Models of Memory
This cognitive process transfers information from short-term memory into long-term memory in the Multi-Store Memory Model.
What is rehearsal?
This methodological problem occurs because researchers cannot directly observe or verify the schemas participants possess before a study begins.
What is low construct validity? / What is difficulty operationalising schemas?
This type of thinking is automatic, fast, intuitive, and heavily influenced by heuristics.
What is System 1 thinking?
This brain structure is strongly associated with emotional arousal and emotional memory.
What is the amygdala?
This term describes the idea that memories are actively rebuilt rather than perfectly retrieved.
What is reconstructive memory?
A student can listen to a podcast while sketching a diagram, but struggles to listen to two different conversations at the same time. This pattern of performance is used to support this feature of the Working Memory Model.
What are "separate memory subsystems"/"the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad"?
This researcher introduced the concept of "efforts after meaning" after participants altered a Native American story to make it more familiar and logical.
Who is Bartlett?
This cognitive bias causes people to rely too heavily on the first piece of information they encounter.
What is anchoring bias?
These highly vivid memories are often associated with surprising and emotionally significant events.
What are flashbulb memories?
This criticism suggests that watching films of car accidents may not accurately reflect real eyewitness experiences.
What is low ecological validity?
This component of the Working Memory Model is often criticised because it is difficult to operationalise and directly observe.
What is the central executive?
This criticism argues that research supporting schema theory may not generalise globally because many studies relied on Western participants interpreting information from other cultures.
What is ethnocentrism (or cultural bias)?
This way of describing people explains why humans often rely on quick mental shortcuts rather than careful analysis when making decisions.
What are "cognitive misers"?
In this study, participants remembered a gruesome story better than a mundane one, unless they received a beta-blocker.
What is McGaugh and Cahill (1995)?
This study demonstrated that leading questions containing words such as "smashed" influenced eyewitness estimates of speed.
What is Loftus and Palmer (1974)?
A psychologist argues that a model of memory should explain why emotionally significant experiences can be remembered for years despite little or no rehearsal. This criticism is most often directed at this model.
What is the Multi-Store Memory Model?
This process occurs when new information is added to an existing schema without changing the schema itself.
What is assimilation?
This criticism of the dual-processing model arises because some researchers argue there are more than two systems of thinking, or a continuum rather than two distinct systems.
What is oversimplification/reductionism?
It means that participants were asked to recall emotions and experiences long after the original event occurred, which was a methodological weakness.
What does 'retrospective self-report data' mean?
This study found that participants averaged about 2.95 out of 7 for recall accuracy despite expressing high confidence in their memories.
What is Neisser and Harsch (1972)?
This strength applies to both the Multi-Store Memory Model and Working Memory Model because each makes specific predictions that can be tested experimentally and potentially disproven.
What is falsifiability?
According to schema theory, these two processes describe removing details from memory and exaggerating details during recall.
What are levelling and sharpening?
In Tversky and Kahneman's anchoring study, this methodological feature increased internal validity by ensuring participant characteristics were distributed across conditions.
What is random allocation?
Strong emotional arousal may make memories feel more vivid, detailed, and certain. But strong emotional arousal does not guarantee this characteristic.
What is accuracy?
A defence lawyer argues that eyewitness testimony should not be trusted because people often reconstruct memories using expectations, beliefs, and prior knowledge. This cognitive theory would best support that argument.
What is Schema Theory?