A-Level Psychology: Memory and Eyewitness Testimony

Flashcards covering basic memory stores (STM, LTM), models of memory (MSM, WMM), explanations for forgetting (Interference, Retrieval Failure), and factors affecting eyewitness testimony (Leading Questions, Anxiety, Cognitive Interview).

Short-term memory (STM)

Your memory for events in the immediate past, which is a limited capacity store (about four items or chunks), has a short duration (less than $18\,\text{seconds}$), and tends to be coded acoustically.

Long-term memory (LTM)

Your memory for events from the distant past, which has a potentially infinite capacity, can hold information for an indefinite period of time, and is largely encoded semantically.

Capacity

A measure of how much data can be held in a memory store, often represented in bits of information or number of digits.

Digit span technique

A method used by Joseph Jacobs (1887) to assess STM capacity; he found the average span for digits was $9.3$ items and $7.3$ for letters.

The magic number $7 \pm 2$

George Miller (1956) concluded that the span of immediate memory is about seven items, but can be increased by chunking things together.

American Sign Language (ASL) STM Span

Research by Boutla et al. (2004) found the capacity for ASL signers to be just $5 \pm 1$ items, suggesting capacity may vary according to the type of information coded.

Duration

A measure of how long a memory lasts before it is no longer available.

Peterson and Peterson (1959) Study

Investigated STM duration using consonant syllables (e.g., $TXW$) and found that recall accuracy drops to about $2\%$ after $18\,\text{seconds}$ if verbal rehearsal is prevented.

Prospective memory

A component of long-term memory involving memory for future events, such as remembering an appointment.

Consolidation

The process by which a newly formed memory becomes more resistant to disruption over time.

Reconsolidation

A process where memories in LTM become sensitive to interference again for a few hours if they are recalled.

Coding (Encoding)

The way information is changed so it can be stored in memory, such as visual (pictures), acoustic (sounds), or semantic (meaning).

Baddeley (1966) Coding Findings

Research showed participants had difficulty remembering acoustically similar words in STM and semantically similar words in LTM, suggesting STM is largely acoustic while LTM is largely semantic.

Zeigarnik Effect (1927)

The phenomenon where people are about twice as likely to remember tasks that were interrupted compared to those they completed.

Multi-store model (MSM)

An explanation of memory developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) consisting of three separate stores: the sensory register, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Sensory register

The part of memory that holds information from the senses (eyes, ears, nose, etc.) momentarily (less than half a second) with a very large capacity.

Maintenance rehearsal

The repetition of information to keep it in STM; Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed that the more information is rehearsed, the stronger the LTM trace becomes.

Retrieval (MSM)

The process of getting information from LTM by passing it back through short-term memory for use.

Case study of HM (Scoville and Milner)

A man whose hippocampus was removed to treat epilepsy; he could not form new LTMs but could remember things from before the surgery and held intact STM.

Levels of processing (Craik and Lockhart)

A theory suggesting that deep processing (fitting a word in a sentence) leads to more memorable long-term memories than shallow processing (checking capital letters).

Working memory model (WMM)

Proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) to explain the memory used when working on a task, suggesting STM consists of several qualitatively different stores.

Central executive (CE)

The component of working memory that monitors and coordinates other mental functions and determines how brain resources are allocated to tasks.

Phonological loop (PL)

A limited capacity sub-system of WMM that deals with auditory information and preserves the order of information.

Articulatory process

The 'inner voice' used for words seen or heard, which are silently repeated in a form of maintenance rehearsal for approximately $2\,\text{seconds}$-worth of speech.

Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)

The 'inner eye' with a limited capacity ($3-4$ objects), which stores visual information (what things look like) and spatial information (physical relationships between things).

Episodic buffer

Added by Baddeley (2000), this system integrates information from the CE, PL, and VSS, maintains time sequencing, and has a capacity of approximately four chunks.

Word-length effect

The observation that people find it easier to remember a list of short words than long words in working memory.

Interference Theory

An explanation for forgetting in LTM where one memory disrupts the ability to recall another, most likely occurring when memories are similar.

Proactive interference (PI)

When past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something new (e.g., an old phone number interfering with remembering a new one).

Retroactive interference (RI)

When current learning interferes with the recall of past learning (e.g., your new address making you forget your old one).

Retrieval failure

Forgetting that occurs due to the absence of prompts or cues needed to access a memory that is available but temporarily inaccessible.

Encoding specificity principle

Proposed by Tulving and Thomson (1973), stating that memory is most effective if information present at encoding is also available at the time of retrieval.

Context-dependent forgetting

Forgetting that occurs when the external environment at retrieval (e.g., a specific room) is different from the environment at encoding.

State-dependent forgetting

Forgetting that occurs when an individual's internal mental state (e.g., mood or sobriety) is different at retrieval than it was during learning.

Eyewitness testimony (EWT)

The evidence provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime, often in the form of identifying the perpetrator or describing the event.

Leading question

A question that, by its form or content, suggests a desired answer to the witness (e.g., using the word 'smashed' instead of 'hit').

Post-event discussion

A conversation between co-witnesses or an interviewer and an eyewitness after a crime, which may contaminate the witness's memory of the event.

Conformity effect

Investigated by Gabbert et al. (2003), where co-witnesses reach a consensus view of what happened after discussing the event with each other.

Self-Administered Interview (SAI)

A booklet given to witnesses before interview containing open questions and instructions to reduce memory contamination and improve recall accuracy.

Anxiety

An unpleasant emotional state characterized by physiological arousal, such as increased heart rate and rapid breathing.

Weapon focus effect

The phenomenon where a weapon (e.g., a knife or gun) in a criminal's hand distracts attention away from other features, reducing the accuracy of identification.

Yerkes-Dodson effect

The observation that arousal has a negative effect on performance (like memory recall) when it is very low or very high, but moderate levels are beneficial.

Cognitive interview (CI)

A police interviewing technique designed to increase the accessibility of stored information through mental reinstatement of context, reporting everything, changing the order, and changing perspectives.

Mental reinstatement of original context

A technique within the cognitive interview where the interviewer encourages the witness to mentally recreate the physical and psychological environment of the incident.