On This Page:ToggleThe Multi-Store ModelTypes of Long-Term MemoryWorking Memory ModelExplanations for ForgettingEyewitness TestimonyThe Cognitive Interview
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What do the examiners look for?
Accurate and detailed knowledgeClear, coherent, and focused answersEffective use of terminology (use the “technical terms”)In application questions, examiners look for “effective application to the scenario,” which means that you need to describe the theory and explain the scenario using the theory making the links between the two very clear. If there is more than one individual in the scenario you must mention all of the characters to get to the top band.Difference between AS and A level answersThe descriptions follow the same criteria; however, you have to use the issues and debates effectively in your answers. “Effectively” means that it needs to be clearly linked and explained in the context of the answer.Read the model answers to get a clearer idea of what is needed.
In application questions, examiners look for “effective application to the scenario,” which means that you need to describe the theory and explain the scenario using the theory making the links between the two very clear. If there is more than one individual in the scenario you must mention all of the characters to get to the top band.
The descriptions follow the same criteria; however, you have to use the issues and debates effectively in your answers. “Effectively” means that it needs to be clearly linked and explained in the context of the answer.
Read the model answers to get a clearer idea of what is needed.
The Multi-Store Model
AO1
Sensory memoryis the information you get from your sense, your eyes, and ears. When attention is paid to something in the environment, it is then converted to short-term memory.
Information from short-term memory is transferred to long-term memory only if that information is rehearsed (i.e., repeated).
Maintenance rehearsal is repetition that keeps information in STM, but eventually, such repetition will create an LTM.
If maintenance rehearsal (repetition) does not occur, then information is forgotten and lost from short-term memory through the processes of displacement or decay.
Each store has its own characteristics in terms ofencoding, capacity, and duration.
Sensory register
Short Term Memory
Long Term Memory
AO2 Scenario Question
The multi-store model of memory has been criticized in many ways. The following example illustrates a possible criticism.
Some students read through their revision notes lots of times before an examination but still, find it difficult to remember the information. However, the same students can remember the information in a celebrity magazine, even though they read it only once.
Explain why this can be used as a criticism of the multi-store model of memory.
(4 marks)
“The MSM states that depth of memory trace in LTM is simply a result of the amount of rehearsal that takes place.
The MSM can be criticized for failing to account for how different types of material can result in different depth memory traces even though they’ve both been rehearsed for a similar amount of time.
For example, people may recall information they are interested in (e.g., information in celebrity magazines) more than the material they are not interested in (e.g., revision notes) despite the fact that they have both been rehearsed for a similar amount of time.
Therefore, the MSM’s view of long-term memory can be criticized for failing to take into account that material we may pay more attention to or is more meaningful/interesting to us may cause a deeper memory trace which is recalled more easily.”
AO3
One strength of the multistore model is that it gives us a good understanding of the structure and process of the STM. This is good because this allows researchers to expand on this model. This means researchers can do experiments to improve on this model and make it more valid, and they can prove what the stores actually do.
He has remembered little of personal (death of mother and father) or public events (Watergate, Vietnam War) that have occurred over the last 45 years. However, his short-term memory remains intact.
The model suggests rehearsal helps to transfer information into LTM, but this is not essential. Why are we able to recall information which we did not rehearse (e.g., swimming) yet unable to recall information which we have rehearsed (e.g., reading your notes while revising)?
Therefore, the role of rehearsal as a means of transferring from STM to LTM is much less important than Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) claimed in their model.
Research Study for both STM & LTM
AO1 or AO3
Research studies can either be knowledge or evaluation:
Glanzer and Cunitzshowed that when participants are presented with a list of words, they tend to remember the first few and last few words and are more likely to forget those in the middle of the list, i.e., the serial position effect.
This supports the existence of separate LTM and STM stores because they observed a primacy and recency effect.
Words early on in the list were put into long-term memory (primacy effect) because the person has time to rehearse the word, and words from the end went into short-term memory (recency effect).
Other compelling evidence to support this distinction between STM and LTM is the case of KF (Shallice & Warrington, 1970), who had been in a motorcycle crash where he had sustained brain damage. His LTM seemed to be unaffected, but he was only able to recall the last bit of information he had heard in his STM.
Types of Long-Term Memory
Procedural MemoryProcedural memoryis a part of the implicit long-term memory responsible for knowing how to do things, i.e., a memory of motor skills. A part of long-term memory is responsible for knowing how to do things, i.e., the memory of motor skills. It does not involve conscious (i.e., it’s unconscious-automatic) thought and is not declarative.For example, procedural memory would involve knowledge of how to ride a bicycle.
Procedural Memory
Procedural memoryis a part of the implicit long-term memory responsible for knowing how to do things, i.e., a memory of motor skills. A part of long-term memory is responsible for knowing how to do things, i.e., the memory of motor skills. It does not involve conscious (i.e., it’s unconscious-automatic) thought and is not declarative.
For example, procedural memory would involve knowledge of how to ride a bicycle.
Semantic Memory
Semantic memoryis a part of the long-term memory responsible for storing information about the world. This includes knowledge about the meaning of words, as well as general knowledge.
For example, London is the capital of England. It involves conscious thought and is declarative.
Episodic MemoryEpisodic memoryis a part of the long-term memory responsible for storing information about events (i.e., episodes) that we have experienced in our lives.It involves conscious thought and is declarative. An example would be a memory of our 1st day at school.
Episodic Memory
Episodic memoryis a part of the long-term memory responsible for storing information about events (i.e., episodes) that we have experienced in our lives.
It involves conscious thought and is declarative. An example would be a memory of our 1st day at school.
Cohen and Squire (1980)distinguisheddeclarative knowledgefromprocedural knowledge. Procedural knowledge involves “knowing how” to do things. It includesskills such as “knowing how” to play the piano, ride a bike, tie your shoes, and other motor skills.
It does not involve conscious thought (i.e., it’s unconscious-automatic). For example, we brush our teeth with little or no awareness of the skills involved.
Whereas declarative knowledge involves “knowing that”; for example, London is the capital of England, zebras are animals, your mum’s birthday, etc. Recalling information fromdeclarative memoryinvolves some degree of conscious effort – information is consciously brought to mind and “declared.”
The knowledge that we hold insemantic and episodic memories focuseson “knowing that” something is the case (i.e., declarative). For example, we might have a semantic memory for knowing that Paris is the capital of France, and we might have anepisodic memoryfor knowing that we caught the bus to college today.
Research on patients with amnesia has provided evidence for the distinction between declarative and procedural memory. Typically, amnesic patients have great difficultyretaining episodic and semantic information following the onset of amnesia.
Their memory for events and knowledge acquired before the onset of the condition tends to remain intact, but they can’t store new episodic or semantic memories. In other words, it appears that their ability to retain declarative information is impaired.
However, their procedural memory appears to be largely unaffected. They can recall skills they have already learned (e.g., riding a bike) and acquire new skills (e.g., learning to drive).
Working Memory Model
Theworking memory model(Baddeley and Hitch, 1974) replaced the idea of a unitary STM. It suggests a system involving active processing and short-term storage of information.
Key features include the central executive, the phonological loop, and the visuospatial sketchpad.
Thecentral executivehas a supervisory function and acts as a filter, determining which information is attended to.
It can process information in all sensory forms, direct information to other slave systems, and collects responses. It has limited capacity and deals with only one piece of information at a time.
One of the slave systems is thephonological loopwhich is a temporary storage system for holding auditory information in a speech-based form.
It has two parts: (1) the phonological store (inner ear), which stores words you hear; and (2) the articulatory process (inner voice), which allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating sounds or words to keep them in working memory while they are needed). The phonological loop plays a key role in the development of reading.
The second slave system is theVisuospatial sketchpad(VSS). The VSS is a temporary memory system for holding visual and spatial information. It has two parts: (1) the visual cache (which stores visual data about form and color) and (2) the inner scribe (which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field and rehearses and transfers information in the visual cache to the central executive).
The third slave system is theepisodic bufferwhich acts as a “backup” (temporary) store for information that communicates with both long-term memory and the slave system components of working memory.
One of its important functions is to recall material from LTM and integrate it into STM when working memory requires it.
Bryan has been driving for five years. Whilst driving, Bryan can hold conversations or listen to music with little difficulty.
Bob has had four driving lessons. Driving requires so much of Bob’s concentration that, during lessons, he often misses what his driving instructor is telling him. With reference to features of the working memory model, explain the different experiences of Bryan and Bob. (4 marks)
“Because Bryan has been driving for five years it is an ‘automated’ task for him; it makes fewer attentional demands on his central executive, so he is free to perform other tasks (such as talking or listening to music) and thus is able to divide resources between his visuospatial sketch pad (driving) and phonological loop (talking and listening to music).
As Bob is inexperienced at driving, this is not the case for him – his central executive requires all of his attentional capacity for driving and thus cannot divide resources effectively between components of working memory.”
For example, participants would find it hard to do two visual tasks at the same time because they would be competing for the same limited resources of the visuospatial sketchpad. However, a visual task and a verbal task would use different components and so could be performed with minimum errors.
The KF Case Study supports the Working Memory Model. KF suffered brain damage from a motorcycle accident that damaged his short-term memory. KF’s impairment was mainly for verbal information – his memory for visual information was largely unaffected.
This shows that there are separate STM components for visual information (VSS) and verbal information (phonological loop). However, evidence from brain-damaged patients may not be reliable because it concerns unique cases with patients who have had traumatic experiences.
One limitation is the fact that little is known about how the central executive works. It is an important part of the model, but its exact role is unclear.
Another limitation is that the model does not explain the link between working memory and LTM.
Research Study for WM
Results: As the number of digits increased in the digit span tasks, participants took longer to answer the reasoning questions, but not much longer – only fractions of a second. And they didn’t make any more errors in the verbal reasoning tasks as the number of digits increased.
Conclusion: The verbal reasoning task made use of the central executive, and the digit span task made use of the phonological loop.
Explanations for Forgetting
Interference
Interference is anexplanation for forgettingfrom long-term memory – two sets of information become confused.
Proactive and retroactive interference is thought to be more likely to occur where the memories are similar, for example, when old and new telephone numbers are confused. Chandler (1989) stated that students who study similar subjects at the same time often experience interference. French and Spanish are similar types of material which makes interference more likely.
Semantic memory is more resistant to interference than other types of memory.
Postman (1960) provides evidence to support the interference theory of forgetting. A lab experiment was used, and participants were split into two groups. Both groups had to remember a list of paired words – e.g., cat – tree, jelly – moss, book – tractor.
Theexperimental groupalso had to learn another list of words where the second paired word is different – e.g., cat – glass, jelly- time, book – revolver. The control group was not given the second list.
All participants were asked to recall the words on the first list. The recall of the control group was more accurate than that of the experimental group. This suggests that learning items in the second list interfered with participants’ ability to recall the list. This is an example of retroactive interference.
Although proactive and retroactive interference is reliable and robust effects, there are a number of problems with interference theory as an explanation for forgetting.
First, interference theory tells us little about the cognitive processes involved in forgetting. Secondly, the majority of research into the role of interference in forgetting has been carried out in a laboratory using lists of words, a situation that is likely to occur fairly infrequently in everyday life (i.e., low ecological validity). As a result, it may not be possible to generalize from the findings.
Retrieval failure
Retrieval failure is where information is available in long-term memory but cannot be recalled because of the absence of appropriate cues.
When we store a new memory, we also store information about the situation and these are known as retrieval cues. When we come into the same situation again, these retrieval cues can trigger the memory of the situation.
For example, if someone tells you a joke on Saturday night after a few drinks, you’ll be more likely to remember it when you’re in a similar state – at a later date after a few more drinks. Stone cold sober on Monday morning, you’ll be more likely to forget the joke.
According to retrieval-failure theory, forgetting occurs when information is available in LTM but is not accessible. Accessibility depends in large part on retrieval cues.
Forgetting is greatest when context and state are very different at encoding and retrieval. In this situation, retrieval cues are absent, and the likely result is cue-dependent forgetting.
Evaluation (AO3)
People tend to remember material better when there is a match between their mood at learning and at retrieval. The effects are stronger when the participants are in a positive mood than when they are in a negative mood. They are also greater when people try to remember events having personal relevance.
Baddeley (1975) asked deep-sea divers to memorize a list of words. One group did this on the beach, and the other group underwater. When they were asked to remember the words, half of the beach learners remained on the beach, and the rest had to recall underwater.
Half of the underwater group remained there, and the others had to recall on the beach. The results show that those who had recalled in the same environment (i.e., context) and who had learned recalled 40% more words than those recalling in a different environment. This suggests that the retrieval of information is improved if it occurs in the context in which it was learned.
For example, when they hid money and alcohol when drunk, they were unlikely to find them when sober. However, when they were drunk again, they often discovered the hiding place. Other studies found similar state-dependent effects when participants were given drugs such as marijuana.
Eyewitness Testimony
Misleading Information
Loftus and Palmerinvestigated how misleading information could distort eyewitness testimony accounts.
Participants were shown slides of a car accident involving a number of cars and asked to describe what had happened as if they were eyewitnesses. They were then asked specific questions, including the question, “About how fast were the cars going when they (hit/smashed/collided/bumped/contacted ) each other?”
The research lacks mundane realism, as the video clip does not have the same emotional impact as witnessing a real-life accident, and so the research lacks ecological validity.
A strength of the study is it’s easy to replicate (i.e., copy). This is because the method was a laboratory experiment that followed a standardized procedure.
Anxiety
TheYerkes-Dodson effectstates that when anxiety is at low and high levels, EWT is less accurate than if anxiety is at a medium level. Recall improves as anxiety increases up to an optimal point and then declines.
When we are in a state of anxiety, we tend to focus on whatever is making us feel anxious or fearful, and we exclude other information about the situation. If a weapon is used to threaten a victim, their attention is likely to focus on it. Consequently, their recall of other information is likely to be poor.
Clifford and Scott (1978)found that people who saw a film of a violent attack remembered fewer of the 40 items of information about the event than a control group who saw a less stressful version. As witnessing a real crime is probably more stressful than taking part in an experiment, memory accuracy may well be even more affected in real life.
Theresultsof the study showed the witnesses were highly accurate in their accounts, and there was little change in the amount or accuracy of recall after five months. The study also showed that stress levels did not have an effect on memory, contrary to lab findings.
All participants showed high levels of accuracy, indicating that stress had little effect on accuracy. However, very high anxiety was linked to better accuracy. Participants who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate (about 88% accurate compared to 75% for the less-stressed group).
One strength of this study is that it had high ecological validity compared with lab studies which tend to control variables and use student populations as research participants.
One weakness of this study was that there was an extraneous variable. The witnesses who experienced the highest levels of stress were actually closer to the event (the shooting), and this may have helped with the accuracy of their memory recall.
Reduced accuracy of information may be due to surprise rather than anxiety – Pickel found that identification was least accurate in high surprise conditions rather than high threat conditions – The weapon focus effect may be related to surprise rather than anxiety; therefore, research may lack internal validity.
The Cognitive Interview
The cognitive interview is a police technique for interviewing witnesses to a crime which encourages them to recreate the original context in order to increase the accessibility of stored information.
Thecognitive interviewinvolves a number of techniques:
Context Reinstatement
Trying to mentally recreate an image of the situation, includingdetails of the environment, such as the weather conditions, and the individual’s emotionalstate, including their feelings at the time of the incident.This makes memories accessible and provides emotional and contextual cues.
Recall from a Changed Perspective
Trying to mentally recreate the situation from different points of view, e.g., describing what another witness present at the scene would have seen. This is done to disrupt the effect that schemas have on recall.
Recall in Reverse Order
Report EverythingThe interviewer encourages the witness to report all details about the event, even though these details may seem unimportant. Memories are interconnected so that recollection of one item may then cue a whole lot of other memories.The Enhanced Cognitive Interview
Report Everything
The interviewer encourages the witness to report all details about the event, even though these details may seem unimportant. Memories are interconnected so that recollection of one item may then cue a whole lot of other memories.
The Enhanced Cognitive Interview
The main additional features are:-
One limitation is the cognitive interview is that it’s time-consuming to conduct and takes much longer than a standard police interview. It is also time-consuming to train police officers to use this method. This means that it is unlikely that the “proper” version of the cognitive interview is used.
Another limitation is that some elements of the cognitive interview may be more valuable than others. For example, research has shown that using a combination of “report everything” and “context reinstatement” produced better recall than any of the conditions individually.
A final criticism is that police personnel have to be trained, and this can be expensive and time-consuming.
The number of facts accurately recalled and the number of errors made was recorded. The average number of correctly recalled facts for the cognitive interview was 41.2. For hypnosis, it was 38.0, and for the standard interview, it was 29.4.
A-Level Psychology Revision Notes
A-Level Psychology Attachment
Psychology Memory Revision NotesSocial Influence Revision NotesPsychopathology Revision NotesPsychology Approaches Revision for A-levelResearch Methods: Definition, Types, & Examples
Psychology Memory Revision Notes
Social Influence Revision NotesPsychopathology Revision NotesPsychology Approaches Revision for A-levelResearch Methods: Definition, Types, & Examples
Social Influence Revision Notes
Psychopathology Revision NotesPsychology Approaches Revision for A-levelResearch Methods: Definition, Types, & Examples
Psychopathology Revision Notes
Psychology Approaches Revision for A-levelResearch Methods: Definition, Types, & Examples
Psychology Approaches Revision for A-level
Research Methods: Definition, Types, & Examples
Issues and Debates in Psychology (A-Level Revision)
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
