Memory

Memory

1. Capacity, Encoding and duration

   • STM
     • 7+/- 2 items
       • Miller (1956) - Key research into STM Capacity
         • Participants given sentences of different lengths, they were asked to recall the words in the correct order, the more sense it made (in terms of grammar) the more could be recalled. Semantic and grammatical structure in LTM helped increase the capacity of STM
     • 18-30 second
       • Peterson and Peterson (1959) Key research into Duration - 24 participants were asked to recall three consonant syllables, but to prevent rehearsal they were asked to count backwards from specific number during intervals of 3, 6, 12, etc. - The longer the interval the less consonants recalled
         • After 3 seconds participants could recall 80% of trigrams but after 18 seconds only 10% of trigrams could be recalled
     • Acoustic
   • LTM
     • Unlimited capacity
     • Lifetime
     • Semantic
   • Glanzer and Cunitz
     • Primary and Regency Effect
     • Participants shown a list of words to remember, they remember the first few words (primary effect) as they had time to rehearse the words (LTM) and they remembered the last two words (regency effect) (STM)

2. The multi - store model

   • Atkinson and Shiffrin
   • Sensory, attention, STM, Transfer, LTM, retrieval , decay
   • Strengths and Weaknesses
     • Clive Wearing
       • Contracted a virus which damaged hippocampus and front region of his brain - has a memory span of only one second, he was still able to play the piano suggesting his procedural memory was still intact

3. The working Memory model

   • Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
   • Central Executive, Phonological loop (phonological store and articulatory process), Episodic Buffer, Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
   • Strengths and Weaknesses
   • KF Case Study - Damaged STM, verbal info effected but not visual info
   • Baddeley et al - Dual task technique - It is easier to do two tasks if they are of different verbal and visual

4. Accuracy of Eyewitness testimonies

   • Loftus and Palmer (1974) misleading information
     • Procedure and findings
   • Factors influencing EWT
     • Anxiey
       • Weapon - focus on what is making us anxious, forgetting other info
         • Loftus Pen - 49% Knife - 33% 50 photos, forgot vital information -weapon focus effect
           • Johnson and Scott
     • Age
       • Young children - may not understand question Older - may forget vital info
       • Anastasi and Rhodes - Participants aged 18-78 - young to middle aged were more accurate at recognising photographs than older participants
       • Warren et al. - older children were more likely to be influenced by misleading questions
   • Weapons focus effect
     • During a crime witnesses will focus on the weapon, therefore excluding any other details about the crime
   • Improving EWT - Cognitive interview technique
     • Report everything - mental representation - multiple perspectives - reverse order
       • Limitations
         • Time consuming - some are more important than others

5. Memory Improvement Strategies

   • Method of loci, Acrostics, acronyms, rhymes, chunking, Mind maps
   • Limitations
     • Most research conducted in lab conditions rather than in real life situations