Memory
- Created by: rchapman99
- Created on: 27-06-17 22:01
View mindmap
- Memory
- Short and long-term memory
- Memory - an organisms ability to store, retain & recall information.
- Short-term memory - memory that holds approximately 7 chunks of information for a limited amount of time.
- Long-term memory - memory that holds a vast amount of information for a long time.
- Duration - a measure of how long a memory lasts before it is no longer available.
- Coding - the way information is changed so that it can be stored in memory.
- Peterson & Peterson (1959): duration of STM = 18 seconds. 24 participants tested over 8 trials. Given a consonant syllable & 3-digit number, e.g. THX 512. They had to recall them. Intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds. During the interval, count back from their number.
- 90% correct on 3s, 20% correct on 9s, and 2% correct on 18s.
- Evaluation: artificial task - not related to everyday life; displacement - counting may displace the syllables.
- Untitled
- Peterson & Peterson (1959): duration of STM = 18 seconds. 24 participants tested over 8 trials. Given a consonant syllable & 3-digit number, e.g. THX 512. They had to recall them. Intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds. During the interval, count back from their number.
- Lists
- Acoustic - sounds the same but does not mean the same thing.
- STM.
- Semantic - mean the same thing but don't sound the same.
- LTM.
- Acoustic - sounds the same but does not mean the same thing.
- Memory - an organisms ability to store, retain & recall information.
- The multi-store model of memory
- MSM - explanation of memory based on 3 stores and how it is transferred between them.
- Sensory register - where information is held at each of the senses. Large capacity. Short duration.
- Attention - if someone's attention is focused on one of the sensory stores, then the data is transferred to the STM.
- STM - information is stored here to be used for immediate tasks. Not rehearsed or new information comes in, it goes.
- Maintenance rehearsal - repetition keeps information in the STM but it will create a LTM.
- LTM - unlimited in duration and capacity. Rehearsal information is stored.
- Retrieval - the process of getting information from the LTM involves the information passing back through the STM. Available for use.
- Evaluation: controlled laboratory study; brain scan techniques demonstrate that there's a difference between LTM & STM. Suggests that STM & LTM are single 'unitary' stores.
- The working memory model
- WMM - explanation for the memory used when working on a task.
- Central executive: monitors & coordinates all other mental functions in working memory; data arrives from the senses or LTM; limited capacity; direct attention to particular tasks.
- Visual-spatial sketchpad: codes visual information; an inner scribe which stores the arrangement of objects in the visual field.
- Phonological loop: codes speech sounds in working memory; limited capacity; articulatory process in which is used for words that are heard or seen.
- Episodic buffer: receives input from many sources and then integrates it in order to construct a mental episode of what is being experienced; general store; limited capacity.
- Evaluation: KF - short-term forgetting of auditory information was much greater than that of visual stimuli. This suggests that STM is more up to different stores; concern about the central executive - what is it? Too vague.
- Types of long-term memory
- Episodic: personal memories of events; 3 elements - specific details, context, emotion; explicit; personal experiences; large sequence.
- Semantic: shared memory for facts & knowledge; rate to things & behaviour; begin as episodic, gradual transition; explicit.
- Procedural: how to do things; concerned with skills; acquired through repetition & practice; automatic; implicit.
- Evaluation: brain scans suggests that different areas of the brain are active when the different kinds of LTM are active; HM - his ability to form new LTMs was affected by the destruction of his hippocampus but he retained his pre-existing LTMs.
- Explanations for forgetting
- Retrieval failure - an explanation for forgetting based on the idea that the issue relates to being able to retrieve a memory that is there but not accessible.
- Cues - things that serve as a reminder.
- Economy specificity principle: suggests that information present at the time of learning, should also be present at the time of retrieval; Tulving - participants had to learn 48 words in 12 categories - 2 recall conditions - either recall as many words as they could or they were given cues in the form of the category names.
- Evaluation: there is a lot of support; danger of circularity - Nairne (2002) claims that the encoding cues and later retrieval is a correlation rather than a cause.
- Retrieval failure - an explanation for forgetting based on the idea that the issue relates to being able to retrieve a memory that is there but not accessible.
- Accuracy of eyewitness testimony
- Eyewitness testimony - evidenced provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime, with a view to identifying the perpetrator of the crime.
- The Innocence: claim that 72% of convictions overturned by DNA testing involved eyewitness testimony that is not accurate.
- 3 stages: (1) encoding - witness encodes into LTM details of the event and the people involved, (2) retains - witness retains the information for a period of time, (3) retrieval - witness retrieves the memory from storage.
- Anxiety - an unpleasant state that is often accompanied by increased heart rate and rapid breathing.
- Weapon focus effect - focus on the weapon meaning that your attention is not at the person.
- Johnson & Scott (1976): participants had to sit next door to a room with arguing. They saw a man run through with either a pen covered in grease or a knife covered in blood; 49% pen, 33% knife; identify the man from photos.
- Evaluation: Pickel (1998) proposed that the reduced accuracy of identification due to the weapon focus effect could be due to surprise rather than anxiety; real life studies have more validity over lab experiments.
- Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
- Cognitive interview - police technique for interviewing witnesses to a crime, which encourages them to recreate the original context of the crime.
- Mentally reinstatement of original context - mentally recreate the environment of the incident; report every detail; change order - alternative ways through the timeline; multiple perspectives.
- Evaluation: an increase in the amount of correct information; not just one 'procedure', but a collection of related techniques.
- Short and long-term memory
- Retroactive interference - the current memories are interfering with the past, learnt memories.
- Muller (1900): gave participants a list of nonsense syllables to learn for 6 minutes and after an interval, they were asked to recall the list; it wasn't as good if they were given a task to do in between; it produced RI as the interval task interfered
- Interference - explanation for forgetting in terms of one memory disrupting the ability to recall another.
- Explanations for forgetting
- Retrieval failure - an explanation for forgetting based on the idea that the issue relates to being able to retrieve a memory that is there but not accessible.
- Cues - things that serve as a reminder.
- Economy specificity principle: suggests that information present at the time of learning, should also be present at the time of retrieval; Tulving - participants had to learn 48 words in 12 categories - 2 recall conditions - either recall as many words as they could or they were given cues in the form of the category names.
- Evaluation: there is a lot of support; danger of circularity - Nairne (2002) claims that the encoding cues and later retrieval is a correlation rather than a cause.
- Retrieval failure - an explanation for forgetting based on the idea that the issue relates to being able to retrieve a memory that is there but not accessible.
- Proactive interference - the memories in the past are interfering with the current ones being learnt.
- Explanations for forgetting
- Baddeley & Hitch (1977): asked a rugby team to name the teams they have played in a season; more games played, more interference.
- Evaluation
- Research is artificial: evidence to support PI & RI; lab based & used artificial lists of words - may not relate to everyday life; participants may not be motivated to remember.
- Individual differences: Kane & Engle (2000) demonstrated that individuals with a greater working memory span were less susceptible to proactive interference.
- Proactive interference - the memories in the past are interfering with the current ones being learnt.
- Evaluation
Comments
No comments have yet been made