Memory

Memory

Multistore model of memory describes how info flows through the memory system
1. SENSORY REGISTER: a stimulus from the environment (eg someone talking) passes into eth SR along with lots of other sounds/sights. there are 5 SR for each sense. the duration is less than half a second but has a high capacity with strong storing data. the coding depends on which sense its coding. only some memory from the SR gets passed - requires attntion
  1. SHORT TERM MEMORYis a limited capacity and duration store. duration lasts about 18-30 seconds unless the info is rehearsed with a capacity of 5-9 items before some forgetting occurs. it is coded ACOUSTICALLY. MATENANCE REHEARSAL occurs when we repeat materials to ourselves. we can keep info in the STM if we rehearse it. if we rehease it long enough it will go into our LTM
    1. E: the MSM is supported by research showing STM/LTM are different as Baddely found that we tend to mix up words that sound similiar when using the STM but we mix up words with similiar meaning when using LTM. this shows that coding is different LTM=semantic STM=acoustic. suppoets MSM as proves that these 2 memory stores are separate
      1. E: There is evidence to sugeest more than one type of STM 2 researchers studied KF a patient with amnesia. his STM for digits was porr when numbers were read to him but but the recall was much better when he read the digits himself. The MSM tates that there is only one STM but KF suggests that there must be 2. one to process visual and the other to process auditory. the WMM is a better exp for this as it includes separate stores
        E: the MSM only explains one type rehearsal as 2 researchers argued that there were 2 types of rehaersal MAINTENANCE rehearsal and ELABORATIVE which is needed for LTM storage. this occurs when you link info to your existing knowledge, or process it. this is a serious limitation of the MSM because it is another research finding that the MSM can't explain
        E: the MSM oversimplifies the LTM. there is a lot of evidence to suggest LTM isn't unitary as we can have one for general knowledge (semantic) and one for personal memories (episodic)
  2. LONG TERM MEMORY is a permeanant memory store! when we want to recall info from the LTM it has to be tranferred back by retrieval. teh suration is upto a lifetime with a potentially unlimited capacity. the info is coded semantically in terms of meaning
Types of LTM
1. EPISODIC MEMORY stores events from our lives such as our 5th bday party, the psychology class you had this morning etc. EM are complex and time stamped so you remember when they happened. ppl, places, objects and behaviours are woven into one memory and you must make a conscious effort to remember them
  1. SEMANTIC MEMORY stores our knowledge of the world (like a combo of a dictionairy and encyclopeadia) eg knowledge of how to apply to uni, the taste of an orange. SM are NOT time stamped and are less personal and more about the knowledge evceryone shares eg you know is JB but not where you first heard about him
    1. PROCEDURAL MEMORY stores memories for actions and skills . these are our memories of how to do things eg how to drive a car, cook etc. the recall occurs without effort and we may evcen find it hard to explain to someone else because we recall these memories without conscious effort easier to show them
    2. E: EM is supported by case study evidence. Clinical studeies (HM/Clive Wearing) showed both had difficulty recalling events that happened to them in the past. but their SM was unaffected (eg HM didn't remeber stroking adog but knoew what a dog was) this supports the view that there are diff memory stores because on estore may be damgaed but the others will be unaffected
      1. E: brain scan studies how that there are diff LTM stores. Tulving had pps preform various memory test whilst have PET brain scans. EM/SM were in the PREFRONTAL CORTEX (SM left and EM right) this shows a physical reliality to the diff types of LTM confirmed in many research studies (increases validity)
        E: Identifying different LTM stores has real life applications as psychologists can target certain kinds of memory in order to improve ppls lives. one researcher found that EMs can be improved in older ppl with mild cognitive impairments. training led to improvements compared to a cont group. the shows the benefits of distinguishing between different types of LTM - allows specifc treatments to be worked out
        E: there are problems with the clinical evidence. evidence is often based on clinical evidence (HM/clive wearing) about what happens when memory is damaged. there is a serious lack of control of diff variables (eg cannot find the precise location of brain damage) so its difficult to generalise from these cases to determine the exact nature of LTM
The WMM is a model of the STM that explains how STM is organised and functions eg WMM is concerned with the part of the mind that is active when working on an arithmetic problem or playing chess or comprehending language etc
1. CENTRAL EXECUTIVE is essentially a attentional process which monitors incoming data and allocates slave systems to tasks. very limted storage capacity
  1. PHONOLOGICAL LOOP consists of the phonological store and articulatory store. PL deals with auditory information & preserves the order in which info arrives. the ----phonological store= stores words you hear--------the articulatory store=allows matenance reharsal
    1. VISUO SPATIAL SKETCHPAD stores visual/spatial info when required (eg recalling how many windows your house has when your not there) 2 sections: visual cache=stores visual data-----innerscribe= records arrangement of objects in physical field
      1. EPISODIC BUFFER is used for temp storage. it was added in 2000 and integrates visual, spatial & verbal info from other stores. it maintains a sense of time sequencing- recording records events that are happening. links to LTM
        E: the case of KF supports the theory of separate STM stores (WMM). 2 researchers carried out the study of KF who had brain damage and a poor STM ability for verbal info but could process visual info normally. so his PL was damged but the rest was fine which suggest that there are separate visual/acoustic stores. however may be unreliable because each brain damage case are unique with diff traumatic experiences.
        E: a limitation of WMM is a lack of clarity over the central exec because the cognitive psychologists suggest that the CE is unsatisfactory and doesn't explain much. the CE should be more clearly specified than just "attention" and some psy believe it may contain separate components.this means that the WMM is fully explained
        E: one posiive is that dual task performance supports the VSS. for instance baddely found that pps had more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks than doing a verbal and visual tasks at the same time. this shows that the greater difficulty is because both visual tasks compete for the same finite resource but the verbal and visual task don't have to compete. therefore DTP activity provides evidence of the VSS. the MSM cannot explain this
        E: the word length supports the phonological loop. this was shown by baddely who found that ppl have more difficulty remembering a list of long words( eg association) than short words. this is the word length effect. an explanation of this is that there is limited space for rehearsal in the articulatory process. consequently word length effect disappears if a person is given a repetitive task.
Exp 4 forgetting: interference
1. KEY STUDY: MCGOETH & MCDONALD asked pps to learn a list of words to a 100% accuracy then when they learnt them, they were given a new list to learn GROUP ! : SYNONYMS, GROUP2: ATONYMS, GROUP3:UNRELATED WORDS, GROUP4: NONSENSE SYLLABLES, GROUP 5: 3DIGIT numbers, GROUP 6: NO NEW LIST (cont) findings: performance depended on the nature of the second list so the most similiar material (synonyms) produced worst recall. when the pps got really different material, ave recall was much better. this shows that interference is stronger when memory is similiar. eg group 1 leading to pro/retroactive memory blocking the other piece of info
  1. Interference theory: interference is when two pieces of info are in conflict. forgetting occurs in the LTM as we can't get across to the memories even though they are available
    1. PROACTIVE memory: when old info interferes with new info ----- eg teachers remembers her old classes names not new one
      1. RETROACTIVE memory is when new interferes with old eg a child can't remember kids names from her other school as they are interfered by this year children's names
      2. Interference is worst when memories are similiar because either PI preciously stored info makes new info more difficult to store. OR RI as new info overwrites previous memory that is similia
      3. E: There is evidence that demonstrates interference in memory many lab exp have been carried out into interference (eg mcgoeth/mcdonald study) most of these studies show that both types of interference are very likely causes of forgetting from LTM. Lab exps control extrenous variables and so give us confidence that interference is a valid explanation
        E: A limitation of the research is that it uses artificial materials. the stimulus materials used are word lists. this is more realistic than consonant syllables but is still quite different from things we remember in everyday life. eg in real life we remember ppls faces, birthdays, ingredients of our fave food etc the use of artificial materials makes interference much more likely in a lab it may not be a likely cause of 'everyday' forgetting
        E: a strength is that real life studies have supported the interference explanation as baddely and hitch asked rugby players to recall the names of teams thatthat they has played against so farin that season week by week. accurate recall didnt depend on how long ago the match took place but but the number of games in the meantime. this study shows that interference explanations can apply to at least some everyday situations
        E: Another limhiation of the research is the time allowed between learning.. for example a pp might learn 2 lists within 20 minutes. research reduces the whole experience of learning into a short time period which does not reflect how we learn and remember most info in real life. so conclusions generated from research into forgetting in LTM may not generalise outside the lab. the role of inerference may be exaggerated
Explanations 4 forgetting: Retrieval Failure
1. lack of cues can cause retrieval failure because when info is initially stored, the associated cues are stored at the same timeIf these cues are not available at the time of recall,you might not be able to access memories that are actually there
  1. ENCODING SPECIFICITY PRINCIPLE (ESP) Tulving suggested that cues help retrieval failure if they were there at the time of codingand at retrieval (MSM). The closer the retrieval cue to the original cue, the better the cue works
    1. Some cues are linked to the material so they are remembered in a meaningful way. eg. the cue STM may lead to recalling all sorts of info about STM
    2. GODDON & BADDELY - CONTEXT DEPENDANT FORGETTING procedure: cues were the contexts where learning and recall took place - on land or underwater. he got some deep sea divers to learn word lists and were later asked to recall them
      1. When the environmental contexts of learning and recall did not match (eg2 and 3) recall was 40% lower than with 1 and 4. when the external cues available at learning were different from the ones at recall, this led to retrieval failure du to lack of cues
        This study demonstrates context dependant forgetting because info was not accessible (i.e. was forgotten) when context at recall didnt match context at learning
2. E: an impressive range of of evidence supports this explanation of forgetting. eg. Goddon and baddeleys research. One researcher Eysenck argues that retrieval failure is the main cause for forgetting in LTM. supporting evidence increases the validity of an explanation especially when conducted in real life situations as well as highly controlled conditions of the lab
  1. E: a limitation is that context effects are actually not very strong in real life. baddeley argued that diff contexts have to be REALLY diff before an effect is seen. such as goddon and badelys as underwater and on land are massively diff. learning something in one room and recaaling in another is unlikely to have a massive effect because the environment isnt diff enough. so real life applicationof retrieval failure due to contextual factors dont actually explain much forgetting
    1. E: A limitation is context effects only occur when memory is tested in certain ways. Goddon and baddely replicated their underwater experiment with a recognition test instead of recall. there was no context dependant effect. performance was same in all 4 conditions whether the environmental contexts for learning and recall matched or not. the limits of RF is an explanation for forgetting because the presence/ absence of cues only occurs during recall not recognition
  2. E: a limitation is that ESP cannot be tested and leads to circular reasoning. when a cue produces successful recall of a word, we assume the cue must have been present at the time of learning. If a cue doesn't result in successful recall, then we assume that the cue was not encoded at the time of learning. but there is no way to independantly establish whether or not a cue has been recorded

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	Created by Zaynab Raza about 7 years ago