Cognitive Psychology: Memory

Cognitive Psychology: Memory

1. The models of memory

   • The Multi-Store Model (MSM)
     • Atkinson & Shriffrin (1968)
     • Three stores: Sensory Memory (SM), Short-Term Memory (STM) and Long-Term Memory (LTM).
       • • Encoding: the way that information is changed into a form that can be stored.
           • Visual (imagery)
           • Acoustic (sound)
           • Semantic (meaning)
         • Capacity: how much information can be stored.
         • Duration: the period of time information can last in the memory stores.
     • Evaluation
       • + Gives good understanding of the structure and process of STM.
       • + Researchers are able to expand on the model and test their findings.
       • - STM & LTM are more complicated than previously thought.
       • - Rehearsal is not essential and is much less important than the model claims.
     • Research Study
       • Glanzer & Cunitz (1966)
       • When participants are presented with a list of words, they tend to remember the first few and last few words and are more likely to forget those in the middle of the list (serial position effect).
       • Supports the existence of separate LTM and STM stores - observed primacy and recency effect.
   • The Working Memory Model (WMM)
     • Baddeley & Hitch (1974)
     • Key features: Central Executive, Phonological Loop, Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad and Episodic Buffer
       • Central executive: has a supervisory function and controls the slave systems, monitors incoming information and allocates slave systems to tasks.
       • Phonological loop: temporary storage system for holding auditory information in a speech based form, key for the development of reading.
         • Phonological store (inner ear): stores words that are heard.
         • Articulatory process (inner voice): allows maintenance rehearsal.
       • Visuo-spatial sketchpad: temporary memory store for visual and spatial information.
         • Inner scribe: records the arrangement of objects in the visual field.
         • Visual cache: stores visual data.
       • Episodic buffer: acts as a temporary 'backup' store for information which communicates with both LTM and the slave system components of working memory.
     • Evaluation
       • + Supported by dual task studies
       • + KF case study - suffered brain damage from a motorcycle accident, damaged STM, impaired memory for verbal information, but memory for visual information was largely unaffected.
         • + Supports the theory that there are separate STM components for visual information (visuo-spatial sketchpad) and verbal information (phonological loop).
         • - Evidence from brain-damaged patients may not be reliable since it concerns unique cases with patients who have had traumatic experiences.
       • - There is little known about how the central executive works.
       • - Does not explain the link between working memory and LTM.

2. Memory in everyday life

   • Factors affecting eyewitness testimony (EWT)
     • Misleading Information
       • Research Study
         • Loftus & Palmer (1974)
         • Participants were shown slides of a car accident involving a number of cars and were asked to describe what had happened as if they were eyewitnesses.
         • "About how fast were the cars going when they (hit/smashed/collided/bumped/contacted) each other?"
         • Evaluation
           • - Lacks mundane realism: video clip doesn't have the same emotional impact as witnessing a real-life accident and so it lacks ecological validity.
           • - Cannot be generalised: not representative of the general population, only used students.
           • + Easy to replicate: laboratory experiment with a standardized procedure.
     • Age
       • Young Children are more likely to yield to social pressure, especially when in the presence of an authoritative figure.
         • Children's cognitive abilities are not developed fully - often believe distorted information due to limitations in memory processing, attention and language.
         • Research has shown children aged 6-15 years old failed to understand 1/3 questions asked by lawyers in court - making their testimonies unreliable.
       • Research Study
         • Dodson & Krueger (2006)
         • Asked college students and older participants (60-80 years) to watch a 5 minute video of a burglary and police chase.
           • They answered 24 yes/no questions - 8 referred to details not in the video (misleading information).
           • Both ages made a similar rate of errors, however older participants were more confident with their answers.
         • Evaluation
           • + Has important real life applications: juries tend to be influenced more by a confident eyewitness than an uncertain one.
           • - Lacks external validity: experiment was artificial and so wasn't as emotionally arousing as it would be in real-life.
     • Anxiety
       • Small increases in anxiety and arousal increase the accuracy of memory - high levels have a negative effect.
       • Research Study
         • Loftus (1979)
         • Participants heard a discussion in another room - first condition: man came out carrying a pen with grease on his hands, second condition: man came out carrying a knife covered in blood, both groups then had to identify the man from a selection of 50 photos.
           • First condition: 49% accurate Second condition: 33% accurate
         • Evaluation
           • + High ecological validity: participants were unaware the study was staged.
           • - Ethical issues: participants would've been stressed at the sight of a man with a knife.
   • Improving accuracy of EWT
     • The Cognitive Interview
       • Context reinstatement
       • Recall from a changed perspective
       • Recall in reverse order
       • Report everything
       • Additional features
         • Encourage the witness to relax and speak slowly
         • Offer comments to help clarify witness statements
         • Adapt questions to suit the understanding of individual witnesses
         • Avoid making any personal or judgemental comments
       • Research Study
         • Gieselman et al. (1986)
         • Intruder carrying a blue rucksack entered a classroom as stole a projector - 2 days later, participants were questioned about the event.
           • First group: "Was the guy with the green backpack nervous?" Second group: asked what colour the rucksack was.
             • Second group (cognitive interview condition) less likely to recall the rucksack being green.
         • Evaluation
           • + High ecological validity: conducted as though it was a real crime.
           • - Independent groups design: participants in the cognitive interview condition may have been naturally less susceptible to leading questions.
   • Strategies for memory improvement
     • Organisation and Cues
       • Organise information into sections with headings, these will act as cues to help recall the information that follows.
       • Organise information in a sequence (alphabetically/size/time) to aid recall.
         • Research Study
           • Tulving (1962)
           • Gave participants a list of words to learn - they were organising and chumcking the material into groups.
     • Acronyms and Acrostics
       • Acronyms: forming a word from the initial letters of the word.
       • Arcostics: forming a sentence using the intial letters of the words (should be memorable).
     • Narrative Stories
       • Linking together all the items that need remembering and putting them into a story.
       • Research Study
         • Bower & Clark (1969)
         • Two groups each given 12 lists containing 10 words.
           • First condition: advised to come up with stories Second condition: asked to learn the lists.
             • Both groups recalled equally well immediately after learning each individual list, when recalling all 12 lists at the end the first condition were significantly better.
         • Evaluation
           • + Control conditions: the effect of the IV (stories) could be measured.
           • - Lacks ecological validity: learning lists isn't something commonly done in real-life.

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