PSYCHOLOGY - memory

What research was conducted to investigate the duration of the long-term memory (LTM) store?

Research into the duration of LTM has primarily involved studies by Bahrick and colleagues, who found that long-term memories can last for many years. Their study used the names and faces of former classmates and demonstrated that participants could remember some information even decades after graduation.

• photo recognition - 15 years, 90% 48 years+, 70%

• free name recall - 15 years, 60% 48 years+, 30%

Additionally, Ebbinghaus's 'forgetting curve' highlighted that while information may decay over time, some memories can persist for years, particularly if they are rehearsed or meaningful to the individual.

What research was conducted to investigate the duration of the short term memory store?

Peterson and Peterson (1959.

In their study, participants were given trigrams (three-letter combinations) to memorize, followed by a distraction task that involved counting backward in threes for varying intervals (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 seconds).

The results indicated that the duration of STM without rehearsal was approximately 15 to 30 seconds, with recall accuracy decreasing from 80% (3 seconds) to 3% after 18 seconds. This research highlighted the limited duration of STM and the critical role of rehearsal in retaining information.

what is the working memory model

A theoretical framework developed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) that describes the structure and function of working memory. It divides working memory into multiple components, including the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and central executive, to explain how information is temporarily held and manipulated.

what is the role of the central executive

acts in a ‘supervisory’ role

The central executive is a key component of the working memory model that oversees and coordinates the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. It is responsible for allocating attention, managing cognitive tasks, and integrating information from different sources.

what is the role and structure of the phonological loop

processing and storing auditory information.

It consists of;

phonological store that holds speech-based material

articulatory process that enables repetition for maintenance rehearsal.

what is a visuo-spatial sketchpad

A component of the working memory model that processes and stores visual and spatial information. It allows for the manipulation of images and the navigation of spatial environments. Baddeley (2003) says around 3 or 4 objects.

Logie (1995) found it makes up;

visual cache - stores visual data

inner scribe - records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

what is an episodic buffer

A component of the working memory model that integrates information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory. It helps in creating a coherent representation of events and experiences.

• introduced in 2000

• maintains a sense of time sequencing

• has limited capacity of about ‘4 episodes’

• is a temporary memory store

• links working memory to LTM as well as wider cognitive functions (e.g. perception)

evaluation summary for the working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch 1974)

• + clinical evidence

COUNTERPOINT - may be the result of other cognitive impairments

• + dual task performance

• - nature of central executive

• ± study validity

strengths of the working memory model

P - clinical evidence

E - Shallice and Warrington (1970) studied patient KF who had impaired verbal short-term memory but intact visual memory, supporting the notion of separate memory stores.

E - so shows two separate stores - COUNTERPOINT

P - dual-task performance

E - Baddeley et al. (1975) found that participants could carry out two tasks (visual and verbal) involving different components of working memory simultaneously without a decrease in performance whereas when two visual or two verbal were attempted, performance declined.

E - as both competing for same sub-system

limitations of the working memory model

P - nature of the central executive

E - the of the central executive is unclear and lacks empirical support, making it difficult to determine its precise functions.

E - this vagueness can lead to challenges in understanding how different components of the working memory interact and function effectively.

COUNTERPOINT

P - KFs problems’ origins not definite

E - Could have been caused by other cognitive issues, so isn’t concrete evidence as symptoms may be unrelated

P - validity of model

E - the supporting studies lack real-life generalisability so lack external validity

what is the interference theory

• causes forgetting

• as a result of conflict between different pieces of information

• mainly an explanation for forgetting in LTM

• memories are still in LTM, just cant be accessed

what are the two types of interference

proactive interference and retroactive interference

what is proactive interference

PI occurs when older memories interfere with the retrieval of newer memories, making it difficult to recall the recently learned information.

what is retroactive interference

RI occurs when new memories interfere with the retrieval of older memories, leading to difficulties in recalling previously learned information.

what research was done into PI and RI

Research by McGeoch and McDonald

how interference affected memory recall through controlled experiments.

found that the type of interference, whether proactive or retroactive, impacted the ability to remember information based on similarity between new and old material.

what were the finings from McGeoch and Macdonald’s research

The results showed that participants who learned a second list of words that were similar to the first list had the poorest recall of the first list. This suggests that interference is strongest when the memories are similar.

interference is stronger when memories are similar.

what was the procedure used in McGeoch and Macdonald’s research

Participants were asked to learn a list of words until they could recall them with 100% accuracy. They then learned a new list of words that varied in similarity to the first list.

what does PORN stand for

P - proactive

O - old

R - retroactive

N - new

what are the evaluation pointe for interference as an explanation for forgetting

• + real-world interference

  COUNTERPOINT - could be due to retrieval failure

• - interference and cues

• + support from drug studies

• - validity issues

what are the strengths of Interference as an explanation for forgetting

P - real world application

E - Baddeley and Hitch (1977) asked rugby players to recall the names of the team they had played against over a season, finding that players who played more games had more difficulty recalling names due to interference.

E - this suggests that the names of all the games interfered with the others, so those who had played less could remember the names more accurately - COUNTERPOINT

P - support from drug studies - evidence of retrograde facilitation

E - Coenen and Van Luijtelaar (1997) - found that Ps that learned a list of words whilst on diazepam had worse recall a week later than those who took a placebo. However, when learnt before the drug was taken, the drug facilitated the recall.

E - this suggests that interference is involved, as when interference was reduced by the drug, the forgetting was reduced

what are the limitations of Interference as an explanation for forgetting

COUNTERPOINT

P - could be due to retrieval failure

E - the theory of interference contradicts the findings and research into retrieval failure

E - suggesting that some forgetting might be due to the inability to access the information rather than interference between memories.

P - interference and cues

E - Tulving and Psotka (1971) gave Ps categorised lists of words one at a time, with unknown categories. Recall averaged 70% for the first list, and decreased after each new list was added

what is encoding specificity principle

Tulving (1983) proposed that memory is enhanced when information present at encoding is also available at retrieval. This principle suggests that cues correlated with the encoding context can improve recall of information.

what is encoding

when the new material is learned

what is a ‘cue’ that may trigger the recall of memories used in

mnemonic techniques

what are the two kinds of retrieval failure

• context-dependent forgetting

  • recall depends on external cue

• state-dependent forgetting.

  • recall depends on internal cue

what research evidence is there for context-dependent forgetting

Godden and Baddeley (1975)

found that divers who learned words underwater recalled them better in the same environment compared to those who learned them on land.

recall accuracy was 40% lower in the non-matching conditions.

what research evidence is there for state-dependent forgetting

Research by Carter and Cassidy (1998)

demonstrated that participants who learned information while taking an antihistamine recalled it better when in the same state compared to those in a different state.

This indicates that recall accuracy is enhanced when internal states match.

evaluation of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting

• real world application

• Research support - context

• research support - state

• recall vs recognition

• problems with the ESP

limitations of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting

P - recall vs recognition

E - Godden and Baddeley (1980) replicated the underwater experiment but used a recognition test (whether they recognised a word read to them from a list). they found no context - dependent effects.

E - suggesting that retrieval failure may not fully explain forgetting in all situations as it only applies to recall.

P - problems with ESP

E - circular reasoning based on assumptions (assuming that recall indicates that the info has been encoded)

strengths of retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting

P - real world application

E - examples such as leaving a room to do a task, forgetting, then being reminded why you left as returning to where you thought the task acts as a cue to recall the idea.

E - this supports the theory of context - dependent forgetting as when an outside cue was returned a person will be able to recall the memory

P - research support for context

E - Godden and Baddeley (1980) found that participants performed 40% worse on recall tests when in a different environment from where the learning took place.

E - This supports the theory of context-dependent forgetting

P - research support for state

E - Cassidy and Carter (1998) found that participants who were in a different internal state during recall performed worse than those in the same state as learning ( using antihistamines)

E - supporting the idea that state influences recall

outline the procedure of research into leading questions

Loftus and Palmer (1974) conducted a study where 45 participants watched a film of a car accident and were then asked questions about it, specifically using 5 separate groups each using different words eg (smashed, collided, bumped) to see how the wording influenced their EWT

outline the findings of research into leading questions

• contacted had a mean speed estimate of 31.4 mph

• smashed had a mean speed estimate of 40.5 mph

• people who were given the word ‘smashed’ were more likely to remember broken glass (there wasn’t any)

how did Loftus and Palma explain their findings

1. response bias - the wording has no real effect the Ps memory, but influences how they choose to answer

2. substitution explanation - the wording of leading questions can distort the participants' memories of the event.

Outline the procedure of research on post-event discussion

Gabbert et al. (2003) conducted a study where pairs of participants watched a video of the same crime from different perspectives. After viewing, they discussed what they had seen before individually recalling the event

• one of the pair was a confederate, planting ideas that weren’t seen in the video.

Outline the findings of research on post-event discussion

• 71% mistakenly recalled the aspects of the event fed to them by the confederate

• in the control group, 0% were recalled incorrectly

what are the two explanations for EWT being effected by post-event discussion

• memory contamination - combining the others misinformation with their own memories

• memory conformity - ISI or NSI but the memory is unchanged

evaluate research into factors effecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

limitation of research into factors effecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

strengths of research into factors effecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony