Psychology (Memory) GCSE AQA

Encoding is the process of changing information so that it can be stored in the brain......... This can be done Acoustically, visually or semantically. 

Encoding is the process of changing information so that it can be stored in the brain......... This can be done Acoustically, visually or semantically. 

Storage is where encoded information is stored in the memory and can be accessed at a later date.

Retrieval is where information is taken out of storage.

The multi store model is a model of memory which consists of three main section connected by arrows which indicate mental processes. It starts in sensory memory where information is encoded and then through attention is moved to the STM or Short Term Memory from here information is rehearsed until it is learnt at which point it can be transfered to the LTM or Long term memory. From the LTM it can be retrieved.

This model of memory is spported by the fact that some people can lose the use of their STM or LTM but keep the other.

Storage is where encoded information is stored in the memory and can be accessed at a later date.

Retrieval is where information is taken out of storage.

Chunking is the process of grouping pieces of info together so as they are easier to remember...

For example if we try to memorise

8 8 6 9 5 4 3 5 6 7 8 9

it is twelve pieces of information seperated but if we chunk them....

8869 5435 6789

It becomes 3 pieces of information and is much easier to store.

A: To test the effects of chunking.

P:They got two groups of participants, a control group and an experimental group, the control group were presented with letters such as.... FB IPH DTW and the experimental group were given..... FBI PHD. So they were the same letter but were grouped differently. Since the experimental group received letters which made sense to us, they automatically chunked them whereas the control did not.

F: The Experimental group recalled many more letters than the control.

C:The researchers concluded that chunking increases memory capacity because chunked info is stored somewhere else in the LTM.

A: To investigate free recall and its effect on a persons memory.

P:He gave PP's a selection of words to remember and then asked them to recall as many as possible in any order.

F: The first words recalled were those last heard (recency effect) because they were still present in the STM. Then those the PP had heard first (primacy effect) because these had now entered the LTM.

C: If asked to recall words we will recall those told first and those told last. It is because these words are still present in either are STM or our LTM.

C: + Research which supports this model

The levels of processing model of memory suggests that we process information at two different levels shallow and deep. It suggests that by processing information in different ways affects how long we can remember it.

Shallow is less effective than deep and would be something like repeating the info over and over to yourself, for example with a telephone number, since you've only repeated it, it will probably be forgotten. Now if you process it semantically, so linking the numbers like your date of birth for example is semantic processing and will make it much easier to remember..

A: To see if the processing level has an effect on a persons memory.

P: They told PP's that their study was to test speed of reaction. They presented PP's with a word and quickly removed it, after which they asked a question. These Questions forced the word to be processed in a certain way....

1. Is the word in upper case letters? (Structural level)

2. Does the word rhyme with? (Phonetic Level)

3.Does the word go in this sentence? (Semantic Level)

F: They found these results

Level of processing........................................Words recognised

Structural...........................................................18%

Phonetic..............................................................50%

Semantic...............................................................80%

C: The results show that more PP's remembered words they had to think hard about.

C: +There is a lot of evidence to support the levels of processing model of memory

- Artificial behavior because of the lab environment

A: To investigate free recall and its effect on a persons memory.

P:He gave PP's a selection of words to remember and then asked them to recall as many as possible in any order.

F: The first words recalled were those last heard (recency effect) because they were still present in the STM. Then those the PP had heard first (primacy effect) because these had now entered the LTM.

C: If asked to recall words we will recall those told first and those told last. It is because these words are still present in either are STM or our LTM.

C: + Research which supports this model

This model of memory is the idea that new information is processed by existing knowledge which we use to impose some sort of meaning on this new info. These existing memories are called schemas.

A: To test the idea that people use schemas to learn new information

P:PP's were given the war of the ghosts to read. After they had read it, they were asked to recall it. The time at which they were asked to recall it could vary from days to months.

F: They found that the majority of people added a new meaning to the story. They found PP's tended to...

- Missed out details

- Add emphasis

- Change the incidents order

C: We use schemas to help remember information.

Interference is the process where information can affect our ability to recall or remember new information.

Retroactive - Retro as in old information is actively effected. So this is when new information interferes with the ability to recall old info.

Proactive - Old information stops new information being absorbed.

A: To test the retroactive theory

P: PP's were asked to learn a list of words. These words were paired with another for example book - face, cow - satee. The experimental group were then shown a new list where the first word was the same for example book - jump, cow - pie.

F: Researchers found that PP's were far more accurate if they were in the first group.

C: This suggest that information can interfere with the learning of other information.

Amnesia is when a person forgets everything or is unable to learn information.

Retrograde - As in retro old information is forgotten. So all memory of events before the amnesia are forgotten.

Anterograde - Is the inability to recall new information.

Bruce and Young suggested that there are three stages to recognising a face.

1. The first stage we don't even see the entire face just features. i.e Mouth hairline.

2.Then next stage we put together the parts of the face to form a mental image.

3. We then look up this face in our memory banks to see if we recognise the person from before.

A leading question is a question designed to change or alter our response.

For example "Did you see her dog?" Now if we didn't know the person this question could lead us to believe that the person is female or even that they own a dog.

The multi store model is a model of memory which consists of three main section connected by arrows which indicate mental processes. It starts in sensory memory where information is encoded and then through attention is moved to the STM or Short Term Memory from here information is rehearsed until it is learnt at which point it can be transfered to the LTM or Long term memory. From the LTM it can be retrieved.

This model of memory is spported by the fact that some people can lose the use of their STM or LTM but keep the other.

There are a few differences inbetween STM and LTM and these are mainly in each stores capacity and duration. They both encode in exactly the same way.

               Capacity        Duration

LTM          Infinite           Infinite

STM          7+-2            30 seconds

A: To see if people organise their memory

P: He showed participants 60 random words. They were then asked to memorise and recall the words. Words were presented in four topics Fruit, vegetable , animals, professions and names.

F: Results showed that PP's recalled the words in clusters of category.

C: He concluded that people categorise information spontaneously.

A: To see if context affected memory

P: Deep sea divers memorised words on a list. Some learnt on the beach and the others learnt underwater. Half of each group were then asked to recall in the environment they were'nt in. The other half in the environment they learnt in.

F: Those who recalled in the same environment as learning recalled 40% more than those recalling in a different environment

C: Recall is improved if it occurs in the same environment as it was learnt.