STM and LTM
What is the duration of short-term memory (STM)?
18-30 seconds
How does information move from the sensory register to STM?
Attention
What did those in the weapon focus study witness the confederate holding when leaving the the lab
Bloody paper knife or Greasy pen
What are the two main explanations of forgetting?
Interference and retrieval failure.
What is the role of the Central Executive in the WMM
It directs attention to particular tasks and determines how resources are allocated to tasks - Limited Capacity
How is information coded in long-term memory (LTM)?
Semantic (Meaning)
What types of coding does the sensory register use?
Iconic where visual info is coded visually
Echoic where sound based info is coded acoustically
Who is the leading researcher in eyewitness testimony (EWT)?
Elizabeth Loftus.
What are the two types of retrieval failure
State-dependent & Context dependent
Which part of the WMM is also known as the 'Inner ear'
Phonological store
What Technique is used in the study on STM duration
Trigrams
What is the name of the tendency to recall the first words in a list, indicating they entered STM and were rehearsed into LTM.
Primacy Effect
Give a limitation of studies into EWT
Poor Ecological Validity
What were the 2 conditions for Goodwins (1969) study on state dependent forgetting?
drunk (3x driving limit!) or sober.
What is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
About 3-4 objects.
What is the name of the error people make when trying to recall two similar sounding words from STM
Acoustic confusion error
Why has the idea of rehearsal being the mechanism of transferring information from STM to LTM has been criticised? Make sure you refer to an alternative theory in your answer!
This is because we do not repeat everything that gets transferred into LTM (e.g. what we ate for breakfast) or transfer everything we repeat (e.g. revision notes). The model does not explain why some things are remembered and others things are forgotten and rote rehearsal cannot be the only way information is passed to LTM.
Levels of processing model (LOP) can explain this. Info that is processed more deeply is remembered better. So if we process something in terms of its meaning (deep processing) then we remember it better than information that has only been processed in terms of its physical features (shallow processing).
What did Geiselman et al. (1984) find about the effectiveness of the cognitive interview?
Cognitive interviewers obtained up to 35% more correct details about simulated events than untrained interviewers.
Define proactive interference with an example
Past learning interferes with current attempts to learn something new, e.g., giving out an old phone number instead of a new one.
What is the word length effect and how does it support the WMM?
Tendency to immediately recall short words better than long words.
Working memory explains this by saying the articulatory loop has a limited time capacity (what we can rehearse in 2 secs) & as short words take less time to say we can remember more of them.
In Bahrick's (1975) LTM duration study what was the % accuracy for the Photo-recognition test and for free recall when tested within 15 years of graduation?
90%
60%
Explain how the HM case study can be used as both supporting and contradictory evidence for the MSM
HM had normal STM but greatly impaired LTM, suggesting that the memory stores are separate as the MSM claims.
HM can also be used as a criticism of the model because research shows that he is capable of learning new skills e.g. mirror drawing. This suggests LTM is not just one store, instead there are different types of LTM, for example memory for skills (procedural memory) and memory for events & facts (episodic memory).
What were the findings of Gabbert et al.'s (2003) study on post-event discussion?
71% of witnesses in the co-witness group recalled information they had not actually seen, highlighting the powerful effect of post-event discussion on EWT accuracy.
Describe the study that showed context dependent forgetting
Recall was higher when divers were tested in the same environment they learned the list (underwater or on land), showing the importance of context cues.
Explain the Dual task performance study by Baddeley (1975)
Ps performed two visual tasks which used the VSS (tracking moving lights at the same time as describing the angles of the letter F). - performance was impaired
Ps were given one visual task (using the VSS) and a verbal task (using the PL e.g. repeating ‘the the the’). It was found that performance was much better (as good as completing the tasks separately) because the tasks were not using the same part of working memory.