MEMORY

MEMORY

1. MSM

   • Sensory Register
     • Senses /Unlimited /1-2 seconds
       • SPERLING- flash 3x4 grid. recall was better when asked for the first line rather than the whole grid
   • Short Term Memory
     • Acoustic /7+-2 /30 seconds
       • BADDELEY- list of acoustically and semantically similar words
   • Long Term Memory
     • Semantic /Unlimited /Indefinitely
       • BAHRICK ET AL- yearbook faces and asked to name. under 15 years-90%. 48 years-70%

2. WMM

   • Episodic Buffer
     • Temporary store for info, integrating the visual and spatial info processed by other stores, capacity-4
       • MRI scans- Verbal and spatial- right frontal area. Single source- back area
   • Central Executive
     • Allocates slave systems, very limited storage.
       • BADDELEY-- asked ppts to generate random strings, either alone or with alternating letters and numbers
   • Phonological Loop
     • Phonological store- stores words we hear
     • Articulatory process- Allows maintenance rehearsal in a loop (2 secs)
     • BADDELEY ET AL- Word length effect found that under articulatory suppression found word length effect disappeared
   • Visuospatial sketchpad
     • Stores visual and spatial info (3-4 capacity)
       • Visual cache-stores visual data
       • Inner scribe- records arrangements of objects in the visual field
       • GATHERCOLE AND BADDELEY- Visual tracing task, either describe the angles on the letter F or perform a simple verbal task. the first one is more difficult as uses the dame slave systems

3. Types of Long Term Memory

   • Episodic LTM
     • Ability to recall events from our lives. We remember the people, place, objects and behaviours.
       • TULVING- 6 volunteers had radio active gold injected into them, 3 found no results, 3 found that episodic used frontal lobes and semantic used the rear
   • Procedural LTM
     • Actions and skills based on how we do things, we can recall without much conscoiusness or much effort
       • FINKE ET AL- PM a 68 year old cellist who suffered brain damage to various brain areas after contracting encephalitis- amnesia
   • Semantic LTM
     • Contains knowledge of the world, an immense collection of materials which is constantly being added to
       • KROENIG- 64 imaginary drawings. Normal vs alzheimer's sufferers and found that the sufferers are just as good at comparison than non sufferers but struggled at a comparison to target features.

4. Factors Affecting EWT

   • Misleading Information
     • Leading Questions- the wording of the question has no real effect on the memory but influences how they answer
     • Post-event Discussion- other witnesses talking about the event can alter the memories so they are more similar to what others have said
     • LOFTUS AND PALMER- 150 ppts were shown a video of a car crash 50 asked with the word 'hit', 50 with 'smashed' and 50 nothing. a week later they were asked if there was any broken glass at the scene and those who were asked with 'smashed' said were more likely to say there was.
   • Anxiety
     • Anxiety can prevent us paying attention to important things and focus on one thing for example a weapon, 'weapon focus'.
       • LOFTUS ET AL- if a persons carrying a weapon, witnesses focus on the weapon rather than the persons face, someone in a queue handed a someone a cheque and in another group a gun, and found that more ppts focused on the gun

5. Explanations for Forgetting

   • Interference Theory
     • Proactive
       • Old memories disrupting new memories
         • SCMIDT ET AL- Ppts given a map of where they grew up, people who moved lots found that they were worse at remembering because of the learning of new road names- retroactive
     • Retroactive
       • New memories disrupting old memories
   • Cue-Dependent Forgetting
     • Context-dependent failure
       • When the external retrieval cues are different to how the info was encoded
         • GODDEN & BADDELEY- got divers to learn info underwater and on land, and found recall herder when the external environment was different
     • State-dependent failure
       • When internal retrieval cues are dissimilar to when encoded
         • OVERTON- ppts learnt info when sober and drunk and found recall was better when ppts were in a different state

6. Improving the accuracy of EWT

   • Cognitive Interview
     • P-change of perspective
     • R-reinstate the context
       • Witnesses should return to the original crime scene in their head, imagining the environment and emotions
     • O-change the order
     • D- report every detail
     • KOHNKEN ET AL- Found that CIs produces more accurate details but also some inaccurate details. It should be carried out asap as if left too long there are lots more inaccuracies
   • Enhanced Cognitive Interview
     • This version seeks to build a trusting relationship between the interviewer and witness to improve the quality of communication between the two.
       • FISHER ET AL- Recorded detectives carrying out their standard interviews then split them so half are trained to carry out ECI and found that it helped witnesses recall 47% more times than before training