Psychology Vocabulary Test

CASE STUDYS

Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968, 1971)

Sensory buffer, short term memory, long term memory, and the multi-store memory model.

Glanzer & Cunitz (1966)

Participants heard list of words then had to recall them; showed primacy and recency effects, which shows the serial position effect- first and last items remembered most.

Baddeley & Hitch (1974)

Working memory model, using the central executive, visuospatial sketchpad, the episodic buffer, and the phonological loop.

Brewer & Treyens (1981)

Office Schema: students asked to wait in room for 35 seconds, given surprise memory test, looked to see what they remembered was consistent with office schema, or inconsistent, highly likely to recall office items, incorrectly and correctly (assume they're there), sometimes use top down processing to fill in the blanks. A test of Schema Theory.

Bartlett (1932)

Suggested that schemas influence memory during memory reconstruction - similar to the rumor activity!

Anderson & Pichert (1978)

Wanted to investigate if schema processing influences both encoding and retrieval; story of two boys skipping school; heard story from the POV of a burglar and a potential house buyer; half the participants were asked to remember the opposite schema along w the first; found that those participants remembered 7% more than the others; results show that schema processing may have some effect at retrieval as well as encoding because the new schema could only have influenced recall at the retrieval stage

Loftus & Palmer (1974)

Different words had an effect on the estimation of speed and perception of consequences (using more intense words makes the response or estimate more intense)

Loftus & Pickrell (1995)

False memory - this study found that false memories of being lost in a mall as a child could be implanted and "recalled" by 25% of participants.

Neisser & Harsch (1992)

Tested theory of flashbulb memory. Participants had to write a description of how they heard a certain shocking event, and answer questions about where they were. What they were doing, their feelings, etc. answered less than 24 hours after disaster, then asked 2 1/2 years later. Many could not remember most of the things they remembered 24 hours after. Challenged flashbulb memory theory, although no sure way to measure levels of emotional arousal of each individual.

Bahrick et al (1975)

This study asked participants to recall students from their high school by name or by face. It found that autobiographical memory is reliable, but recognition is more reliable than free recall of names or faces.

Bernsten & Thomsen (2005)

Aim: test the reliability of memory

The participants were asked for their memories of first hearing the news of the Danish occupation and liberation They were also asked to indicate what their role was in the war. They were also asked for detailed descriptions of their most positive and most negative memories of the war. Participants with reported ties to the resistance movement had more vivid, detailed and accurate memories than did participants without such ties.

Bansford & Johnson (1972)

Examined how context influences comprehension and memory. Participants read a vague passage, with some receiving contextual clues before, after, or not at all. Those given context before reading understood and remembered the passage better, while others struggled. The study highlighted the role of schema —mental frameworks that help interpret information. It demonstrated that prior knowledge significantly improves comprehension by providing structure. This research has been influential in cognitive psychology, especially in understanding learning, memory, and reading comprehension.

Brown & Kulik (1977)

investigated whether shocking events are recalled more vividly and accurately than other events. (flashbulb memory) with questionnaires asked 80 participants to recall circumstances where they had learned of shocking events. The results state emotionally shocking events were remembered well, researchers thought this was because of increased physiological arousal (amygdala).

Cox & Griggs (1982)

Conducted a study on the Wason selection task, a logical reasoning problem, challenging prior findings on human rationality. They demonstrated that people perform significantly better when the task is framed in a familiar, context-rich scenario rather than an abstract, formal logic format. Their findings suggested that human reasoning is influenced by content and experience rather than pure formal logic. This contradicted earlier claims that humans inherently struggle with conditional reasoning, supporting a more pragmatic, domain-specific view of cognition. The study contributed to later debates on reasoning, heuristics, and the role of prior knowledge in logic tasks..

Ebbinghaus (1885)

Used himself as a subject, memorized nonsense syllables because if use real words it contaminates your memory, went back and relearned lists, looked for methods of saving.

Learning curve: takes time to get it at first, then each subsequent time gets better until a point when start forgetting

Retention Curve: over time you stop forgetting

Englich & Mussweiler (2001)

This study on anchoring bias found that German law students were more likely to recommend a longer prison sentence a prosecutor first recommended a longer sentence. This was important real-world implications for sentencing in actual courtrooms. This relates to the anchoring affect - if people are presented with a higher number, they estimate higher. If people are presented with a lower number, they estimate lower.

Hembrooke & Gay (2003)

Hembrooke & Gay (2003) investigated the effects of multitasking on cognitive performance, particularly in learning environments. Their study, The Laptop and the Lecture: The Effects of Multitasking in Learning Environments, examined how students using laptops during lectures performed on a post-lecture test compared to those without laptops. Results showed that laptop users, who engaged in tasks like browsing or messaging, performed worse on recall and comprehension tests. The study highlighted the cognitive costs of divided attention, reinforcing the idea that multitasking impairs learning by reducing cognitive resources available for encoding information. Their findings support minimizing distractions in educational settings.

Kulkofsky et al (2011)

Found that people from collectivistic cultures remembered publicly important events at the same level as people from individualistic cultures, but that personal importance of the events played much reduced role in creating the memories.

Landry & Bartling (2011)

Landry and Bartling (2011) conducted an experiment using articulatory suppression to test the Working Memory Model. The aim was to investigate if articulatory suppression would influence recall of a written list of phonologically dissimilar letters in serial recall.

Milner (1966)

This case study investigated the biological reasons for anterograde amnesia in patient HM. Using method triangulation, it found that memory systems are highly complex, the hippocampus plays a critical role in converting memories of experiences from short-term to long-term memory, but is not where short-term or long-term memories are stored.

Mueller & Oppenheimer (2014)

It is better to take notes by hand than to type them; experiment with 67 students, a TED talk, and factual-recall and conceptual-application test questions showed conceptual is better for paper note users

Newhagen & Reeves (1992)

Newhagen and Reeves (1992) examined the effects of negative video news content on memory and emotional response. Their study, The Evening’s Bad News: Effects of Compelling Negative Television News Images on Memory, found that emotionally arousing negative images, such as violence or disaster, enhance memory for those images but impair recall of accompanying verbal information. The researchers suggested that the emotional intensity of visual content captures attention, prioritizing image retention while reducing cognitive resources for processing textual details. Their findings highlight the power of visual media in shaping audience memory and suggest implications for journalism and media effects research.

Sharot et al (2007)

Biological support for flashbulb memories. Activation of the amygdala was measured using fMRI imaging in participants who recalled memories of 9/11 attacks in Sep 2001, which they had witnessed. The measurements were taken years after the actual events, but amygdala activation was still seen. This suggests that the amygdala is involved in the formation of flashbulb memories (localized function).

Sparrow (2011)

To investigate whether internet search engines have allowed people to offload memory processing. Coined the google effect but it has also been called digital amnesia. Having continual access to internet search engines has a negative effect on recall.

Tversky & Kahneman (1974)

Anchoring bias was seen in the quick estimates of two number problems (8x7x6...x1 v. 1x2x3...x8). The initial number influenced the size of the estimated product, even though the actual products of the two series are exactly the same. A low initial number led to a low estimate, and a larger initial number led to a larger estimate.

Tversky & Kaheman (1986)

Framing is one cognitive bias that affects our ability to make a rational decision. Tversky and Kahneman's classic study shows that when options are framed in a positive way, we go for the surest positive outcome. When they are framed in a negative way, we go for the option that appears to present the least risk of loss. The concept of loss aversion is essential to any explanation of the framing effect.

This study is appropriate for a discussion of cognitive biases or a model of thinking and decision-making.

Yulle & Cutshall (1986)

Yuille and Cutshall (1986) studied the accuracy of eyewitness memory in real-life stressful situations. They investigated a real shooting incident in which a thief was shot by a store owner and interviewed 13 witnesses months later. Their findings showed that eyewitness accounts were remarkably accurate, with little decline over time, even when exposed to misleading questions. Higher stress levels correlated with better memory recall, contradicting laboratory studies suggesting stress impairs memory. Their research supports the reliability of real-world eyewitness testimony, challenging the idea that stress necessarily distorts memory, and has significant implications for legal and forensic psychology.

TERMS

Central Executive

It replaces the 'sensory buffer' and directs attention to tasks before allocating information based on modality.

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Where visual and/or spatial information is stored as well as where the visual cache and inner scribe are located.

Phonological Loop

Where auditory information and language (both written and spoken) are dealt with.

Episodic Buffer

It is dedicated to linking information across domains to form integrated units of visual, spatial, and verbal information with time sequencing, such as the memory of a story, event, or a movie scene.

Dual-Task Technique

Two tasks are performed where the primary task is what the researcher is looking to observe and the secondary task merely is a competitor to the primary.

phonological store

holds words heard

articulatory process

holds words heard/seen and silently repeated like an inner voice

inner voice

the result of certain brain mechanisms that allow you to 'hear' yourself talk in your head without actually making any noise

inner scribe

processes spatial and movement information

visual cache

processes what things look like and information about form and color

articulatory suppression

the act of overwhelming the phonological loop and preventing the inner voice from rehearsing (articulatory processes from occurring)

articulatory rehearsal component

the inner voice repeating information

amnesia

loss of memory

primacy effect

information presented at the beginning of an experiment is more likely to be remembered due to increased opportunity for rehearsal

recency effect

information presented at the end of an experiment is more likely to be remembered due to it still being within the short term memory duration

retrograde amnesia

the loss of old memories prior to an injury/event

childhood amnesia

a form of retrograde amnesia but specifically relating to the loss of childhood memories

global amnesia

amnesia both prior to or post injury/event

anterograde amnesia

the inability to retain or form new memories made post-injury/event

one tailed hypothesis

a directional hypothesis which points to the direction the effect will appear in

two tailed hypothesis

a non-directional hypothesis that predicts the existence of an effect but not the direction it will appear in

word length effect

increased word length correlates with increased syllable count and therefore increased units of information making longer words harder to remember

Long-term memory storage

where long term memories are stored after appropriate rehearsal in the STM

attention

focusing on certain stimuli

rehearsal

repetition of information in the STM

Goal Shifting

a part of the Central Executive that has to apply schemas in task switching

Rule Activation

our understanding based on different goals

Task Switching

switching between where attention is being focused and what tasks are being carried out (often called multi-tasking)

short-term memory/working memory

a store with limited capacity and duration that gets information from the sensory buffer if it is paid attention.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

Where memory is stored after it has been rehearsed while in STM and has unlimited capacity and duration.

Semantic Memory

Factual knowledge that you have.

Episodic Memory

Autobiographical memories, memories of events or experiences.

Procedural Memory

Memories of how to do something or habits.

Facial Recognition

The ability to recall and recognize faces.

Transfer

The movement of information from store to store.

Retrieval

The movement of information from the LTM to the STM allowing for recall to occur.

Iconic Memory

Memory based on visual inputs which has a duration of 1 second.

Echoic Memory

Memory based on auditory inputs that has a duration of 2-5 seconds.

Chunking

Grouping information together to form 'larger' units of information.

Prosopagnosia

Face blindness/the inability to recognize/recall who someone is based on their face due to damage to the fusiform gyrus.

Conscious (Explicit) Memories

Semantic memory for facts and episodic memory for events expressed through recollection.

Unconscious Implicit Memory

Systems that include skills, habits, and learned emotional responses expressed through performance.

Sensory Buffer

A temporary store that holds information from the environment very briefly in its original form (visual, auditory, tactile, or olfactory).

Miller's Rule

The capacity of short term memory is 7+/- 2 units of information.

Reconstructive Memory

The process of piecing together information from stored knowledge when there is no clear memory of an event.

Levels of Processing Theory

The idea that the way information is encoded affects how well it is remembered (deep vs. shallow processing).

Working Memory Model

An model created by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) that provides more aspects of Short Term Memory.

Multi-store memory model

sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory model by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain schemata, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.

Leveling

tendency to minimize the less central details of a memory

Sharpening

emphasizing important or more interesting elements in telling a story or a memory

Assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas, adding to the schema or altering our memory of the new experience to fit existing schema

accommodation

replacing our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

Schema

These are mental representations, derived from prior experience and knowledge that are used to organize our knowledge, assist recall, guide our behavior, predict likely happenings, and help us make sense of current experiences.

scripts

broad representations in memory of events and the order in which they occur

top-down processing

the use of preexisting knowledge (schemas) to organize individual features and sensory inputs into a unified understanding (think Rat Man)

bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information into an understanding

Effort After Meaning

Tendency to connect information with schemas to try to give it meaning so it can be more readily stored. From Bartlett's research.

flashbulb memory

A clear and vivid long-term memory of an especially meaningful and emotional event.

Amygdala

A limbic system structure involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear and aggression.

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

dual-pathway model of fear

LeDoux's theory that the brain uses two pathways (a "high road" and a "low road") to process fear messages

appraisal theory

a theory of emotion that proposes that emotions are based on an individual's assessment of a situation or an outcome and its relevance to his or her goals