Memory as an Active Process (AQA GCSE Psychology): Flashcards
Exam code: 8182
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True or False?
Memory works like a camera, recording events with 100% accuracy.
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True or False?
Memory works like a camera, recording events with 100% accuracy.
False.
Memory does not record an event with 100% accuracy. It is retrieved as fragments of the event rather than as a whole, intact memory.
Give two ways in which a recalled memory can be inaccurate.
Key pieces of information may be omitted or inserted; the sequence of events may be recalled in a different order; and information not present at the time may find its way in.
How do schemas affect reconstructive memory?
Schemas produce biased recall, because pre-set ideas about the world ‘get in the way’ of fully accurate recall — usually without the person being aware of it.
Define confabulation.
Confabulation is when recall of an event is impacted by distortion of the information, fabrication of details, or misinterpretation.
What is meant by ‘information after the event’?
Recall is influenced by what happens after the event, such as discussing it with others, viewing photos on social media, or memories of similar past events.
Define effort after meaning.
Effort after meaning is the energy invested in trying to understand unfamiliar terms, ideas or concepts by re-framing them using existing schemas and knowledge.
Effort after meaning usually happens , without people being aware they are reconstructing the event.
Effort after meaning usually happens unconsciously, without people being aware they are reconstructing the event.
What did Loftus & Palmer (1974) find?
Participants watched videos of a staged car crash. Those given a leading question with a stronger verb, such as ‘smashed’, estimated higher car speeds.
True or False?
Yuille & Cutshall (1986) found that eyewitnesses to a real-life shooting were affected by leading questions.
False.
They found eyewitnesses were not affected, suggesting reconstructive memory may not occur when an event is highly personal and emotional.
Why does the theory of reconstructive memory have good application?
Research into eyewitness testimony, particularly by Elizabeth Loftus, shows how important it is to avoid unreliable accounts in criminal trials.
Give one weakness of the theory of reconstructive memory.
It is almost impossible to measure how schemas affect memory, because each person’s schemas are unique to them and cannot be observed or quantified.
Define a schema.
A schema is a mental representation — a packet of stored knowledge — built from a person’s pre-existing ideas, beliefs and concepts about people, places and events.
What may happen to details that do not fit a person’s schema?
They may be replaced with what the person expected to see — for example, recalling books on the shelves of an office when there were none.
What are cultural schemas built from?
Cultural schemas are built from the shared knowledge, customs and expectations of the culture a person grows up in.
What was the aim of Bartlett’s (1932) study?
The aim was to investigate the effect of cultural schemas on the reconstructive nature of memory.
Who made up the sample in Bartlett’s (1932) study?
The sample was British participants, mostly students at the University of Cambridge.
What procedure did Bartlett use in his study?
Bartlett used repeated reproduction. Participants read The War of the Ghosts twice, wrote down what they remembered after about 15 minutes, then recalled it again at increasing intervals — days, weeks, months and sometimes years later.
Define omission, as seen in Bartlett’s findings.
Omission is where unfamiliar or unpleasant details were left out — the ghosts, central to the story, were soon dropped, as was the contorted face of the dying man.
Apart from omission, assimilation and levelling, what else did Bartlett’s participants do to the story?
They tended to reorder events and add explanations, so that the story made more sense to them.
Define assimilation, as seen in Bartlett’s findings.
Assimilation, or rationalisation, is where unfamiliar details were changed to fit the participants’ own cultural schemas — ‘canoes’ became ‘boats’ and ‘hunting seals’ became ‘fishing’.
In Bartlett’s study the original story was around 330 words, while later reproductions were around words.
In Bartlett’s study the original story was around 330 words, while later reproductions were around 180 words.
Define levelling, as seen in Bartlett’s findings.
Levelling is where the story became shorter and simpler as detail was lost.
What did Bartlett conclude about memory?
Memory is not a passive process in which events are recorded and replayed like a camera. It is an active process in which pre-existing knowledge and expectations shape what is stored and recalled.
True or False?
Bartlett’s study has been criticised for being dated.
True.
University students in the UK today are much more aware of wider multicultural issues, such as Native American folklore, than they were in the 1930s.
Give one strength of Bartlett’s study.
It was one of the first pieces of research to highlight the role of schema in reconstructive memory, and reflects how memory is distorted in real life.
Other than being dated, give one weakness of Bartlett’s study.
It is unclear whether the memory distortions were caused by schematic interference or by individual differences, such as generally poor memory or lack of attention.
Define interference.
Interference occurs when one memory prevents the retrieval of another memory, and is how information is lost from long-term memory.
True or False?
Interference is more likely to occur when memories are similar.
True.
For example, having learnt French at school can keep getting in the way of learning German.
What did Baddeley & Hitch (1977) ask their participants to do?
They asked rugby players who had played every game in one season to recall the names of the teams they had played against.
What did Baddeley & Hitch (1977) conclude?
They concluded that the later games had interfered with recall of the earlier matches, so it was interference rather than time that affected memory.
Give one weakness of interference as an explanation of forgetting.
It does not explain why forgetting occurs when the information involved is dissimilar.
Define a cue.
A cue is any stimulus which can aid the retrieval of a memory, such as a song, a smell or an item of clothing.
How does context affect the accuracy of memory?
A memory in long-term memory cannot be accessed when there are no cues to prompt it. The cue provides the context required for retrieval.
Godden & Baddeley (1975) used a sample of participants from a university diving club.
Godden & Baddeley (1975) used a sample of 18 participants from a university diving club.
What were the results of Godden & Baddeley (1975)?
Words learned underwater were better recalled underwater, and words learned on land were better recalled on land.
Give one practical application of Godden & Baddeley’s (1975) findings.
Students should sit exams in the same room in which the material was learnt, in order to optimise recall.
Define false memories.
False memories are memories of events that did not actually occur, or which occurred very differently in real life, but which someone ‘remembers’.
What was the false event in Loftus & Pickrell’s (1995) study?
The false event was being lost in a shopping mall aged 5, crying and being helped by an elderly woman — an event that had not happened at all.
In Loftus & Pickrell (1995), 6 of the 24 participants ( %) said they recalled the false event.
In Loftus & Pickrell (1995), 6 of the 24 participants (25%) said they recalled the false event.
True or False?
Loftus & Pickrell’s (1995) study is considered ethically sound.
False.
The study is ethically dubious: participants were deceived, and implanting a false memory could be harmful to people vulnerable to suggestion, raising the ethical issue of protection from harm.
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