Memory - Topic 2

Input

Sensory information in the environment

Encoding

Turning sensory information in to a form that can be stored

Acoustic Encoding

Storing sounds in memory

Visual Encoding

Storing visual information

Semantic Encoding

Storing meaningful information

Output

Recalling information e.g. behavioural response

multi store memory model

we have more that one ‘store’ in which memory is processed and stored.

multi store model

• the sensory register is info received via sense that is briefly held in a part of our memory.

• Attention: Taking notice of an event or information.

• Rehearsal: Repeating information to increase the duration of a memory

• Retrieval: Recalling a memory

STM

• Information that we pay attention to gets transferred to our short-term memory (STM). Here it can be stored for between 18-30 seconds (this is known as the duration of STM).

• If we have too much information in the short-term store the older information is pushed out (displaced). If we rehearse the information we are able to store it for longer. If the information is rehearsed for long enough then it gets transferred into our LTM.

LTM

• Your long term memory can hold information for up to a lifetime (duration) and has a limitless capacity. Long term memories are believed to be mainly semantic memories- those with meanings.

• Information can be retrieved from the LTM so we are able to recall things from the past. However if memories aren’t accessed then we can lose them, which is called decay.

Decay and displacement

Decay: Forgetting information in the long term memory as it has broken down

Displacement: Forgetting information in the short term memory due to incoming information

Evaluation of the MSM

Strengths:

• Has Support: Case studies of patients with brain damage shows distinct separate STM and LTM stores

• Is Useful: It gives a good structure of the short term memory which means researchers can expand and improve on.

• Has Support: Case studies have shown that we have no STM but a LTM such as clive wearing)

Weaknesses:

• No Freewill: Not all information is rehearsed and transferred into LTM, it can decay and displace.

Reconstructive Memory (Bartlett, 1932)

• Reconstruction means that our memories are not exact copies but are influenced by our prior knowledge and our expectations known as schemas.

• Schemas: A packet of knowledge about an event, person or place that influences how we perceive and remember.

how are schemas formed?

1. Personal experience

2. Stereotypes

3. Culture

how do schemas influence memory?

Omissions:  We leave out unfamiliar, unpleasant or irrelevant details.

Transformations: Details are changed to make them more rational (make sense).

Familiarisation: We change unfamiliar details to align with our own schema.

Rationalisation: We add details to our recall to give a reason for something that may not have originally fitted with a schema.

Evaluating Reconstructive memory

strengths:

• Real world application: The theory has helped the police understand that eyewitness testimony is unreliable. This has meant that the police can change the way that they interview witnesses to ensure they are consistent.

• Useful: Bartlett conducted his research using folk stories and images, often asking participants to remember them hours, days or even years later. His methods can be viewed as a test of memory in the real world because remembering stories is a realistic use of memory.

weaknesses:

• generalisability: Bartlett was not particularly scientific in his procedures. He was interested in each participant’s unique memories, rather than the use of standardised procedures and controls. This may weaken the research that was used to form the theory.

• Not useful: Bartlett developed his theory by reading through and interpreting the pictures and stories produced by participants. He analysed each story and picture himself and gave his own interpretation of the material the participants recalled. This means the data could be subjective which is seen as unscientific.

Amnesia - 2 types

• Retrograde amnesia is being unable to recall information from before a brain injury. For example, someone who can not remember that they got married 10 years ago after experiencing a head injury last year.

• Anterograde amnesia is being unable to recall information from after a brain injury. For example, someone who is unable to remember that they passed their driving test last week after experiencing a head injury 2 years ago.

Peterson and Peterson (1959)

• Aim: To test the duration of the STM

• procedure:

Experiment 1

24 students

Repeat out loud trigram (three consonants) e.g. LTG, NPF, BZL.

Count backwards in 3s from 400

When signalled by a red light the student had to recall the trigram.

Each student read aloud 8 times with time delays

The procedure was repeated 48 times using different trigrams.

Experiment 2

The same tasks but participants were given time to repeat the trigram before counting.

strengths and weaknesses

strength:

Reliability: The study used fixed timings when they counted backwards.The research can be said to have good control and makes sure the participants experience the same process.

weakness

Generalisability: The participants were all students which means their memory doesn’t truly reflect the wider population as they might be able to remember more as their brains are still developing and learning.

bartlett’s - war of ghosts

Bartlett used folk stories to test his theories out. The story used to test reconstruction and schema theory was known as the ‘War of Ghosts’

Aim: To test if personal schemas influence the retelling of a story

Procedure: Participants read the story of the WOG twice.

• They then had to recall the story using serial reproduction and repeated reproduction.

Serial Reproduction:  A technique where participants retell storied to each other to form a chain.

Repeated Reproduction: Where participants retell a story over and over again

• Serial reproduction: retell it 15-30 mins later.

• Repeated reproduction: write out the story 15 mins later, recall it after minutes, days, hours, months and years.

Findings: Bartlett using qualitative analysis.

For both types of recall, PPT were found making changes and connections (rationalisation). E.g ‘black came out his mouth’ to ‘he foamed out the mouth.’

And omissions. ‘canoe’ to ‘boat’ and ‘hunting’ to ‘fishing.’

Conclusions: Participants did not recall accurately but were influenced by schemas and altered details to fit their schema.

evaluation

Strengths

• Validity: Remembering a story is an everyday test of memory. This means the procedure is more naturalistic giving the study ecological validity.

• Reliability: The study was replicated and the same results were found using various studies. Validity: Results were gathered using qualitative analysis. This means the real nature of reconstructive memory can be understood through its meaning.

Weaknesses

• Validity: Results were gathered using qualitative analysis which is considered unscientific because Bartlett interpreted the recalled stories and may have been biased towards his theory.

• Reliability: Participants read the story at their own pace and recalled their version after different timed intervals. This means Bartlett’s study lacks controls and was unscientific therefore people who took longer to read the story may have performed better as they had longer to remember it.

reductionism

Reductionism is the scientific theory of describing something using its basic parts or the simplest explanation.

• info processing approach

• MSM

• experiments

holistic

It is a way of trying to understand behaviour by considering the whole behaviour rather than its parts, and by trying to understand the whole person and everything that affects them.

• reconstructive memory

• qualitative analysis