Memory

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Short-term memory
A type of memory involving events in the present or immediate past.
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Long-term memory
A type of memory involving events in the distant past.
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Capacity
How much data can be held in a memory store.
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What capacity has STM got?
A limited capacity.
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Jacobs (1887) - STM's capacity
Used the digit span technique (gave participants increasingly longer lists of numbers or letters). Found that the average span for digits was 9.3 and the span for letters was 7.3.
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Miller (1956) - STM's capacity
Concluded from looking at psychological research that the span of STM is about 7 - sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less: the magic number is 7+2.
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What capacity has LTM got?
An unlimited capacity.
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Cowan (2001) - STM's capacity may be even more limited
Reviewed studies on the capacity of STM and concluded that STM is limited to 4 chunks.
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Vogel et al (2001) - STM's capacity may be even more limited
Studied STM capacity for visual information and found that 4 items was the limit.
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Jacobs - Individual differences in STM's capacity
Found that recall increased with age: 8 year olds could recall an average of 6.6 digits whereas 19 year olds could recall 8.6 digits.
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Duration
How long data can be held in a memory store for.
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What duration has STM got?
A short duration.
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Peterson and Peterson (1959) - STM's duration
Gave participants a consonant syllable and during intervals (from 3 to 18 seconds long) they had to count backwards from a given three digit number. On average, 90% recalled correctly after 3 seconds but only 2% recalled correctly after 18 seconds.
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What duration has LTM got?
An unlimited duration.
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Bahrick et al (1975) - LTM's duration
Tested different aged participants on their memory of classmates and found that participants who had left 48 years ago could recall 80% of classmates' names and 70% of classmates' faces from photos.
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Reitman (1974) - STM results of duration may be due to displacement
Used auditory tones instead of numbers to avoid displacement and found that STM duration was longer.
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Nairne et al (1999) - STM results may be due to displacement
Found that items could be recalled from STM after 96 seconds.
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Coding
How information is changed and 'written' into memory in some form so that it can be stored. Data is either stored in the form of sounds (acoustic), images (visual) or meaning (semantic).
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How is STM encoded?
STM is largely encoded acoustically.
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Baddeley (1966) - The coding of STM
Used word lists and found that participants found it easier to recall semantically similar words compared with acoustically similar words in STM.
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How is LTM encoded?
LTM is largely encoded semantically.
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Baddeley (1966) - The coding of LTM
Used word lists and found that participants found it easier to recall acoustically similar words but struggled to recall semantically similar words in LTM.
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The multi-store model of memory
An explanation of memory based on three memory stores and how information is transferred between these stores. It was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968.
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Sensory Register (SR) - The multi-store model
Place where information from the senses is held. Very large capacity. Constantly receiving information; most doesn't get any attention so only stays in the SR for a brief duration (milliseconds).
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Attention - The multi-store model
If one of the sensory stores is given attention, this information goes to the STM.
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Maintenance rehearsal - The multi-store model
Repetition keeps information in the STM. A lot of repetition creates an LTM. Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed a direct relationship between rehearsal of STM and strength of LTM.
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Retrieval - The multi-store model
Process of getting information back from LTM. Involves information passing back through STM so that it is available for use.
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Beardsley (1997) - Capacity, duration and coding studies support the existence of separate STM and LTM stores
Found that the prefrontal cortex was active during STM tasks but not LTM tasks.
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HM (Scoville and Milner, 1957) - Case studies support there being different brain areas involved in STM and LTM
HM had his hippocampus removed in an operation to reduce the severe epilepsy he suffered from. His personality and intellect weren't damaged but he could no longer form new LTMs.
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Craik and Lockhart (1972) - LTM involves more than maintenance rehearsal
Suggested that enduring memories are created due to how the information is processed rather than repetition. The more deeply information is processed, the more memorable it is.
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The working memory model
An explanation of STM based on four qualitatively different stores. It is about the memory used for working on a task.
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Baddeley and Hitch (1974) - The working memory model
Proposed this model. Found that if you did two visual tasks, they are performed less well, but if you did a visual task and an acoustic task, there wasn't interference. Suggests there is different STM stores.
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Central executive (CE) - The working memory model
Directs attention to particular tasks and coordinates where information goes. Relies on three slave systems. Very limited capacity.
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Phonological loop - The working memory model
Preserves the order of acoustic information.
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Baddeley (1986) - Phonological loop
Believed it was split into the phonological store and articulatory loop. The phonological store is the inner ear which holds the words you hear. Articulatory loop is the inner voice - words that are heard or seen are repeated.
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Visuo-spatial sketchpad - The working memory model
Codes visual and spatial information. Visual information is what things look like and spatial information is the arrangement of things in one's visual field.
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Logie (1995) - Visuo-spatial sketchpad
Believed that the visuo-spatial sketchpad should be split into the visual cache, which stores info about visual items e.g. form and colour, and the inner scribe that stores the relationship of objects to each other.
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Baddeley and Hitch (1976) - Support for WMM and the dual task performance effect
Used two tasks: Task 1 occupied the central executive and Task 2 involved both the CE and AL. Task 1 was performed slower when Task 2 involved both the AL or CE. Shows dual task performance effect and the CE is apart of working memory.
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Trojana and Grossi (1995) - Evidence for the WMM from case studies
Studied SC who had good learning abilities but couldn't learn word pairs said out loud - this shows that SC's phonological loop was damaged.
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Fahrer et al (1988) - Evidence for the WMM from case studies
Studied LH who performed better in spatial tasks than visual tasks - this shows there are separate visual and spatial systems e.g. the visual cache and inner scribe.
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Eslinger and Damasio (1985) - The central executive is vague and is not just one store but is made of components
Studied EVR who performed well in tasks requiring reasoning (suggests their CE was intact) but didn't have decision-making skills - shows that his CE was not wholly intact. The CE may be made up of components responsible for different things.
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What are two types of LTM?
Explicit and implicit.
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Explicit
This is 'knowing that' which is the remembrance of facts and events and episodic and semantic memories are examples of this.
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Implicit
This is 'knowing how' which is putting what you know into practice and procedural memory is an example of this.
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What are the three types of LTM?
Episodic memory, semantic memory and procedural memory
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Episodic memory
The memory of personal experiences which includes the details of events, the context of events and the emotions associated with events. Episodic memory is associated with the hippocampus.
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Semantic memory
The shared knowledge of facts and memories. This may include concrete facts but also more abstract knowledge, like maths or language. Many semantic memories begin as episodic as knowledge is acquired through personal experience.
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Procedural memory
The knowledge of how to do something and is about skills. Procedural memories are acquired through repetition and practice and this is why these skills become automatic.
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Evidence from brain scans of the different types of LTM
Different areas of the brain were active when the kinds of LTM were. Episodic memory is associated with the hippocampus; semantic memory relies on the temporal lobe; procedural memory is associated with the basal ganglia, limbic system and cerebellum
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HM - Case studies of brain-damaged patients have shown the difference between procedural and declarative memory
Had his hippocampus and parts of his temporal lobe removed due to his severe epilepsy - resulted in him not being able to form new episodic or semantic memories but he could still use procedural memory and access pre-existing LTMs.
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The perceptual-representation system (PRS) memory - a fourth type of LTM
Priming is how implicit memories affect people's responses to stimuli so a person's recognition of a stimulus is automatic due to this. Research shows a separate brain system to the temporal system is associated with explicit memory.
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Forgetting
A person's loss of ability to recall something that they have previously learned.
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Interference
When one memory disrupts the recall of another memory and is more likely to happen if the two memories are similar.
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Proactive interference
This is when new learning interferes with old learning.
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Muller and Pilzecker (1900) - Retroactive interference
Were first to identify RI effects. They gave participants a list of nonsense syllables to learn, followed by an interval and then they had to recall them. Participants recalled less if they had to do an intervening task (describe landscape paintings)
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Proactive interference
This is when old learning interferes with new learning.
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Underwood (1957) - Proactive interference
Meta-analysis showed that when participants were given a series of word lists, they recalled the words they had encountered earlier on better than the words they had encountered earlier on.
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McGeoch and McDonald (1931) - Similarity of test materials
Gave participants a list of 10 adjectives (List A) to learn, then they had to learn List B and then they had to recall both lists. If List B was made up of synonyms of List A, recall was poor (12%) but if List B was numbers, recall was better (37%).
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Baddeley and Hitch (1977) - A real-world study
Tested rugby players' recall of teams they had played against. Some players played all games but others missed some games due to injury, so players had different no.s of intervening games. Found players who played most games forgot more team names.
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Danaher et al (2008) - Real-world application to advertising
Found that when participants were exposed to 2 adverts from competing brands in one week, participants found it difficult to remember the two adverts' messages. Suggested advertisers should expose the public to the same advert several times a day.
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Research is artificial
Much of the research that supports RI and PI is lab-based and has used artificial methods e.g. recalling word lists. Isn't an everyday use of memory. But, interference has been found in real life (Baddeley and Hitch).
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Only explains some situations of forgetting
Interference doesn't occur very often in everyday life. Certain conditions are needed for interference to occur i.e. the items have to be very similar. It isn't seen as a very useful explanation for everyday forgetting.
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Retrieval failure
Being unable to access a memory because there are insufficient cues.
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The encoding specificity principle
It is easier to remember something if information at encoding is available at the time of retrieval.
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Who proposed the encoding specificity principle?
Tulving and Thomson (1973)
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Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) - The encoding specificity principle
Split participants into two groups: free recall or cued recall. The participants had to learn 48 words belonged to 12 categories and in cued recall, these categories were shown alongside the word. Free recall - 40%; cued recall - 60%.
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Context-dependent forgetting
Cues of where we were at the time of learning cause retrieval.
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Abernathy (1940) - Context-dependent forgetting
Tested a group of students each week of a course in four different conditions e.g. normal room with normal instructor, different room with different instructor etc. Participants who were in their normal room with normal instructor performed best.
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Godden and Baddeley (1975) - Context-dependent forgetting
Studied context cues in scuba divers who learned a list of words in four conditions e.g. learned words and recalled on land, learned words on land and recalled under water etc. Recalled most words when they were recalling words in the same place.
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State-dependent forgetting
Cues of how we felt at the time o
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Goodwin et al (1969) - State-dependent forgetting
Studied participants who were either sober or drunk at the time of learning and recall of a list of words. Participants who were in the same state at learning and recall performed better. Information is more available when in the same state.
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Nairne - the 'myth of the encoding-specificity match'
Criticism of retrieval failure. There is only a correlation between encoding cues and retrieval so there is not a causal relationship between these two. The scientific method emphasises the importance of causal relationships.
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Retrieval cues may not always lead to successful recall
Single cues cannot lead to the retrieval of complex ideas. In many studies, they only made participants recall single words.
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Eyewitness testimony
The evidence provided in court who witnessed a crime which is aiming to identify the perpetrator of the crime.
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Misleading information
Supplying information to a witness that may alter a witness' memory of the crime. This can cause an inaccurate EWT.
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Leading questions
Questions asked to a witness which suggests what answer is desired and leads them to the desired answer.
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Post-event discussion
A memory for an event may be altered by having a conversation with co-witnesses after the event or being interviewed multiple times by an interviewer.
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Conformity effect
When co-witnesses reach a consensus of what happened.
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Gabbert et al (2003) - Conformity effect
Put participants into pairs and each partner watched a different video of the same event. In one condition, the partners discussed the event afterwards and 71% of participants later recalled items that weren't there in the video.
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Repeat interviewing
Each time a witness is interviewed it is possible the comments the interviewer makes will be incorporated into the EWT or the interviewer may use leading questions which could alter the EWT.
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Real-world application for misleading information
The justice system relies a lot on eyewitness testimonies to send people to prison. Research has warned the justice system of problems with EWT.
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Wells and Olson (2003) - Real-world application
Found that the largest single factor contributing to wrong convictions was EWT.
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Braun et al (2002) - Research support
Split participants into three groups: Bugs Bunny, Ariel and the control condition. Students had to evaluate Disneyland advertising, including Bugs Bunny, Ariel or no misleading information. More likely to say they'd shaken hands with this character.
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Loftus and Palmer's study may not represent EWT in real life
Their study suggests that EWT was mainly inaccurate and unreliable. It took place in a lab so may not represent real life.
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Foster et al (1994) - Loftus and Palmer's study may not represent EWT in real life
Found that identification of a robber was more accurate if participants thought they were watching a real robbery and their testimonies would affect the conviction.
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Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - Loftus and Palmer's study may not represent EWT in real life
Found that witnesses of an armed robbery in Canada could give an accurate report 4 months after the event even though they had been given 2 misleading questions. Shows misleading information has less influence on real life EWT.
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The impact of response bias
In Loftus and Palmer's study, they used a questionnaire so participants may have just been following a pattern in the questionnaire.
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Anxiety
An unpleasant emotional state which often occurs when people are in stressful situations and is often accompanied by physiological arousal (increased heart rate and shallow breathing).
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Loftus et al (1987) - Support for anxiety having a negative effect on accuracy
They monitored eyewitness' eye movements and found that when a weapon was present, eyes were drawn towards the weapon and away from the person's face.
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What argument is there that anxiety has a positive effect on accuracy?
High anxiety creates more enduring and accurate memories.
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Christianson and Hubinette (1993) - Anxiety has a positive effect on accuracy
Questioned 58 real witnesses to bank robberies in Sweden who were either bank tellers (high anxiety) or bystanders (low anxiety). Found that witnesses who were the most anxious had the best recall.
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Deffenbacher (1983) - Yerkes-Dodson effect
Reviewed 21 studies of the effects of anxiety on EWT and found that 10 showed high arousal means increased eyewitness accuracy and 11 showed the opposite.
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The Yerkes-Dodson effect
When anxiety is moderate, eyewitness accuracy is enhanced but when arousal is very low or very high, this has a negative effect on accuracy.
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Pickel (1998) - Weapon focus effect may be due to surprise rather than anxiety
Had participants watch a thief enter a hairdressing salon carrying items which would be low or high threat and low or high surprise e.g. a handgun (high threat, high surprise) and a raw chicken (low threat, high surprise).
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Bothwell et al (1987) - There are individual differences; One extraneous variable in many anxiety studies is emotional sensitivity
Assessed participants for neuroticism (a tendency to become anxious quite quickly). With 'stable' participants, accuracy increased as stress levels increased but with neurotics, accuracy decreased as stress increased.
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The Cognitive Interview
A police technique for interviewing witnesses of a crime which is based on the work of Loftus and other psychological research on effective memory recall. It was developed by Geiselman et al (1984).
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The four aspects of the Cognitive Interview
Mental reinstatement of original context, report everything, change order and change the perspective.
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1. Mental reinstatement of original context
Witness is encouraged to mentally recreate the physical and psychological environment of crime scene. This tries to make memories accessible as contextual and emotional cues may be needed to retrieve memories.
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2. Report everything
Witnesses are told to report every single detail of the event even if it seems irrelevant, as people tend to filter and edit information. Memories are interconnected so remembering one thing may cue a lot of other memories.
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3. Change order
Interviewer asks witness to describe what happened after or before a particular event or the interviewer reverses the timeline of events. This is so that schemas do not influence the remembrance of an event like they do with recall a lot of the time
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4. Change the perspective
Witness recalls the events from multiple perspectives e.g. the interviewer asks witness to recall crime from another witness' perspective, "What would she have seen?" which may reveal more details about the crime.
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Kohnken et al (1999) - Research support for the Cognitive Interview being effective
Meta-analysis of 53 studies and found an increase of 34% in correct information from CI compared with the standard interview. But, many of these studies involved college students and many were lab studies.
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Mello and Fisher (1996) - CI may be useful for interviewing older witnesses; There are negative stereotypes about older people's minority so older people may not report everything
Compared the memories of younger and older adults for a film of a crime either using CI or the standard interview. Found that CI produced more details than SI but CI produced significantly more info for older adults than younger adults.
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Kebell and Wagstaff (1996) - Found problems with the CI
It requires too much time and can produce too much information that may not be necessary/ relevant. It requires special training when forces have only been able to give officers a few hours so it is not being used widespread.
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Kebell and Wagstaff (1996) - Difficult to evaluate effectiveness of CI in the real world; it isn't just one procedure but a collection of techniques
Found that Thames Valley police force use CI without 'changing perspectives' and other police say that they use CI but actually only use 'reinstate context' or 'report everything'.
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A type of memory involving events in the distant past.

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Long-term memory

Card 3

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How much data can be held in a memory store.

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Card 4

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A limited capacity.

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Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

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Used the digit span technique (gave participants increasingly longer lists of numbers or letters). Found that the average span for digits was 9.3 and the span for letters was 7.3.

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Preview of the back of card 5
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