PsychExchange.co.uk Shared Resource

GCSE Psychology- Unit 1 Memory Unit 1: Making Sense of Other People: Memory

Student Name____________________________

Tutor: Rhiain Pittam 2012/2013

2

What you need to know for the exam

Processes of encoding, storage and retrieval.

The multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968),

levels of processing and reconstructive explanations of

memory.

Description and evaluation of studies to investigate

explanations of memory.

Explanations and studies of forgetting, including: interference,

context and brain damage (retrograde and anterograde

amnesia).

Eyewitness testimony-description and evaluation of studies of

factors that affect the reliability of eyewitness accounts of

people and incidents, including the research of Loftus (1974),

and Bruce and Young (1998).

Contemporary practical implications of memory, and their

benefits and drawbacks.

3

Ask yourself

Processes of encoding, storage and retrieval

We use our memory all the time, to take in new information and to access

information we already know. If we didn’t have a memory how would you

know your name? How would you get dressed in the morning? How could you

remember what you have just read? We have two types of memory, the short

term memory (STM) and the long term memory (LTM). Both of these will be

discussed in this module.

When we take in information, we do so through our senses. We take in visual

information through our eyes and acoustic information through our ears. Once

this occurs the information goes through three processes: encoding, storage

and retrieval.

How good is your memory?

How often do you use it?

What would life be like if

you lost your memory?

Memory exercise

Listen to the different list

of numbers being read

out by your tutor, write

down as many as you can

remember.

4

Key terms

Encoding_________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Storage__________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Retrieval_________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

When we look at the differences between the STM and the LTM and their

features, we must do so in the form of duration and capacity.

Key Terms

Duration_________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Capacity_________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

5

Explanations of memory

There are different ideas of how our memory systems are organised; the first

to be examined is the:

Multi-Store memory model- Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

Transfer

Attention

Retrieval

Trace Decay Displacement

Rehearsal

Original

sensory

information;

such as a

visual or

acoustic

stimulus.

Sensory memory

Duration_______

Capacity_______

Short-term

memory

Duration______

Capacity______

Long-term

memory

Duration______

Capacity______

Discussion Topic

Thinking about your own

memory, discuss with the

group what you think the

duration and the capacity of

all three stores might be.

Key Terms

Sensory Memory

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Short-term Memory

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

____________________ ___________________________

6

Short-term memory

This stores any information that has been

encoded from the sensory memory.

Once the ______ has been reached; new

information pushes out the old (_________).

Information is usually _________ acoustically (as we

hear it) or visually (as we see it). As the duration of

the STM is only _________, it needs to be

__________ to be able to be transferred into the

long-term memory (LTM).

Exam style question

Complete the following table for short-term memory.

Capacity Duration Encoding

The multi-store memory model proposes that memory is a process that goes

through a series of stores. Sensory memory is the first step in the process; we

pay attention to some of the information that we receive through our senses.

This stays in the sensory memory for just a few seconds (duration); in the

sensory memory the information is stored in its raw form (visual stored as

images and speech stored as sound). The information is then passed onto the

STM for encoding.

George Miller (1956)

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

7

Long-term memory (LTM)

The long-term memory can be seen as a kind of store house.

Like the data base of a computer, which stores all the process that the

computer has completed, the LTM stores all the memories that have passed

through the___________, been encoded and __________in the

___________and finally stored in the LTM where it can be ___________ at any

time. Encoding in the LTM can be visual or acoustic (like the ___________), or

it can be __________, which means to give it some meaning.

Exam style question

Complete the following table for the long-term memory.

State three differences between the short-term memory and the long-term

memory.

Capacity Duration Encoding

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

8

Research methods!

In psychology, when a theory (like the multi-store memory model) has been

suggested, the researches have to support it with studies that test their theories. This

can take the form of an experiment, case studies, interviews, observations etc. The

researchers will follow certain procedures to ensure their research is as reliable and

valid as it can be. In the exam you will be asked questions on the theory itself and on

the research that supports it (research can only ever support a theory; we never say

prove in psychology). You will be expected to provide the aim, method, results and

conclusion of a study if you are asked to describe it. If you are also asked to evaluate

it, 3 positive and/or negative views of the study will be required.

Key terms

Aim:

_____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

____________________________

Hypothesis:

________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

All pieces of research will have an aim and

hypothesis, as outlined in the key terms box. When

describing the method, this simply means how was

the experiment carried out? What did the

participants do? How many groups were there? The

results is what the experiment actually found out,

and the conclusion is relating the results to the initial

theory- what do the results say about memory etc.

Key research methods term

Dependent variable (DV):

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

Independent variable (IV):

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

Experimental group:

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

Control group:

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

9

Chunking experiment

When trying to remember numbers, some times we group them

together, for example 546 435 456. This is a process called chunking

and is a method of improving short-term memory. We all probably

do this if we were asked to remember a telephone number.

Bower and Springston (1970) conducted an experiment involving

chunking and memory; we are now going to recreate that experiment.

Now we have completed the experiment, identify the following:

The aim:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The DV:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The IV:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The experimental group:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The control group:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The method:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The results:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

_____

10

Bower and Springston (1970) study is an example of a laboratory experiment.

Experiments must consider other research method procedures, like the

experimental design. In an experiment, a researcher may want to find out if

one group of people are better at something than another group of people.

This would require the use of two groups. Some times they will want to find

out how a variable will affect an individual in two different settings; this will

require one group. How the experiment is conducted in this way, is the

experimental design. There are three experimental designs the researcher can

use.

The conclusion:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________

Independent-groups design.

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

11

Which experimental design did we use when recreating the Bower and

Springston (1970) experiment?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Repeated-measures design

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

Matched-pairs design

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

12

All psychological studies and theories that will be looked at on this course need

to be evaluated. This means identifying the positive and negative aspects of

the study. You can evaluate the research based on the method used to gather

the data, e.g. the laboratory experimental method, or whether research

supports a theory that has been proposed. Bower and Springston (1970) is an

example of a lab experiment, using this method has certain advantages and

disadvantages that can be used to evaluate it.

Laboratory experiment strengths and weaknesses

Advantages Disadvantages Replication:

Demand characteristics:

Quantitative data:

Ecological validity:

Control of variable:

Artificiality of the setting:

13

All of the above advantages can be used as positive evaluative points and the

disadvantages as negative evaluative points for Bower and Springston (1970).

So, looking back at the experiment we conducted, we had to use our use our

long-term memory to be able to utilise chunking.

Another experiment that supports the multistore model of memory was

conducted using army-enlisted men.

Key study- Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)

Aim: To test out whether short-term memory has a limited capacity.

Method: A total of 46 army-enlisted men took part in this experiment. They

were shown words projected onto a screen every 5 seconds. The word list

consisted of 15 words. Either:

1) The participant was allowed to recall as many words as possible

straightaway.

2) The participant had to begin counting for 10 seconds before they were

allowed to recall as many words as possible.

3) The participant had to begin counting for 30 seconds and then was

allowed to recall as many words as possible.

Results:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

14

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Conclusion:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

The difference between short-term memory and long-term memory is

illustrated in free recall experiments. A free recall experiment is when

participants are asked to remember a list of items in no particular order.

Key study: Murdock (1962)

Aim: Bennet Murdock wanted to investigate free recall and its effect on a person’s

memory.

Method: He gave participants a number of words to remember and then asked them to

recall as many as possible in any order.

We will now recreate the experiment

Results:

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Conclusion:

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

15

Evaluation of Murdock (1962)

Using what we have learned about evaluating psychological research, evaluate

Murdock’s experiment.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

The primacy effect:

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

The recency effect:

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

16

Evaluation of the multi-store model of memory

First write down all the positive things about this theory.

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Now think of all the negative aspects

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

17

Exam style question

1. Using your knowledge of psychology, outline the multi-store

memory model.

2. Evaluate the multi-store memory model in terms of strengths and

weaknesses.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

18

Craik and Lockhart (1972) put forward another model of memory; called the

levels of processing theory. They agreed with Atkinson and Shiffrin that the

short-term memory and the long-term memory were separate stores, but they

interpreted it in a different way. They suggested that the likelihood of us

remembering things depends on what we do with the information when it

comes in. they proposed that we process information at two different levels:

deep and shallow.

Shallow vs. deep processing activity

1. You will all be told a list of items that need to be bought at the

supermarket; then you will have to write down as many as you can

remember. How many words did you remember?

2. Now we will remember a different list by relating each item to a part of

our house, i.e. the front door, kitchen table etc.

1. Did you remember more of the items on this list?

2. Why do you think that is?

3. During the first condition, did you experience the primacy/recency

effect?

4. Does our experiment support or not support the levels of processing

theory?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

19

Practical application of levels of processing- elaboration

This notion derives from the levels of processing theory.

Therefore if we elaborate on new information, it seems we

can retain it longer; we are processing it more deeply.

One method of elaboration is the method of Loci. The

experiment we just conducted, relating each item to a place in the house is an

example of the Loci method. This method makes the links stronger in your

mind and to recall the information you retrace your steps. A study was

conducted by Craik and Tulving to test the theory of the levels of processing.

Key study- Craik and Tulving (1975)

Aim: To see if the level at which information is processed has an

effect on a person’s memory.

Method: They told participants that their study was to test speed of reaction

and perception. They presented them with a word, very quickly, than a

question about the word. There were three different ways of testing the levels

of processing concept:

1. The structural level of the word: e.g. “Is the word in upper case letters?”

2. The phonetic level: e.g. “Does the word rhyme with….?”

3. The semantic level: e.g. “Does the word go in this sentence?”

Participants were then given a large list of words and asked which ones they

had seen earlier during the experiment.

20

Results:

Level of processing required Question asked Words recognised later

Structural level (appearance)

Is the word in upper-case letters?

Phonetic level (sound)

Does the word rhyme with?

Semantic level (meaning)

Does the word go in this sentence?

Conclusion:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Research methods!

This experiment highlights another aspect of research methods that

can be used to evaluate a piece of research; that is ethical issues.

Ethics are standards of behaviour we use towards each other. If we behave

ethically, then we treat others with respect and have concern for their well

being. Psychologists have a moral and legal responsibility to protect the

individuals who help them with their research; every person has rights and

these must be respected and protected.

21

The British Psychological Society (BPS) has published guidelines specifying

ethical concerns and how they must be addresses. These apply to everyone

working in psychology. All proposed experiments and research, even those

being conducted by students, needs to be approved by an ethics comity before

it is allowed to be carried out.

Researchers who do not follow the guidelines will have their research criticised

for being unethical.

The main ethical issues are:

The invasion of personal privacy:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Confidentiality:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

The right to withdraw:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

22

Deception:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Informed consent:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Debriefing:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Can you identify the ethical issue that will have been raised by Craik and

Tulving’s research? Explain your answer.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

23

Evaluation of Craik and Tulving (1975)

First write down all the positive things about this experiment. Refer to research

methods (this is a lab experiment) and does it support the theory that was being tested?

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Now think of all the negative aspects; again looking at research methods and

whether the research results found what the researcher was looking for.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

24

Research methods activity

Draw a bar chart to display the findings of this study: be sure to give it an

appropriate title and label your axis correctly.

Evaluation of the levels of processing theory

______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

25

The reconstructive approach

The final approach to memory that will be considered is the

reconstructive approach developed by Frederic Bartlett (1932).

Although this is a rather dated theory, it has received a huge amount

of support.

Bartlett suggested that memory was an active process. He said that we use

existing knowledge, which he called schemas, to understand new information

and impose some meaning on it. He conducted a piece of research to illustrate

his theories.

Key study-Bartlett (1932)

Aim: To test the idea that people use existing

knowledge to understand new information.

Method: Participants were given The war of the ghosts to read. Once they had

read it, they were asked to recall everything that they could about the story

(over varying periods from a few hours to several months).

Results:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Conclusion:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

26

Home work- after reading the war of the ghosts in class, write down all

you can remember about it. Half way through the week, again write

down what you can remember of the story. Next week, we will

complete the exercise again. Do our findings support Bartlett’s theories?

Evaluation of the reconstructive approach

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Ask yourself?

Do you think that when we forget

something, it is simply gone?

Or, is it merely because we can’t

access it?

27

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

Explanations of forgetting

In this section we will consider different explanations of why people forget

things. It is important to consider why we forget, just as much as it is to look at

why we remember.

Interference theory

This theory suggests that our memory may be affected by information we have

already stored, or by new experiences that occur while we are taking in the

information.

Retroactive interference:

Occurs when new information interferes

with the ability to recall old information.

E.g. somebody who speaks French starts

learning German. When they try to recall

the French words, they may only

remember the German. The German

words are interfering with the well-used

memory of the French ones.

Proactive interference:

This is the opposite. Proactive

interference occurs when old

information (some thing that you

already know) interferes with your

ability to take in new information. E.g.

when you do your weekly shop and the

layout has changed; you will still go to

the “old” spot to get your coffee.

28

Class experiment to test interference theory

This class will now recreate the “Stroop test”. Follow the instructions

from the tutor. Once completed answer this question:

Which type of interference does this test illustrate?

_______________________________________________________________

Key study- Underwood and Postman (1960)

Aim: To test the retroactive theory in an experimental set-up.

Method: The researchers asked participants to learn a list of paired words, for

example: cat-tree, book-tractor. Half of the participants then learned a second

list, for example: cat-glass, book-revolver. As you can see, in the second list the

first word in the pair is the same as the first word in the original list, but the

second word was different. A second group (a control group) was not given the

second list. Participants in both groups were then asked to recall the words in

the first list.

Results:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Conclusion:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

29

Evaluation of Underwood and Postman (1960)

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Amnesia

An alternative explanation as to why people forget is amnesia. Amnesia

is memory loss that has usually been caused by a physical injury to the

brain; it can also be caused by a traumatic, emotional event. There are two

types of amnesia.

30

In most cases of anterograde amnesia, patients lose the ability to recall facts.

For instance they may be able to remember, or learn how to, speak on the

phone but forget what they had for lunch that day.

In retrograde amnesia the memory loss may affect specific classes of memory.

For example a concert pianist may remember what a piano is, but not how to

play.

Ornstein, Thompson and Macaulay (1984)- Case study of H.M, which

demonstrates anterograde amnesia.

H.M. had been suffering epileptic fits since he was 16 years old. At the

age of 27 he underwent radical surgery to control his fits. His fits ceased;

however because the hippocampus (part of the brain) was removed on both

sides of the brain, he was left with anterograde amnesia. His memory from

prior to surgery was nearly perfect, however he could not remember anything

after the surgical procedure. E.g. a few hours after the operation he could not

find his hospital room and could not remember the doctors and nurses. H.M.’s

short term memory was normal: he could retain information for about 15

seconds without rehearsal and for longer when he used rehearsal. However,

he could not transfer information into his long term memory.

Retrograde Amnesia- is a form of

amnesia that results in the individual

being unable to recall events before the

onset of the amnesia.

Anterograde Amnesia- is a loss of

memory of the events that happened

after the event that caused the

amnesia.

31

Eyewitness testimony

Activity

__________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

32

Remembering faces is an extremely important aspect of human life. It allows

us to identify the people we trust and those that we should avoid.

In eyewitness testimony, remembering faces takes on another level of

importance. Being able to identify a person who has committed a crime can

mean the difference between them being prosecuted or getting away with it

entirely.

How do we recognise faces?

Bruce and Young (1986) developed a model that suggests how facial

perception, and our memory of faces, works. They suggested three separate

stages:

1._______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

3.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

33

Cognitive system

The most important aspect of this theory is the cognitive system.

Cognition refers to anything to do with mental processes such as

remembering or thinking. In this theory the cognitive system is where

we store all sorts of useful information about faces.

Examples of this could be the recognition of emotions on people’s faces.

What two emotions are these people

displaying? How do you know this?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Another example of information that is stored in the cognitive system is the

appropriateness of identifying a face in certain situations, e.g. seeing “Prince

Charles” in the local supermarket. You know that you are highly unlikely to see

royalty or a famous person in the Co-op, therefore this information helps you

to identify the face as some one who looks like Prince Charles, not the man

himself.

Reliability of eyewitness testimony

How reliable do you think eyewitness testimony is?

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

34

Facial recognition and eyewitness testimony

The cognitive element of Bruce and Young’s theory is highly important

when we consider eyewitness testimony. A method we use to

remember something is to picture ourselves in the place where the saw or

experienced the thing we are trying to remember. If we saw a crime, for

example, we may imagine ourselves in the place where we saw that crime. This

helps the cognitive element of the face recognition model to identify whether

the face we are looking at, perhaps in a crime picture, is the same as the one

we saw when we witnessed the crime.

As Bruce and Young state that there is more to identifying a face then

recognising the features, the use of “photofit” is fundamentally flawed. They

state that faces carry information about age and emotion that help us

identify them. Therefore correctly identifying a face with a photofit is

extremely difficult.

Can you identify the famous criminal from

these photofits?

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

35

Key study- Bruce and Young (1998)- study by Burton et al

Aim: To examine the ability of participants to identify faces from video

security.

Method: sixty participants were recruited for the study (20 students who had

been taught by the people in the videos; 20 students from other departments;

20 police officers). They were tested individually in an experimental room

where they watched 10 video clips of university staff entering buildings. They

watched each clip twice after which they were shown high-quality pictures of

peoples faces and had to rate each one. They were shown faces of people who

had been seen but also faces of people who had not (seen and unseen).

Results: The results are shown in the chart below

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Familiar Unfamiliar students Unfamiliar police

Seen

Unseen

36

Conclusion:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Evaluation of Bruce and Young-conducted by Burton et al

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

37

Memory, recall and leading questions

Elizabeth Loftus investigated eyewitness testimony; she was

interested in seeing if a person’s memory of something could be altered later

on. One of her most famous experiments was concerned with “leading

questions”. Leading questions may “lead” people to presume something, and

therefore distort their account of what actually happened. E.g. a policeman

asks a witness: “what colour were the perpetrators trainers?” This may lead

the witness to assume he was wearing trainers and unwittingly give a false

description.

Look at the list of questions below and identify whether they are a

leading question or not.

1. How much smashed glass did you see at the crime scene?

2. Can you describe the crime scene?

3. Were you on Wind Street on Saturday 12th June?

4. How fast was he running?

5. How much was the car speeding by?

6. Can you tell me the speed of the vehicle?

7. Was his hair black or brown?

8. What were they wearing?

38

Key study- Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Aim: To test the effect of leading questions on a person’s recall of an event.

Method: Loftus and Palmer split participants into three groups (one of these

was a control group). They all watched a film of a traffic accident. After

watching the film they were asked a number of questions about the speed of

the cars when the accident happened. The IV in this case was the verb used in

the question. The verbs were as follows:

Hit

Smashed

The question was: “How fast were the cars going when they hit/smashed the

other car?” The control group were not asked this question.

Results:

Hit Smashed Mean estimated speed

39

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Smashed Hit Control Group

Conclusion:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

40

Evaluation of Loftus and Palmer

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Practical implications derived from the explanations of memory and

learning.

Several ideas for improving memory have been formulated from the

explanations we have examined in this module. These include:

1. Chunking

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

41

2. Rehearsing

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

3. Working information to increase the depth of processing

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Encoding to improve retention

Encoding simply means changing information so it can be stored. As we

learned earlier, information in the long-term memory is usually stored by

meaning (semantics) and it is given meaning by its links to other information

already stored in the memory.

Three ways in which we encode information are by organisation, context and

elaboration. These processes also enable us to recall (or retrieve) the

information we have stored.

Organisation

Bousfield (1963 investigated whether we organise information in long-

term memory.

42

Key study-Bousfield (1963)

Aim: To see if people organise information in long-term memory.

Method: He showed participants 60 randomly presented words and then

asked them to recall the words in any order they wanted, using free recall.

Words came from these four categories: vegetables, animals, professions and

names.

Results:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Conclusion:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Evaluation:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

43

Material can also be organised in a sequence (such as alphabetically or by size

or time) to aid recall.

Example:

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Context

Retrieval of information can be improved when it is linked to the context in

which it was learned. This is why you can remember what you went upstairs

for if you go back to the room you first thought about it.

Key study- Godden and Baddeley (1975)

Aim: To see if context improved a person’s memory.

Method: deep sea divers were asked to memorise a list of words. One group

did this on the beach the other did it 5 metres under water. When they were

asked to remember the words, the groups were divided. Half of the beach

learners remained on the beach but the rest had to recall underwater. Half of

the underwater learners remained there, but the other half had to recall on

the beach.

44

Results:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Conclusion:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Evaluation:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

45

End of module revision quiz!

1. Name three differences between short-term and long term memory.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

2. What are the three stores outlined in the multi-tore model of memory?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

3. What are the two levels of processing outlined in the levels of processing

theory? Describe them both.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

46

4. What is a schema?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

5. What did Bartlett do in the war of the ghosts experiment?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

6. In interference theory, what are the two types of forgetting? What is the

difference between them?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

7. In the Loftus study, what were the two verbs that were used in the

questions put to participants?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

8. Which verb resulted in participants estimating a faster speed of the car?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

47

9. Is eyewitness testimony reliable?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

10. Name one practical application of the studies into memory.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

11. Give an example of that practical application.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

12. Name the two types of amnesia. Describe each of them.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

13. Name three evaluative points for a lab experiment.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

48

KEY POINTS TO STRUCTURE REVISION - Memory

Can you define these terms?

◊ Encoding

◊ Storage

◊ Retrieval

◊ Eyewitness testimony

Do you know the main features of these explanations of memory?

◊ Multi-store model

◊ Levels of processing

◊ Reconstructive

Can you describe and evaluate studies to investigate these explanations of memory.

Can you state at least two factors affecting the reliability of eyewitness

testimony?

Can you describe and evaluate studies that investigated each of these factors?

Examiners tip: When defining a term, for each extra mark you should add anew point in

your answer.

Examiners tip: When you describe a study, remember to state the aim, method, results and

conclusion.

Examiners tip: You don not need to remember dates of studies and if you forget the

psychologist’s name you won’t lose marks.

Examiners tip: An examination question will never ask you to recall more than two factors.

49

Can you explain at least two practical applications coming from explanations

of memory and forgetting? What are their benefits and drawbacks?

Examiners tip: For an application, think about how can we put the knowledge gained from

these explanations in the real world?