1. Memory in Everyday Life

2. Flashbulb Memory In Memory Everyday Life Cues Repression Trace Decay
Vivid, detailed lasting memory
CONWAY – Margaret Thatchers resignation
Opportunity sample, interviews(2weeks – 11months)
Accuracy and detail of recall, F:Most had flashbulb memory
Memory In
Everyday Life
State = state of mind(encoding)
Goodwin - Heavy drinkers
Context = environment/situation(encoding
Chewing gum study
Cues
Repression
Unconscious process removing threatening memories
Levinger + Clark
emotionally charged words vs neutral(time of recall + GSR)
-ve words = longer recall and higher GSR = repression
Trace Decay
Loss of info. already encoded in the LTM
STM = passage of time
LTM = through disuse
Memories in the LTM are lost due to interference
Retroactive – new interferes with old
Proactive – old interferes with new
Studies on encoding, Baddely and Conway show similarity of information leads to interference
Interference
theory

3. Anxiety Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony Leading Q
Loftus – Weapon Focus
Participant in a waiting room, listening to a heated argument
Person walk out with a letter opener covered in blood vs a pen
Recall of perpetrator
less(letter opener), high(pen
High anxiety situations = focus on weapon:individual
Leading Q
Loftus – effect of adjectives on recall
Q about a car accident substituting “hit” for “smashed”
Speed faster with “smashed”: “hit”.
“smashed” = broken glass(there wasn’t any)
Misleading Info
Loftus – Participants were asked a Q related to a clip substituting the word “a” for “the” e.g. was a car going above the speed limit vs was the car going above the speed limit
Recall higher for “the” : “a” = social pressures
Age
Brimacombe – shown video to young/old adults
Old = less accurate recall : young
Young = More likely to answer wrong to Q in legalese
= More susceptible to social pressure (repetition of question)
= Broffenbrenner – prone to misleading information

4. Factors Affecting Eyewitness Testimony Cognitive Interview Technique
CIT increases the recall of eyewitness’
Geiselman
Recreate state and context cues
Recall info. in any order
Recall all relevant info
Recall info. from different perspectives
Fisher
Minimise distractions
Encourage slow talking
Tailor in pauses

5. Memory Improvement Organisation Makes use of pre-existing knowledge
Categorical Clustering
Info presented in categories has the tendency to be recalled in categories
Mandler
Memory and organisation are correlated
No more than 7 categories (Takes account of George Millers work on capacity in the STM 7+/-2 therefore is valid to everyday life)
The categories should be semantic (Takes account of Baddely’s work on encoding in the STM and LTM therefore is more reliable)
Subjective organisation
People impose their own organisational structure upon a list of random words
Schemas prove that organisation doesn’t always improve memory, schemas interfere proactively with memory, hindering recall
A schema is part of the internal working model, a category/generalisation of our lives
Soolin + Doolin
Told a story to participants about an evil dictator
Asked Q. F: Participants answered the Q. in relation to Hitler, giving false answers.

6. Memory Improvement Mneumonic - Visual Imagery Method of Loci
Unrelated words associate with locations
Lawrence
Participants could recall 95% of a list of 40 words
Not very good for trying to remember complex information in the real word, which consists of more than just single words, therefore it lacks ecological validity
Makes simple information easy to recall with the use of context cues, therefore is an effective form of memory improvement
Mneumonic -
Visual Imagery
Pegword Method
Unrelated words associated with a pegword
A pegword rhymes with a number on the list then interacts with the unrelated word = remember the pegword
Morris
Twice as many words recalled when using : when not
Only useful when trying to remember words in lists, therefore has a limited usage in real life
Only certain words can be used with this method, such as neutral words e.g. keys, dog. Works very little with semantic words or those which are abstract therefore has limited usage in real life
To be used efficiently, it needs extensive training, otherwise it is ineffective at fast memory retrieval and is of little use, and seen a disadvantageous in memory recall

7. Memory Improvement Mneumonic - Verbal Story Method
Unrelated words in correct order by linking them together
Clark
Effective method because it imposes meaning onto the material therefore semantic encoding into the LTM
Recall of unrelated words is of little value in everyday life so has little ecological validity outside the laboratory
Requires training for it to be effective, therefore without training it is of little use, and isn’t a rapid form of memory improvement