Unit 1 PSYA1Cognitive

Psychology

MemoryPractical Book

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Cognitive PsychologyMemory

You will be assessed on this topic in January along with Developmental Psychology and Research Methods. The research methods questions will be contextualised within memory and attachment so you will be asked specific methodological questions about memory studies and may be given scenarios and possible areas of research to comment on and even outline a potential design.

Specification Details

Cognitive Psychology

Models of Memory

• The multi-store model, including the concepts of encoding, capacity and duration. Strengths and weaknesses of the model

• The working memory model, including its strengths and weaknesses

Memory in Everyday Life

• Eyewitness testimony (EWT) and factors affecting the accuracy of EWT, including anxiety, age of witness

• Misleading information and the use of the cognitive interview

• Strategies for memory improvement

The examination for memory will consist of short answer questions, stimulus material and possibly an extended 12 mark question. You will also be assessed on research methods in the memory section.

The main research method used in cognitive psychology is the laboratory experiment. Therefore we will focus on this method throughout this topic.

Using the Booklet

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The Digit Span Experiment 9 2 7 4 (digit span of 4)

3 6 7 1 4 (digit span of 5)

9 7 3 4 5 8 (digit span of 6)

7 2 4 0 8 6 1 (digit span of 7)

9 0 6 7 4 3 2 5 (digit span of 8)

7 3 6 1 8 9 3 2 5 (digit span of 9)

3 6 7 4 8 5 9 7 6 1 (digit span of 10)

7 3 5 9 8 7 2 3 8 1 5 (digit span of 11)

This booklet aims to complement the notes and reading you will do in this area. Carrying out practical activities will help with your understanding of this area and you will find it also acts as a revision aid. This booklet must be brought to all memory classes as it will be used regularly. You may also be given other practical activities to carry our in class and you should slot these in the relevant area.

This booklet has been designed so you can remove sheets and put them in the appropriate area in your files – or you may simply wish to keep it all together.

Before we start here is some important definitions:

Capacity

Duration

Encoding

Some Introductory Activities

1. Capacity The digit span technique is a simple and effective method. You sit opposite your partner and decide who will be the experimenter and who will be the participant. Only the experimenter should have this sheet in front of them.

The experimenter should read out the top line and get the participant to recall in the correct order if they get this right move on to the next line and so on until they cannot recall in the correct order.

You can swap roles and test the experimenter’s digit span

Your digit span =

Your partner’s digit span =

Duration

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Brown and Peterson claimed that information in STM can disappear in less than 30 seconds if it is not rehearsed. Their experiment was similar to the one outlined below:

Working in pairs, allocate one to be the researcher. The researcher should put together a list of 6 trigrams e.g. TFV

Read out one of the trigrams to the participant and then get the participant to count backwards in 3’s from 100 for 3 seconds and then ask them to recall the trigram. Then read out another trigram and get them to count backwards for 6 seconds before recalling the trigram. Continue this for 9, 12, 15 and 18 seconds. You will probably find the accuracy will deteriorate the longer the interval between presentation and recall of the trigrams.

After you have completed these two tasks you are going to do some reading on this area of STM. Look at the questions below first before you start reading then you can pick out the relevant information using a scanning technique.

Reading page 46 and 47

1. What did Jacobs (1887) find?

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2. What can you conclude from this?…………………………………………………………………………

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3. What did Miller (1956) suggest?

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Reading page 48 (from duration in short term memory)- page 49(up to duration in LTM)

1. In the Peterson and Peterson study why were the participants asked to count backwards in three?

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2. How many trigrams were correctly recalled after 3, 6, and 18 seconds?

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3. What can we conclude from these findings?

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4. This study as been criticised for using artificial stimuli. What is meant by this?

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We have looked at the duration and the capacity of the STM now we need to understand how we process and store memories in the STM – this is known as encoding.

First we will conduct an experiment in class with you as the participants

The mini experiment we have just conducted was similar to Conrad (1964). Briefly outline this study below

You need to understand the difference between the following:

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Acoustic encoding

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Semantic coding

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Are the following words acoustically similar or semantically similar?

1. Tall Long Big ……………………………………………

2. Can Tram Plan ………………………………………….

Are these letters acoustically similar or dissimilar?

1. E V C T G …………………………………………..

2. N P T S L ……………………………………………

There have been a number of studies looking at how we encode in the STM and LTM.

Look at page 50 of your text book and briefly outline what Baddeley’s 1966 research tells us about encoding in the STM and LTM.

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Encoding in the STM is mainly …………………………………..

Encoding in the LTM is mainly …………………………………..

Capacity and Duration in LTM

Capacity – It is thought that the LTM has an unlimited capacity

Duration – There has been some research to try and find out how long the LTM is. However, it is difficult to test as just because we don’t remember something doesn’t mean it isn’t there somewhere. Often we cannot remember a person’s name but later it comes back to us and the elderly can often remember childhood events. Therefore, it is thought that memories can last up to a lifetime.

TESTClose your books and cover up the writing above and do this.

STM LTMCapacity

Duration

Encoding

In an exam there could be 3 marks for filling in this table correctly

We have conducted some mini experiments in class and we shall do some larger scale studies soon. Before we move onto models of memory lets take a look at some research

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methods and methodological issues that relate to the most common form of research in memory – THE LABORATORY EXPERIMENT

Laboratory Experiment

Advantages of a laboratory experiment

Disadvantages of a laboratory experiment

Independent Groups Design

Repeated measures Design

Matched Pairs Design

Demand Characteristics

Order Effects

Participant Variables

The Multi Store Model of Memory

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1. Outline the Multi store model of memory (6 marks)……………………………………………………………………………..

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2. Using the multi-store model of memory, outline how information is transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory (2 marks)

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Evaluating the MSMFor the exam you need to learn at least 2 strengths and 2 limitations of the model (Remember strengths can include research support) Research supporting the MSM

Data Collection and analysis

We are going to do this research together in classs you will not have to collect the data yourself. This is a replication of Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) and the Primacy and Recency Effect. This research is seen as good evidence for the existence of two separate stores in the memory (STM and LTM) and therefore supports the MSM.

First we will collect the data – you will be asked to listen to the teacher reading out a list of 20 words. Then you will be asked to write down as many of these words as you can remember. In the second part of the test you will hear a different set of 20 words and then asked to recall these after completing a short task (counting backwards in 3’s for 30 seconds)

We will then collate the data together and you can plot the data on the graph paper included.

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In the following tables note down how many people remembered each word.

Condition 11234567891011121314151617181920

Condition 21234567891011121314151617181920

When you have filled in these tables you have a copy of the RAW DATA for this experiment. Eyeball this data and see if you can spot any patterns in the results – remember the first number represents the serial order of the word and the second number (the one you filled in) represents the number of participants who remembered that word.

You should now complete a graph to show the pattern of the results. Use different coloured pens for each of the conditions and make sure you complete the key.

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Serial Position Curve

0123456789

10111213141516171819202122232425

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20Word Order

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of S

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who

reca

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This research is often used to support the MSM. I would now like you to look at the graph above and describe the findings. I would also like you to include a discussion of why this research supports the MSM.

The Primacy and Recency Effect

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KEY

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Research methods – Based on the research we have just carried out answer the following questions:

1. This study was an experiment and one control measure was to give participants a different set of words for each condition. Why was this done?

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2. Which experimental design was used in this study?

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Repeated Measures

Independent Groups

Matched Pairs3. Give one advantage and one disadvantage of using this

experimental design (2 + 2 marks)

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Evaluation of the MSMStrength 1

Strength 2

Weakness 1

Weakness 2

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Group Work – Testing the MSM

In your groups you need to design an experiment which tests the idea that rehearsal is mechanism to transfer information from the STM to the LTM. You need to think about who your participants are and how you will select them, the design you will use and what the independent variable and the dependent variable will be. You also need to decide what the participants will actually do?

Before you do this I need to give you some more key research methods terms:Opportunity sample

Random sample

Volunteer sample (self selected)

Independent variable

Dependent variable

So with all this knowledge now you should try doing this task. The question is – How could you test whether rehearsal is necessary to transfer items from STM to LTM?

You should design this on the paper provided and you will asked to briefly outline your study to the rest of the group

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The Working Memory Model

Try the following tasks:1. Write down how many windows there are in your home How did you do this?

What part of the WMM do you think you were using?

2. Here is a telephone number 01672 424241 look at it briefly then cover it up. After 30 seconds write it down but don’t look at it again.

What did you do to try and remember the number?

What part of your WM do you think you were using?

1. Outline the key features of the working memory model. (6 marks)

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2. Match the description with the component:

Component ActionCentral executive Deals with visual and spatial

information and is involved in pattern recognition and perception of movement (inner eye)

Phonological loop Acts like attention it is modality free and co-ordinates the slave systems

Visuo-spatial scratchpad Holds speech based information (inner ear) and processes inner speech (inner voice)

Evaluation of the Working memory modelYou should learn at least 2 strengths and 2 limitations and remember strengths can include support from research.

Strength 1

Strength 2

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Weakness 1

Weakness 2

Research to support the WMMThere is a large body of evidence that supports the fact that our working memory has separate components and that these have a limited capacity. However, some of this research is rather complicated. I would like you to use Baddeley et (1973) as evidence for different components and the limited nature of them. We will try a version of this in class.

Baddeley et al (1973)

The Big study

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Improving your understanding

In Nevill subject files I have put a couple of articles about the working memory in everyday life. These are interesting and will develop your understanding and confidence in this area. Although it is not necessary to read them for your exam you can read them if this area interests you and you want to extend your learning.

Memory in Everyday LifeFirst we will watch a short video presentation and in this you will be asked do conduct a test. You will need some blank paper and a pen or pencil to do this. Just follow the instructions the presenter gives you.

From what you have seen and following our discussion write down four factors that can effect the accuracy of EWT

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Elizabeth Loftus has conducted a huge amount of research in this area and a very famous study was done by Loftus and Palmer (1974). We will discuss this study in class so make sure you can outline how she carried out this research, what the research showed (the findings) and what this can tell us (the conclusions)

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

How was the investigation carried out?

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What were the findings of this study?

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What can we conclude from this research?

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We will discuss further research in this area and you should make sure you are familiar with the following:

• Loftus and Zanni (1975) (supports Loftus)• Yuille and Cutshall (1986) (Challenges Loftus)

Elizabeth Loftus used laboratory studies in her research, give one advantage and one disadvantage of using laboratories for such research

1. Advantage

2. Disadvantage

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EyE witnEss tEstimony

Data Collection and Analysis

We are going to conduct a simple study into EWT. For this study you will be expected to collect some data yourself and then we will

pool the data in class and analyse the results.

You will be given a picture of a car that has been involved in a crash and also you will be given four questionnaires regarding the picture. You will each need to find four participants to take part in the study.

After we have discussed the study in the class I would like you to consider the following:

1. What are the ethical considerations?………………………………………………………………………………………

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2. What is the IV?

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3. What is the DV?

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4. What design did we use?………………………………………………………………………………………

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Data

Leading QuestionCondition

Non-Leading QuestionCondition

Yes No Yes No

Now you should draw a graph to summarise the findings from this study. As the data is nominal it is not possible to

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calculate means but you could use percentages. You should just show what percentage of people answered yes to the critical question in each condition.

Don’t forget to give the graph a title.

Next summarise the findings of our study and consider whether these findings support the research of Loftus and therefore, suggest leading questions can influence a person’s memory of an event.

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Factors Affecting EWTAgeWe will go through this in class and you take notes from the presentation. You should be familiar with a few studies in this area. I would suggest you are familiar with the following:

1. Bronfenbbenner (1988)2. Dodson and Kreuger (2006)3. Kent and Yuille (1987)4. Own age bias

If you find it difficult to separate the research in this area just learn generally how researchers have investigated this area and generally what has been found.

Try this activity

You have been asked to advise a police officer who is just about to interview an eye witness to a robbery. The eye witness is only 5 years old. Using your knowledge of research in this area what advice would you give the police officer.

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AnxietyWe will discuss this in class and you will take notes on the most important studies in this area. I advise you to learn Loftus et al (1987) weapons focus study quite well and you can also use the study by Yuille and Cutshall (1986) study here to challenge Loftus. Also the study by Christianson and Hubinette is useful here.

The 12 mark QuestionIn the January exam there will be one 12 mark question. This will be either on Cognitive psychology or Developmental psychology. In the 12 marks question you are expected to both describe and evaluate (6 marks for each). Have a go at this question that was on the May paper this year.

Outline and evaluate research into the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (12 marks)This is to be done for homework and is due in on……………………………

Different types of Experiment

Although most of the research in EWT has utilised the laboratory experiment there have been other types of experiments used. All experiments have an IV and a DV but some experiments are carried outside the lab in a natural environment – these are known as ………….. ……………………….. In these experiments the IV is still manipulated by the experimenter but in a ……………………….. ……………………………….. the IV is naturally occurring and not manipulated by the experimenter. The study by Christianson and Hubinette was a …………………… …………………………. Because the IV was …………………………………………………………….and this was not controlled by the experimenter.

HERE ARE SOME MADE UP STUDIES ON EWT I WANT YOU TO TELL ME IF THEY ARE A LAB FIELD OR NATURAL EXPERIMENT:

1. Participants were shown a film clip and then asked either leading or non-leading questions about the clip. There responses were recorded.

2. Researchers set up a situation where there was a fake robbery in a supermarket car park. The people in the car park who witnessed the robbery were then interviewed about what they saw. Some were given leading questions and others were not.

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3. Researchers looked at the effects of age on EWT and interviewed primary aged children and older adults about the events leading up to a robbery on a video. The results for the two age groups were recorded.

The Cognitive interviewOne of the strengths of the work of Loftus is that it highlighted problems with interviewing witnesses and showed us that inaccurate information is common especially if leading questions are used. Because of her research there were changes to the standard interviewing techniques and this has led to the cognitive interview.

The Standard Interview The Cognitive Interview

Briefly outline the purpose of the Cognitive Interview.

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Briefly outline the main techniques used in the cognitive interview by completing the following table:Context Reinstatement (CR)

Report Everything (RE)

Recall from Changed Perspective (CP)

Recall in reverse order (RO)

Evaluating the Cognitive InterviewThe cognitive interview has been found to be effective in producing more information from witnesses. The enhanced cognitive interview also ensures there are no distractions and tries to reduce anxiety during the process. However, there has been problems with the accuracy of the information given during the cognitive interview and that some of the methods have not found to be useful especially in children.

Give one strength and one weakness of the cognitive interview (remember a strength can come from research showing effectiveness).

Strength of the cognitive interview

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Weakness of the cognitive interview

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Strategies for Memory ImprovementThere are many strategies for improving memory and these can be largely separated into organisation and mnemonics. After our discussion on mnemonics briefly outline the following strategies:

Method of Loci

Uses

limitations

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Story method (narrative chaining)

Uses

Limitations

The pegword method

Uses

Limitations

Acrostics and acronyms

Uses

Limitations

Further methods of memory improvement

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Organisation is another great technique for improving your memory and mind maps combine both organisation and verbal imagery and are great for revising.

We are going to carry out some research on organisation and memory using categories to organise words. This is a laboratory experiment and I shall describe the experiment to you. After this discussion answer the following questions regarding the experiment:

What design is used?

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What is the IV?

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What is the DV?

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How were these operationalised?

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What is an extraneous variable?

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Identify one possible extraneous variable in this study

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You will need to collect data from at least four participants and bring in your results on ……………………………………………… we will pool our data and work out some measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion using the data.

Define the following terms:

Mean

Median

Mode

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Standard deviation

Range

DATAOrganised Random

mean meanSD SD

Have a look at this data and the central tendency and dispersion of the data and describe the findings

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In the following passages there are some techniques that are often used for studying and memorising information. There are some good tips here for your study skills but what I would like you to do is look through the passages and highlight any technique that we have discussed. In some cases this is obvious because they name the technique but in some cases they describe the technique and you have to name it.

Index Study SystemThe index study system is a system that can be used to help the person studying review the material, as well as be honest with himself or herself about how well he or she actually knows the information. This system forces the person to think about the material, instead of simply looking over it. There are seven short steps to the index study system, and the other materials needed to complete the steps are index cards, a writing utensil, and the material being studied (in the form of notes or actual text.)

The first step asks the student to read and review his or her notes and the text a few times. This way, the information being studied is fresh in the mind of the student. The second step of the system is for the student to generate questions he or she has about the material. One way to think of questions is to imagine what may be asked on a quiz or test about the material. The third step, which goes hand in hand with steps one and two, asks the student to keep a list of unfamiliar terms in the readings, handouts, and notes.

Step four is where the student writes down the questions he or she has about the material, as well as the unfamiliar terms, on index cards. There should only be one question or term per index card. On one side of the index card the student will write the question or the term, and on the other side of the index card the student will write the answer or the definition. The student should try to write the answer or definition in his or her own words, instead of copying directly from the main source. The fifth step is to shuffle the cards. This may not seem important, but one may be able to recite an answer just by being aware of the order of the cards.

Now it is quiz time. Step six directs the student to answer the question or define the term on the first card. If the student answers correctly, place the card on the bottom of the pile. If the student answers incorrectly, look at the answer, study it, and then place the card in the top third of the deck. By doing this, the student will come across the question again soon and have another opportunity to answer it correctly. The final step of the index study system is to continue reviewing the cards as indicated in step six until the student has answered all the questions in the deck of index cards correctly.

The index cards can be carried in a pocket or a purse just about anywhere. Use any available time, even if it is only a few minutes, to study the cards. Try answering the questions aloud, as this is the best indication that the student knows the correct answer. Finally, the index cards can be used to study with another person. The other person can help to hold the student accountable to give correct answers, and may also help to explain difficult or complex ideas about the material.

Memorization TechniquesStudents who have a natural ability to easily memorize facts, figures, and procedures may have an easier time taking tests and may earn higher scores on exams. After all, being able to memorize more easily allows you to quickly answer fact-based questions and provide more detailed answers on essay questions. Fortunately, for those students who may have some trouble memorizing, there are different techniques that can help you improve your memory.

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One technique is to create an acronym, which is when you combine letters to form a word. The word may be real or made up. Each of the letters in the word is meant to trigger your memory to help you remember an item. For example, the word PEMDAS is an acronym used to help math students remember the sequence of operations they should use when solving a problem. The letters in PEMDAS stand for parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. Therefore, when a student is solving a problem, if he or she knows the acronym PEMDAS, it will help the student to remember that he or she must complete multiplication in the problem before he or she performs addition.

Another technique is to create an acrostic, which is a sentence where the first letter of each word represents an idea that you need to remember. For example, a popular acrostic is, “Every Good Boy Does Fine.” The first letters of the words in the sentence, E G B D F, stand for the G-clef sequence of music notes. Another well-known acrostic is related to an acronym, PEMDAS, mentioned above. “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” is an acrostic for the order of operations when solving math problems.

When you need to remember a list, either in a specific or a random order, using rhyme-keys may help. The idea is to associate key words in the list of things you need to remember with numbers. Rhyming the key words with the number will help you to remember them. Imagine that you need to remember the four basic food groups, which are dairy, meat, grains, and fruits and vegetables. The rhyme-key method asks you to begin by associating a word with a number. Bun rhymes with one, shoe rhymes with two, tree rhymes with three, door rhymes with four, etc. Next, try to associate the word with each group you need to remember. For example, cheese on a bun can be associated and rhymed with the number one and represent the dairy group. Cows wearing shoes would represent the second group (meat), a bag of grain hanging from a tree can be associated with the third group (grain), and fruits and vegetables can be just beyond a door (which we rhymed with the number four).

Finally, a memorization method that is useful when you need to remember names is an image-name technique. With this technique, you take a physical characteristic of a person and associate it with his or her name. If you need to remember Shirley Temple’s name, for example, you might associate her curly hair. Curly (the image) rhymes with Shirley (the name), which helps you associate them and thus remember Shirley Temple’s name more easily.

TRY THESE

Katie is revising for her driving theory test. She needs to remember a variety of information such as rules relating to speed limits and stopping distances.

Outline two strategies that Kate might use to improve her recall and explain why EACH of the strategies that you suggest would improve recall.

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Your friend knows you are studying psychology and has asked you for some tips for improving her memory for a subject she finds difficult and not very interesting.

Outline two strategies your friend could use to help her remember and recall information in an examination.

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Some Useful Websites to extend your learning and enhance your understanding.

www.holah.karoo.netThis site has a great Summary of the work by Loftus and Palmer. It is in more detail than you need but is worth reading through.

If you browse through You Tube and enter Elizabeth Loftus you will find some video footage of her and her work – also some good summaries of some of her research.

www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbodyBrowse this website and go to the memory section. They are conducting research on our memories and you can take part in this interesting study. You will find you are completing many of the tasks we have talked about and conducted in class. You can also use some of the strategies for memory improvement to do well on the test.

www.s-cool.co.ukI would advise you ALL look at this site especially when it comes to revision as there are some interesting revision quizzes and activities

Homework – to be completed by ……………………………….Please write out the questions and answers on loose paper. Make sure your name is clearly at the top of each page and staple the pages together. The essay on anxiety and EWT should be completed along with these questions

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1. Using the multi store model of memory, outline how information is transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory. (2)

2. Outline key features of the working memory model. (6)

3. Explain one strength of the working memory model of memory. (4)

4. One of the questions below is a leading question. Identify which is a leading question, A or B, and explain why it is a leading question.

A. “Did you see a man crossing the road?”B. “Did you see the man crossing the road?”(3)

5. Explain why studies of eye witness testimony have been criticised as lacking validity. (5)

6. It is argued that encoding in the STM is acoustic. In an experiment to investigate this, a psychologist compared participants recall of the following two lists of letters:

List 1 BVTCDGEPList 2 MRWLZYQA

All participants were read list one then after recalling list one were given list two and asked to recall it. The data was recorded and the number of correctly recalled letters for each list was compared.

i Which type of design was used in this investigation ?(1)A. Repeated measuresB. Independent groupsC. Matched pairs

ii Identify one flaw in the design of the investigation and explain how the investigator could have overcome this flaw. (4)

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REvisionmEmoRy

What do I need to Know?

Topic What are you talking about????????

I think I’m ok with that. But better check.

Encoding, capacity and duration in STM and LTM

Multi store modelDescribeEvaluateWorking memory modelDescribeEvaluateEWT including Loftus and Palmer (1974)Describe EvaluateFactors affecting EWTAgeAnxietyIncluding outline and evaluation of research in this areaThe cognitive interviewOutline of techniques usedEvaluationStrategies for memory improvementLearn four strategies including uses and limitations

The laboratory experimentField experiment

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Natural experiment

Experiment design

Extraneous variables

Demand characteristicsOrder effectsParticipant variablesIndependent variableDependent variableOperationalisation of variablesMeasures of central tendencyMeasures of dispersionOpportunity sampleRandom sampleVolunteer sample

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