COGNITIVE

PSYCHOLOG
Y
 HOW MEMORY FUNCTIONS
Memory is an information processing system like a computer. It is a set of
processes used to encode, store and retrieve information over different
periods of time.
1. Encoding involves the input of information into the memory system.
2. Storage is the retention of the encoded information.
3. Retrieval, is getting the information out of memory and back into
awareness.
Types of memory
Memory is thought of as a process where a physical ‘trace’ of information about the past is
stored
- Most psychologists agree that there are three types of memory
- the sensory register (sensory memory)
- short-term memory (STM)
- long-term memory (LTM).
- The three memory stores differ in duration (how long a memory lasts), capacity (how much
can be held in the memory), and encoding (how information is stored or processed')
ENCODING
When the brain receives information from the environment it:

- Labels/codes it.
- Organizes it with other similar information.
- Connects new concepts to existing
concepts.
Encoding occurs through 2 types of
processing:
Automatic processing – encoding of details
like time, space, frequency, and the meaning
of words.
When you first learn new skills such as
- Usually done without conscious awareness. driving a car, you have to put forth effort
and attention to encode information
- E.g. remembering WHEN you last studied.
about driving. Once you know how to
Effortful processing – encoding of details drive, you can encode additional
that takes time and effort. information about this skill automatically.

- E.g. WHAT you last studied, learning new

skills.
TYPES OF ENCODING
1. Semantic encoding – encoding of words and their meanings.
- Most effective form of encoding. Attaching meaning to
information makes it easier to recall later.
- Involves a deeper level of processing.
2. Visual encoding – encoding of images.
- Words that create a mental image, such as car, dog and book
(concrete words) are easier to recall than words such as level,
truth and value (abstract words).
3. Acoustic encoding – encoding of sounds.
Types of memory
Sensory Register
- The sensory register temporarily stores information from our senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and
smell) - it's constantly receiving information from around us.
- The sensory register is not under cognitive control and is the first storage system for incoming
information. Information received is raw and unprocessed.
- Since it receives information for our senses, the sensory register has a huge capacity, but a very
limited duration of less than half a second (i.e. a lot of information for a very short time)
- Therefore, information will only pass from the sensory register to the short-term memory store if we
pay attention to it. Otherwise it disappears quickly through spontaneous decay.
- Information is coded depending on the sense that has picked it up - e.g. visual, auditory or tactile.
- E.g. The iconic register processes vision, the echoic register process sound, and the haptic
register process touch.
Types of memory
Short-Term Memory
- Short-term memory has a limited capacity of around 7
+/- 2 and a limited duration of 18-30 seconds (i.e. we
can remember a little information for a short time).
- Encoding of information is usually acoustic (sound).
- Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat the
new information to ourselves, allowing the
information to be kept in the STM. Prolonged
maintenance rehearsal allows the information to pass
into the LTM, whilst a lack of such rehearsal causes
forgetting.
Duration, Encoding, and Capacity of Memory
Duration Encoding Capcity

Sensory Register ¼ to ½ second sense specific (e.g. all sensory

different stores for experience (very.
each sense) larger capacity)

STM 0-18 seconds mainly auditory 7 +/- 2 items

LTM Unlimited Mainly semantic Unlimited

(based on
meaning) but can
also be visual and
auditory
MULTI-STORE MODEL OF
MEMORY
Proposed by Atkinson-Shiffrin in 1968
- The multi-store memory model (MSM) represents how memory is stored,
transferred between the different stores, retrieved, and forgotten.
- There are 3 stores: the sensory register (also called the sensory memory),
short term memory and long-term memory.
- These three types of memory differ in duration, capacity, and coding.
How it works
The sensory register contains one sub-store for each of the 5 senses e.g.
an echoic store for auditory information. Since it receives information
for our senses, the sensory register has a huge capacity, but a duration
of less than half a second. Therefore, information will only pass from
the sensory register to the short-term memory store if we pay attention
to it.

STM is described as being acoustically encoded (Baddeley), having a

capacity of 7+/- 2 items (Miller) and a duration of 18-30 seconds
(Petersen). Maintenance rehearsal occurs when we repeat the new
information to ourselves, allowing the information to be kept in the
STM. Prolonged maintenance rehearsal allows the information to pass
into the LTM, whilst a lack of such rehearsal causes forgetting.

LTM is described as being semantically encoded, having an unlimited

capacity and a very long duration (over 46 years, as shown by Bahrick et
al). In order to remember information, ‘retrieval’ must occur, which is
when information is transferred back into the STM, and will continue to
pass through the maintenance loop afterwards.
Atkinson & Shiffrin:
Multi-Store Model
• Proposed that we have three distinct memory stores that have different characteristics: sensory,
short-term and long-term memory that vary in terms of duration, capacity and coding,
• Encoding: converting the info we receive from our senses into something we can represent
• Storage: holding the info over a period of time in prep for when its needed
• Retrieval: recovering stored info
• Duration: length of time info can be held in a memory store
• Capacity: amount of info a store can hold
• Coding: format in which the memory is used
Atkinson & Shiffrin:
Multi-Store Model
• Sensory memory: memory is viewed as info which comes from our
environmental senses; stored briefly. Duration: ¼ to ½ seconds. Capacity: large
capacity; all sensory experience. Encoding: sense specific; each sense has diff
store.
• STM: enables us to hold a conversation and to pay attention to immediate
surroundings. Structure of STM developed by Baddeley & Hitch. Duration: 15-30
secs. Capacity: 7±2 items. Encoding: mainly auditory.
• LTM: enables us to remember events from the past and all that we have learnt; if
rehearsed, it is encoded in LTM. Duration: unlimited. Capacity: unlimited.
Encoding: mainly semantic, can be visual and auditory.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Research into Multi-Store
• Brown-Peterson Technique: involves blocking rehearsal by getting PPs to do interference task like
counting backwards in threes. PPs might learn meaningless info (e.g. 3 letter trigrams: BHK, LOL) and
then perform the interference task for diff durations. PPs forget most trigrams after 9 secs of
interference and almost all after 18 secs. This tells us duration of STM.
• Miller (1957): did earlier study into “the Magic Number 7, plus or minus 2”. Found that STM has
capacity of 7 items on info but struggle to hold more than 9. Found that “bits” of info can be grouped
together into “chunks”. STM can old more info when in chunks but loses accuracy.
• Glanzer & Cunitz (1966): asked to recall a list of words in any order, PPs tended to recall more from
beginning/end and fewer from middle. This is the primacy/recency effect; happens bc primacy words
are well-rehearsed into LTM, recency words are in rehearsal loop; middle words displaced by recency
words due to limited capacity of STM (known as Displacement Theory of forgetting).
• Raaijmakers & Shiffrin (2003): proposed Elaborative Rehearsal; involves semantic encoding by
thinking about meaning of info. Similar to creating mindmaps, more effective for encoding info in LTM.
Applying the MSM (AO2)
• Eyewitnesses: they see events first hand but are unreliable when report on what they saw. There
are many people in prison bc they were falsely accused by eyewitnesses. Wells (1996): reports
case of Ed Honacker who served 10 yrs for rape after identified him as the attacker; released in
1994 when DNA evidence proved his innocence. This may happen bc of inattention. If
eyewitnesses are distracted, key details might not reach STM. Other details may not reach LTM if
not rehearsed – victim refuses to think or talk about the crime, they wont rehearse the info.
• Clive Wearing: brain damage to hippocampus after a viral infection. He could still use STM to
remember things for around 20 secs but then would forget – could not make new memories.
MSM can be applied because it suggests inability to rehearse into LTM.
• H.M (Henry Molaison): had brain surgery to cure severe epilepsy, hippocampus was damaged,
H.M. unable to make new memories but still had previous memories, suggests he still ad LTM but
could not add to it. Died in 2008.
Evaluating MSM (AO3)
Strengths:
• Glanzer & Cuntiz: how memories are displaced from STM
when capacity is exceeded, which Miller shows to be 7±2
items.
• Case studies like H.M. and Clive Wearing. Model explains
their failure to rehearse info, preventing them from
encoding info to LTM.
Objections:
• K.F., victim of a motorbike accident, could still add
memories to LTM but STM was damaged – couldn’t repeat
back more than 2 digits. MSM doesn’t explain this.
• Based on lab experiments which are artificial. Lacks
ecological validity, doesn’t explain how memory works in
real life situations.
Differences:
• Working Memory: replaces STM and provides a more
detailed explanation of rehearsal and retrieval from LTM.
• Reconstructive Memory: explains why we misremember
things (false memories) which the MSM doesn’t explain.
Application:
• Helps people with dementia or brain damage. Writing things
down and putting labels on things will help.
• Eyewitness: pay close attention to encode info in STM and
then rehearse. But, Elaborative Rehearsal is better as it
encodes info semantically.
Types of memory
Long-Term Memory
- Long-term memory has a pretty much unlimited
capacity and is theoretically permanent (i.e. it can
hold lots of information forever).
- Encoding is usually semantic (the meaning of the
information).
- In order to remember information and have it remain
in the LTM, ‘retrieval’ must occur, which is when
information is transferred back into the STM, and will
continue to pass through the maintenance loop
afterwards.
- Long-term memory is not a single store and is divided
into types
Tulving
Long Term Memory
AO1
• Distinction between types of LTM: procedural memory and declarative memory.
• Procedural memory: memory of how to do things. Includes tying shoelaces, writing, tapping in bank PIN, using
knife and fork. May retain procedural memories even after you have forgotten being taught them.
• Declarative memory: memory of meaningful events. Might remember being taught to play the guitar, even if
forgotten how to do it.
Split declarative memory into two sub-types:
• Episodic memory: memory of particular events and specific info: events, names, dates. Includes memories of
things that have happened to you and info like a person’s address.
- perceptually encoded: linked to 5 senses and can be triggered by sight, smell or sound.
• Semantic memory: memory of relationships and how things fit together. Includes memory that you have
brothers/sisters, where things are and what they do.
- needed for language bc words have meaning. Learning them involves episodic memory but once learned, they
go to semantic store.
Which one is which?
What type of LTM is it? Episodic? Semantic?
Procedural?
1. Riding a bicycle
2. London is the capital of England
3. I caught the bus to college today
4. The first day of school
5. Algebra
6. I shouldn’t touch an elder’s head
7. The first time I met my friend
8. Driving
9. My cousin was born on the 8th of October
Case of Clive Wearing
AO2
• Suffered from brain damage from a viral infection.
• Suffered almost complete amnesia.
• Lost the ability to encode new long term memories.
• Forgets everything within 30 secs.
• Although he lost his episodic memory, still has semantic memory.
• When wife enters room, he greets her joyously, thinks he hasn’t seen her for years or even meeting for the first time
• He cannot remember his children's’ names or ages but knows he is a father and as children.
• Has intact procedural memory; can still play piano and conduct a choir but cannot remember his musical education, as soon as
music stops, he forgets he was performing and suffers a shaking fit.
• Blakemore: found that there was damage to the hippocampus, seems to be the part of the brain where STM rehearses info to
encode into LTM.
Applying Episodic and Semantic Memory
AO2
• Jogging your memory: episodic memory can be “jogged” by context cues – things
that remind you of when/where the original memory was encoded. Godden &
Baddeley: tested this, found that divers who learned words underwater recalled
them better underwater than back on dry land.
• Dementia & Alzheimer: most common symptom is difficulty to make new
memories. STM is the first to go. Episodic is next, recent episodes lost first but
still remember episodes from youth and young adulthood. Semantic is lost later
as they struggle with language to recognise family members.
Evaluating LTM
AO3
Strengths:
• A lot of research; case studies of amnesia patients like Clive
Wearing. C.W lost episodic memory but still had semantic
memory. Suggests that episodic and semantic are separate
because episodic lost first, semantic last.
• Another case study: Kent Cochrane (K.C): suffered brain
damage from accident, lost all episodic memory but could
remember dates, events (semantic).
Objection:
• Squire & Zola: that K.C’s problems were due to damage to
frontal lobe, not with his memories; leads to criticisms of
Tulving’s ideas e.g. hard to define episodic and semantic
memory in measurable way (concepts not
operationalizable).
Differences:
• MSM: proposes LTM is a separate memory story from STM;
LTM created trough rehearsal; Tulving would agree but
argues there are diff types of encoding, episodic and
semantic.
• Reconstructive Memory: semantic memory might have
more influence over episodic memory than Tulving
suggested.
Application:
• Distinction between semantic and episodic helps to
understand patients with memory loss like Clive, K.C or
people in early stages of dementia. showing them
meaningful pictures and getting them to talk about the
meaning can be type of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy.
Baddeley & Hitch
Working Memory Model
• WMM – different systems for different types of information.
• Central Executive: drives the whole system and allocates data to subsystems; phonological loop and visuo-
spatial sketchpad
- responsible for monitoring and coordinating the operation of the slave systems
- directs attention and gives priority to particular activities
• Phonological loop (2 secs): spoken and written material
- used to remember a phone number
- consists of 2 parts: phonological store and articulatory control process
• Phonological stores (linked to speech perception): holds info in speech based form for 1-2 secs
- spoken words enter the store directly
- written words must first be converted into an articulatory code.
• Articulatory control process (linked to speech production): rehearsing info from the phonological store
- circulates info around and around
- as long as its rehearsed, we can retain the info
- converts written material into an articulatory code and transfers it to the phonological store.
• The visuo-spatial sketchpad: deals with visual and spatial info
- visual: what things look like
- Baddeley: important role, keeps track of where we are
- sketchpad displays and manipulates visual and spatial info held in LTM (when we
picture something, it is retrieved from LTM and pictured on this)
- evidence suggests that there are 2 diff systems when dealing with visual and
verbal info.
- Visual processing task and verbal processing task can be performed at same
time BUT hard to perform two visual/verbal at same time.
• Episodic Buffer
- recent addition by Baddeley (2000)
- bind together all info from the other components of WMM with info about time
and order
- preps memories for storage
Working Memory Model: The components
• The central executive is a key component and can be
described as attention. It has a limited capacity and controls
'slave' systems that also have limited capacity:
• The phonological loop holds speech-based information - it's
made up of a phonological store (the inner ear) and an
articulatory process (the inner voice, which rehearses
information by repeating it).
• The visuo-spatial sketchpad deals with the temporary storage
of visual and spatial information.
• The episodic buffer (which was added to the model in 2000)
briefly stores information from the other subsystems and
integrates it together, along with information from LTM, to
make complete scenes or 'episodes’.
Evidence for WMM
• PPs in tests get confused by lists of items that sound similar but not items with similar
meaning; suggests that part of STM is coding acoustically.
- e.g. Baddeley: found similar-sounding letters (V, B, G, T, P, C) are not recalled as well as
dissimilar sounding letters (W, X, K, R, Y).
Some evidence from brain scanning:
• Phonological Loop: left hemisphere, specifically temporal lobe.
• The Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad: right hemisphere, with simple tasks in occipital lobe and
complicated ones in parietal lobe.
• The Episodic Buffer: both hemispheres but particularly in hippocampus
• Central Executive: linked to the frontal lobes.
Working WMM
Cocktail party effect
• Confusion you experience when trying to listen to two conversations at once
• If you have 2 sources of information that must be processed in the same way,
then the slave systems get over loaded

Dementia & Alzheimer's

• Dual load can be reduced by creating a quiet environment for dementia sufferers,
no background noise
Evaluating WMM
AO3
Strengths:
• High face validity – model seems plausible bc it
fits with everyday experiences of manipulating
info
• Verbal rehearsal not necessary for all info, events
processed by episodic buffer
Objections:
• Functions of the CE are vague and difficult to test.
E.g. Baddeley: the CE has limited capacity
however it is unclear how to measure the capacity
as it doesn’t store info.
• Based on lab experiments – lacks ecological
validity.
Differences:
• Development of MSM as the WMM replaces the
STM – still with idea that info comes from senses
to sensory stored, processed in WMM and then
encoded into LTM.
• WMM is still developing; MSM is fixed
Application:
• People with dementia
• Episodic buffer – help those who cant encode
memories in LTM or retrieve from it.
• Cognitive Stimulation: playing old song and asking
them to tell how they first heard it.
Reconstructive Memory
• Theory that memories are not exact copies of what is encoded and stored, instead they are affected by
prior experience.
• Bartlett 1932: War of the Ghost; culturally unfamiliar to PPs
• Found that they changed the story as they tried to remember it – process call distortion. Three
patterns of distortion:
1) Assimilation/Confabulation: story became more consistent with PPs own cultural expectations. New
info added to make sense of it.
2) Levelling: story became shorter as PPs got rid of info which was seen as irrelevant.
3) Rationalisation: PPs tended to change the order to make sense of it. Added detail/emotion.

• Schemas: templates based on past experiences tat we use to fill in the gaps within a story with our
expectation.
Evidence in support of RM
• Allport & Postman: showed PPs a drawing of an argument on a subway train, asked to
describe it to another PP. The black character was better dressed and more respectable
than the white character, but white PPs tended to reverse their appearances. Some
described the black character as holding a knife.
• Loftus & Palmer: showed students film clips of real car crashed and set a questionnaire
to answer. Asked one critical question which asked about speed of the cars. Some read
the question with an intense verb (How fast were the cars going when they smashed into
each other?) but others read less intense verb like hit.
- PPs exposed to smashed recalled a higher speed than those with hit.
- Retested PPs a week later, asking if there was any broken glass in film clip, there was
none which was recalled correctly by 12% of control group (never been asked about
speed of cars).
Applying Reconstructive Memory
AO2
• Unreliable eyewitnesses: Allport & Postman show how schemas distort memory,
especially prejudices. We remember things the way we think they ought to be.
Can be affected by previous personal experiences or beliefs.
• Dementia & Alzheimer: understanding schemas can help with supporting
dementia sufferers. When memories are lost, world becomes frightening and
confusing.
- Dementia village at Hogeway: residents choose to live and spend time in areas
of the village themed around their schemas. The idea that we should “go along”
with dementia sufferers’ schemas is central to Validation Therapy.
Evaluating Reconstructive Memory
AO3
Strengths
• Loftus: range of experiments, had tight
controls, standardised procedure,
quantitative data.
• Schemas explain false memories – 2005,
someone mistaken for a terrorist shot by
police after 7/7 London Bombing, witnesses
had diff recollections.
Objections
• Bartlett: not scientific, no standardised
procedure, no scoring system, unrealistic
using Uni students.
• Loftus: lacked ecological validity – set in lab
Differences
• Tulving LTM: semantic store for understanding of
relationships
• Reconstructive Memory: no explanation of
reconstruction – vague.
• Other theories describe the processes of
rehearsing, retrieval and recalling.
Application
• Helps understand C.W and those with dementia.
• Validation Therapy: people “go along” with
patients’ delusional ideas so they aren’t distressed.
• Dementia Village, Hogeway: themed areas to fit
their schemas and ideas.
Case studies of brain-damage patients
Henry Molaison H.M.
• Cognitive neuropsychology studies brain-damaged patients to understand how the damage affects their cognitive
processes such as memory and problem solving.
E.g. some have problems remembering info beyond 30 secs; provides support for idea that we have a separate STM AND
LTM.
• Henry Molaison H.M.: suffered from severe epilepsy. To stop his seizures, operation was carried out to remove his
hippocampus. This stopped his seizures but led to damage to his LTM.
• H.M could remember items for a few mins but not long periods of time; suggests dissociation between two types of
memory and supports Atkinson & Schiffrin’s theory of a separate STM and LTM.
• The contrasting case of KF provides further support for the idea of a separate STM AND LTM. KF had impaired STM but LTM
was normal, was able to perform a large range of cognitive tasks and had no problems understanding spoken language
(Shallice & Warrington).
- challenged the idea of a single STM store, led to development of WMM.
- WMM suggests that KF only had damage to the phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad and central executive were
intact allowing him to process info.
• Case studies of brain damaged patients include interviews with them about their experiences; also include description of
how the amnesia has affected their abilities and memory.
Evaluation of case studies
• Single case studies have contributed to our understanding of cognitive processes but they do
have limitations.
• Brain-damaged patients may not be representative of the normal population so need to be
careful with generalising.
• If brain damage occurs in early childhood, the brain can show plasticity; the damage can have diff
consequences for the patient.
• Qualitative data: rich, detailed info about brain-damaged patients’ experiences and functioning
- more valid
• But, qualitative data harder to replicate, lack reliability
• Interpretation of qualitative can be subjective and so unscientific.
Baddeley 1966b Long + Short Memory
Classic study
Aim: to investigate the acoustic and semantic
word similarity on word recall in STM and LTM
IV: 1) acoustically similar/dissimilar words
2) semantically similar/dissimilar words
3) performance before 15 mins and after
DV: 10 words recalled in correct order
Sample: 72 men and women
Procedure: Condition 1 – acoustically similar
words
2 – acoustically dissimilar words
3 – semantically similar words
4 – semantically dissimilar words
- PPs asked to recall in order
- After learning the words, PPs asked either
immediately (STM) or after 20 mins (LTM)
Results: more errors in acoustically similar
words when asked immediately
- more errors in semantically similar when
asked after 20 mins
Conclusion: LTM largely semantic – recall of
semantically similar words was impaired
compared to others
- STM is largely acoustic
Evaluation of classic study
Generalisability Validity
• Large sample (72) – anomalies averaged out • Lacks ecological validity – lab experiment,
• Groups were small (15-20) so anomalies make a difference unnatural setting and task; changed
• Representative of men and women behaviour (demand characteristics)
Reliability • Lacks experimental validity – PPs from
• Standardised procedure (same word list) – can be repeated
psychological research unit (demand
characteristics)
• Improved reliability by getting rid of read aloud word lists and
replaced them with slides Ethics
• No ethical issues
Application
• Revision: if LTM is semantic, use mind-maps with semantic
links.
• However, reading info out loud repeatedly is acoustic coding
(not effective)
Study 1: Bartlett (1932) – War of the Ghosts
Background
Bartlett suggested that rather than memory
being a passive tape recording of events that
have happened, it is an active process which
can be affected by expectations formed by
cultural schemas; he called this reconstructive
memory.
Aim
•To investigate the effects of previous
knowledge (schema) on participant’s recall of a
story.
•To see the extent to which memory is
reconstructive.
Study 1: Bartlett (1932) – War of the Ghosts
Procedure
Bartlett wanted to see whether cultural background and unfamiliarity with a text would lead to
distortion of memory when participants recalled a story. To do this Bartlett used a Native American
ghost story – The War of the Ghosts – which was both unfamiliar and unusual.

Bartlett used a method known as ‘serial reproduction’ in which he allowed 20 British participants to
read the story twice at their own pace, and then asked them to reproduce it 15 minutes later, along
a chain, to another participant. Like a game of ‘Chinese whispers’, that a participant would read this
story and then 15 minutes later, reproduce it to the next person and so on.

Bartlett also used ‘repeated reproduction’ where participants were asked to read the story twice at
their own pace, and then to recall the story at differing time lengths, i.e. weeks, months or even
years after the initial reading (the longest was 10 years after). Often, recall was when Bartlett met
up with the participants by accident.
Study 1: Bartlett (1932) – War of the Ghosts
The story
One night two young men from Egulac went down to the river to hunt seals and while they were
there it became foggy and calm. Then they heard war-cries, and they thought: ‘Maybe this is a war-
party’. They escaped to the shore and hid behind a log. Now canoes came up, and they heard the
noise of paddles, and saw one canoe coming up to them. There were five men in the canoe, and
they said:
‘What do you think? We wish to take you along. We are going up the river to make war on the
people.’
One of the young men said, ‘I have no arrows.’
‘Arrows are in the canoe,’ they said.
‘I will not go along. I might be killed. My relatives do not know where I have gone. But you,’ he said,
turning to the other, ‘may go with them.’
Study 1: Bartlett (1932) – War of the Ghosts
The story
So, one of the young men went, but the other returned home.
And the warriors went on up the river to a town on the other side of Kalama. The people came
down to the water and they began to fight, and many were killed. But presently the young man
heard one of the warriors say, ‘Quick, let us go home: that Indian has been hit.’ Now he thought:
‘Oh, they are ghosts.’ He did not feel sick, but they said he had been shot.
So the canoes went back to Egulac and the young man went ashore to his house and made a fire.
And he told everybody and said: ‘Behold I accompanied the ghosts, and we went to fight. Many of
our fellows were killed, and many of those who attacked us were killed. They said I was hit, and I did
not feel sick.’
He told it all, and then he became quiet. When the sun rose he fell down. Something black came
out of his mouth. His face became contorted. The people jumped up and cried.
He was dead.
Study 1: Bartlett (1932) – War of the Ghosts
The story
1.The length of the story became shorter with each reproduction, to around 180 words after
six/seven reproductions.
2.There was no odd or supernatural element left at the end of reproductions. This is rationalisation.
‘No trace of an odd, or supernatural element is left: we have a perfectly straightforward story of a
fight and a death.’
3.Although the story altered, it still formed a logical sequence. People interpreted the whole story
twice – once when they read it, and once when they re-told it.
4.The story developed into one which was more familiar to the schemas of the participants, i.e.
canoes became boats, hunting seals became fishing. This is confabulation.
Study 1: Bartlett (1932) – War of the Ghosts
Conclusion

Bartlett concluded that participant’s schema affects what they remember from the story. One
reason for this is that people associate new experiences with older ones. They prefer the
‘conventional’ route which is more comfortable for them, than learning a new and unfamiliar
concept. The more complex the story, that the participants may not understand fully, the more
distorted the recollection of the story. In fact, Bartlett suggested that:

‘Memory is an imaginative reconstruction of experience.’

Evaluation of classic study
Strengths
Bartlett’s study was important as it pointed towards
the idea of cognitive processes being studied
scientifically. The research also resulted in support for
schema theory and the idea of reconstructive
memory.
The study was repeated several times with different
stories and pictures with similar results found. This
shows it wasn’t something particular about the War
of the Ghosts story that caused the results –
increasing the reliability of the study.
Weaknesses
Study has low ecological validity (not realistic) as it
took place in a laboratory setting which is not a
naturalistic environment.
Participants were English and therefore could not be
generalised to other cultures.
Participants did not receive standardised instruction.
The gaps between recall for the repeated reproduction
were not the same for all participants, and they were
allowed to read at their own pace – this means there is
a lack of control.
Schmolck et al (2002) – Temporal lobe brain damage LTM
Contemporary study
Aim: to find out if semantic LTM is linked to a particular part of the brain.
IV: 1) patients with damage to hippocampus/MTL only
2) 3 patients with damage to MTL and temporal cortex
3) control group with no brain damage
DV: scores on 9 separate tests of semantic LTM
Sample: 6 patients with damaged MTL, 8 control groups, 3 with temporal cortex
Procedure: Schmolck created 9 tests for semantic LTM functions.
- All were based on a set of 48 drawings, half animals and half objects; grouped in sixes (6 land animals, 6 birds, 6
vehicles etc.)
Schmolck et al (2002) – Temporal lobe brain damage LTM
Contemporary study
Aim: to find out if semantic LTM is linked to a particular
part of the brain.
IV: 1) patients with damage to hippocampus/MTL only
2) 3 patients with damage to MTL and temporal cortex
3) control group with no brain damage
DV: scores on 9 separate tests of semantic LTM
Sample: 6 patients with damaged MTL, 8 control
groups, 3 with temporal cortex
Procedure: Schmolck created 9 tests for semantic LTM
functions.
- All were based on a set of 48 drawings, half animals
and half objects; grouped in sixes (6 land animals, 6
birds, 6 vehicles etc.)
• Similar pics: shown 6 pics sharing a theme, asked to point out the
one the researcher names.
• Category fluency: PPs asked to give as many examples as possible
for each theme within a minute.
• Category sorting: PPs given all 48 pics to sort them into living or
manmade.
• Definitions: PPs shown a pic and asked to define it by the theme it
fitted into.
Tape recorded and responses transcribed
Results: control group got all of similar pics correct
- MTL+ did significantly worse in all the tests
- HM did better than the MTL+ patients but worse than those with
damage to hippocampus only
Overall: controls scored 99%, hippocampus 100% and MTL+ 78%
Conclusion: clear link between damage to the temporal cortex and
the loss of semantic LTM
Evaluation of contemporary study
Generalisability: Validity
• Small sample
• Controls and matched pair designs – increase
• H.M. was an anomaly validity
• Brain lesions – relatively rare
• Backed up by MRI scans (scientific measure)
• Unrepresentative of wider population
• Low ecological validity
Reliability:
• Standardised procedure - test wise Ethics:
• PPs hard to replicate • Patients could not give full informed consent
• Tape recorded and transcribed (brain damaged PPs)
Applicability:
• Understand the risk of brain damage
Individual differences in memory including
processing speed and schemas
• People process info at different speeds.
• Some take longer to take in info than others.
• Children who have slower ‘processing speed’ can get extra time in exams to allow them to process
what they are being asked to do.
• There can also cab individual differences in memory capacity.
• Sebastien & Hernandez-Gil 2012: found that younger children had shorter digit spans than older
children.
• Individuals may have slightly different schemas about the world
- e.g. one persons idea about what a criminal looks like may be different to another persons.
• Out perceptions can affect our outlook on a situation and also how we recall info.
• It has been shown that stereotypes can affect a witness’ recall of a crime incident
Individual differences in autobiographical
memory
• Autobiographical memory: our memory for the events that have happened during our
lives.
• Our clearest memories tend to be recent ones or ones that occurred between 15 and 25
years old.
• Has been argued that we remember things from our teenage years and early 20s
because it is when we form our identity.
• Palombo et al 2012: found individual differences in autobiographical memory. They
questioned people about diff aspects of their memory including episodic (events) and
semantic (facts) memory. Found that people who had poor episodic memories also had
poor semantic memories.
- suggests that the different types of memory are interlinked.
How dyslexia affects children’s memory, span and working memory
Developmental psychology
• Dyslexia is a developmental disorder that affects the
way a person processes written material.
• People with dyslexia read at a level lower than would
be expected for their age.
• Affects up to 10% of the population.
• More boys affected than girls.
• Research has found the children with dyslexia have
problems recognising similar sounding words
(phonological similarity effect)
• Find it harder to remember strings of long words;
suggests that children with dyslexia have a poor
verbal STM.
• Breznitz 2008: argues that dyslexia is caused by slow
processing during the decoding of words.
• Breznitz & Horowitz 2007: found that children with
dyslexia could be trained to process info at a faster
speed.
• But, still no universally accepted explanation of what
establishes dyslexia as there a variety of symptoms;
seems to have a genetic basis; may be a neurological
syndrome.
• Dyslexia can coincide with other learning difficulties
such as attention hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
suggesting it is more than just a phonological issue.
• Most effective intervention programmes in schools seem to focus on phonological awareness;
children with poor phonological awareness may not understand that if you change the letter ‘c’ in
the word ‘cat’ to ‘h’, the word would become hat.
• Practising phoneme deletion: technique that can improve dyslexic children’s phonological
awareness.
- e.g. teacher might use 2 cads with ‘mice’ on one and ‘ice’ on other. Might then ask child ‘if you
take away ‘m’ from word mice, what is left?’
• Phoneme identification: teacher might say a single speech sound such as ‘t’ and show 6 pictured
words. The child then has to pick the pic that begins with ‘t’.
• Phoneme discrimination: really listen to speech sounds. It’s when 2 pics of similar sounding
words are presented together such as ‘cat’ and ‘hat’. Teach would then say just one of the words
and child has to pick the correct pic.
Key question
How can psychology help people suffering from dementia?
• Dementia is an illness affecting 850,000 people in the UK and most
common type is Alzheimer.
• Causes loss of memory, confusion and depression but there is no
cure.
• However, can be diagnosed early and helped.
• Prof. Bruno: has a test where patients are asked to recall 15 words, if
they don’t recall the ‘primacy’ words from the start of the list then it
predicts they might get dementia.
• Cognitive stimulation: helps sufferers with discussions and activities
like singing and games.
• One treatment in America: bring kindergarten children to a
residential home so patients can play with them.
• Dementia Village at Hogeway: residents live nearly normal days, diff
parts of the village resemble different lifestyles they had when they
were younger; helps residents to be healthier
• Tulving’s episode LTM theory: can be applied bc sufferers lose recent
episodic memories first, only remember episodes from youth. If
attention draw to them forgetting memories, they may become
distressed.
• Semantic memory: can be applied to Cognitive Stimulation.
Kindergarten children help as it can trigger memories for the sufferers
when they had their own children, giving them moments of grace.
• Reconstructive memory: can be applied to Hogeway bc diff parts of
the village links to diff schemas. Residents can be active and calm if
they are surrounded by familiar schemas from their youth.
• Cognitive psych: cannot cure dementia but can reduce the severity of
the symptoms. But, there is ethical debate about whether sufferers
should be helped to cope or encouraged to live in the past. Evidence
suggests that dementia villages can help sufferers live longer,
healthier lived even if deceived.
Cognitive practical investigation
Aim: to investigate how STM has an effect on recall. Procedure: 1) make list of 20 words
Hypothesis: people will be able to recall words from that are 2 or more syllables.
the beginning of the list and the end but not from the
middle. 2) PPs asked to remember as many
Null hypothesis: people will remember words from the
words as possible in order in 1 min.
middle and end of the list, not the start. 3) After a min, the PPs must write
IV: gender down the words in order
Operationalised: 20 PPs, 10F + 10M
DV: amount of words recalled in order
Operationalised: 20 words recalled in correct order for
all PPs
Sample: Opportunity sampling, 20 PPs
Evaluation of practical
Generalisability Validity
• Small sample
• Lacks ecological validity – artificial task
• Both genders
• Certain age groups – not representative • Low population validity – small sample
Reliability Ethics
• High standardisation – same word list, same time frame
• Followed ethical guidelines
• PPs have different characteristics
Applicability
• Told twice they could withdraw
• Revision (keywords) – words from a list can be forgotten if • Confidentiality upheld
not rehearsed every so often to go into LTM.
• No distress
Laboratory experiments
• Laboratory experiments: involve manipulating an IV to see the effects on a DV.
- DV is measured.
- Extraneous variables are controlled so that a cause and affect relationship can
be established.
• Evaluation
- standardised procedures and good controls; easily replicable and reliable
- can establish cause and effect
- lack ecological validity; carried out in artificial situations, artificial tasks
Field experiments
• Field experiments: looks at PPs in their natural environment whilst manipulating the IV.
- DV is measured
- extraneous variables are hard to control
• Evaluation
- takes place in PPs natural environment; not all extraneous variables can be controlled
and findings might not be reliable
- carefully controlled, planned procedures; often give the same results when repeated; as
reliable as lab exp
- have ecological validity in terms of setting
- IV is still manipulated to see effect on DV; procedure may not be valid
- researchers try to make the procedure as realistic to enhance validity
Natural experiments
• Natural experiments: carried out in real-life setting where the IV occurs naturally.
- DV is measured
- PPs cannot be allocated to conditions so is not a true experiment
• Experiments
- high ecological validity; carried out in PPs natural setting
- difficult to establish cause and affect as extraneous variables are not controlled
Hypotheses
• Experimental hypothesis predicts what change(s) will take place in the DV when the IV is manipulated.
• Two-tailed (non-directional) hypothesis predicts that there will a change in the DV when IV is
manipulated.
• One-tailed (directional) hypothesis predicts in which direction the change will take place. E.g. there
will be more words recalled when they are processed semantically compared to when processed
acoustically
• Null hypothesis states there will be no changes due to the manipulation of IV. E.g. there will be no
difference in the number of words recalled
• Operationalisation: when you operationalise a hypothesis, make it clear what you are going to
measure, try to refer to something numerical. E.g. if measuring recall, might say number of words
recalled.
Independent groups design
• An independent groups design involves testing separate groups of PPs. Each group is
tested in a different condition. E.g. a researcher might ask one group to process words
semantically and a second group to process words acoustically.
• Advantages:
- avoids order effects, each PP only takes part in one condition (less likely to get bored),
less likely to become practiced at task (practice effect), lower chance of demand
characteristics as they do only one condition.
• Disadvantages:
- more people needed than with repeated measures design, differences between PPs in
the groups may affect results e.g. variations in age, sex etc. known as PP variables.
Repeated measures design
• A repeated measures design involves testing the same group of people in diff
conditions, e.g. same group of people asked to process words semantically and
acoustically.
• Advantages:
- avoids problem of PP variables bc same PPs do all conditions, fewer people
needed
• Disadvantages:
- higher chance of demand characteristics as PPs might guess aim of study when
they take part in more than one condition of experiment
• Order effects: more likely to occur with repeated measures design.
- two types of order effects: practice and fatigue effect.
- practice effect: PPs become better at a task such as learning list of words in
second condition compared to the first condition.
- fatigue effect: PPs might become bored or tired in second condition.
• Counterbalancing: can overcome order effects in repeated measures design.
- when experimenter alters the order in which PPs perform the diff conditions of
experiment. E.g. group 1 does condition A first and then B, group 2 does
condition B first and then A.
• Randomisation: can overcome order effects too.
- when the experimenter asks the PPs to carry out the different conditions of the
experiment in a random order.
Matched pairs design
• A matched pairs design involves testing separate groups of people who are
matched on certain characteristics. E.g. each member of one group is same age,
gender, race etc. as a member of the other group.
• Advantages:
- PPs are matched so reduced chance of PP variables affecting results, also avoids
issue of order effects as there are diff PPs in each condition.
• Disadvantages:
- can be very time-consuming as researcher needs to find closely matched pairs
of PPs, impossible to match people exactly.
• Operationalisation of variables: refers to clearly defining what your IV
and DV are. E.g. if investigating whether cues affect memory, explain
what type of cue you are looking at and how you will measure
memory. IV: whether PPs are in the same room or a not when
learning and recalling a list of words. DV: number of words recalled
from a list of 20 words.
• Extraneous variables: unwanted variables that can influence the
results of an experiment.
• Confounding variables: extraneous variables which affect the results
to the extent that you cant clearly see how the IV has affected the DV.
E.g. researcher may want to investigate whether mind-maps or
flashcards are better for recalling unfamiliar material.
Situation variables and participant variables are types of extraneous
variable.
• Situation variables: environmental differences such as temperature,
noise, other people etc. that can affect how PPs respond in an
experiment. E.g. if an experiment is carried out over a number of
days, one day there is a lot of noise from construction, could affect
PPs responses.
• Participant variables: individual differences between PPs, in terms of
intelligence, mood, anxiety levels, age, IQ etc. e.g. policeman might
be able to judge the speed of a car much better than a young student
with no driving experience.
• Objectivity: experiment more likely to be objective if data collected in a strictly controlled
environment. Quantitative data is less open to interpretation, viewed as more objective, also
viewed as more credible, reliable, scientific
• Reliability: if study has standardised procedure and done under controlled conditions, it is easy to
replicate. Study is reliable if it has been replicated with similar results. E.g. if students are given an
ALIS test on 2 diff occasions and results are similar, test can be seen as reliable.
• Validity:
- a study has internal validity when the procedures used in the researched measured what they
were supposed to measure. E.g. experimenter uses digit span to measure verbal memory. Studies
that avoid demand characteristics and experimenter effects have good internal validity.
- a study has predictive validity if it accurately predicts a result in the future. E.g. ALIS tests have
predictive validity if good at predicting who will perform well at A-Levels.
- study has ecological validity if done in PPs natural environment, involves situation they might
experience in real life. E.g. PPs come to a uni and learn lists of words as test of memory, not
capturing how memory is used in real life so lacks ecological validity. Also discuss mundane
realism (artificial task).
• Demand characteristics: when PPs change their behaviour based on what they think
the experimenter wants to find from the researcher.
- to avoid this, PPs are sometimes not told they are in an experiment or may be
deceived about the true aims (single-blind experiment)
• Experimenter effects: experimenters can affect the behaviour of their PPs and the
results of their study. E.g. researcher might unwittingly communicate his expectations
to PPs.
- researchers can also interpret data in a biased way.
- to avoid this, an experimenter may ask another researcher who doesn’t know the
aim of the study to carry out the actual experiment on PPs (double-blind procedure)
• Control issues: one way an experiment can be controlled is through standardisation.
This is when an experiment is set up so that all PPs experience exactly the same
procedure. E.g. PPs given exactly the same instructions and carry out the tasks they
have been given under the same controlled conditions. Only difference that PPs may
experience is the manipulation of the IV.