Memory

Memory

1. Cognitive interview

   • 1. Context reinstatement: witness is asked to recall the whole event inc the location, environment (e.g. weather) as well as info about themselves (e.g. mood, what they were doing.)
     • 2. Report everything: asked to recall every event of the crime no matter how trivial the info.
       • 3. Change perspective: asked to describe the event from another person's perspective e.g. from across the road inc what they would have seen.
         • 4. Reverse order: the witness is asked to recall the event in a different order (e.g. in reverse to work against schemas.)
   • Evaluation
     • An important area of applied memory research providing practical applications, by allowing police interviewers to alter their int tech to increase the level of accuracy of EWT by removing false info included in schemas.
   • Studies
     • Geiselman et all (1988): compared cog int to standard police int. Participants shown police training videos of violent crimes. Cog int = 41% standard int = 29%.
       • Improvements in the way witnesses are questioned: enhances the recall of events at the encoding stage and increases the number and strength of retrieval pathways. By recalling the events in reverse order, the amount of false info is reduced by working against schemas. Increasing the accuracy of EWT and leading to more prosecutions.
       • Low ecological validity: conducted in an artificial setting and involving a vid, therefore findings don't reflect real life crimes. Meaning the findings cannot be generalised.
     • Fisher (2002): Meta-analysis of 50 lab exp that used cog int. Volunteer student samp selected to watch a film simulation of crime. Afterwards the students were given fact-to-face interviews that used either standard or cog int. All were taped, transcribed and scored for the no. of correct & incorrect statements. Cog int = 25-100% more accurate statements.
       • Research provides valuable evidence that cog int provides 25-100% more accurate info compared to standard police int.
       • Low ecological validity: artificial task involved watching a film which is not reflective of everyday life and therefore findings cannot be generalised.

2. The factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony

   • Anxiety
     • Loftus (1979)
       • Evaluation
         • Research provides valuable insight into the effects of anxiety of EWT. The presence of a weapon can affect the ability of the witness to focus their attention on the suspect. Police interviewers are aware of inaccuracies.
         • Low external validity due to the artificial laboratory setting which doesn't reflect real life crime therefore findings not representative of how memory is actually affected by anxiety.
       • Lab exp. 2 participant told to wait outside a room. 2 conditions: one with weapon involving hostile argument and crash before seeing blood covered knife(high anxiety) & one no weapon which heard a normal conversation before seeing grease on hands+a pen (low anxiety.) Had to Identify person from 50 photos. 49% no weapon 33% with weapon due to weapon focus.
     • Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
       • Assessed role of anxiety in a real life crime situation. Participants who witnessed a robbery at a gun shop in which one man was killed and the other being seriously wounded. Interviewed by police and 13 participants interviewed by researched 4-5 months following event. Info gained in interview compared with original & forensic report. High accuracy of recall by witnesses despite ^anxiety, 83% accuracy of reporting the crime itself
       • Evaluation
         • Individual differences limit research findings; some participants had a far poorer recall ability, suggesting anxiety does actually have an affect.
         • Real life crime suggests findings have high eco validity. It is representative of the effect of anxiety on recall ability.
   • Age
     • Ceci et al (1988)
       • Sustainability of children 3-12. asked to read a story aboutauren's 1st day at school. Some given misleading info. No leading info = little difference. Misleading info = younger have > inaccurate recall, 3-4 > 40%
       • Evaluation
         • Useful real world applications; highlights importance of avoiding leading Q's when interviewing younger witnesses as young people place trust in adults.
         • Artificial story doesn't bare resemblance to real crime situation. Therefore critics argue that research doesn't show how age and misleading info affect EWT because it lacks emotional response. Lack of ecological validity.
     • Pozzulo and Lindsay (1988)
       • Evaluation
         • Limited by individual differences. Some children aged 5 performed as well as adults. Therefore other factors (E.G. environmental) could effect EWT, further research needed.
         • lots of research studies are used to allow conclusions to be drawn. High pop validity as lots of participants used, therefore representative of wider pop.
       • Metanalysis. Children > age of 5 were less likely to identify correct suspect compared to adults/older children. No significant difference between > 5 & adults. Elderly identification poorer than younger adults.
   • Misleading information
     • Loftus and Palmer (1974)
       • 45 American students formed a lab experiment sample. 5 groups asked to watch car accident + asked critical questions 'How fast were the cars going when they ____ each other?' Different verbs used: smashed, collided, bumped, hit + contacted. 1 week after asked 'Did you see the broken glass?' Significant difference depending on verb. Smashed = 41 mph collided = 39 mph bumped = 38 mph hit = 34 mph contacted =32 mph. 1 week later smashed = 32% hit = 14%.
       • Evaluation
         • Findings lack ecological validity due to artificial lab setting, participants heard recording rather than real life accident. Findings therefore don't provide accurate insight into the effect of misleading info on EWT. Cannot be generalised to due ethnocentricity of participants and small sample size (45 Americans.)
         • Clear evidence that the wording of a question can act as misleading info which can distort the accuracy of EWT. Practical applications for legal professions therefore an important area of psychology. High internal validity due to strict control over extraneous variables.

3. Short term memory

   • Capacity: Limited capacity of between 5-9 items.
     • Miller (1956)
       • Digit measure span. Findings: 7+/- 2 chunks of info, irrespective of size. Chunk used as unit of info - number,/word/sentence/paragraph.
   • Duration: limited duration of 18-30 seconds.
     • Peterson and Peterson (1959)
       • Participants shown trigram (random 3 consonants) & had to repeat in the correct order after an interference task of counting backwards from 3 digit number (preventing rehearsal.) Interference task lasted 3/6/9/12/15/18 seconds. Findings: 90% recall after 3 secs 10% after 18 secs.
   • Encoding: the way in which info is stored. It is argued that STM is mainly acoustic.

4. Long term memory

   • Capacity: argued to have unlimited capacity.
   • Duration:
     • Bahrick et al (1975)
       • Used 392 participants ages 17-24 years of age. Asked to recall the names of high school classmates using: free recall, photo recognition, name recognition or matching. Findings: 90% accuracy in previous 15 years 80% accuracy for up to 48 years after.
   • Encoding: main form of encoding is through semantic content (by its meaning.)
   • Evaluation.
     • Findings have high internal validity due to strict control of variables in lab exp. Therefore cause&effect conclusions can't be drawn.
     • Low ecological validity due to artificial tasks which bear little resemblance to the way we learn info each day and so findings provide little evidence into capacity encoding + duration. Findings cannot be generalised.

5. Multi-store model

   • Developed by Atkinson and shiffrin (1986.) & argues that memory has 3 separate unitary stores: SenseM, STM&LTM. info is retained due to attention&rehearsal.
   • Sensory memory: info from environment through senses goes to sensory. SM has a limited duration so info will be soon forgotten if left unrehearsed. Attention is responsible for transferring info from SM to STM.
     • STM: limited capacity 7+/- 2 items + limited duration 18-30 secs so info is quickly forgotten if not rehearsed. Rehearsal maintains and transfers info to LTM.
       • LTM: unlimited capacity/duration forming permanent memory trace.
   • Evaluation
     • Redcutionist: oversimplified + memory stores lack depth e.g. STM is likely to be more complex than 1 store. Alternative explanations: WMM depicts STM is comprised of 3 components + therefore provides better explanation of memory.
     • Overemphasises rehearsal: info can be retrieved without rehearsal e.g. flashbulb memories have high emotional significance + form strong memory trace without rehearsal. Other memories e.g. contents of book/smells can be retrieved without rehearsal, theory is fundamentally floored.
   • Glazer and cunitz (1966)
     • Presented with list of words & asked to learn+recall. Findings: good recall at the start (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of the list, middle words have poorest recall. Words at the start are rehearsed + transferred to LTM + those at the end are held in STM.
     • Evaluation
       • Findings reveal good recall at the start (primacy) and end (recency) of the list. words at start are rehearsed (transferred to LTM) and those at the end are still in STM. Those in the middle fade emphasising importance of rehearsal.
   • Clive Wearing
     • Amnesia due to illness that destroyed hippocampus. Damage to memory system prevented formation of new memories because he couldn't transfer info from STM to LTM. Clive can retrieve some info from LTM and can still play/read music. Shows STM and LTM are different stores.

6. Working memory model

   • Baddeley and Hitch (1974) argue that STM is active and involves 3 components.
     • Visuospatial sketchpad: deals with visual info and processes the way things look/their physical relationship to other objects.
     • Central executive: limited capacity but can deal with any sensory info. Has to control attention during tasks + coordinate two slave systems.
     • The phonological loop
       • Phonological store; temporary store for speech based info.
       • Articulatory control system: inner voice using sub vocal rehearsal (e.g. rehearsing phone number before writing it down.)
   • Evaluation
     • Critics argue little is known about the central exec as it has a limited capacity/duration and therefore can't be tested objectively.
     • Provides better account of STM as it is described as having 3 different processors to encode info. More accurate than suggesting 1 unitary processor for both images+sounds. STM is described as active as it displaced to different stores by central exec.
     • STM doesn't rely on rehearsal, common for patients with brain injuries to retain some STM functions, suggesting it is comprised or several compoments.
     • Reductionist: Eslinger&Damasio's patient, EVR, had a brain tumour removed. Performed well on reasoning tasks but not on problem solving. Both involve the CE showing it isn't a unitary system.
   • Baddeley (1973)
     • Track moving spot of light with pointer. Whilst doing so participants had either visual task (describing angles on a hollow letter F) or verbal task (remembering a sentence.) Findings: participants who completed visual task found it harder than those doing verbal.
     • Evaluation
       • Supportive of WMM as participants performed better when the tasked used DIFFERENT components of WMM eg. tracking the light - visuospatial sketchpad, verbal task - phonological loop.

7. Strategies for memory improvement

   • Organisation
     • List organised into meaningful patterns then they are more likely to be recalled. Organised info gives info structure so it is likely to cue recall of other learnt info. Bower (1969) participants given 112 words to learn, organised = 65% recall, unorganised 19% recall.
     • Evaluation
       • Low ecological validity due to artificial setting. Findings aren't representative of real life events as people aren't usually asked to recall words from memory.
       • Provides valuable insight as it is useful to know organisation improves recall. Findings from Bower have real life applications to students as it could prove to be a beneficial revision technique.
       • Research has been replicated and consistently produces findings suggesting organisation increases recall, giving the findings good internal validity.
   • Mnemonics: providing meaningful link to create cues linking words together.
     • Acrostics: verbal mnemonic put together to produce phrase/poem e.g. Never Eat Shredded Wheat to remember compass points.
     • Acronyms: verbal mnemonic where a word can be ,made out of the first letter of a series of words on a list e.g. ROY G BIV to remember colours of the rainbow.
     • Method of Loci: relating words/phrases to places of familiarity to create multiple memory traces to improve recall.
     • Evaluation
       • Hard to use effectively to create visual imagery.. Mnemonics can help people recall info but not meaning/relevance.
       • Effective at improving recall - Scruggs et al (2002) teaching using mnemonics is X2 as effective than that without.
   • Rehearsal: strengthens memory trace so info is easier to recall. Essential for MSM to transfer info from STM to LTM.
     • Evaluation
       • Supported by lots of evidence such as MSM depicting if info is rehearsed then recall improves. Primacy&recency effect suggests rehearsal has good internal validity.
       • Many types of info can be recalled without rehearsal e.g emotionally significant info may lead to flashbulb memory.