Memory

who conducted the study of the STM's duration

Peterson & Peterson (1959)

study of the duration of the STM

24 students in 8 trials

a consonant syllable

3-digit number which they count back from

were asked to stop in 3-18 intervals

3s = 80% recall

18s 3% recall

suggests STM has a duration of 18s til maintenance rehearsal

study of duration of the LTM

392 particpants aged 14-74 - yearbooks obtained
1) photo recogntion 2) free recall
15 yrs = 1) 90% 2) 60%
48+ yrs = 1) 70% 2) 30%
potentially can last a liftetime

who conducted the study of the LTM's duration

Bahrick et al (1975)

who conducted the study of the STM's capacity

Jacobs 1887

study into STM capacity

measured digit span of 4 digits increased one if recalled correctly

findings from the STM study into capacity

mean span for digits = 9.3
mean span for letters = 7.3

who conducted the study of chunking and span of memory

Miller 1956

what did miller (1956) observe

things in everyday practice come in 7

what did miller suggest about the capacity of STM

7 (+/-2) and chunking into 5s makes easier recall

what is the capacity of the LTM

potentially infinite

what is the capacity of STM

7 +/- 2

Strength of research into capacity

the 1887 study has been replicated therefore even if confounding varibale of distraction it has temproal validty

limitation of research in capacity

overestimates chunks > cowen (2001) suggets STM has a capacity of 4 +/1 is more appropriate

what is coding

the way infromation is stored in the memory in different forms

who studied coding of memory

Baddeley (1966)

what was the study into how the memory is coded

gave 4 different lists to 4 groups
acoustically dis/imilar and semantically dis/imilar
acoustically similar had the immediate worst recall
after 20 minutes recall was worse with semantic

how is the STM coded

acoustically

how is LTM coded

semantically

strength of coding research

shows that there is seperate memory stores for S and L TM

limitation of coding research

artificial stimuli has been used > limits the application

what is the msm

describes flow between three permanent storage systems of memory SR, STM and LTM

who created the msm

Atkinson & Shiffrins (1968)

what is the sensory register

where information from the senses is stored, duration of half a second, It is modality-specific

what is the STM

coded acoustically, duration of 18s and capacity of 5/9 items, must rehearse it for it to go into LTM

what is the LTM

coded semantically, potentially last forever and has a unlimited capacity

strengths of MSM

Research support > Baddely (1966) acoustically/semantic dis/imilar word study and Bahrick (1975) yearbook study

Limitations of MSM

Shallice & warrington (1970) different stores in STM > KF = bad acoustic but good iconic
elaboratibe rehearsal > Craik & Warrington agrued that type was more important > MSM doesnt really explain

what is the WMM

explanation of how STM is organised and functions when temporarily storing information

who created the WMM

Baddeley & Hitch (1974)

what are the 4 main components of the WMM

Central excecutive, phonological loop, Visuospatial sketchpad and episodic buffer

what is the central excutive

acts in a supervisory role for the rest of the slave systems, monitors incoming data and distributes to the slave systems, focuses/divides our attention.

what is the phonological loop

deals with auditory information, coded acoustically, preserves the order in which information arrives
2 subsystems: auditory process (maintenance rehearsal) and phonological store (stores the words you hear)

Visuospatial sketchpad

stores visual information and has limited capacity
2 subsystems: visual cache (stores visual data) and the inner scribe (records the arrangement of objects in the visual field).

Episodic Buffer

temporary store which maintains time sequencing and intergates info from the slave systems

Strength of WMM

clincial evidence > shallice and warrington (1970) KF = poor STM for auditory, good STM for iconic (PL damaged but not VSS)
Dual task importance > Baddely (1975) unable to do same type of task as they compete for the same subsytem

Limitations of WMM

Lack of clarity over CE > recognises the importance but least understood, may be separate componenets
Artificial & controlled > studies of WMM lack mudance realism

who proposed the 3 LTM stores

Tulving (1985)

3 LTM stores

Procedural, Semantic, episodic

what is the episodic store of the memory

refers to our ability to recall events, record of personal experiences, time stamped and detailed

what is the semantic store of the memory

our shared knoelege of the world, immense collection of material over a range of topics, not time stamped/personal and less vunerable to distorion

what is the procedural store of the memory

memory of actions/skills, no concious effort and difficult to explain

Strengths of types of LTM

Clinical evidence > Clive wearing (infection) was able to play piano (procedual unaffected) but episodic memory serverly damaged
Research application > understanding LTM = Belleville imporved episodic memeroy through intervention, peformed better if trained

limitation of types of LTM

Conflicting neuroimaging evidence > Buckner & Peterson (1996) reviewed location of the semantic/episodic memory
> semantic left side of prefrontal cortex
> Episodic on the right side of prefrontal cortex
Tulving et al (1994) left prefrontal cortex = encoding of episodic memory + right with episodic retrieval

explanations for forgetting

interfernce & retrieval failure

interference theory

when 2 pieces of information disrupt each other resulting in forgetting

what are the 2 types of interference

proactive and retroactive

what is proactive interference

when a older memory interfers with a newer memory

what is retroactive interference

when a newer memory interfers with a older memory

what are the effects of similarity

PI = previous words make it harder fro newer ones to be stored
RI = new info overwrites precious info because of similarity

who studied similarity

McGeoch & McDonald (1931)

study into similarity

Ps learnt list of 10 words then learnt new list of either synonym, antonym, 3 digit, constant, unrealted words
Similar words had worst recall

strengths of interfefer

baddeley & hitch (1977) > rugby players, recall names of teams, the players that played most had worst recall

counterpoint = interference is rare/retrieval failure is more likely

Support from drug studies > list learned under diazepam + recall week later was poor, list learned before diazepam + later recalled was better = drug improved recall of material learned beforehand
Wixted (2004) = drug prevents new information from reaching the processing part of memories

Limitations of interference

temporary/can be overcome via cues/hints
Tulving & Psoka (1971) gave ps list of words organised into categories one list at a time = recall 70% for the first list but became worse as the learned the others (PI)
At the end they were given name of list = 70% again
= interference causes temporary loss of accessibility to material that is still in LTM

what is retrieval failure

forgetting due to insufficent cues

encoding specificity principle

Tulving (83) a cue needs to be present at encoding + retrieval

two types of retrieval failure

context + state dependent forgetting

what is context-state forgetting

recall is dependent on external cues

what is state-dependent forgetting

recall is dependent on internal cues

who conducted research into context-dependent forgetting

Godden & Baddeley (1975)

studying into context-dependent forgetting

deep sea divers, given a list of words, learnt on/off land + recalled on/off land
recall 40% lower in non-matched = external cues different from cues at recall

who conducted research into state-dependent forgetting

Carter & Cassaday (1998)

what was the research for state dependent forgetting

hayfever (physological internal cue)
if different = recall worse

strengths of retrieval failure

real-world applications = retrieval cues can help everyday forgetting
(Baddeley suggests cues help us remember)
research support = Esyunck & Keane argue that retrieval failure is main explanation for LTM forgetting > but context needs to be very different

limitations of retrieval failure

Depends on the type of memory tested > Godden & Baddeley (1980) replicated diver experiment but used recognition = no context-dependent effect > retrieval failure only applies to recalling

Factors effecting EWT

misleading information (including leading questions & post-event discussion) and anxiety

types of misleading information

leading questions & post-event discussion

who conducte the study into how leading questions

Loftus & Palmer (1974)

what was the study into leading questions

45 p, watched car accident, crictial questions given different verbs
condacted = 31.8 and smashed = 40.5

what is response bias explanation

the use of leading question has no real affect other than encourages them to choose a higher speed

what is subsititute explanation

Loftus and Palmer in a 2nd experiment suggetsed that the wording changed the memory = of they heard smashed = saw glass
critical verb can alter events

strengths of leading questions

control over confounding variable as the study was lab based
Real world application = recommed that it is not safe to convict on 1 EWT

Limtations of leading questions

Artificial/lacks mundane realism = very different to experiencing it first-hand, Forester points out that response in research has very little impact
Evidence against substitutions = Sutherland & Hayne, clip then misleading question, recall was better for central details than peripheral, resistance to misleading info and memories weren't distorted

Who studied post-event discussion

Gabbert et al (2003)

study into post event discussion

P in pairs, watched clip from different angles, discussed
71% mistakenly recalled aspects they did not see

what are the results of post-event discussion

memory conformity or memory contamination

Memory conformity

Witness go along with each other for social approval

memory contamination

when discussed their memory becomes altered and combine the (mis)information with their own

A03 of misleading information

Evidence against memory conformity > Skagerberg & Wright, 2 clips blonde/brown hair, discussed = medium brown hair > distored not conformed
Foster = artifical scenarios

how can anxitey affect EWT

weapon focus or alertness

how does anxitey negatively affect EWT

focuses on weapon on reducing recall to events

who conducted a study into weapon focus

Johnson & Scott (1976)

what was the study for weapon focus

1) Low anxitey = sitting room + pen + grease = recognition of man 49% out of 50 photos
2) High anxitey = argument + life + blood = recognition of man 33%
tunnel theory = people have enhanced for central elements

strength of anxitey having a negative affect

Valentine and Mesout (2009), heart rate to divide participants into high and low groups, Anxiety disrupted ability to recall the actors face (labyrinth at london dungeons)

Limitations of anxitey having a negative affect

Pickel (1998) scissors, handgun, wallet, raw chicken (handheld item), hair salon video, EWT was worse on unsual condtion = unsualness not anxitey

how does anxitey improve alertness

Fight or flight response increases alertness improving memory for event

who conducted the study into anxitey imporving alertness

Yuille & Cutshall (1986)

study into anxitey imporving alertness

gun shop in Canada, shop owner shot thief, 13 witnesses took part, interviewed ⅘ months after incident + compared with original police interviews, t rate how stressed they felt/emotional problems since
little changes in accuracy

what were the findings of Yuille & Cutshalls gunshop study

little change in accuracy > highest level of stress = 88%
less stressed = 75%
anxitey improves memory

strength of anxitey having a postive affect

Christian & Gubinette (1993) 58 witness, bank robbery, sweden, directly involved = 75% accurate

limitation of anxitey having a postive affect

Interviewed 4-15 months after
No control over post-event discussion
Effect on anxiety may have overwhelmed by post event and
Lack of control over confounding variables

how was accuracy determinded in the gun shop study

by the number for details reported in each account

What is the cognitive interview

a method of interviewing eyewitnesses which use techniques based on psychological insights into how memory works

Who created the cognitive interview

Fisher & Geiselman (1992)

What are the four techniques

Report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order and change the perspective

why are they asked to report everything

it may trigger other important details/small details may be important

why are they asked to renstate the context

by returing to the orginal scene in their mind may reduce context-dependent forgetting

why are they asked to reverse the order

prevents people reporting their expectation and dishonesty

why are they asked to change perspective

prevents people reporting their expectations of events/schema of setting

who developed the enhanced cognitive interview

Fisher et al (1987)