Exam 2 Study Guide
Chapter 5
 Understand the modal model of memory and Baddeley’s Working Memory model.
Modal model of memory assumes that information is received, processed and stored
differently for each kind of memory. Where unattended information presented very quickly is
stored only briefly. Baddeley's Working Memory Model
Working memory is thought to be involved in translating visual information into an acoustic
code, forming chunks, rehearsing to keep attention focused on material to remember as the,
e.g phone number example and sometimes elaborating on incoming information by calling up
relevant knowledge from LTM. Thus the term working memory conveys more than a temporary
storehouse, rather it connotes a place where the person exerts active mental effort to attend to
and often to transform the material.
Familiar task requires less WM capacity compare to unfamiliar task.
 Understand the primacy and recency effect.
The serial position effect means that people were able to recall more words from the begging
and the end of the free recall task.
Primacy effect means that people did better on their free recall task at the begging of the list.
Recency effect means that people did better on their free recall task at the end of the list.
Rehearsal is though to help the items enter LTM, storage,
Murdocks study found that, even though the participants were continually distracted while
trying to rehearse the words, the primacy effect decrease but the recency effect stays intact.
The explanation to this is that participants were still able to see the last few words on the list
using either sensory memory or short term memory.
 Understand iconic and echoic memory.
Iconic memory is similar to echoic memory but for the sense of sight instead of sound. They are
very similar, but the main difference is in their duration. Echoic memory stores auditory stimuli
for several seconds, and iconic memory stores visual stimuli for a few hundred milliseconds .
Chapter 6
 Understand mnemonic devices and examples.
Mnemonic devices — like acronyms, chunking, and rhymes — work by tapping into how the
brain naturally stores data. A mnemonic, also known as a memory aid, is a tool that helps you
remember an idea or phrase with a pattern of letters, numbers, or relatable associations.
Mnemonic devices include special rhymes and poems, acronyms, images, songs, outlines, and
other tools. Mnemonic (pronounced ni-mon-ik) is derived from the Greek phrase
mimnēskesthai meaning to “remember.”
For instance: HOMES is an acronym for the five Great Lakes:
Huron
Ontario
Michigan
Erie
Superior
“pace” from the items’ first letters and thinking “pace” as you walk through the grocery store
may help you remember all the items you need:
pasta
apples
cilantro
eggs
IN music you use EGBDF
Every good boy does fine
 Be able to identify and define each long-term memory system.
Procedural Memory. Procedural memory is a part of the implicit long-term memory responsible
for knowing how to do things, i.e., memory of motor skills. ... It does not involve conscious (i.e.,
it’s unconscious-automatic) thought and is not declarative. For example, procedural memory
would involve knowledge of how to ride a bicycle.
Semantic Memory. Semantic memory is a part of the explicit long-term memory responsible for
storing information about the world. This includes knowledge about the meaning of words, as
well as general knowledge.
For example, London is the capital of England. It involves conscious thought and is declarative.
The knowledge that we hold in semantic memory focuses on “knowing that” something is the
case (i.e. declarative). For example, we might have a semantic memory for knowing that Paris
is the capital of France.
Episodic Memory. is a part of the explicit long-term memory responsible for storing information
about events (i.e. episodes) that we have experienced in our lives.
It involves conscious thought and is declarative. An example would be a memory of our 1st day
at school.
The knowledge that we hold in episodic memory focuses on “knowing that” something is the
case (i.e. declarative). For example, we might have an episodic memory of knowing that we
caught the bus to college today.
Procedural knowledge involves “knowing how” to do things. It included skills, such as “knowing
how” to playing the piano, ride a bike; tie your shoes, and other motor skills.
It does not involve conscious thought (i.e. it’s unconscious – automatic). For example, we brush
our teeth with little or no awareness of the skills involved.
Declarative knowledge involves “knowing that”, for example London is the capital of England,
zebras are animals, your mum’s birthday etc.
Recalling information from declarative memory involves some degree of conscious effort –
information is consciously brought to mind and “declared”.
Evidence for the distinction between declarative and procedural memory has come from
research on patients with amnesia. Typically, amnesic patients have great difficulty retaining
episodic and semantic information following the onset of amnesia.
Their memory for events and knowledge acquired before the onset of the condition tends to
remain intact, but they can’t store new episodic or semantic memories. In other words, it
appears that their ability to retain declarative information is impaired.
However, their procedural memory appears to be largely unaffected. They can recall skills they
have already learned (e.g. riding a bike) and acquire new skills (e.g. learning to drive).
 Understand the levels of processing theory.
Shallow Processing
– This takes two forms
1 . Structural processing (appearance) which is when we encode only the physical qualities of
something. E.g. the typeface of a word or how the letters look.
2 . Phonemic processing – which is when we encode its sound.
Shallow processing only involves maintenance rehearsal (repetition to help us hold something
in the STM) and leads to fairly short-term retention of information.
This is the only type of rehearsal to take place within the multi-store model.
Deep Processing
– This takes two forms
3 . Semantic processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to
similar words with similar meaning.
Deep processing involves elaboration rehearsal which involves a more meaningful analysis (e.g.
images, thinking, associations etc.) of information and leads to better recall.
For example, giving words a meaning or linking them with previous knowledge.
Chapter 7
 Understand eyewitness testimony and false memory.
Eyewitness testimony is a legal term that refers to an account given by people of an event they
have witnessed.
For example, they may be required to describe a trial of a robbery or a road accident someone
has seen. This includes the identification of perpetrators, details of the crime scene, etc.
Eyewitness testimony is an important area of research in cognitive psychology and human
memory.
Juries tend to pay close attention to eyewitness testimony and generally find it a reliable source
of information. However, research into this area has found that eyewitness testimony can be
affected by many psychological factors:
Anxiety / Stress
Reconstructive Memory
Weapon Focus
Leading Questions
The legitimacy of repressed memories continues to be debated by
contemporary psychologists, many of whom argue that such memories may be
implanted by suggestive techniques, e.g., hypnosis and guided recall.
Some therapeutic techniques seem especially likely to foster false
memories. BUT it would be a mistake to dismiss all adult reports of
early abuse.
One of the biggest debates in cognitive psychology in recent years concerns
whether victims of abuse repress memories of their trauma and later retrieve
those recovered memories under therapy or whether instead some therapists
inadvertently prompt their clients to create false memories of events that
never actually happened.
1. Popular self-help books can encourage readers to look for
symptoms of repressed memories of abuse, but these symptoms are also
common for people who have not been abused.
2. Such books also suggest techniques for recovering repressed
memories, such as using old family photographs and giving the imagination
free rein.
Ignoring evidence (confirmation bias):
In the criminal justice system, one of the most powerful forms of
evidence is the eyewitness account.
Wells and his colleagues studied 40 cases in which DNA evidence
indicated that a person had been falsely convicted of a crime. They
found that in 36 of these cases the person had been misidentified by at
least one eyewitness.
One major problem with eyewitness testimony is that people tend to remember
evidence that confirms their beliefs.
Confirmation biases might even affect what potential eyewitnesses notice in
the world around them.
One major problem with eyewitness testimony is that people tend to remember
evidence that confirms their beliefs.
Confirmation biases might even affect what potential eyewitnesses notice in
the world around them.
Elizabeth Loftus and others have extensively studied eyewitness memory, a
22 type of autobiographical memory with grave implications for our court system.
1. Loftus’s studies suggest that eyewitness memory is easily
distorted by the use of misleading questions.
2. For example, a misleading question about a barn (that did not
exist) caused 17% of participants to later describe the barn in their recollection
of a filmed accident.
False memory is a psychological phenomenon whereby an individual recalls either an actual
occurrence substantially differently from the way it transpired, or an event that never even
happened.
Interference, leading questions, obsessive-compulsive disorder, false memory syndrome and
sleep deprivation can cause false memories.
Pioneered by the work of Sigmund Freud and Pierre Janet, research on false memory has
immensely benefitted from the contributions of the American cognitive psychologist, Elizabeth
F. Lotus.
False memory has manifold real-world implications ranging from false convictions in court
proceedings to accidental manslaughter.
False memory is a psychological phenomenon whereby an individual recalls an event that never
happened, or an actual occurrence substantially differently from the way it transpired.
In other words, a false memory could either be an entirely imaginary fabrication, or a distorted
recollection of an actual event. Moreover, false memories are distinct from simple errors in
recollection.
Firstly, an individual who holds a false memory maintains some certitude in the veracity of the
memory. Secondly, a false memory deals not with forgetting something that actually
happened, but with remembering what had never taken place.
Instances of this phenomenon may range from the mundane—such as remembering that you
ate breakfast when you actually did not, to the serious—such as falsely recalling that you were
assaulted by your boss.
Examples of False Memory
Following are some examples of false memory:
Believing that you had called a friend in the morning, when in actuality, you had not.
Falsely recalling that you had submitted an assignment for a class, only to find out later that you
had not.
Incorrectly remembering that you locked your car when before leaving the parking lot.
Memories can be distorted, or
even implanted, by false
information.
Imagining an event might lead to
confusion of the mental image with
a real memory.
Children are particularly susceptible
to false memories being induced.
 Understand flashbulb memories and how confidence might affect memory errors.
A flashbulb memory is a highly vivid and detailed ‘snapshot’ of a moment in which a
consequential, surprising and emotionally arousing piece of news was learned.
Roger Brown and James Kulik introduced the term ‘flashbulb memory’ in 1977 in their study of
individuals’ ability to recall consequential and surprising events.
Debate centers on whether they are a special case (resistant to forgetting over time), or the
same as other memories.
The photographic model, the comprehensive model and the emotional-integrative model are
some models which have been employed to study the phenomenon of flashbulb memory.
The vividness and accuracy of flashbulb memories can vary across age and culture.
The amygdala seems to play a key role in the formation and retrieval of flashbulb memories.
Relatively little evidence for flashbulb memories as a distinct memory process. They ‘feel’
accurate (we are confident in recall) but are just as prone to forgetting & change as other
episodic memories.
A flashbulb memory is an accurate and exceptionally vivid long-lasting memory for the
circumstances surrounding learning about a dramatic event. Flashbulb Memories are memories
that are affected by our emotional state.
The analogy of a flashbulb describes the way we can often remember
where you where, what you were doing, how you were informed, and how you reacted, as if
the whole scene had been “illuminated” by a flashbulb.
Roger Brown and James Kulik coined the term ‘flashbulb memory’ in 1977. While the term
‘flashbulb memory’ implies shock, illumination, brevity and detail, a memory of this type is far
from complete.
Moreover, the fundamental characteristics of a flashbulb memory are informant (who broke
the news), own affect (how they felt), aftermath (importance of the event), other affect (how
others felt), ongoing activity (what they were doing) and place (where they where when the
event happened).
Examples of Flashbulb Memory
Flashbulb memories are often associated with important historical or autobiographical events.
Typical ‘flashbulb’ events are dramatic, unexpected, shocking.
An example of a flashbulb memory is the assassination of the US president John F. Kennedy in
1963 and recalling the moment you learned of the death of Princess Diana in 1997.
Recalling where you were when you learned about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Remembering the moment when you heard that Mr. Trump had won the 2016 Presidential
election.
Chapter 8
 Understand subordinate-, basic-, and superordinate-level concepts.
a high-level category that subsumes a number of basic-level categories. For example, animal is a
superordinate category including the basic-level categories cat, fish, elephant, and so on. A
superordinate category is usually characterized by (a) low levels of resemblance between
members and (b) fundamental differences between its members and those of other categories
(e.g., an elephant is not much like a fish, but both are very different from a tree).
 Understand the classical view of concepts and the problems that exist with this view.
The classical theory of concepts is one of the five primary theories of concepts, the other four
being prototype or exemplar theories, atomistic theories, theory-theories, and neoclassical
theories. The classical theory implies that every complex concept has a classical analysis, where
a classical analysis of a concept is a proposition giving metaphysically necessary and jointly
sufficient conditions for being in the extension across possible worlds for that concept. That is,
a classical analysis for a complex concept C gives a set of individually necessary conditions for
being a C (or conditions that must be satisfied in order to be a C) that together are sufficient for
being a C (or are such that something’s satisfying every member of that set of necessary
conditions entails its being a C). The classical view also goes by the name of “the definitional
view of concepts,” or “definitionism,” where a definition of a concept is given in terms of
necessary and jointly sufficient conditions.
This article provides information on the classical theory of concepts as present in the historical
tradition, on concepts construed most generally, on the nature of classical conceptual analysis,
and on the most significant of the objections raised against the classical view.
 Understand scripts.
Script: a schema for a routine event, such as going to the dentist, or eating at a
restaurant
Allows us to make inferences about facts not stated
Central concepts to a script are better remembered than concepts of less
importance to the script
Schemas and scripts allow us to make inferences about omitted information in
stories.
The “price” of using scripts, however, is that script-related information may intrude
into our memory, such as in Bartlett’s “The War of the Ghosts” research.
The schemata/scripts approach, like the prototype and exemplar views, has been
criticized for not being empirically testable