memory

P – A strength of the multi store model of memory is that there is evidence that STM and LTM are two separate stores.

E – Clive Wearing suffered from a viral infection which attacked his brain and damaged his hippocampus, although despite this his procedural memory was intact he could still conduct a choir and play piano, however he had no recollection of his musical education (episodic memory).

E – Therefore this supports the multi store model of memory as it shows evidence for two separate stores for LTM and STM.

 P – A strength of the multi store model of memory is that LTM and STM are two different stores and there is evidence to support this.

E – This came from Glenser and Cunitz (1966). They gave participants a list of 20 words presented one at a time, they then asked them to recall any words they could remember. They tended to remember the first words (a primacy effect) because those words were in the LTM and had been rehearsed and the words at the end (reasentcy effect) because these words were in their short term memory. They weren’t as good at recalling the words in the middle.

E – Therefore this shows the multi store model has two different stores for LTM and STM.

P – One criticism of the multi store model of memory is that there is evidence that STM isn’t a single unitary store.

E – KF suffered severe brain damage which meant he found it difficult to process verbal information but found it easier to process visual information.

E – This shows that STM is not a single unitary store because KF could do one and not the other which shows that STM isn’t a single unitary store and there is clear evidence to support this.

P – A strength of the working memory model is that there is evidence for the phonological loop and articulatory process.

E – The word length effect explains why people struggle to cope with longer words such as ‘extraordinary’ but are better with shorter words such as ‘egg’ because the phonological loop can hold the amount of information a person can say in two seconds so long words are harder to store. However the word length effect disappears if a person is given an articulatory suppression task, for example if you’re asked to say ‘the the the’ while reading the words. This repetitive task ties up the articulatory process and means you can’t rehearse the shorter words more quickly than the longer ones, so the word length effect disappears.

P – A strength of the working memory model is the case study of KF.

E – KF showed that the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad are separate because he would easily forget verbal/auditory information (phonological loop) but did better remembering visual things (visuo-spatial sketchpad). KF’s brain damage was restricted to the phonological loop. KF also showed that the STM works independently of the LTM as he had no problem with long term learning but some aspects of his immediate memory were impaired.

L – However we need to be careful in relation to generalising these findings to the wider population because KF was a case study and it is only the study of an individual person.

P – A weakness of the working memory model is that the central executive is too vague and there is more to it.

E – KF’s case study is evidence of this because it states KF performed well on tasks requiring reasoning however he had poor decision making skills which suggests that his central executive wasn’t totally intact. Therefore this shows that the central executive is more complicated than how it is represented.

P –   A strength of eyewitness testimony and misleading information is Loftus et al (1978 study).

E – One group were shown a red Datsun stopping at a junction with a ‘stop’ sign the other a ‘yield’ sign. Later every participant was given questions. Half of each group had the question ‘did the red Datsun have a car pass at the junction with a stop sign’ the other half had a question saying ‘yield’ sign. Then they were shown slides from the original sequence with a pair showing the Datsun at either a ‘stop’ or ‘yield’ sign. 75% who had consistent questions picked the correct slide whereas only 41% who had the misleading questions picked the correct slide.

E - Therefore suggesting that misleading information did affect their recall and this supports the study.

P – A criticism of research into eyewitness testimony and misleading information is that they lack validity and do not represent real life as participants aren’t as emotionally aroused as they would be in a real life experiment.

E – Foster et al (1994) found that if participants thought they were watching a real life robber and therefore their responses would influence a trial their identification of the robber was more accurate.

E - Therefore criticising research into eyewitness testimony and misleading information.

P – Another criticism of eyewitness testimony and misleading information is eyewitness testimony in real life.

E – Yuille and Cutshall (1986) interviewed 13 people who had witnessed an armed robbery in Canada. The interviews took place more than 4 months later and included two misleading questions. Despite these questions the witness provided accurate recall that matched their initial detailed reports.

E – This suggests that post-event information may not affect memory in real life eyewitness testimony.

P – There is evidence to support the contradiction between anxiety and EWT

E – Deffenbacher explains this using Yerkes Dobson law which states that performance improves with increase in arousal up to some optimal point and then declines with further increase

E – Therefore supporting the contradiction between anxiety and EWT

P – There is evidence to support the weapon focus effect

E – Studies show that eye witnesses do look more at a weapon than at other features of the crime scene which would reduce the accuracy of what they recall. Loftus et al (19870 monitored eye witnesses eye movements and found that the presence of a weapon causes attention to be physically drawn towards the weapon and away from the persons face.

E - Therefore supporting the weapon focus effect.

P – Research that challenges the view that anxiety reduces the accuracy of EWT 

E – Rinolo et al considered the EWT of survivors of the titanic, who were in a state of considerable anxiety. Never the less their reports were accurate. At the time of the sinking 75% of the survivors reported that the ship broke in two when it sank. When the wreck was found the survivors were found to be right.

E – This supports the view that anxiety does not necessarily result in inaccurate recall

P – The findings of Yarmeys study may not be generalised because the victim was a young woman

E – Research has found that people are more accurate when recalling the details of someone of the same age (own age bias)

E – Anatasi and Rhodes found that young and middle aged participants were significantly more accurate than the older participants, this suggests that people were more accurate when identifying people of their own age.

P – The source recollection hypothesis provides support for Memons study

E – Research has shown that older adults have increased difficulty remembering specific details of a crime and that these impairments increase over time

E – Therefore explaining why older adults accuracy declines over time.

P- Other research studies have provided support for Parker and Carranza's study.

E- For example Goodman and Reed found that children aged 6 – 8 were not less accurate than older participants but were more suggestible, this means they are more likely to accept the suggestions made by others.

E- Therefore suggesting that age does influence the accuracy of EWT and that it is important to avoid misleading information when questioning children to ensure accuracy.

P- There is evidence to support the real world application of the cognitive interview.

E- Stein and Memon (2006) tested the effectiveness of the cognitive interview in Brazil. In comparison the standard interview and the cognitive interview increased the amount of correct information obtained from witnesses and was better at producing forensically rich information e.g. detailed description.

E- These results support the cognitive interview approach and it has reduced the amount of miscarriages of justices in the country.

P- The cognitive interview has been found to be effective

E- Kohnken et al conducted a meta-analysis of 53 studies and found a 34% increase in the amount of correct information recalled using a cognitive interview compared to using a standard interview. Milne and Bull found that using only one of the techniques didn't produce better results but using both techniques 1 and 2 gave better recall.

E- This suggests that the success of the cognitive interview technique relies on using at least 2 of the techniques at any time.

P- There are problems in doing research as many different versions of the cognitive interview are used.

E- The Thames valley police force don't include ‘changing perspectives’, other forces just use ‘report everything’ and ‘reinstate context’.

E- This makes it difficult to demonstrate effectiveness because each police force uses their own version.

P– Memory strategies are effective in studies of real world application

E – For example, Down syndrome children who received training in memory improvement techniques (rehearsal and organisation) had significantly improved memory skills compared to a control group (Broudly and David)

E – O’Hara et al found that training in the use of mnemonic techniques (e.g. methods of loci) has long term benefits for older adults.

L – Such research supports the effectiveness of memory strategies in improving memory

P – There is supporting evidence in a study of people using key words

E – Atkinson found that participants using keywords learned significantly more Russian vocabulary than a control group not using the method

E – However the long term advantage of the key word method is less well supported

L – This might explain the fact that the key word method has not been widely adopted.

P – There are limitations with this research because studies of memory strategies are often conducted in lab conditions.

E – The materials in lab studies are not always the same as the kind of thing people have to actually remember, such as using word lists instead of names of students in your class

E – This is supported by Salvin who found memory techniques that work in lab conditions don’t work in real contexts e.g. speaking in foreign languages better

L – Therefore the results of the studies may not apply to everyday life.