• Models of memory
– The Multi-Store model including the concepts of
encoding capacity and duration.
• Strengths and Weaknesses of the model
– The working memory model
• Strengths and weaknesses of the working memory model
• Memory in everyday life
– Eyewitness testimony
– factors affecting the accuracy of EWT, including
anxiety, age of witness
• Misleading information and the use of the
cognitive interview
• Strategies for memory improvement
AS AQA A Cognitive
Psychology
Lesson FOUR
Factors affecting encoding and
Evaluating the Multi-Store Model!
Lesson Objective:
By the end of this lesson, you should be
able to…
• Describe what is meant by encoding in
LTM
• Evaluate the Multi-Store Model of Memory
Key Words
•
•
•
•
Encoding
Acoustic
Visual
Semantic
}
Link to last lesson:
• Answer the following questions:
• How are the concepts of capacity and
duration applied to STM stores?
• What factors affect capacity and duration
in STM?
• How have they have been measured?
Link to last lesson
Eye on the exam
• Below is a table summarising the main
differences between short term memory and
long term memory. Complete the table.
(2 marks)
Capacity
Duration
Encoding
STM
LTM
Mainly acoustic
Mainly
semantic
Discuss with the person next to you
The photo/item that you have brought in.
What do you think are the main details that
help you remember your first memory?
Our brain has a few different ways of
transferring information from STM to
LTM…
When information arrives in
sensory memory……
• E.g. Visual image or acoustic sound…
• Sensory store has separate stores for different
modalities (sensory experience such as vision,
sound, touch)
• Atkinson & Shiffrin – STM as a unitary store (no
separate compartments)
• So what happens to the stimulus once it arrives
in STM….
Likely that it is recoded…..
• Into a form that STM can recognise and
manipulate
• Three main types of encoding used in STM:
• Acoustic Coding (hearing/sounds) (main way)
• Visual Coding (seeing/pictures/shapes)
• Semantic Coding (meaningful experiences)
Much of the evidence on encoding……
• Comes from studies into substitution
errors
• When using a particular code, people may
confuse
– items that sound alike – acoustic code
– Items that look similar – visual code
– Items that mean the same thing – semantic
code
Evidence for types of Coding in
STM: Conrad (1964)
• Consonants flashed very quickly in
random sequence onto a screen
Two conditions:
– Acoustically similar: B, G, C, D, T, V
– Acoustically dissimilar: F, J, X, M, L, R
• Participants asked to write down
consonants in the correct serial order
Evidence for types of Coding in
STM: Conrad (1964)
• Findings:
• Ps made errors in substituting similarsounding letters in the ‘similar’ condition
• So….
• Conclusion:
We convert visual information into acoustic code in STM
and we then find it difficult to distinguish between words
that sound the same – there is acoustic confusion
Methodological Issues in Conrad
(1964)
• Lab Experiment – Strengths +
Weaknesses?
• Artificial stimuli
• Ethics: Informed consent and debriefing
Posner & Keele (1967)
Do the letters have the same name?
• B
• b
• B
• B
• A
• B
• A
• a
Condition 2
• D
• d
• G
• G
• H
• H
• I
• J
Posner & Keele (1967)
• People took longer to respond to B – b
than B – B if the delay between the two
letters was less than 1.5 seconds.
• Conclusions: Visual code had been stored
in STM for a brief period and is soon
translated into an acoustic code
• So STM codes…………………………….
Encoding in LTM
• Remember the ‘first memory’ task at the
beginning of the lesson?
• What helped you remember this?
• What does this memory mean to you?
Encoding in LTM mainly semantic: based on
the meaning of what is experienced
Baddeley (1966) Try and memorise
the following words…
Then write down in serial order…
List 1: man map can cap
List 2: try pig hut pen
List 3: great big huge wide
List 4: run easy tug end
Did you notice anything?
Whose research does this support?
Baddeley (1966) modified to test
LTM
• He extended word lists from 5 to 10 and
prevented rehearsal by interrupting Ps after
each presentation.
• Each list presented x4 and recall tested after 20
minute interval
• FINDINGS: Acoustic similarity had no effect on
recall. Words similar in meaning were poorly
recalled
• CONCLUSION: LTM codes………………..
Methodological Issues
• Laboratory experiment: S + W’s
• However: familiar words rather than
consonants (like who used)!
• Ethics: informed consent and debriefing
Application to real life
• Peter was trying to remember the name of
his first teacher at primary school without
success. Then his mother managed to find
a class photo which she showed Peter.
The name of his teacher then popped into
his mind’. Explain why was Peter was
suddenly able to remember.
» 5 minutes
Test your LTM ……
• Can you imagine what this might sound
like? (Acoustic)
• Can you imagine this place? (Visual)
• So this suggests that semantic coding is
not the only type in LTM.
Evaluating the Multi-Store Model of
Memory – sort task
•
•
•
The strengths and weaknesses on the
handout have been jumbled up
You need to put them into the correct
category (strength or weakness) and
Match the evidence to each point!
Check you understanding
• Using your textbook write a response to
the following claim:
• ‘The multi-store model was very influential
at one time but it has outlived its
usefulness’.
– Do you agree, if so what evidence is there?
Eye on the exam
• The multi-store model of memory has been criticised in
many ways. The following example illustrates a possible
criticism.
• Some students read through their revision notes lots of
times before an exam 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 multistore model. ((((((((4 marks))))))))
M-SM Memory – fill in the blanks
•
The model arose from the information processing approach where memory is characterised as a flow of
information through a system. The system is divided into a set of stages and information passes through each
stage in a fixed sequence.
•
There are capacity and duration limitations at each stage.
•
Transfer of information between stages may require re-coding.
•
External stimuli from the environment first enter sensory memory, where they can be registered for very brief
periods of time before decaying (i.e. fading away) or (if given attention) being passed onto the short term
store.
•
STM contains only the small amount of information that is actually in active use at any one time. Information is
usually encoded acoustically at this stage.
•
Memory traces in STM are fragile and can be lost within about 30 seconds, through displacement or decay,
unless they are repeated (rehearsed).
•
Material that is rehearsed is passed onto the long term store where it can remain for a lifetime, although loss
is possible from this store through decay, retrieval failure or interference.
•
Coding in LTM is assumed to be in terms of meaning, i.e. semantic.
Homework
Eye on the exam
Outline and evaluate the multistore model of memory
(12 marks)