Memory

Memory

1. Multi-store Model of Memory

   • Sensory Register - the memory store where information first comes in through the senses. There are separate sensory registers for each sense.
     • Encoding - sense-specific Duration - 1.5s Capacity - unimited
   • Short Term Memory - temporary store of information
     • Encoding - Auditory Duration - 18-30s Capacity - 7 +/- 2 items
   • Long Term Memory - permanent store of information
     • Encoding - Semantic Duration - a lifetime Capacity - unlimited
   • Strengths -
   • Limitations -

2. Working Memory Model

   • Strengths -
   • Limitations -
   • Key Aspects
     • Central Executive - Is the attention director and allocated resources
       • Coding - dependent on senses Capacity - limited, data arrives from senses but can't be held for long
     • Phonological Loop -
       • Coding - auditory & preserves word order (inner ear) Capacity - limited (2 seconds)
       • Articulatory Process
       • Phonological Store
     • Visio-Spatial Sketchpad -
       • Coding - Capacity -
     • Episodic Buffer - general store between others
       • Coding - Capacity -
   • Focuses on explanation of STM, made by Baddeley & Hitch.

3. Theories of Forgetting

   • Interference Theory
     • We forget due to interference of information
       • Proactive interference - Disruption of new info due to old info interfering with it
       • Retroactive interference - Disruption of old info due to new info interfering with it
   • Retrieval Failure
     • We forget due to absence of cues
     • When we encode a new memory, we store info around it - Cues
       • E.g. where we were, emotions at the time
       • So, if we can't recall something, its due to us not being in a similar situation as when it was encoded.
     • 2 types of cue dependent forgetting
       • Context - external environmental cues, e.g. being in a classroom
       • State - internal cues, e.g. being drunk

4. Eye-witness Testimonies

   • Eyewitness - someone who was present at the time of the crime, and witnesses it. They use their memory of the crime to give a testimony or a 'reconstruction' of what happened.
   • Loftus - found how persuasive eyewitnesses are.
     • Got participants to be a jury & decide guilt or innocence of actors as thieves
       • 18% judged to be guilty when evidence was merely circumstantial.
         • It rose to 72% when eyewitnesses were added who claimed to witness the crime.
           • Even when eyewitnesses admitted to poor eyesight, 68% of jurors were still prepared to convict on this testimony alone.
   • Loftus & Palmer