Unit 1 PSYA1 - Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Research Methods
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Summary AQA Psychology - MEMORY Revision
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Unit 1 PSYA1 - Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Research Methods
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AQA Psychology for A Level Year 1 & AS - Student Book
A detailed set of AQA Psychology Memory revision notes including description and analysis. Written for the NEW 2015 Specification. Suitable for Paper 1 AQA Psychology. These helped me achieve A/A* quality work
AQA Psychology AS/A Level - Topic 1: Social Influence
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AQA A-Level Psychology | A* Student Notes | Social Influence
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Unit 1 PSYA1 - Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Research Methods
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MEMORY
(Miller: Capacity can be increased by
Coding, Capacity & Duration chunking (packaging info into larger
items/units))
(Sperling: Presented a grid of letter
for less than a second – 4 letters
recalled on average) (Wagenaar: Able to
recall diary events
- Visually (thinking of an image) over 6 years)
- Acoustically (repeating)
- Semantically (by association)
Crowder
Walsh & Thompson (Baddeley: List A - similar
meaning words, List B -
non-similar words
→ List B recalled better)
(Peterson & Peterson: After 18 (Bahrick: US graduates tested
seconds, % of correctly recalled (Conrad: Participants found on faces & names of classmates
trigrams falls to 10%) it harder to recall letters that after 34 years → 90% recall)
were acoustically similar)
Multi-store Model of Memory
✓ Primary and Recency Effect (Glanzer & Cunitz): Participants recall list of 20 words – first words are recalled
as they have been rehearsed and sent to LTM, last words are being recalled direct from STM
✓ Practical Application of P&R: Adverts/Teaching
✓ Brain-Damaged Patients - Distinction between STM and LTM: ‘HM’ has good LTM for events pre-accident
but cannot transfer new info from STM to LTM
Model is too Rigid/Simplistic: Memory is more complex → Working Memory Model?
Coding process not fully explained: How does information change from acoustic in STM to semantic in LTM?
Overemphasis of Maintenance Rehearsal: Levels of Processing Theory suggests that the meaningfulness of
information, not just rehearsal, creates LT memories
, Types of Long-Term Memory – Tulving
Tulving believed the Multi-store model was too simplistic so proposed 3 types of LTM
▪ EPISODIC MEMORY:
Store for personal events/episodes
Time-stamped (we remember when they happened)
Conscious retrieval
▪ SEMANTIC MEMORY:
Store for knowledge of the world (facts and meanings of words/concepts)
Not time-stamped (don’t remember when we first learned about it)
Conscious retrieval
▪ PROCEDURAL MEMORY:
Store for knowledge of how to do things (skills/action)
Difficult to explain to others
Unconscious retrieval
✓ Clinical Evidence: Clive Wearing had severely impaired episodic memory due to amnesia and could not
recall events from his past. His semantic and procedural memory were relatively unaffected (could
remember meaning of words and how to read music/play piano) → There are different stores in LTM
Unique case study → Difficult to generalise findings to wider population
✓ Neuroimaging evidence: Tulving scanned PPs brains while they were doing tasks → Episodic and Semantic
memories were recalled from the pre-frontal cortex (Right – Episodic, Left – Semantic) → Biological basis
to LTM and an objective way of measuring cognitive processes & Supports different stores of LTM
Small samples & Tulving was a participant (along with his wife and a colleague) → Biased findings?
✓ Practical Application: Being able to distinguish between different types of LTM allows scientific treatments
to be developed. Belleville demonstrated that episodic memories could be improved in older people who
had cognitive mild impairment → Participants who received cognitive training performed better at recall
Two Types of LTM?: Cohen & Squire argued that episodic and semantic memories are stored together in
‘declarative memory’ (i.e. consciously-recalled memories)
Working Memory Model – Baddeley & Hitch
Provided an alternative model of STM • Temporary store, integrating visual,
spatial and verbal information (verbal &
• Most important acoustic coding)
• Controls attention makes • Capacity of 4 chunks
decisions and allocated
tasks to slave-systems • Links Working Memory
(other components) (memory active when
• Limited storage capacity working on information)
(can only attend to a with LTM
limited number of things
at a time
• Deals with auditory information
• Stores visual and spatial information (coding is visual) (acoustic coding)
• Responsible for creating mental images • Phonological store (inner ear)
• Limited capacity (Baddeley - 3/4 objects) stores words heard
• Logie subdivided it into: • Articulatory process (inner
o Visual cache (stores visual data) voice) allows rehearsal
o Inner scribe (records visual arrangement of objects • Capacity - 2 seconds worth of
in visual field) what you can say
, ✓ Dual Task Experiments (Baddeley): Track a spot of light & trace the letter F - Poor performance
Track spot of light & acoustic task - Good performance
→ The visual tasks were both competing for visuo-spatial sketchpad, stretching its capacity. Whereas,
when the task used visual & acoustic components, the task was possible → Visual & Acoustic components
Low Validity: Use of simplistic stimuli → Lacks ecological validity → Cannot be generalised
✓ Clinical Evidence: KF suffered brain damage and had poor STM ability for verbal information but could
process visual information normally → Separate visual & acoustic stores in STM
May not be Reliable: Unique case study (trauma sufferer) → Difficult to generalise findings
✓ Practical Application: Baddeley’s research has shown that some Dyslexic children have an inactive
phonological loop → Helps explain/help real life cognitive difficulties
Demand Lack of Clarity over Central Executive: Role of the most important component is unclear because
its complexities, such as its role in planning/coordination of tasks etc. make it difficult to investigate
→ WMM cannot provide complete explanation of how STM works (Further research is being carried out)
Not as comprehensive as MSM: Only provides explanation of STM, not LTM
Explanations of Forgetting
Interference Theory: Interference occurs when two pieces of information conflict with each other, resulting
in forgetting one of both pieces of information, or some distortion of memories (mainly LMT – information is
available but there are problems locating/accessing memories). More likely if memories are similar
▪ PROACTIVE INTERFERENCE:
Forgetting occurs when old memories disrupt new memories
E.g. Cannot recall new phone number, but can recall old phone number
▪ RETROACTIVE INTERFERENCE:
Forgetting occurs when new memories disrupt recall of old memories
E.g. Cannot recall new phone number, but can recall old phone number
✓ McGeoch & McDonald: Studied retroactive interference by changing the similarity between words
Participants had to memorise a list of words, and then remembered a new list
1. Synonyms 2. Antonyms 3. Unrelated adjectives 4. Nonsense syllables 5. Numbers 6. None
→ Group 1 had most interference//Group 6 had least → Interference occurs most when memories similar
✓ Replicated (Abel & Bauml) → Reliable
✓ Can establish Cause & Effect → Reliable
Low Ecological Validity: Artificial list of words is different to
faces/birthdays etc → Can’t generalise
✓ Schmidt: Tested retroactive interference in a real life setting by
using childhood memories of street names. 211 participants
completed a questionnaire where they had to remember as many
street names as possible from a map of the area they had gone to
school in. Schmidt also recorded how many times they had moved
house, where they had lived, and how long for → Positive correlation between number of times
participants had moved house outside the area and number of street names forgotten → Learning new
street names affected recall of older street names (Retroactive Interference)
Extraneous Variables: Some participants may have played more in the neighbourhood/walked to
school and so learned the street names better
Cognitive Process not explained: Studies show interference to play an important role in forgetting but they
do not provide any explanation of the cognitive process at work
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