the process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past
DESCRIPTION
The process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past. Memory. Retrieval. Need to be able to recall or remember a memory. Capacity. How much can be held in memory. STM – limited (7 +/- 2 chunks) LTM- potentially unlimited capacity. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past.
Memory
RetrievalNeed to be able to recall or
remember a memory.
CapacityHow much can be held in memory.
STM – limited (7 +/- 2 chunks)
LTM- potentially unlimited capacity
The coding of information in terms of meaning
Semantic coding
Miller (1956) proposed that STM could hold between 5 and 9 items
Who came up with the term ‘The magical number 7 +/- 2’
ChunkingOrganising items of info into groups chunks. To make the most efficient
use of STM’s limited capacity
A method of measuring the capacity of STM by asking people
to remember and repeat ever longer lists of digits
Digit –span technique
When using the Digit –span technique what is the IV
and DVIV= number of letters/numbers
presentedDV= number of letters/numbers
recalled correctly
What would be a suitable operationalised directional
hypothesis for the Digit-span test?
Recall of letters/numbers will become less as the list of letters/numbers
presented becomes longer
Recency effectThe tendency to recall the last (most recent) items on
a list
Procedural memory
Memory for riding a bike, driving, e.t.c
Transforming incoming information into a form that can
be stored in a memory.
Encoding
Working Memory
Model
A model for STM devised by Baddeley
and Hitch
Name the 4 components of the Working Memory
ModelCentral executive
Articulatory-phonological loop
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
Episodic buffer
Identify one piece of research that supports the Working Memory
ModelWord length effect – Baddeley 75a and 96Visual tracking task, + either visual task or verbal task – pps doing diff tasks did better Baddeley 75bBunge et al 2000 – MRI scans show more brain activity in same area when 2 tasksKF aduditory forgetting in STM worse than visual– Shallice and warrington 70
What is an articulatory suppression task?
When you have to say e.g ‘the,the,the…’ whilst trying to do a reading task. Means you can’t rehearse short words more quickly than long words so word length effect disappears
(evidence for phonological loop and articulatory process0
Prefontal CortexPart of brain where thoughts and
actions are orchestrated – Executive Function (STM)
Which area of the brain is active when LTM is
engaged?
Hippocampus
Who described the Multistore Model of memory?
Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968
Name the 3 stores in the Multistore Model of memory?
Sensory StoreSTMLTM
Give one strength and one weakness of the MSM
+ Lots of research to support it e.g.primacy/recency effect,
Korsakoffs syndrome patients- oversimplified, rehearsal not
always needed
What was the aim of Peterson and Peterson’s experiment in
1959?
To find the duration of STM
What type of experiment design did Peterson and Peterson’s use
in 1959?
Independent groups
Ecological Validity
The ability to generalise the procedure and findings to
everyday life
Name the Psychologist who did a study about the duration of LTM
Bahrick et al (1975)
Bahrick’s study was what type of experiment?
Natural
Name one study that supports and one that
challenges the WM model
+ Case of KF (Shallice and Warrington)
- Simplistic and vague
A gradual deterioration of a memory trace (engram) in the
brain over time.
decay
displacementExisting information is displaced
out of memory by new information
Confounding variable
A variable that masks the effect of the independent variable.
What is EWT?
The evidence given in a court or in police investigations by
someone who has witnessed a crime or an accident
Name 3 factors that can affect the accuracy of
EWT?
Leading questions
Age of witness
Anxiety (weapon focus)
What was the critical question Loftus and Palmer asked participants in their
Study about leading questions?
About how fast were the cars going when they ‘hit’, ‘smashed
into’, ‘collided with’, ‘bumped into’, ‘contacted’ each other.
Who coined the term Weapon focus and what does it mean?
Elizabeth Loftus, the weapon distracts the attention of an eye witness explaining why they sometimes have poor recall for certain details of the crime.
What does the Yerkes - Dodson
Law state?
Performance is best in moderately arousing
conditions
Who developed the Cognitive Interview?
Geiselman et al (1984)
List 4 components of the Cognitive
Interview• Make witness feel relaxed•Witness recreate context of crime•Report everything•Change the order of events•Different perspectives• Interviewer avoids judgemental and personal comments
Give 2 ways age can affect EWT
• Carter et al 96, use of legal language can lead to incorrect answers in children under 7•Children trust people they know, affected by stereotypes Memon et al 06•Older people – failing memory and other senses Wright and Holliday 05 and 07, Brimacombe 97
Give an example of an open question
Do open questions provide quantitative or qualitative data
qualitative
Name 3 ethical issues in psychological research
DeceptionProtection form psychological/physical harmPrivacyInformed consent
How would a psychologist deal with deception?
Debrief
How would a psychologist deal with invasion of privacy?
Keep all names/organisations confidential when collecting
and reporting data
Name 3 strategies for improving
memory• First letter Mnemonics•Peg words•Method of loci (imagery)•Narrative stories• Mind maps
Explain how one memory improvement strategy
works• First letter Mnemonics – rhyme or statement using the first letter of the words to be remembered •Peg words – objects associated with another word•Method of loci (imagery) – place objects to be remembered in locations e.g. around the house•Narrative stories – put objects in a story• Mind maps – organising facts and elaborating on them with colour, images, emphasis e.t.c