Cognitive Psychology ~ Memory

Starter Activity:
How good is your memory?
• You are now going to take a memory test.
• At theIn Psychology
start of the test youyou
will bewill
shown
pictures of a group of objects.
learn strategies to
• Try to memorise them.
improve your
• You will have 20 seconds
memory
• When the objects disappear write down all
the objects you can remember.
• Who has the best memory?………..
 Memory

•So what is Memory?

•Memory is the process of storing
and retrieving information about the
past.
•What would life be like without our
memories?....
•How would we ……
•Make a cup of tea?
•Find our way home?
•Know who are friends or enemies
were?

•Is there anything that we don’t need

our memories for?
 Types of Memory

* *
* * * Procedural Memory (skills)

* *
Requires conscious thought Does not require conscious thought
 Implicit and Explicit Memory
• Implicit memory is memory for things not intentionally
remembered (without conscious thought) e.g. If you
remembered the bee in the last slide – did you intend to?
• Explicit memory is when you intend to remember something
(which requires conscious thought) e.g. you revise so that
you can remember information in the exam.
• We may remember through implicit memory far more than we
are consciously aware.
 Procedural (Skills) Memory
• Procedural – skills; actions that do not require
conscious thought (riding a bicycle?) you don’t
have to think about how you pedal or balance.
• Procedural memory is much more resistant to
forgetting.
• Procedural includes implicit memory (that
means you may remember something without
intentionally learning it or intentionally
remembering it e.g. you don’t try to learn to
text without looking at your fingers: you learn
by practice.)

Give some examples of skills that you may have

learned via procedural memory……
 Declarative Memory:-
Semantic and Episodic Memory
• Declarative things you can declare:–
facts, faces, names, events (what did you
have for breakfast this morning?)
• There are two kinds of Declarative
memory:-
• Episodic Memory= memories of personal
experiences or events (e.g. Christmas,
birthdays, what I had for breakfast)
• Semantic Memory= learned memories;
knowledge not linked to time or events
(e.g. what is good for me to have at
breakfast, capital city of France)
• Give some of your own examples of
Episodic and Semantic Memory…
The Three Processes of Memory
(what has to happen in order for a memory to be formed and remembered)

Encoding
Taking information / stimulus from Retrieval
environment and programming it into our
brains. Stimulus is usually visual Recalling by using
(iconic) , but it can be sound (acoustic) ‘cues’ to
and smells etc. It can then be remember items
programmed or ‘encoded’ into our brains you have stored.
as iconic, acoustic or semantic encoding People may do
this differently.

Storage
Once information is encoded it has to be stored
until it is required at a later time.The length of
time the information is stored is the store’s
DURATION and how much information can be
stored is its CAPACITY
 Definitions/words to learn:
Use the hints to write your definitions
(if you get stuck use your course guide: glossary)
• Memory is ...a process where information.......
• Encoding is… a process where information.......
• Retrieval is ......a process where information.......
• Capacity is…..the amount of information ….
• Duration is… how ............ the information...........
• Episodic memory is ...visual memory for ….
• Semantic memory is .... memory for things you have....
• Proceedural memory is memory for ..............
• Implicit memory is memory without conscious …..
• Explicit memory is memory requiring …........... thought
2
Activity
Who has the best attention?
Watch the video clip carefully and count the number of
times the white team bounces or catches the ball.

Importance of attention in memory clip.wmv

 Multi-Store Memory Model
By Atkinson & Shiffrin
Follow this on your handouts.

Environment Rehearsal Long

Term
Coding
Sensory
Coding Memory
Stimuli
Sensory Attention Short
Memory Term
Coding
Memory Retrieval
Loss via displacement
If not attended to or decay if not
information is lost rehearsed
 DETAIL: Sensory Memory Store:
• Temporary storage of information stimulus taken
in….
• Visual encoding (iconic)
• Auditory encoding (acoustic)
• Probably others as well (smell – chemical)
– Capacity: Very large
– Duration: Very short
• about 250 ms. for iconic (visual)
• 1-2 sec. for acoustic (sound)

• Forgetting: Information can be lost (storage failure)

because of lack or diversion of attention remember
the gorilla experiment! Or through trace decay
 Detail: Short Term Memory (STM)
• Capacity: Small: 7 plus or minus 2 units or
‘chunks’ (Miller, 1956)
Chunk: a meaningful unit
Examples:
• A group of letters (FBI)
• A group of words (Four score and seven years ago)
• Let us recreate Miller’s experiments now.
• Duration: Short:20-30 seconds without rehearsal
(Peterson & Peterson, 1959)
• Encoding: mainly acoustic (by sound) See p16 of
course guide for research evidence.
• Forgetting due to displacement and trace decay.
(storage failure)
 Displacement in STM

Cheese
Milk
Flour
Apples
Syrup
Peas
Eggs
Bread
STM Bread
Milk
Flour
Apples
Syrup
Peas
Eggs
7 slots Bread
Milk
Flour
Apples
Syrup
Peas
( For 7 units
Bread
Milk
Flour
Apples
Syrup
or ‘chunks of Bread
Milk
Flour
Apples Lost from
information) STM
Bread
Milk
Flour
Bread
Milk

Bread
This experiment shows that the duration of the STM is around 18 seconds.
The experiment is outlined in detail in your course guide on page 14.
Most of the research shows that duration is less than 30 seconds in STM
 Detail: Long Term Memory (LTM)

• Capacity: Potentially Infinite

• Duration: A lifetime (decades)
• Encoding: Organized by meaning (semantic)
• Evidence for this can be found on page15 of your course
guide. (Bahrick)
• Forgetting: cue dependant retrieval failure and interference
unlikely to be much decay
• Procedural Memory: habits and motor skills, conditioned
or practiced
• Declarative Memory: Memory for semantic knowledge
(facts) and personal experiences (episodic)
TIME
PEAK
SLOW
Evidence for the MSM
PENS
LONG
AGES
THAN
VAST Remember the following words:
HEAT
RAIN
MORE
SOME
TUNE
RARE
WITH
BEAR
THIS
TIES
HEAR
LIFE
TIME 73
PEAK 71
SLOW 45
PENS 71
LONG 67
AGES 62
THAN 45
VAST 34 Count how many you recalled:
HEAT 46
RAIN 48
MORE 34
SOME 45
TUNE 41
RARE 48
WITH 42
BEAR 67
THIS 53
TIES 34
HEAR 45
LIFE 78
Primacy-Recency or
Serial-position effect
 Primacy Effect

• First items in a list are

remembered better than items
in the middle
 Recency Effect

• The last items in a list are

remembered better than items in the
middle, if tested immediately

• This primary-recency or serial position

effect is evidence for the MSM model.
 Brain Damage Patient Studies H.M. & C.W
Further supporting evidence for MSM model
• H.M. became unable to form new memories after surgical
removal of the hippocampus (so no STM)

• Still able to acquire procedural information (he learned a

mirror writing skill. Can you explain this?)
• He was still able to access his original long term memories
but not able to form new ones.
• This is evidence for the multi-store model in that it shows LTM
and STM storage areas are in different locations.
Summary of Multi Store Memory Model Components
EVALUATION: Evidence In support of MSM
• Primacy and recency effects. First items are
recalled from LTM, having been rehearsed, and
last items are still being held in STM.
• Baddeley’s research into acoustic and semantic
coding shows that STM & LTM are separate.
• Case studies, e.g. HM. shows that STM & LTM are separate

Problems and limitations

• Rehearsal does not always lead to storage.
Storage occurs without rehearsal!
• If coding in the STM is predominantly acoustic,
how do we understand language?
• Initial oversimplification of LTM store, but this
was redressed by Tulving (semantic/episodic),
and Cohen and Squire (procedural/declarative).
• Some types of information are not amenable to
rehearsal, e.g. smells.
Use your notes, handout, guide and textbook to
plan and write an answer to the following
question:

(Q) Describe and evaluate the multi-store

memory model.

Descriptions should form about 50% of the

essay and Evaluations should form 50% of the
essay.

Your essay should be about 1 to 1 and a half A4

pages long.
 Multi-Store Memory Model Activity
(In Pairs or threes) Read through & Discuss the handouts:
Then in your groups complete a poster detailing the Multi
Store Model:

The title should be “Memory ~ The Multi Store Model

(Evidence and Evaluation)”
• Outline the model and evidence in support of the model.
• Then evaluate the model fully listing all the positive and
negative criticisms you can find.
• At the end of the lesson the class will vote on the poster
with the fullest explanation and evaluation of the model,
and the best presented poster.
• Students will have to explain and present their posters to
the class, and justify why their poster deserves to win the
prize and be displayed.
L4

Alternatives to the MSM

 Levels of processing model
• We are going to attempt an experiment
similar to Craik & Lockhart’s Levels of
processing experiment NOW…..
• What are the differences in processing?
• Depth of analysis/depth of processing
– Shallow processing (e.g., structural
(iconic/visual) processing)
– Intermediate processing (e.g., phonetic
F2T
processing)
– Deep processing (e.g., semantic processing)
FOT
But recall can be affected by other factors notFIT
directly associated with levels of processing:
• Elaboration of processing (how much time
available) – more time more processing
• Organisation (categorisation etc.)
• Distinctiveness (more distinctive things are
remembered…… do these factors fit the
model – can they be explained by LOP?)
Level of Processing – Craik and
Lockhart’s experiment:-
 Levels of Processing (Craik &
% Later Recalled Lockhart)

Letter Size Phonetic Meaning

Judgment Required
 Working Memory Model

• Central executive (Fat Controller)

• Articulatory-phonological loop (Inner Voice &
Ear on same loop so cannot listen and talk at
same time!)
 Activity: How do we know that there are
two components in the phonological –
articulatory loop? Try these two
exercises with a partner.
• Find two paragraphs from a book or handout
that you have not read.
• Read one paragraph to yourself quietly and
then explain its contents to your partner.
• Then read the other paragraph to yourself,
but at the same time say out loud; ‘the, the,
the’ over and over again.
• Now try to explain the contents of the
paragraph to your partner.
• Can you explain why this is virtually
impossible: use the Working memory
model…..take 2 minutes thinking time.
Limitations & Criticisms of LOP & MSM
☺ LOP gives a good understanding of the processes that
take places when learning. Evidence?
☺ MSM gives a good understanding of the organisation
and structure of memory. Evidence?
 LOP Difficult to define ‘deep’ processing and why it is
effective. (More time? More meaning?)
 Semantic processing does not always lead to better
retrieval (Morris 1977)
 LOP and MSM describe rather than explain.
 MSM is linear and does not explain how some things
appear to go straight into our memory without
rehearsing. (memory for events – episodic -)

For homework: complete the chart on the back of the

activity sheet including similarities and differences
between MSM & WMM
 Comparing MSM & LOP
Similarities:-
• Both refer to processing as visual, acoustic and semantic.
• Both indicate that semantic processing will be remembered better.
• MSM states that rehearsal will improve memory (this would result in
phonetic processing as when we rehearse we tend to repeat things
verbally in our head.
Differences:-
• MSM explains the structure and organisation of the memory and evidence
supports this (primary / recency, HM KD) LOP does not.
• LOP says that rather than stages our ability to remember depends on the
level to which we process the information focussing on processing rather
than organisation.
• LOP states the number of different ways we process the information is
important.
• LOP has practical applications – education
• MSM has practical applications – medicine (brain damage, amnesia)
• LOP links memory, attention and perception.
• LOP emphasises recall is influenced by how information is encoded.
 5 Consolidating the WMM
• Students in groups.
• You will be given one of the components of the WMM to
research
• Use A3 paper draw a representation of your component in
the centre then:
• 1. Describe component: in terms of function, capacity,
strengths and weaknesses.
• 2. Say how your component interacts with the other three.
• 3. Say what the evidence is for your component, and
whether that evidence is strong evidence or weak
evidence. Use text books and handouts provided.
• To make this more interesting you can try and put your
information into songs, rhymes, raps, stories or poems for
your presentation.
• Then: Present to the class. Vote for best presentation
• Have fun!
6

• 1. Alice is rehearsing for a play at school and has to learn

her lines.
• (a) Give her advice, based on the multi-store model, on
how to learn her lines.
• (b) She still finds it difficult to learn the lines. What other
suggestions can you offer her based on other
psychological research.
• 2. Tom’s mother gets very annoyed when she tries to
speak to him when he is playing a game on the computer:
he never seems to actually hear what she is saying.
• Use both the multi-store model and the working memory
model to explain why he doesn’t seem to hear her.
• 3. On his way home from work, Rick witnessed an accident
involving two cars but when asked to make a statement to
the police he can’t remember many details. Use the multi-
store model to explain why his memory for the details is so
poor.
 Memory in Everyday Life

• In this section we will look at factors affecting memory recall

(remembering and forgetting) in particular in connection with
Eyewitness testimony and Memory improvement methods
• When things are forgotten or not remembered it is because:
– The memory Is not available (it has ceased to exist)
– The memory Is just not accessible (though we might find it given
time or the right cues)

• Forgetting is fastest right after initial learning

• But slower for more meaningful material
 The multi store memory model suggests that forgetting
happens because of:-
• Trace decay :- Memory fades with time if not used (structural changes
occur when a memory is laid down (an ENGRAM is formed) –
temporary if not rehearsed – otherwise it becomes permanent)
Peterson and Peterson (1959) (STM & LTM)
• Displacement:- Information in STM is pushed out by newer
information. 7+/- 2 ! (STM ONLY)
• Interference:- Memories are disrupted or obscured by other incoming
information. Confusion or entanglement of similar memories (STM &
LTM)
• Retrieval Failure:- Information/memories in LTM store cannot be
accessed because suitable retrieval cues are not available. (LTM
ONLY)
• Diversion of attention:- (mainly in SM but also affects STM) Watkins
et al. (1973)
 How cues can aid memory
Cue dependent retrieval failure is when information may be available
to recall but is temporarily inaccessible.
Evidence – Tip of the tongue phenomenon (Brown & McNeill 1966)
The feeling of being on the verge of recalling something, often
you can say what letter it starts with, or how many syllables it has.

This means that there are Cues that can aid retrieval e.g.

• CATEGORY :- We remember things better when we sort

information in to different categories (Tulving & Pearlson 1966)
• CONTEXT :- (Godden & Baddeley 1975) found external
environmental cues present at the time of learning affected our
ability to recall information.
• STATE :- Internal bodily cues that were experienced at the time of
learning may affect our ability to recall information. (Goodwin
1969) Investigated the effects of alcohol.

• Stress and Anxiety can also cause retrieval failure. (as

stress is a bodily state!) KARMA
SUTRA
 Context dependent memory

• Context becomes
encoded along with the
material being
remembered.

• Reinstating context
often helps people
remember.
Godden & Baddeley 1975
 State-Dependent Memory

• Internal body states are encoded

with memories
• Memories easier to retrieve when
these body states are entered again
(learn something when you are drunk
and you won’t remember it well until
you are drunk again!) Goodwin 1969
 Stress and Memory
Performance

Low Moderate High

Stress
 7 What is Eyewitness Testimony?
“Evidence given in court about what was seen by an
individual who witnessed events relevant to a crime.”
Use what you know about memory to explain what techniques Mr.
Bean used to aid his memory and why they worked.
Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony

• The Devlin Report, (1976) states that eyewitness testimony

is generally unreliable. Some of the reasons for this may
be:-
• Rather than record things like a film, we tend to be
selective about what aspects of events we commit to
memory.
• This can cause us a problem in situations where accurate
recall is vital, such as in eyewitness testimony (EWT).
• Also much other research (which we will now examine)
suggests that EWT may not always be accurate, and can
be influenced by lots of things including leading questions,
time, anxiety, the reconstructive nature of our memories
and age of witness.
• Sad Activity
• Tree
• Kill
• Smile
• Death
• Win
• Hate Look at the following
Flower
•
• Disease words for 2 minutes and
•
•
Cat
Coffin
try to remember as
• Star many as possible.
• Murder
• Bucket
• Knife When they disappear
Dance
•
• Choke write down all that you
•
•
Play
Die
remember.
• House
ANXIETY…..THE EFFECT OF
EMOTION ON MEMORY
 Emotional states:
Can emotion make us forget? (Repression)
Freud said that we repress memories (our ego’s bury them in
our unconscious mind), usually to avoid dealing with
traumatic experiences; this is referred to as motivated
forgetting. This is a protective ego defence mechanism.
EVIDENCE
• Levinger and Clarke found that emotionally charged words
were remembered less well than emotionally negative words.
(did we find this?)
• Memories of Child Sex Abuse are occasionally only
recovered by psychoanalysis or hypnotherapy.
• Shell Shock – Soldiers loose their memories of war horrors.
• Witnesses of violent crimes often remember less detail than
would be expected.
• Major disasters such as 9/11 are less well remembered by
the people directly involved, but remembered well by others
watching on TV or reading in the news.
• Loftus & Burns showed participants two videos of a bank
robbery – one video was extremely violent the other was not.
Participants remembered much more from the non-violent
video. (can you think of another reason for this?)
EVALUATION of REPRESSION
(is this the whole story?)
• Uncomfortable / horrific memories may just not
be thought of so much – so are rehearsed less
often than normal memories…. So a weaker
engram is laid down, which makes the memory
trace more likely to fade away. OR
• It could be caused by high levels of stress!
• Loftus later theorised that the violent video was
less well remembered because the participants
focused on the weapon used rather than the
trivial details of the situation, and that this
weapon focus (which diverts attention from
other details) is why less was remembered in
the violent video.
Flashbulb memories Can emotion help us remember better?
• Brown & Kulik (1977) Coined the phrase Flashbulb memory. It
is a type of Episodic Memory that is especially vivid or detailed
and relates usually to some major public event (Twin Towers,
Princess Diana’s Death).They theorised that an emotional event
triggered a neural mechanism in the brain and that the scene was
printed on the memory (a strong engram was laid down instantly).
EVIDENCE
• Brown & Kulik questioned participants about famous
people’s assassinations – J. F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King.
They found that certain things were almost universally
remembered about them, these were:-
• Where you were, What you were doing, Who gave you the
news
• What you felt, What others felt, What happened immediately
afterwards.
• Do you have similar memories of Twin Towers 9/11
• Further evidence showed that the more personally significant
the event the more likely you were to develop a flashbulb
memory for it. (75% of black people questioned had a
flashbulb memory to Martin Luther King’s death whereas
only 33% of white people did!)
• Can you think of other reasons why things like these are
remembered so vividly?
 EVALUATION
• It could be that the vivid memories are
simply due to over rehearsal – frequent
repetition of event on news / everyone
talking about it etc. (so really strong
engrams are laid down)
• But other research supports Brown and
Kulik . Christianson and Hubinette
found that emotional involvement does
increase the accuracy of memory.
When interviewing 110 people who
witnessed a bank robbery they found
those who had been personally
threatened had better memory of the
event. This goes against Freud’s theory
of repression.
Memory Recall The Time Factor
• The longer we watch the
more likely we are to
remember details (more time
for rehearsal and
elaboration).
• The longer the interval
between an event and the
recall the worse the recall.
(Trace decay theory) If the
memory is not revisited
shortly after the event and
often then the memory trace
will fade away, however.....
 Research shows that witnesses
beliefs about their own testimony
changes over time but their level of
accuracy doesn’t! :
Higher
Lower

Time
Explain this using memory theories you have learned
 Age of Witness
• Memories and the way we use them change as we age. Most research
evidence on age related memory shows that :
• Children are more sensitive to leading questions than adults: found by
(Warren et al 2005) & (Ceci et al 2000) found that memories of 3 to 4
year olds were most susceptible.
• Children’s ability to understand the question can influence recall.
(Goodman and Schaff 1997) found that the more complex the question
the more likely the child would give an inaccurate response.
• Young children tend to recall less complex memories than older
children and adults and so can appear unconvincing. (Goodman and
Reed 1986) showed that the recall of younger children was less
detailed but no less accurate. However, (Saywitz 1987) showed that
younger children tended to embellish their recall (add bits to it!).
• Old people however have also been shown to have poorer
performance on tests of eyewitness memory and face recognition in
particular. However they do remember faces around their own age
better (own age bias). Research by Anastsi and Rhodes (2006) shows
that older participants had less accurate recall, but ALL age groups
were more accurate in identifying photographs of their own age group,
Other factors influencing the accuracy of
Eyewitness testimony: Research shows...
• FACES:- Faces are recalled from top down – hair,
forehead, are the first things we recall about someone.
So people with heads covered or wearing glasses are
less well remembered when those items are removed.
• CLOTHING:- People tend to focus attention on clothing
rather than height or other features
• CONTEXT / STATE / FAMILIARITYSTEREOTYPES have
an effect on what we expect, and therefore what we
remember.
• LEADING QUESTIONS:- (LOFTUS 1975) (MISSLED
MEMORY) If people are asked questions that lead them
in a certain direction they will usually go there.
• RACE:- People remember their own race better.
• WEAPON FOCUS:- (Loftus) People focus on the weapon
/ violence rather than the person who is perpetuating it.
• SOCIAL INFLUENCE:- People can be influenced by what
the other witnesses say.
• STRESS/ High emotion:-
– Repressed memories. Loftus:- People who saw the
more violent video remembered less.
Activity...... What could affect the recall
of these witnesses to a bank robbery?

Juan was in the bank with his

Pedro was waiting outside the bank,
mum, he was fascinated by the
he was unaware of the robbery until
robber and watched everything.
afterwards, but he saw the robber
Peter was a enter and leave.
guard at the Maria was in the
bank. He was bank when the
attacked by the robbery took
robber and he place. She was
was threatened frightened for her
with a gun. son Juan.
Maria did
He was then remember that he
shot and was in wore a hat.
hospital some
time recovering.

In pairs/threes take 5 minutes to note down ideas about factors affecting each of
their recall. Either positively or negatively.
8 Let us imagine that you were in China during
the Olympics. Pick pocketing was a real
problem. You witnessed the following event.
Now the Police want you to identify the thief…..

• Think back to last lesson and list as many

things that you can think of that may affect
your memory of this incident both +ve & -ve.
 Factors affecting EWT: how did you do?
• Age (same age bias) (age of witness)
• Face recognition (top down processing – hair over eyes)
• Time (since witnessing crime) (watching event)
• Context (if not reinstated)
• State (emotion, stress, anxiety, fear, intoxication)
• Race (same race bias)
• Clothing – (attention focus)
• Attention – lack of, or focus: weapon, violence, action.
• Questioning by police (leading questions)
• Level of Processing (faces, visual so shallow etc)
• Rehearsal (how many times you told the story)
• Stereotypes and one more very important one…..the
• Reconstructive nature of memory ………
8

How does the way our memories work affect EWT?

• Bartlett’s famous research study: ‘War of the
Ghosts’ (see course guide) supported his ‘Schema’
or ‘Reconstructive nature of Memory’ Theory:-
• Bartlett said that when remembering we piece
together a few highlights, then fill in details based
on what we think should have happened. Our
memories working like rough notebooks rather
than video recorders.
• He said we use schema’s to make sense of our
world and to help us remember.
• A schema is an organised package of information
that stores your knowledge about the world.
Schemas are stored in LTM.
• Your schemas tell you that if you see someone
wearing a short-sleeved shirt outside then there is
unlikely to be snow on the ground. Schema’s lead
us to make assumptions which can be wrong!
 Your Schema’s an example:-
• What is your schema for having a restaurant meal ?– What are the
most important events associated with having a restaurant meal.
• You probably said most or all of the following:
• Sitting down
• Looking at the menu
• Ordering
• Eating/drinking
• Paying the bill
• Leaving a tip
• Leaving the restaurant.
• Reconstructive memories are made by combining what you are
remembering with your knowledge of the world (Schemas)
• Schema theory indicates that prior expectations will influence our
perceptions. This means that our prejudices and stereotypes will
influence what we think we have seen and how we recall the
information.
• This can be particularly important for interpretation of eyewitness
testimony.
• So does that mean that we cannot trust our memories to be accurate?
MESSING WITH
YOUR MIND ~
TOTAL RECALL
Reconstructive memories = false memories?
In Total Recall, Arnold plays a man who is frustrated by dreams of Mars,
where he has never been. So he goes to a memory shop to buy a false
memory, the memory that he was a secret agent on Mars. The folks at
the shop discover that they can't implant the false memory because
Arnold really had been a secret agent on Mars!
Arnold is confused was his ordinary life false, a dream imposed on him
when he stopped being a secret agent? Or is the current situation all a
dream? He can't trust his memories & can't tell what is real & what is
false.

You, of course, don't have any such difficulties. Your brain hasn't been
tinkered with by secret agents or memory technicians. You can trust your
memories--can't you?...
Read through the following words and try to remember them. I will tell
you when to write down what you remember.
Do the same with the next set.
Did you remember any words that were not there?
Most people falsely remember the word sweet as being on the first list
and the word angry as being on the second list. The words aren't there,
but they are strongly suggested by the words that are on the list.
Memory is associative and reconstructive, remembering the words
candy and honey and sugar and others that are associated with
sweetness bring that word sweet to mind so strongly that it is
‘reconstructed’ into part of the original list.

sour nice candy mad wrath fear

honey sugar soda happy hate fight
bitter chocolate good
rage hatred temper

heart taste cake mean fury calm

tooth tart pie ire emotion enrage

 Problems with Schemas
RECONSTRUCTIVE MEMORY (BARTLET 1932) :- People have expectations, assumptions or
•
schemas (our understanding of the way things are based mainly on previous experience) This
can lead to us expecting certain things and then ‘filling in the gaps’ when things don’t quite fit.
• STEREOTYPES have an effect on what we expect, and therefore what we remember.

Look at the
picture on
the right.
Study it
carefully.
 “Whose hand held the
knife?”

(Allport& Postman, 1947) What problems can you see

found that most people with this research?
wrongly remembered the
 Activity....

Imagine that you are a criminal psychologist who

has gone bad! You are going to produce an
information leaflet for prospective criminals giving
them advice on committing perfect crimes.
Use the theories we have discussed in this lesson
and previous lessons in order to ‘help’ them be
better, more successful crooks! Use text books to
find research support..................
9
The Police & Eyewitness
Testimony

• Can the police

influence the accuracy
of eyewitness
testimony?
Activity: Witnessing a crime……

Video clip for EWT.mpg

 Can you help the police with
the following questions?

1. Did the woman call for help before or after she

handed out the money?
2. Did the getaway car turn left or right?
3. What was covering the faces of the robbers?
4. Who else was in the shop?
5. What were the robbers wearing?
6. About what age and build were the robbers?
7. Can you recall anything else about them that
would help the police – Hair colour? Accent?
8. What did they use as weapons?
 Leading Questions
The effect of language on recall
• Loftus and Palmer (1974) different questions got consistently different
responses:-
– “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into
each other?”
• 41 mph
• 32% ‘saw’ broken glass
– “About how fast were the cars going when they hit each
other?”
• 34 mph
• 14% ‘saw’ broken glass

What does this all mean for the reliability of

eyewitness testimony?
As we have seen eyewitness testimony is not
always reliable. This can have serious
consequences.
Many people have been hanged or imprisoned
for long periods because they were convicted
of crimes mainly on the say of eyewitness
testimony. Some have later been found to
have been innocent. – An argument against
the death penalty? Here is an example of what
can happen and an explanation of how it can
happen.........
 So how Can Eyewitness
Testimony Be Made More
Reliable?
1. Police Interview guidelines (Questioning)
1. Questions should be open ended NOT leading
2. Avoid encouraging guessing – can lead to false
memories
3. No prompting of witnesses
2. Cognitive Interview Techniques
1. Geiselman et al. (1985) investigated the Cognitive
interview using eyewitnesses.
2. He found that the cognitive interview produced
41.1 correct answers compared to 29.4 using
traditional techniques
 The Cognitive Interview

Developed by Geiselman the police were trained to

assist the witness to:
• Reinstate the context (and state)
• Recall everything they remember in minute
detail, whether they feel it is relevant or not.
• Recall details of the incident in various different
orders.
• Recall the event from a different perspective,
such as that of another witness. (DVD)
Exam Questions
• Complete the exam
questions relating to
eyewitness testimony.
•10

Improving Memory

Strategies for Improving memory

Cues
Mnemonics & mind maps
 Strategies for memory
Improvement
For the exam you need to learn at least 2
strategies for improving memory.

We will focus on the following – these are in

your text book
a. Cues
b. Mnemonics & mind maps
 Use of Cues
Cues act as a trigger to help recall memory. Evidence:
• Context – Godden & Baddeley = Divers.
• State: Goodwin = Alcohol
• Context - Baker et al (2004) Chewing gum
experiment = Students who learned whilst chewing
gum remembered more if chewing gum!
• Cognitive interview techniques. Geiselman
 Using cues
To improve recall ..
• Context and state cues need to be as
similar as possible to the original
learning situation.
• So to perform best in exams…
• Context – revise with a favourite pen
• State – stay calm whilst revising and
during exam (easier said than done!!)
 Use of Cues
Elaboration – elaborative rehearsal is more effective than
maintenance rehearsal as the info becomes meaningful
and is encoded in a way that suits LTM
e.g. Morris et al (81) – football fans have better recall of
scores (because they mean more to them)
Organisation – using categories – Tulving and Pearlstone
(66) Memory greatly enhanced by actively organizing
material as it is learned
Cues: Organisation Tulving and Pearlestone
•Pear •Daffodil •Dogs •Instrument
•beagle, •Plum •Labrador •Harp
•Clarinet •Nose •Beagle •Piano
•Hail •Weather •Boxer •Flute
•Rain •Copper •Spaniel •Clarinet
•Drinks •Labrador •Fruit •Drinks
•Rose •Water •Apple •Water
•Squash •Flowers •Pear •Milk
•Hand •Brass •Plum •Squash
•Boxer •Foot •Orange •Coke
•Iron •Tulips •Weather •Body
•Coke •Pansy •Snow •Nose
•Gold •Dogs •Rain •Foot
•Harp •Sleet •Sleet •Toe
•Piano •Milk •Hail •Hand
•Metal •Orange •Flowers •Metal
•Apple •Toe •Daffodil •Brass
•Body •Snow •Rose •Gold
•Fruit •Flute •Pansy •Copper
 Mnemonics

Strategies that can increase memory, especially

for material that is not easily organized;
Mnemonics can be…. tricks, games, or rhymes
that help you remember something.
By this we can impose an artificial structure on
items that would otherwise be hard to remember
There are different types of Mnemonic techniques
that may suit different materials or learning
styles. E.g. visual or verbal….. Video clip
Mnemonics clip.mpg
 Verbal Mnemonics

Acronyms: An acronym is a word formed by the

first letter of other word. Choose a key word
that will help you remember each step. Then,
using the letter of each key word, create your
acronym.
Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain
Good when remembering the order of something
(like colours of the rainbow, what are they?)
 Verbal Mnemonics
Rhymes E.g
• i before e except after c
• 30 days hath September …..
In 1492, Columbus sailed
the ocean blue….
•Also good when remembering
• the order of something
 Visual Imagery Mnemonics

• Method of Loci –Involves

pairing each thing to be
•Good for remembered with one of an
visual organized set of familiar locations
learners!
 Visual Imagery Mnemonics

Narrative Chaining – story made up

using items to be remembered
•Good for
verbal
learners!
 Visual Imagery Mnemonics

Key word technique –

1. Acoustic stage
2. Visual stage
3. Rehearsal stage
E.g. Visualise a baguette –
Image of a french stick in bag!

•Very good when learning

• another language
 Visual Imagery Mnemonics
• Peg-word system - Connecting each thing to
be remembered in an interactive image with each item
on a standard list using visualisation: e.g.
• One-bun
• Two-shoe
• Three – tree ….
• Good for shopping lists or lists of any sort....
BPS Guidelines!
 Visual Imagery Mnemonics
•Mind maps •An example of elaborative
rehearsal

A mind
map on
how to do
a mind
map!

•Giving each page of revision notes an unique,

distinctive visual appearance
 Watch the film clip
• What is the Memory Improvement technique
used by Andy and Professor Winston?

Method of loci clip.mpg

•Method
of Loci
 Improving Memory:
other methods
• Recall Practice: Practicing recalling material rather
than just rereading it; especially useful for college
material

• Spaced Practice: Shorter practice sessions spaced

widely apart; more effective than massed practice

• Over-learning: Practicing material well beyond the

point needed to recall it for the moment
 Visualization

• Form an image, or picture, in your mind of

something you want to remember.

• Eg: In anatomy, label the bones on a

drawing of a human skeleton. When
reviewing or recalling, close eyes and see
the skeleton with labels.
 Now try a strategy yourself!!
• Use one or more of the techniques you have
learned today to help you to remember as much
as you can about Memory Improvement
Techniques.
• You may use text books to help you
• If you wish to complete your own mind map in
which you include all the memory improvement
techniques you have learned.
• Here is how you do it......
Mind mapping clip.mpg
That’s all folks!
 Key Term: Duration
• This refers to how long a memory lasts. The
existence of two distinct memory stores is
supported by differences in duration because
this differs between short-term memory (STM)
and long-term memory (LTM). STM has a very
limited duration of 18–30 seconds. In contrast,
LTM potentially lasts forever and so a memory
may endure permanently
Key Term: Ecological validity
• The validity of the research outside the
research situation itself; the extent to which
the findings are generalisable to other
situations, especially “everyday” situations.
The question is whether you would get the
same findings in a different setting or whether
they are limited to the original research
context. If the latter is true then there is a lack
of ecological validity
 Key Term: Encoding
• This involves the transfer of information into
code, leading to the creation of a memory trace,
which can be registered in the memory store.
There is evidence that STM and LTM are
dependent on different codes, as in STM
encoding it is primarily acoustic (based on the
sound of the word), and in LTM encoding it is
primarily semantic (based on the meaning of the
word)
 Key Term: Eyewitness
testimony
• Evidence supplied by people who witness a specific event
or crime, relying only on their memory. Statements often
include descriptions of the criminal (facial appearance and
other identifiable characteristics) and subsequent
identification, and details of the crime scene (e.g., the
sequence of events, time of day, and if others witnessed
the event, etc.). There is good evidence that eyewitness
testimony can be incorrect, because eyewitness
memories of events tend to be fragile and easily distorted
(e.g., by leading questions)
 Key Term: Flashbulb memory
• A long-lasting and vivid memory of a specific event and
the context in which it occurred. The event is important
and emotionally significant (e.g., a national or personal
event). The term “flashbulb” refers to the fact that it is as
if a photographic image of the event and setting has been
encoded, as the memory is so detailed and accurate.
Examples include the atrocities of September 11th 2001,
and the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy
 Key Term: Forgetting
• This is the inability to recall or recognise
information. Forgetting may occur because the
information no longer exists in memory and so is
not available for retrieval. Alternatively, it can
occur because it cannot be found and so is not
accessible (cue-dependent forgetting).
Forgetting is more likely with information that
needs to be recalled, as recognition is generally
easier than recall
 Key Term: Levels of
processing
• The extent to which something (e.g., a list of
words) is processed, not in terms of how much
processing is done (as in repetition), but in
terms of how much meaning is extracted.
Shallow processing focuses on the superficial
features of the information (e.g., whether a
word is in upper or lower case). In contrast,
deep processing focuses on the meaning of
the information and generally (but not always)
leads to better long-term memory
 Key Term: Long-term memory

• A relatively permanent store, which has

unlimited capacity and duration. Different
kinds of long-term memory have been
identified, including episodic (memory for
personal events), semantic (memory for
facts and information), and procedural
(memory for actions and skills)
 Key Term: Memory
• The mental processes used to encode, store, and
retrieve information. Encoding takes many forms;
visual, auditory, semantic, taste, and smell.
Storage refers to the amount of information that
can be held in memory. Retrieval refers to the
processes by which information is “dug out” of
memory, and includes recognition, recall, and
reconstruction. It is useful to distinguish between
two types of memory: short-term or immediate
memory and long-term or more permanent
memory
 Key Term: Multi-store model
• The notion that memory is divided into three
kinds of store (sensory memory; short-term
memory; and long-term memory). It is often
assumed that attention is used to select some
information from sensory memory for
processing in the short-term store, whereas
verbal rehearsal is involved when information
is transferred from the short-term memory
store to the long-term memory store. It is
increasingly doubtful that there is a single long-
term memory store
 Key Term: Reconstructive
memory
• It is often assumed that recall from long-term memory
involves reconstruction. This is an active process in
which information from the to-be-remembered
material and information from our knowledge and
experience of the world is combined. Information
based on our knowledge and experience of the world
is contained in schemas, which are packets of
knowledge. What often happens is that what we
recall is not an accurate reproduction of the original
material, because our recall is distorted by schemas,
which have been used to fill in the gaps in our
memory
 Key Term: Repression
• This is one of the main defence mechanisms
suggested by Freud. What happens is that
memories causing great anxiety (e.g., traumatic
memories) are kept out of conscious awareness
in order to protect the individual. Thus,
repression is a good example of motivated
forgetting. Information that has been repressed
still exists, and can often be recalled during
psychoanalysis
Key Term: Short-term memory
• A temporary place for storing information
during which it receives limited processing
(e.g., verbal rehearsal). Short-term
memory has a very limited capacity and
short duration, unless the information in it
is maintained through rehearsal
Key Term: Working memory model
• A model of memory proposed by Baddeley and
Hitch as an alternative to the multi-store model.
The model consists of a central executive (an
attentional system, which has a limited capacity
and which is involved in decision-making),
together with two slave systems (the articulatory-
phonological loop, and visuo-spatial sketch pad).
This model is concerned with both active
processing and the brief storage of information