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short term memory
our temporary store that holds information
long term memory
our permanent memory store that can hold a lot of information for a long time
coding
the way in which information is stored in various memory stores
capacity
the amount of information that can be held in a memory store.
duration
the length of time information can be held in a memory store
basic memory process
encoding -> storage -> retrieval
encoding
code and put into a memory
types of memory codes
-acoustic
-visual
-semantic
storage
maintain in memory (capacity and duration)
types of long term memory
-episodic (events)
-procedural (how)
-semantic (faster)
retrieval
recover from memory
types of retrieval
-recall (cues)
-recognition
research into coding
Baddeley (1966a, 1996b)
method of Baddeley’s research into coding (1966a,1996b)
1996b)"Group 1 (acoustically similar): words sounded similar (cat, cab, can)
Group 2 (acoustically dissimilar): words sounded different (pit, few, cow)
Group 3 (semantically similar): words with similar meaning (great, large,big)
Group 4 (semantically dissimilar): words with different meanings (good,huge,hot)
Participants were placed into one of four groups, and given a list of words. They were then shown the lists again, and asked to recall them in the correct order.
"results of Baddeley’s research into coding (1966a,1996b)"
When they had to do this immediately (STM recall), they tended to perform worse with acoustically similar words.
When they had to do this after 20 minute (LTM recall), they tended to perform worse with semantically similar words.
"conclusion of Baddeley’s research into coding (1966a,1996b)"
This suggests that information is coded acoustically (based on how it sounds) in STM, and semantically (based on the meaning) in LTM.
research on capacity
Digit span (Jacob’s, 1887)
Span of memory and chunking (Miller, 1956)
Digit span (Jacobs, 1887)
Jacobs found out how much information the STM can hold at one time, by measuring digit span. The researcher reads out four digits, and the participants recalls these out loud in the correct order. If this is correct, the researcher reads out five digits, and so on, until the participants cannot recall them in order correctly. This indicates the individual’s digit span. Jacob found that the mean span for digits across all participants was 9.3 items. The mean span for letters was 7.3.
Span of memory and chunking (Miller, 1956)
Miller made observations of everyday practice. For example, he noted that things come in seven: seven notes on the musical scale, seven days of the week, seven deadly sins etc.
Miller thought that the span (i.e capacity) of STM is about 7 item, plus or minus 2. But he also noted that people can recall five words as easily, as they can recall five letters. We do this b chunking, where we group sets of digits or letters into units or chunks.
duration of STM (Peterson and Peterson, 1959)
Margaret and Lloyd tasted 24 students in 8 trials each. On each trial, the student was given a consonant syllable (such as YCG)to remember and were also given a 3 digit number. Th student counted backwards from this number, until to stop. The counting backwards was to prevent any mental rehearsing of the consonant syllable. On each trial, they were told to stop at varying periods of time (retention intervals from 3 to 18 seconds).
3 seconds -> average recall at 80%%
18 seconds -> average recall at 3%
STM duration may be 18 seconds, unless we repeat information over and over (verbal rehearsal)
duration of LTM (Bahrick et al 1975)
Bahrick et al (1975) studied 392 American ppts aged 17 and 74.
He got photos from school yearbooks and tested recall in various ways, including photo recognition and name recall to name their graduating class.
Ppts within 15 years of graduation were 90% accurate in photo recognition.
After 48 years, recall declined to 70%
Free recall was less accurate: about 60% after 15 years and 30% after 48 years.
LTM may last up to a lifetime.
multi store model of memory
"a representation of how memory works. It has three stores: sensory stores, STM, LTM. It also describes how information can move from one store to another.
key facts about multi store model of memory
-the MSM states there are three different memory stores that are completely independent of each other.
-a linear sequence so information can flow backwards and forwards.
MSM diagram
what are the three components of MSM?
sensory stores, STM, LTM
coding of sensory register/store
sense specific (touch, taste, sound, smell, sight)
capacity of sensory register /store
very high
duration of sensory register/store
less than half a second
coding of short term memory
acoustically
capacity of short term memory
7 +/- 2 items
short term memory duration
18-30 seconds
coding of long term memory
semantically
capacity of long term memory
potentially unlimited
duration of long term memory
last for many years (potentially a lifetime)
"Who is HM and what happened to him?"
Case study for the MSM. -> STM + LTM are separate.
Suffered from epilepsy for many years, and had surgery to relieve his epilepsy, where a surgeon removed his hippocampus.
HM lost his memory, and was left with no ability to store or retrieve new experiences, and he lived in the permanent present moment.
All memories of experiences disappeared after 30 seconds, as he was unable to transfer memories into LTM.
declarative memory
facts, data, events, knowing ‘that’
procedural memory
how to do things, knowing ‘how’
episodic store
our ability to recall events (or episodes) that have happened in our lives.
is the episodic store time stamped?
yes
is the episodic stores declarative or procedural?
declarative
where is the episodic store in the brain?
linked to hippocampus regions of the brain
semantic store
our knowledge of the world, such as facts
is the semantic store time stamped?
no
is the semantic store declarative or procedural?
declarative
where is the semantic store in the brain?
linked to the temporal lobe
procedural store
our memory for actions or skills, and we can recall these memories without conscious awareness of a great deal of effort.
is the procedural store time stamped?
our ability to do things depends in procedural memory- not time stamped.
is the procedural store procedural or declarative?
procedural
where is the procedural store in the brain?
linked to cerebellum
who was Tulving?
"one of the first cognitive psychologists to realise that the multi-store’s model view of LTM was too simplistic and inflexible. He proposed that there are actually 3 LTM stores, that contain different types of information
what are the 3 types of LTM?
episodic, semantic and procedural
what happened to clive wearing?
He suffers from chronic anterograde and retrograde amnesia (where he can’t form any new memories, and can’t remember previous memories). His amnesia was caused by a virus that attacked his CNS. He can’t remember the names of his children, but can play the piano. He can’t talk for longer than a few sentences, before forgetting. Every 20-30 seconds, his memory ‘resets’.
working memory model
a representation of short term memory. It suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information, using subunits (slave systems)m coordinated by a central decision making system.
"who was the working model memory (WMM) was proposed by and why?"
Baddeley and Hitch (1974), after they felt that the MSM doesn’t explain much about STM.
what does the WMM attempt to do?
explain the part of the mind that is active, when we are temporarily storing and manipulating information. the models consisted of four main components, each of which is different (in terms of function, coding and capacity).
working memory model diagram
purpose of central executive
Decision making process that monitors incoming stimuli, allocates tasks to the slave systems
capacity of central executive
very limited processing capacity
coding of central executive
all types of information
purpose of phonological loop
temporary store system for auditory information
what’s phonological loop divided into ?
Phonological loop (inner ear), which stores the words you hear.
Articulatory control process (inner voice), which processes speech production and rehearses/stores verbal information
capacity of phonological loop
roughly 2 seconds worth of what you can say
coding of phonological loop
acoustic
visio-spatial sketchpad purpose
stores visual/spatial information
what’s visuo-spatial sketchpad divided into?
visual cache (stores visual data)
inner scribe (records the arrangement of objects in visual field)
capacity of visuo-spatial sketchpad
3-4 objects
coding of visuo spatial sketchpad
visual
purpose of episodic buffer
added in 2000, responsible for combining all information processed elsewhere and preparing for LTM storage
capacity of episodic buffer
four chunks
coding of episodic buffer
all types of information
what happened to KF?
1970- Shallice and Warrington studied KF
-he had amnesia
-could not recall what someone read out (a sentence) → phonological loop
-could recall if he read it himself → VSS
what’s the first explanation for forgetting information?
interference
interference
one memory disturbs the ability to recall another. This might result in forgotting or disturbing one memory or even both. This is more likely to happens if the memory are similar.
proactive interference
last memories interfering with new memories.
retroactive interference
recent memories interfering with old memories
aim on the research on the effects of similarity (Mcgeoch and Mcdonald 1931)
To investigate whether words with the same meanings (synonyms) would be more prone to interference than information that was unrelated (investigating retroactive interference)
method on the research on the effects of similarity (Mcgeoch and Mcdonald 1931)
Participants learned a list of 10 words until they could recall them with 100% accuracy. They were then given a new list of 10 words to learn. They were then asked to recall the original list. They were six groups of partipants that each had 2nd lists that varied in word similarity.
Group 1: synonyms, Group 2: unrelated words, Group 3: unrelated words, Group 4: consonant syllables
Group 5: three-digit numbers, Group 6: no new list (control group)
results on the research on the effects of similarity (Mcgeoch and Mcdonald 1931)
Group 1 had the most affected recall (on average, 1 item recorded was correct from previous list)
Group 6 had the least affected recall (on average, 4 items recorded were correct from previous list)
Group 5 were least affected in terms of recall, with an interfering material (on average, 3.5 items recorded were correct from previous list)
conclusion on the research on the effects of similarity (Mcgeoch and Mcdonald 1931)
the most similar material (synonyms) produced the worst recall. This shows that interference is strongest when the memories are similar
what’s the second explanation of forgetting?
Retrieval failure.
It may be due to a lack of available memory cues. When information is stored in LTM, cues sssociated with the memory are also stored at the same time. If these cues are not available at the time of recall, you may have experienced retrieval failure, where you couldn’t access the memory.
retrieval failure
a form of forgetting- 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 to access a memory.
cues may be meaningful or may be indirectly linked by being coded at the time of learning.
Tulving (1983)- encoding specificity principle (ESP)
Tulving reviewed research into retrieval failure and discovered a consistent pattern to forgetting, which he named the ESP. This states that a helpful memory cue must:
be present at encoding (when we learn the material)
be present at retrieval (when we attempt to access the memory)
If cues available at encoding and retrieval are different (or absent), there will be some forgetting.
Some cues are encoded in a meaningful, intentional ways, and others are non-meaningful and unintentional.
context dependent forgetting
external cues- regarding the environment
i.e the weather, our surroundings
state dependent forgetting
internal cues- regarding the physiology of the gift
i.e alcohol, being drowsy
research of context dependent forgetting
Golden and Baddeley (1975)
aim of Godden and Baddeley (1975)
to investigate whether training delivered on land influenced the work of scuba divers, when working underwater.
method of Godden and Baddeley (1975)
16 were asked to learn a list of words either on land or underwater, and then asked to recall the words either on land or underwater. This created 4 conditions (a repeated measure design)
learn on beach → recall on beach (cues match)
learn on beach → recall in ocean
learn in ocean → recall on beach
learn in ocean → recall in ocean (cues match)
results of Godden and Baddeley (1975)
beach + beach = 13.5
ocean + beach = 8.5
beach + ocean = 8.6
ocean + ocean = 11.4
conclusion of Godden and Baddeley (1975)
External cues are importantly in recall and should be present at both learning and recall of learning
research on state-dependent forgetting
Carter and Cassaday (1998)
aim of Carter and Cassaday (1998)
To investigate whether the state at learning and then the state at recall influences recall.
method of Carter and Cassaday (1998)
24 participants (aged 18-21, undergraduates) were asked to learn a list of words, either under the influence of an antihistamine (mild, sedative effect changing the physiological state of the participant) or not, and then recall the words either under the influence of the drug or not. Any participants in the ‘no drug’ conditions were given a placebo (vitamin C). The four groups were:
Group 1: learn AH -> recall AH (cues match)
Group 2: learn AH → recall vitamin C
Group 3: learn vitamin C→ recall AH
Group 4: learn vitamin C → recall vitamin C (cues match)
results of Carter and Cassaday (1998)
In the mismatch conditions (i.e learn /recall an antihistamine/placebo), recall was far worse than participants in the matched conditions (learn/recall on same drug)
conclusions of Carter and Cassaday (1998)
Internal cues are importantly in recall and should be present at both learning and recall of information
misleading information
information that is not necessarily false (although it can be), but instead can be factually accurate information, that is presented in such a way that they meaning if the information is disturbed.
what’s two examples of misleading information ?
leading questions and post-event discussion
leading question
a question which suggests a certain answer, because of the way it is phrased.
what is the research into leading questions?
loftus and palmer (1974)
aim of loftus and palmer’s (1974) research into leading questions
to investigate whether the information given in a question affects the response given
