous) variables that weren’t controlled by the experimenter.

Experimenter effect

changes the experimenter makes, usually without realising it, by treating some participants differently from others. It's a form of bias and it often involves encouraging participants to act or respond in a particular way through body language or tone of voice.

Experimenter Characteristics

The personality and physical characteristics of the experimenter.  For example, an experimenter who dresses in shabby clothes, appears unprepared, and jokes around with participants runs the risk of increased random error from participants who do not take their role seriously.

Experimenter Bias

Two major classes of experimenter bias are (1) errors in recording or computation (data analysis) and (2) experimenter expectancies that are unintentionally communicated to the experimental participants.

Demand Characteristics

are the implicit and explicit cues in an experiment, such as instructions, questions, equipment, procedures, and the researcher's behavior. These cues can lead participants to guess the experiment's purpose and the expected behavior, potentially influencing their responses.

Minimizing the effects: Random Allocation of participants

controls individual participant differences and minimises the effects of extraneous and confounding variables.

Minimizing the effects: Single - Blind Procedures

Participants are not aware of the condition of the experiment they have been allocated and therefore the experimental treatment. It controls placebo effects and therefore, minimises the effects of extraneous and confounding variables.

Generalizability

Whether the study's sample is truly representative of the target population.

Reliability

Whether the procedures are consistent enough to be replicated and get the same results again.

Research Methods

Whether the research method was an appropriate choice.

Applications

Whether the study is useful in the real world.

Alternative explanations

Whether the research has considered all the alternative explanations that could have impacted their findings.

Validity

Whether to the study really tells you about what it is supposed to tell you about.

Ethics

Whether the study ensures the wellbeing of its participants and the wider community.

Critical Evaluation of sources - IF I APPLY(D)

I - Identify

Do you have any emotions around this topic?

F - Find

What sources will provide overviews of the topic? Find various sources to see different perspectives on the issue

I - Intellectual Courage

Am I looking outside my comfort zone to find the best information?

A - Authority: What authority or expertise does this author have to write about this topic?

P - Purpose/POV: What agenda might the author(s) have?

P - Publisher: Who is the publisher?

L - List of Sources : Do they have citations? Are they accessible and reliable?

Y - Year: How does the year affect the information?

D - Data: If data was presented, does it support the author's claim? Are there any noticeable methodological issues?

Improvements to address limitations

Generalizability: Use a large, diverse population that is randomly drawn.

Reliability: using standardised procedures (i.e. making sure that procedures are carried out the same way each time).

Validity: Repeating the study with different samples and getting the same/similar results.

Ethics: know and accept your ethical responsibilities.

Alzheimer’s Disease

a neurodegenerative disease that causes a progressive loss of brain tissue (atrophy) that is eventually fatal.

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease

• Dementia

• Progressive memory loss

• Confusion

• Changes in personality

• inability to perform familiar tasks

Cause of Alzheimer’s Disease

Abnormal Build up and overactivity of beta-amyloid and tau proteins in the brain → amyloid plaques collect as chumps that build up in between the neurons and disrupt their functioning. Tau forms neurofibrillary tangles inside the neuron cell body. which interrupts synaptic transmission.

Levels of Processing

Memory is based on the level of processing, not separate stores. Information is more likely to be transferred to long-term memory if it is deeply processed (understood and related to past memories).

Depth of processing

Shallow Processing:

• Structural: Focus on appearance (e.g., spelling or visual features).

• Phonetic: Focus on sound of words.

Deep Processing:

• Semantic: Focus on the meaning of the word.

Modifications to the framework

Elaboration: Complex semantic processing improves recall (Craik & Tulving, 1975).

Distinctiveness: Unusual or distinctive words are better remembered (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1980).

Effort: More effortful processing (e.g., complex anagrams) leads to better recall (Tyler et al., 1979).

Memory Trace

Comes with depth of processing or degree of elaboration; no depth of processing = no memory trace

Deeper analysis

leaves a more persistent memory trace

Rehearsal

holds info but does not leave memory trace

Attention

Memory retention is affected by the level of analysis.

Strengths of framework

Supported by evidence (e.g., Craik & Tulving, 1975).

Explains memory alongside perception and selective attention, offering a stronger explanation than the multi-store model.

Weaknesses of the framework

Time vs. Depth: Longer processing might be the reason for better recall, not depth.

Effort: Greater effort might explain better recall, and "depth" is poorly defined by Craik and Lockhart.