Explanations of Memory

Explanations of Memory

1. Explanations

   • Multi-store model
     • The Model
       • Sensory
         • Less than one second
         • Very limited
       • Short-term
         • Less than a minute
         • Approximately 7 chunks of info
       • Long-term
         • Up to a lifetime
         • Unlimited
     • Murdock's study
       • Aim: To provide evidence to support the multistore model
       • Method: Participants had to learn a list of words presented one at a time for two seconds and recall them in any order
       • Results: The words at the end of the list (recency effect) and the words at the beginning of the list (primary effect) were recalled better than the words in the middle of the list
       • Conclusion: This provides evidence for separate short-term and long-term stores
     • Evaluation
       • Lab experiment - artificial setting and memory task - unnatural behaviour - not reflective of real life
       • Not everything we learn is rehearsed - doesn't explain why one time events can be remembered forever - doesn't explain why things we rehearse are forgotten
     • Practical Applications
       • 7 chunks of information - car registration - postcode
   • Reconstructive
     • Schemas: Mental building blocks of memory
     • Bartlett
       • Aim: To see if people alter information when remembering something new
       • Method: Participants read the 'War of ghosts' story and were later asked to retell this story after different intervals of time
       • Results ; Parts of the story were forgotten and other parts were changed.
       • Conclusion: Our memory is influenced by our own beliefs
     • Evaluation
       • Lab setting - unnatural setting - unnatural behaviour - lacks ecological validity - not reflective of real life
       • There's no accurate way to score how they remembered the story meaning that the results are hard to determine
       • Confusing story - difficult for the reader to understand as it did not relate to their culture - less likely to remember it
     • Practical application
       • Due to different expeiences/ cultures/ backgrounds two people may recall an event differently as schemas will fill in blanks. This can effect eye witness testimony.
   • Levels of processing
     • The depth at which information is thought about when trying to learn it
     • Craik and Lockhart
       • Aim: To see if the level at which information is processed has an effect on a person's recall
       • Method: Participants were told they were partaking in a speed test. They asked whether words were in upper case (structural), whether they rhymed (Phonetic), and whether it fit the sentence (semantic).
       • Results: words were recalled 70% semantically, 35% phonetically and 15% structurally
       • Conclusion: The more deeply information is processed, the more likely it is to be remembered
     • Evaluation
       • It doesn't explain why deeper processing helps recall
       • We may be able to recall more information due to spending more time and effort on it, rather than semantically processing
       • The task and setting were artificial - unnatural behaviour - lacks ecological validity - not reflective of real life
     • Practical application
       • When revising, writing notes in your own words will give it semantic meaning, therefore you will be able to remember it better

2. Encoding

   • Taking in information
   • Information is turned into code so it can be stored

3. Storage

   • Keeping it until we need it
   • Can hold vast amounts of info - some of it for up to a life time

4. Retrieval

   • Taking information out of storage
   • We need to be able to recall information when we need it