MEMORY COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 1

LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of the session you will be able to: –Describe what memory is –Outline (draw) the MSM –Describe the coding, capacity and duration of sensory register –Consider ONE piece of research into memory

WHAT IS COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY? mental processes The cognitive approach to help us to understand how mental processes shape our behaviour knowing Cognition means knowing: how we come to know the world around us computer The human mind is compared with a computer – we are information processors Cognitive processors actively organise and manipulate information that we receive – humans do not merely passively respond to their environment Key areas: perception; memory; language and thought; attention On whiteboards, in pairs, key words / assumptions from last lesson

WHAT’S A “MODEL”? Not an exact copy, but a representation of something Helps us understand how something works

WHAT IS A MODEL? Looking at the evidence, research is conducted to test assumptions of a model Model is then either supported, updated or refuted This is using a scientific method so Experiments are used within Cognitive Psychology There are different types of experiments: Adam mentioned a couple, can you remember what they were?

Lab experiments -Controlled environment -Standardised procedure -Can establish cause and effect Field experiments -Real environment -IV still manipulated Natural experiments -Real environment -No manipulation as the IV occurs naturally Crash Course in Experiments

WHAT IS MEMORY Is it remembering the places you have been? remembering Is it remembering how to ride your bike? recognising Is it recognising the faces of people you know? learning recalling Is it learning and recalling information? remembering Is it remembering important events? How accurate is memory? Can we rely on it?

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS IT??!! retain retrieve Memory has been defined as the ability to retain knowledge and information, as well as the ability to retrieve the information and knowledge which has been stored. 10 facts about memory Whilst you watch the clip, make a note of a few things that you didn’t know about memory

Psychologists use the term ‘memory’ to refer to these three processes. Encoding Storage Retrieval

Encoding This refers to how we encode sensory information so that we can make sense of the information. For example sound waves enter your ears and these are converted by your brain into words that have meaning.

This information can then be stored in your memory for use at a later date refers to the ability to recover information from storage. Retrieval

There are 3 Different types of retrieval Recall This is when you retrieve information that is stored. Like writing down the number of words you can recall from a word list. Recognition is when you know something is familiar Reintegration this is when you reconstruct a memory using cues.

MULTI STORE MODEL OF MEMORY Atkinson & Shiffrin proposed one model of memory - multi-store model (1968) Sensory memory (Iconic & Echoic) can pass on info to the STM. Through lack of rehearsal, info can be lost in about seconds. Elaborative rehearsal can help new info to be related to patterns of knowledge stored in the LTS.

Draw it!

What is sensory memory (SM)? The shortest memory store: memory for things which have reached the senses, before they enter STM SENSORY MEMORY – CODING, CAPACITY & DURATION

SENSORY STORE - CODING The SM takes info from one of the sense organs and holds it in that same form “GUSTATORY MEMORY”: input from the body based on things you have TASTED “ICONIC MEMORY”: visual info from the eyes –things you SEE. Stored as images. “ECHOIC MEMORY”: auditory input from the ears – things you HEAR. Stored as sounds. “HAPTIC MEMORY”: tactile input from the body – things you’ve TOUCHED. Stored as feelings. “OLFACTORY MEMORY”: input from the body based on things you SMELL

SENSORY STORE – DURATION Usually lasts just 0.5 to 2 seconds –Iconic 0.5s –Echoic 2.0s RESEARCH: Walsh and Thompson (1978) and Treisman (1964) in your text books to add to your research bank

EXAMPLE Imagine someone spoke to you but you were thinking of something else. If you focus within a second or so, you can hear a sensory ‘echo’ in your mind of what they said. SM is the brief store of sensory info before it is ‘attended to’.

WHAT IS THE CAPACITY OF SM? Sperling (1960) found that participants could only recall approx 4 items from a grid of letters. Short duration makes it difficult to test: as soon as a person starts writing, the memory trace has faded. AGLN MHKC SZYT PBRD

SPERLING Sperling (1960) tried using tones to cue participants to recall a particular row: AGLN(* e.g. High pitched tone) MHKC SZYT PBRD Now recall was found to be 75%+

LETS TRY IT.... The slide will show for 1s, after which you should write down as many letters as you can

WZLPMGKHNBSDWZLPMGKHNBSD

Same as before, but this time, after the slide, I will say either HIGH MIDDLE LOW

TGKHNBRSDZYMTGKHNBRSDZYM

How was that? If you got approx 3 items from the row, that suggests that you took in 9+ from the whole array...but they fade faster than you can write them down. So SM has: – a large capacity, but – a very short duration (0.5 – 2 s) TGKHNBRSDZYMTGKHNBRSDZYM

SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING? A presentation too brief to be noticed is called ‘subliminal’. In 1957, James Vicary boosted sales by showing 0.03s messages saying : –‘Drink Coca-Cola’ –‘Eat popcorn’ The finding has not been reliably replicated but subliminal advertising was later banned.

WHAT ABOUT THE IMAGE I SHOWED YOU AT THE START OF THE LESSON?! Use coloured pens to draw the image as you remember it

TASKS Consolidation reading: pgs in Black Mask

RESEARCH STUDIES When you are writing about a key study there are certain elements you must refer to. The way we remember this is that when we recall a study we must Always Proceed Really Carefully APRC Aim Procedure Results Conclusions

EVALUATING A KEY STUDY When you are evaluating a key study there are certain elements you must refer to and a specific structure. So when we evaluate, we use the acronym GRAVE Evaluating a study2015.pptx PEEL your answers.pptx

HOMEWORK 1)Have a go at APRC’ing Baddeley (1966) study on pg 55 of BM - this does not mean you can just copy out the text book – read it and the put the key things down. After all, you need to remember the details of the study

A – exploring whether coding in the STM is acoustic or semantic P – S = 75 pts presented with 1 of 4 word lists - repeated measures List A included acoustic similar words – cat mat sat List B acoustically dissimilar words – pit day cow List C semantically similar - big huge tall List D semantically dissimilar – hot safe foul Pts were given a list with original words in the wrong order – had to rearrange into the correct – this was to test coding in STM For LTM same as above but 20minute delay with distractor task to prevent rehearsal R – STM: List A worst recall (10%) – confused acoustic words other lists between 60% - 80% recall LTM: List C worst recall (55%) – confused semantic words other lists between 70% - 80% recall C – STM: coded in acoustically LTM: coded semantically BADDELEY (1966) – Coding in STM and LTM

G – + sample = large so can generalise - setting = lab so lacks ecological validity and therefore cant generalise + task = recalling words is something we do every day so has mundane realism R - standardised in a lab setting so can easily be replicated A – can apply to every day e.g. shopping list (STM) say out loud = acoustic whereas book you’ve read say the plot = semantic V – lacks EV due to lab… but has achieved the aim by controlling in a lab E – good ethics as in a lab so consent, debrief, slight deception by providing distractor task