Key Studies (Memory)






















Miller (1952) ‘The Magic Number’
Peterson & Peterson (1959) ‘Brown-Peterson Technique’
Conrad (1964) ‘Acoustic, Semantic and Visual Coding’
KF/HM
Tulving (1972) ‘Differences between episodic and semantic memory’
Tulving et al (1982) ‘Explicit and Implicit Memory’
Cohen and Squire (1980) ‘Declarative and Procedural Knowledge’
Models of Memory Theorists
Tulving (1971) ‘Cue-Dependent Forgetting’
Tulving (1979) ‘Encoding Specificity Principle’
Freud (1915) ‘Emotional Factors: Repression’
Bartlett (1932) ‘War of the Ghosts’
Loftus and Palmer (1974) ‘The Effects of Language on Recall’
Bruce and Valentine (1986) ‘Distinctiveness’
Cohen (1993) ‘Schemas’
Brewer and Teyens (1981) ‘Schemas and Memory Errors – Office’
Loftus ‘Weapon Focus’ and ‘Car study’
Geiselman (1985) ‘Cognitive Interview’
Young and Bruce (1991) ‘Little Red Riding Hood Effect’
Buckhout (1974) ‘Bag Snatching Incident on College Campus’
Bahrick (1984) ‘Face Recognition accuracy of college Lecturers’
Yarmey (1993) ‘Stereotyping’
A/S PSYCHOLOGY LESSON
Memory Revision Worksheet Booklet
Student Name:
---------------------------------------
Memory Revision Worksheet 1
Past Exam Questions
Time allowed: 30 minutes
Answer one question. You should attempt all parts of the question you choose.
Question 1
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Explain what is meant by the terms ‘flashbulb memory’, ‘repression’ and
‘reconstructive memory’. (2 marks + 2 marks + 2 marks)
Describe the aims and findings from one research study that has
investigated face recognition (6 marks)
Outline two factors that might influence the accuracy of eyewitness
testimony (3 marks + 3 marks)
‘The multi-store model proposed by Atkinson and Shifin has been very
influential, but it has been criticized for its oversimplification and lack of
flexibility.’
To what extent does psychological research support the multi-store model
as an adequate explanation of human memory? (12 marks)
Question 2
(a)
(b)
(c)
Describe the main features of the working memory model of Baddley and
Hitch. (6 marks)
Describe the procedures and findings from one study that has investigated
the duration of short-term memory and one study that has investigated the
encoding in short-term memory. (6 marks + 6 marks)
‘Loftus and her colleagues have suggested that memory for witnessed
events is often subject to distortion.’
To what extent does psychological research support the idea that
eyewitness testimony is unreliable? (12 marks)
Memory Revision Worksheet 2
I
O
C
Q
Z
S
T
E
T
N
S
O
B
A
D
D
L
E
Y
A
N
D
H
I
T
C
H
Y
I
O
A
F
E
U
I
N
K
U
Y
C
S
G
N
I
D
O
C
C
I
T
N
A
M
E
S
A
T
T
N
F
M
R
N
O
X
O
N
Q
R
R
E
L
E
D
O
M
G
N
I
K
R
O
W
B
R
F
I
I
T
J
G
E
T
G
L
I
T
I
O
E
N
F
N
O
I
S
S
E
R
P
E
R
C
T
G
A
P
D
E
T
N
A
R
P
Q
S
R
N
M
C
E
U
F
X
S
T
O
R
A
G
E
E
I
S
T
L
O
I
R
Q
I
R
A
R
A
S
A
H
E
E
V
A
T
E
T
A
S
E
B
Q
N
C
V
I
I
S
F
L
F
N
S
T
L
O
J
E
C
C
M
N
I
V
V
O
N
V
B
F
C
M
U
K
R
Z
V
E
T
A
E
I
S
I
E
C
P
R
E
E
C
C
T
Q
E
X
Q
O
R
R
M
L
J
E
E
A
G
M
H
V
R
R
E
C
X
E
A
P
D
T
I
Y
C
O
X
I
F
C
I
E
A
N
J
Z
T
A
Y
E
E
L
E
F
C
U
E
D
E
P
E
N
D
E
N
T
F
O
R
G
E
T
T
I
N
G
R
R
R
M
T
A
N
I
O
L
C
U
U
U
C
A
O
F
I
Y
J
I
Y
K
O
N
I
G
A
R
I
T
O
O
O
C
C
H
R
A
U
R
M
S
A
P
S
F
T
R
I
H
X
R
L
I
T
S
C
E
E
I
M
R
U
I
E
S
P
T
T
A
U
O
Y
S
I
E
S
Q
A
R
Y
A
H
E
C
E
O
S
V
C
E
Y
N
G
T
D
F
O
I
L
L
Y
T
T
P
C
I
B
E
C
V
P
T
V
E
U
U
P
A
U
M
S
G
O
H
N
O
R
V
M
T
B
H
I
E
T
D
H
O
E
B
K
G
I
F
C
S
O
L
L
E
Y
E
L
E
A
S
Y
E
E
I
J
E
G
V
Z
E
N
I
P
G
V
J
T
F
L
T
N
F
A
V
N
E
O
O
N
L
L
N
M
S
B
O
I
N
A
T
R
T
N
Z
E
M
C
E
A
I
S
A
T
I
D
F
C
R
O
E
O
G
O
T
B
R
D
R
R
T
Z
Z
Z
L
R
K
A
Y
V
C
E
I
O
T
R
F
E
Y
S
V
O
M
R
O
O
Y
S
O
E
P
E
E
V
Q
K
V
O
C
E
C
B
L
R
A
O
E
P
T
N
ACOUSTICCODING
ARTICULATORYCODING
ARTICULATORYCONTROLPROCESS
ARTICULATORYLOOP
ATKINSONANDSHIFRIN
AVAILABLILITY
BADDLEYANDHITCH
BROWPETERSONTECHNIQUE
CENTRALEXECUTIVE
CHUNKING
CUEDEPENDENTFORGETTING
DECLARATIVEMEMORY
DIGITSPANTECHNIQUE
DISPLACEMENTTHEORY
DISTINCTIVENESS
ECOLOGICALVALIDITY
HIDDEN MESSAGE-------------------------------------
E
P
E
Y
R
N
A
L
R
V
Q
C
D
Q
I
P
F
R
A
I
O
I
U
Y
R
M
C
S
I
I
L
V
M
W
E
L
P
J
L
J
S
O
G
F
V
W
R
P
M
R
D
A
R
C
A
E
T
P
L
K
S
I
O
R
M
R
G
N
I
K
N
U
H
C
O
T
H
J
I
T
I
S
E
O
L
G
Y
D
I
T
R
E
T
R
O
A
C
T
I
V
E
I
N
T
E
R
F
E
R
E
N
C
E
D
C
N
T
K
L
A
I
S
R
C
D
E
L
A
B
O
R
A
T
I
O
N
G
K
P
R
G
P
T
I
E
I
I
O
B
K
C
I
E
P
E
S
U
N
I
M
R
O
S
U
L
P
N
E
V
E
S
F
W
N
D
D
X
I
A
X
K
S
Y
J
L
P
H
O
N
O
L
O
G
I
C
A
L
S
T
O
R
E
L
G
A
O
P
L
L
A
S
T
C
E
F
F
E
H
T
G
N
E
L
D
R
O
W
T
D
T
N
V
Q
P
U
C
V
F
I
C
D
A
P
H
C
T
E
K
S
L
A
I
T
A
P
S
L
A
U
S
I
V
F
R
Q
N
F
F
A
H
B
R
O
W
P
E
T
E
R
S
O
N
T
E
C
H
N
I
Q
U
E
N
X
E
H
E
C
C
V
M
Y
R
O
E
H
T
T
N
E
M
E
C
A
L
P
S
I
D
G
I
Q
X
G
V
W
R
T
D
A
Y
LEVELSOFPROCESSING
MOTIVATEDFORGETTING
MULTISTOREMODEL
PHONOLOGICALSTORE
PRIMACYEFFECT
PROACTIVEINTERFERENCE
PROCEDURALMEMORY
RECENCYEFFECT
REHEARSAL
REPRESSION
RESPONSEBIAS
RETRIEVAL
RETRIEVALCUE
RETRIEVALFAILURE
RETROACTIVEINTERFERENCE
FALSEMEMORYSYNDROME
INTERFERENCETHEORY
WORDLENGTHEFFECT
WORKINGMODEL
SUPPRESSION
TIPOFTHETOUNGEEFFEC
TRACEDECAYTHEORY
VISUALSPATIALSKETCH
SERIALPOSITIONEFFEC
SEVENPLUSORMINUS
STORAGE
ELABORATION
ENCODING
EPISODICMEMORY
SEMANTICCODING
Memory Revision Worksheet 3
In the spaces provided, define the following key terms related to memory.
 Encoding
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Storage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Retrieval
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Digit span technique ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magical number 7+/-2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chunking
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Semantic coding
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Acoustic coding
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Articulatory coding
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Primacy effect
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Recency effect
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Multistore model
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sensory store
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Iconic store
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Echoic store
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Levels of processing ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elaboration
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Distinctiveness
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Working memory
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Phonological loop
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Articulatory control process ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Word-length effect
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Visual-spatial pad
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Central executive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Procedural memory ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Declarative memory ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Episodic memory
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Semantic memory
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trace decay theory
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Displacement theory ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Interference theory
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tip-of-the-tongue effect
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Retrieval cue
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cue dependent forgetting
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flashbulb memory
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Motivated forgetting ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Suppression
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Repression
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ False memory syndrome
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory Revision Worksheet 4
Across
8. memory for skills-knowing how to do things
10. a clue or hint to help retrieval
11. a model that pictures memory as a series of memory stores
14. motivated forgetting without conscious awareness
15. a tendency to recall first items on a list
17. memory for personal experiences, often linked to times and places
18. when newer memories interfering with older memories
19. memory for specific information
21. transforming incoming information into a form that can be stored
22. a sensory memory store for auditory data
25. organising items of information into groups to make the most efficient use
of short term memory's limited capacity
26. information can be processed to different extents
29. repeating information in order to retain it in short term memory
30. part of working memory which deals with spoken and written material
31. a model which sees short term memory as made up of a number of components
Down
1. the likelihood that people will correctly recognise members of their own
race rather than members of other races
2. conscious motivated forgetting
3. when older memories interfering with newer memories
4. a method of measuring the capacity of short-term memory by asking people to
remember and repeat ever-longer lists of digits
5. mental representations of things - general knowledge
6. a sensory memory store for visual data
7. a tendency to recall the first and last few items on a list and to forget
those in the middle
9. a theory which suggests the deeper the level of process the easier the
information is to recall
11. forgetting data because of a desire not to remember it
12. coding of information in terms of meaning
13. forgetting occurs as a result of similar memories interfering with and
disrupting each other
16. a method of measuring the duration of short term memory by preventing
rehearsal of information
20. coding of information in the form of speech
23. Miller proposed this magical number regarding the capacity of short term
memory
24. forgetting occurs when information is displaced of pushed out of STM when
its capacity is exceeded
27. what activates, co-ordinates and controls the various parts of working
memory
28. the more different the information, the more likely it is to be remembered
Memory Revision Worksheet 5
Using the boxes below, summarise the three models of memory covered in class
(Multi-store model, Working Memory model and Levels of Processing model).
Multi-store Model
Theorists
Date
Outline of Model
One piece of
evidence to
support model
One criticism
One good point
Working Memory
Model
Levels of Process
Model
Working Memory Model Overview







Baddley and Hitch (1974)
It is a model of short term memory
This model argues that the picture of short term memory provided by the Multistore
Model was too simplistic (i.e. very little processing in STM and is a single system)
Where as the Working Model offers a more complex theory of STM
This model suggests that STM is not a single system, but is instead made up of a number
of sub-components
Each sub-component specializes in its own task (i.e. learning, reasoning, comprehension
and problem solving)
Whereas the Multistore Model thought STM simply held and rehearsed information, this
Working Model goes one step further and suggests that data is analysed, evaluated and
worked on
Evidence to suggest that STM is not a unitary system






Baddley (1986) conducted an experiement in which participants were asked to perform
two tasks at the same time (digit span task – remembering a list of numbers; and a
reasoning task – requiring them to answer true or false)
According to the traditional view of STM, once we reach around 7 (plus or minus 2)
digits in a digit span task, there would be no room left in STM to do anything else (as the
traditional model suggested STM was a single system) i.e. the reasoning task
But, in this experiment, this did not happen - as the number of digits increased in the digit
span task, participants took longer to answer the reasoning questions; but not much longer
These results cannot be explained by the traditional Multistore Model
The Working Model explains these results in terms of the various sub-components they
suggest makeup STM – each sub-component specializing in its own skill
Ie. One component of Working Memory could be working on the digit span task, while
another component could be working on the reasoning task
Phonological Loop



Consists of two parts
The phonological store holds spoken words for 1.5-2 seconds. Spoken words enter the
store directly; where as written words must first be converted into an articulatory (spoken)
code before they can enter the phonological store (as it is sound based)
The second part is the articulatory control process – this acts like an inner voice
rehearsing data from the phonological store. It recirculates data around. E.g. as long as
we keep repeating a phone number we remember it
Visual/Spatial Sketch Pad






This sub-system deals with visual and spatial information
Visual refers to what things look like
Spatial refers to the layout
The sketch pad doesn’t simply store visual and spatial data-it analyses and
manipulates it
The Sketch pad also displays and manipulates visual and spatial data held in LTM
E.g. the spatial layout of your house is held in LTM. To work out how many
windows you have in your house, you would probably find yourself picturing your
house and counting the windows. An image had been retrieved from LTM and
pictured on the Sketch Pad
Central Executive





Supervises and coordinates the sub-systems of Working Memory (STM)
It decides which system (either phonological loop or sketch pad) is needed to carry out
the task
Retrieves information from LTM
E.g. if I ask you to tell me how many windows you have in your house, the central
executive would decide that the visual-spatial sketch pad would be best suited to working
this out, and would retrieve an image of your house from LTM
Central executive decides what Working Memory pays attention to
MEMORY
Introduction to Memory
What is memory?
What is the difference between learning and memory?
There are three stages:
1. encoding
2. storage
3. retrieval
Short-Term Memory (stm)




1.
2.
very limited capacity
very limited duration
acoustic encoding method
there are two main ways of researching the capacity of stm
span measures
free recall
Span Measures


Miller (1956) – 7+/- 2 items can be stored in stm
Miller said the key issue is chunking
Recency Effect











People remember things better if they happened recently
The recency effect in stm can be measured using free recall
Participants are shown a list of words/syllables and asked to recall them in any order
immediately after the list was presented
The last few items on the list are usually better remembered than itmes in the middle of
the list
Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) found that counting backwards for only 10 seconds between
the end of the list presenteation and the start of recall virtually eliminated the recency
effect
In other words, people remember a similar number of words from earlier in the list, but
not the few at the end
Could this be because the two or three words at the end of the list were not encoded
aswel, thus being wiped our by counting backwards?
This counting backwards is called an interference task
What is the primacy effect?
The recency effect suggest the cacpcity of stm is two or three items, but span measures
suggest about 7 items??
Why?

Different patterns of rehearsal:
o Span task – subjects rehearse as many items as possible
o Free recall – subjects learn a list of only a few items at a time
Duration of stm


Peterson and Peterson (1959) – people could recall trigrams (3 unrelated consonants) after
3 seconds, they recalled fewer trigrams after 6 seconds and after 18 seconds recall was
very poor
Conclusion – memory trace in stm has just about disappeared after 18/20 seconds
Long-Term Memory (ltm)



Unlimited capacity
Semantic encoding method mainly
Difficult to assess how long a memory lasts
Episodic and Semantic Memory






Two types of ltm
Episodic – autobiographical flavour
Episodic – contains information of specific events
Episodic – e.g. what you did yesterday
Semantic – knowledge of the world
Semantic – e.g. capital of grance and how to fill your car with petrol
Explicit and Implicit Memory



The memory tests discussed so far (free recall etc) all involve the use of direct instructions
of participants to retrieve specific information
Such memory tests are of explicit memory (conscious recollection/awareness)
Implicit – performance on a task is facilitated with the absence of conscious recollection
(unconscious recollection/awareness)
Declarative and Procedural Knowledge Systems




Cohen and Squire (1980 – ltm is divided into two memory systems (declarative and
procedural)
i.e. knowing that and knowing how
declarative – nowing that
procedural – knowing how
Models of Memory
Multi-Store Model
This model of memory suggests that memory consists of several (i.e. multi) stores. The most
influential multistore model was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). According to their
model, memory is made up of three separate stores – sensory store, STS and LTS.
The sensory store transfers data to STM. It is made of five stores, one for each sense (sight,
hearing, touch, taste, smell). However, much research has focused on the visual or iconic store
and the auditory or echoic store.
The iconic store is a sensory memory store for visual data and the echoic store is a sensory
memory store for auditory data.
This multistore model sees STM as a crucial part of memory, as it suggests that without it data
cannot get into or out of LTM. According to this model also, rehearsal plays a very important
role. The longer information is held in STM the more likely it is to be transferred to LTM,
according to this model.
Levels of Processing Model
Basically this model suggests that the way information is encoded affects how well it is
remembered. The deeper the level of processing, the easier the information is to recall.
It was proposed by Craik and Lockhart (1972) and is an alternative to the multistore model
(because remember the remaining model of memory – Working Memory Model is a model of
short-term memory only).
Craik and Lockhart did NOT reject the idea of memory stores, as they accepted the existence of a
short term and long term memory store.
BUT, rather than focusing on stores and how information is transferred from one store to another,
this Levels of Processing Model focuses on how information is ENCODED and PROCESSED.
According to this model of memory, information can be encoded and processed at different
levels. It argues that the level at which data is processed accounts for the likelihood of it being
learned and remembered. The model identifies various levels of processing from the shallowest
to the deepest. Here are some examples:
 At the shallowest level, words are presented visually (in terms of their physical
appearance). E.g. is the following word in capital letters or lower case letters? ‘FISH’
 At a deeper level still, words are processed acoustically (in terms of their sound). E.g.
does the following word rhyme with ‘pin’ STYLE?
 At the deepest level, words are processed semantically (in terms of their meaning). E.g.
is a PANCAKE a form of transport? To answer this, you need to focus on the meaning of
the words (i.e. the semantics of the words).
Craik and Lockhart argue that the deeper the level of processing, the stronger and more durable
and long lasting the memory.
Working Memory Model
This model is a model of short term memory only and was put forward by Baddley and Hitch
(1974). They criticise the multi store model for being too simplistic in terms of short term
memory and suggest that short term memory is made up of various sub-components.
This model suggests short term memory is not a unitary system (i.e. a single system); short term
memory according to Baddley and Hitch has three sub-systems – each having specialised skills
for particular tasks.
This model goes on to suggest that information is not just rehearsed in STM, but is instead
analysed, evaluated and worked on.

Central Executive is one component or sub-system. It supervises and coordinates the
other slave systems (i.e. the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketch pad). It
decides which system is required and coordinates the retrieval of information from LTM.
E.g. use the example I gave you about working out how many windows you have in your
house. The central executive decides what working memory pays attention to. E.g. two
activities sometimes come into conflict such as driving a car and talking. Rather than
hitting a cyclist who is wobbling all over the road, it is preferable to stop talking and
concentrate on driving. The central executive directs attention and gives priority to
particular activities.
 Phonological Loop or articulatory loop, consist of two parts:
1. The phonological Store – holds spoken words for 2 seconds approximately. Spoken
words enter the store directly. Written words must first be converted into an articulatory
code (spoken code) before they can enter the phonological store.
2. The Articulatory Control Process acts like an inner voice rehearsing data from the
phonological store. It circulates information round and round like a loop. This is how we
remember a telephone number etc. As long as we keep rehearsing it, we can retain the
information in working memory (i.e. short term memory).
 Visuo-Spatial Sketch Pad deals with visual and spatial information. Visual data refers to
what things look like and spatial data refers to the layout of items relative to each other.
The sketchpad does not simply store visual and spatial data, it also analyses and
manipulates it. It is as if we take time to move our eyes along an image in memory (i.e.
the example of counting the number of windows in your house. You have to obtain a
picture of your house from LTM and then hold it in the visuo-spatial sketch pad to
see/visualise all the windows in order for you to count them).
Forgetting
STM

Forgetting in stm is likely to be due to a failure of availability because it has a limited
capacity store
Trace Decay






In a study by Peterson and Peterson it was found that recall dropped from 80% after 3
seconds recall to under 20% when the retention interval was 18 seconds
But what caused this drop in recall?
One possibility is that the memory trace simply disappears if not rehearsed
This is call the Trace Decay Theory
This theory is based on the idea that memories have a physical basis (trace) and that this
will decay in time unless the trace is passed to ltm
Information in stm certainly does disappear but it may not be because of decay – it may
be because of interference
Displacement


Material currently circulating in stm which has not been process enough to pass to ltm,
will be pushed out or displaced by new incoming information
This explanation is very simple and logical because stm is said to have a very limited
capacity (7 items approximately) and so when stm is full, new information pushed out or
displaced old information
Interference



Another possibility for the Peterson and Peterson findings is that the interference tasks
caused retroactive interference
This occurs when a second set of information (i.e. counting backwards) interferes with
learning original (older information)
It is most likely to happen when the two sets of information are similar
LTM
Trace Decay Theory




Forgetting might also be due to the physical decay of memory trace in ltm, as in stm
It has proved hard to study these physical changes directly
As a result, test of trace decay theory have been somewhat indirect
It is assumed that if a person does nothing during the time of initial learning and
subsequent recall, and they forget the material, then the only explanation can be that the
trace has disappeared





Jenkins (1924) asked two students to recall nonsense syllables at intervals between one
and eight hours
The students were either awake or asleep during the retention interval
There was much less forgetting when the students were asleep that when awake
If the trace decay theory is correct, then we would expect the same amount of forgetting
whether they were asleep or awake
The fact that this was not true, suggests that the interference from other activities was
responsible for the increase in forgetting, rather than decay?
Interference







When previous learning interferes with new learning (proactive interference)
An experiment by Mc Donald (1931) highlighted proactive interference
Participants learned a set of adjectives until they could recall them perfectly
Some of the participants then spent 10 minutes resting, while other learned new material
The more similar the new material to the original, the more the recall of the original list
declined
Participants who spent 10 minutes resting without any new material to learn had the
highest recall
This suggests that retroactive interference affected recall and indicates that the more
similar the later material, the greater the interference
Retrieval Failure





If data is stored in ltm then it is available, but sometimes it may not be accessible
This is known as retrieval failure
Retrieval failure may be due to poor or insufficient retrieval cues
Retrieval cues may be based on context (setting or situation in which information is
encoded and retrieved) – context dependent retrieval
Retrieval cues may be based on state (physiological or physical) of person when data
is encoded and retrieved – state dependent retreival
Emotional Factors and Forgetting


Emotion plays an influential role in forgetting
When we talk of emotion and forgetting, we are focusing our attention on two types of
emotionally charged memories
1. flashbulb memories (long lasting, vivid memories, e.g. death of Diana)
2. repressed memories (Freud says we push some memories into our unconscious because to
recall such memories may provoke anxiety, e.g. child sexual abuse) Repression is
motivated forgetting without conscious awareness
EYE WITNESS
TESTIMONY
Eyewitness Testimony
Reconstructive Memory - Bartlett (1932)
Bartlett’s theory of Reconstructive Memory is crucial to an understanding of the reliability of
eye witness testimony (EWT) as he suggested that recall is subject to personal interpretation
dependent on our learnt or cultural norms and values- the way we make sense of our world.
In other words, we tend to see and in particular interpret and recall what we see
according to what we expect and assume is ‘normal’ in a given situation.
Bartlett referred to these complete mental pictures of how things are expected to be as
Schemas. These schemas may, in part, be determined by social values and therefore prejudice.
Schemas are therefore capable of distorting unfamiliar or unconsciously ‘unacceptable’
information in order to ‘fit in’ with our existing knowledge or schemas. This can, therefore,
result in unreliable eyewitness testimony.
Bartlett tested this theory using a variety of stories to illustrate that memory is an active process
and subject to individual interpretation or construction.
Have a go! Read the following story and then remove from screen and attempt to recall it.
The War of the Ghosts.
One night two young men from Egulac went down to the river to hunt seals, and while they
were it became foggy and calm. Then they heard war cries and they thought; ‘Maybe this is a
war-party.’ They escaped to the shore, and hid behind a log.
Now canoes came up, and they heard the noise of paddles and saw one canoe coming up to
them. There were five men in the canoe and they said; ‘What do you think? We wish to take
you along. We are going up the river to make war on the people.’
One of the young men said; ‘I have no arrows.’
‘Arrows are in the canoe,’ they said.
‘I will not go along. I might be killed. My relatives do not know where I have gone. But you,
’he said turning to the other, ’May go with them.’
So one of the young men went, but the other returned home. And the warriors went on up the
river to a town on the other side of Kalama. The people came down to the water and began to
fight, and many were killed. But presently, one of the young men heard one of the warriors say;
’Quick let us go home. That Indian has been hit.’
Now he thought; ‘Oh, they are ghosts.’ He did not feel sick, but he had been shot. So the canoes
went back to Egulac, and the young man went back to his house and made a fire. And he told
everybody and said; ‘Behold, I accompanied the ghosts, and we went to fight. Many of our
fellows were killed and many of those that attacked us were killed. They said I was hit, but I
did not feel sick.’
He told it all, and then he became quiet. When the sun rose, he fell down. Something black
came out of his mouth. His face became contorted. The people jumped up and cried. He was
dead.
According to Bartlett your recall will show a westernised interpretation of this American Indian
folk tale thus illustrating your subjective memory construction rather than accurate objective
recall of events. How might this idea be applied to eyewitness testimony of criminal
occurrences.
Reconstructive Memory - Loftus (1974)
Loftus drew on the ideas of Bartlett and conducted research illustrating factors which lead to
inaccurate recall of eye-witness testimony. Loftus & Palmer (1974) conducted two laboratory
experiments to illustrate this reconstrutive memory and how this is influenced by questioning
techniques used by the police.
Experiment One.
45 participants involved using an independent measures design.
Participants were shown films of traffic accidents.
They were then given a general account of what they had just seen and asked a series of
questions about it.
The critical question asked was ‘About how fast were the cars going when they HIT each
other?’
OR the word ‘HIT’was replaced by either ‘SMASHED’, ‘COLLIDED’, ‘BUMPED’ or
‘CONTACTED’.
The results suggested that participants recall was influenced by the word used - the independent
variable. The word ‘smashed’ led to the fastest speed estimate and the word ‘contacted’ the
slowest
Experiment two
The experiment above could be explained by response bias - pressure from interrogator or a
change in participants recall of the event because of word used in question.
Loftus & Palmer conducted this experiment in order to test which explanation was accurate.
150 students were tested using independent measures design.
They were then given a general account of what they had seen. They were then divided into
groups of 50.
The first group was asked ‘How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’
The second group were asked ‘How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each
other?’
The third group were not asked the question at all and acted as a control group.
One week later they were asked a series of questions about the road traffic accident, one of
which was the critical question, ‘Did you see any broken glass? Yes or No?’
There was no broken glass in the film itself. The results suggested that the word ‘SMASHED’
not only led to estimates of faster speeds but also increased the likelihood of the participants
recalling seeing broken glass when none was in the film.
This research suggests that memory is easily distorted by questioning technique and
information acquired after the event can merge with original memory causing inaccurate recall
or reconstructive memory. The addition of false details to a memory of an event is referred to
as conflabulation.
The Loftus & Palmer experiment can be criticised for lacking ecological validity. It employed
independent measures design and therefore may be explained by individual differences/subject
variables. The controlled conditions make for sound reliability the ethics of this design may be
questioned, as the participants were deceived but this was necessary in order to validate
findings and minimise demand characteristics. The participants may have been
distressed/traumatised by the film and this emotional reaction may have influenced their
interpretation of the event. See Research Methods. This kind of research has led to
recommendations concerning police interview techniques and can be used by lawyers in court
to question the accuracy of EWT.
Face Recognition
The work of Loftus & Palmer can be applied to face recognition. This area of EWT has
however been studied directly to order to avoid false accusations.
Cohen (1966) showed how faces are not seen in isolation but that they are perceived or
influenced both by the event itself and by people’s schema, social norms and values and
therefore stereotyped images.
Cohen referred to this as Cross-Race Identification Bias. Cohen suggested that people find it
easier to identify people from their own race than people from a different race. This is reflected
in the statement, ‘They all look the same!’
Therefore when an eyewitness and a possible suspect are from different races the identification
of the suspect must be treated with caution. Cohen illustrated this by asking 86 shop workers in
Texas to identify three customers, one White, one African-American and one MexicanAmerican who had purchased something from the shop that day. One third of the customers
were White, one third African-American and one third Mexican-American.
The accuracy of their recall was different for customers of different races and was related to the
race of the shop worker. This research may have involved demand characteristics and
individual differences.
Cohen points out that it is difficult to recognise people out of the context in which you would
ordinarily have contact with them, ‘It is hard to recognise your bank manager at the disco or
your dentist at in evening dress’, (Cohen 1996). Therefore the difference between the actual
scene of the crime and an identity parade may be misleading as memory is often cue- or
context-dependent.
Young showed how we are more likely to wrongly identify someone the less we know them.
Young asked 22 participants to record how many times they made errors in recognising people
over an eight week period. There were 314 cases of mistaking a stranger for someone they
knew because of similarity or dress or build. This research has implications for face recognition
in identity parades.
Dood & Kirschenbaum (1973) illustrate the problem of facial recognition by their Case Study
of Ron Shatford.
The witness had described the suspect as ‘attractive’. Shatford was placed in an identity parade
in which in which he was the only ‘attractive’ member. He was wrongly selected.
Case studies are unrepresentative, making generalisations impossible.
Well (1993) showed how the witness assumes the suspect to be present in an identity parade
which again may lead to false recognition.
Lindsay (1991) suggested that suspects in an identity parade should be viewed one at a time
rather in a line-up in order to avoid functional size (fair number of feasible suspects to chose
from) and reduce possibility of mistaken identity.
Bull & Rumsey proposed that we judge people to be criminal on their appearance.
A/S Psychology
Memory Worksheets
(students’ copy)
Lecturer: Miss Zoe Harris
Memory Worksheet 1: Introduction
1.
What happens to information taken in by our senses?
1st information is:
2nd this information is:
3rd information can then be:
2. Define the following terms:
Encoding:
Storage:
Retrieval:
3. William James said there are two different memory stores. What are they?
4. What are the different ways of encoding information?
----
-------encoding
-----
----encoding
----
-----encoding
5. Which principal method of encoding does short term memory use?
6. Which principal method of encoding does long term memory use?
7. Evidence suggesting that we use acoustic coding comes from research by Conrad (1964).
Briefly describe the procedures involved in this research involved.
8. What are the findings of this study by Conrad (1964).
9. What conclusion can be drawn from these findings?
10. Who carried out a similar study two years later?
11. What was the aim of this study (1966)?
12. What are the procedures of this study?
13. Summarise the findings of this study.
14. What can be concluded from this study?
15. What is the capacity of short term memory?
16. What does the term ‘chunking’ mean?
17. What is the duration of short term memory?
18. When talking about the duration of short term memory, briefly explain what the ‘brownpeterson technique’ is.
19. What is the method used to test the capacity of short term memory?
20. What is the capacity of long term memory?
21. What is the duration of long term memory?
22. True or false, long term memory constantly revises its knowledge
Memory Worksheet 2: Models of Memory
1.
There are three models of memory. What are they?
2. Who proposed the Multi Store model?
3. Who proposed the Levels of Processing model?
4. Who proposed the Working Memory model?
5. Outline the Multistore model of memory.
6. State two criticisms of the Multistore model of memory.
7. Outline the Levels of Processing model of memory.
8. State two criticisms of the Levels of Processing model.
9. Outline the Working Model.
10. State two criticisms of the Working Model.
Memory Worksheet 3: Forgetting
1.
As an explanation for forgetting in short term memory, explain what is meant by
‘displacement’.
2. As an explanation for forgetting in short term memory, explain what is meant by the ‘decay
theory’.
3. Regarding forgetting in long term memory, explain what is meant by ‘decay’.
4. McKenna and Glendon (1985) researched ‘decay’ as a reason for forgetting in long term
memory. Outline their study.
5. ‘Interference’ is suggested to be a reason for forgetting in long term memory. Baddley and
Hitch (1977) looked at this by studying rugby players. Outline this study.
6. A distinction has been made between retroactive and proactive interference. Explain each
of these terms.
7. Retroactive interference is typically tested using a technique of paired associates. Briefly
explain this technique.
8. Underwood (1957) researched proactive interference. Summarise this study which required
students to learn a list of nonsense syllables…
9. State one criticism of the Interference Theory.
10. According to the ‘Retrieval Failure’ theory, we forget long term memories because…?
11. Using the study by Godden and Baddley (1975) and the deep sea divers; explain the
importance of context in remembering long term memories.
12. Emotional factors are important in forgetting. What are ‘flashbulb memories’? Give an
example of a flashbulb memory.
.
13. Freud (1915) suggested we fail to remember certain memories simply because they are
inaccessible as a result of ‘repression’. What does Freud mean by this?
Memory Worksheet 4: Eyewitness
Testimony
1.
One reason why we might recall certain events incorrectly is because we reconstruct
memories/distort memories based on our own knowledge and expectations. Bartlett (1932)
studied reconstructive memory (War of the Ghosts). Outline this study and its findings.
2. What is a ‘schema’?
3. Brewer and Treyens (1981) looked at the effects of schemas on visual memory. Outline
this study and its findings.
4. Loftus and Palmer (1974) showed participants several films of car accidents. Briefly
describe this study and summarise the results found.
5. Loftus (1979) also carried out another study known as the ‘red purse’ study. Outline this
study.
6. State two criticisms of Loftus’ research into eyewitness testimony.
7. ‘Familiarity’ is a factor which is proposed to affect face recognition. Bahrick (1984) looked
at this (college lecturers). Summarise this study.
10.
‘Distincitveness’ is another factor affecting face recognition. Valentine and Bruce (1986)
studied this. Summarise this study.
11. ‘Stereotyping’ is another factor affecting face recognition. Yarmey (1993) looked at the link
between facial features and personality characteristics. Outline this study.
12. What is the ‘Cognitive Interview’?