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