Summary
COGNITIVE AQA SUMMARY NOTES
- Module
- A level Psychology
- Institution
- A Level Psychology
Covering all A01, A02 and A03 that could possibly come up in your exams! Cognitive
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Coding, capacity and duration of STM Coding, capacity and duration of LTM Multi-store model of memory Types of long-term memoryCognitive Psychology: study of cognitive thought LTM: duration and capacity are potentially unlimited, no Atkinson and Shiffrin (1986) Multi-store model of
processes. The brain can be described using a one has found a clear limit yet. memory:
computer metaphor. Input >>> Processing (Storage) Separate memory stores: The MSM describes how
>>> Output information flows through the memory system.
Duration:
Bahrick et al:
Memory: the ability to keep things in one’s mind and Procedure: Ptps were 392 Americans aged between
recall them at will. 17-74. Tests included free recall, photo recognition
Processed: 1. Encoding 2. Storage 3. Retrieval and name recognition. Ptps yearbooks were used to
maintain accuracy.
Capacity:
Millers Magic 7: Miller observed everyday practice, Findings: Recall was tested after 15 years = approx
noted things come in sevens eg days of the week. The 90% accurate in recognising faces and names. 60%
span of STM is about 7 items +/- 2 but is increased by accurate for free recall.
chunking After 48 years recall declined to 80% for name
recognition and 70% for face recognition. 30% accurate
for free recall.
Jacob’s (1887) Digital Span test: researcher reads four
digits and increases until the ptp can recall the order
correctly. Final number = digit span. On average, ptps Conclusion: Evidence of LTM however some memory is
could repeat back 9.3 numbers and 7.3 letters in the lost over time. Remembered recall both visual and Sensory Stores: LTM store 1: episodic memory.
correct order immediately after presented. verbal. However recognition was better than recall, Ionic Store: visual input eg what we see This store has been likened to a diary of daily personal
and some ptps needed cues to jog memory. Echoic Store: auditory input eg what we hear experiences (episodes). Eg your most recent visit to the
Haptic Store: tactual input eg what we touch dentist. They are time stamped: you remember when
Duration: Purpose: To allow us to integrate visual information so they happened and how they relate in time. They involve
Peterson and Peterson (1959): 24 students were given Coding: we can experience a smooth continuous experience. several elements eg people and places. You have to
a consonant syallable eg YCG to recall and a 3 digit Baddley (1966): Sifts through huge amounts of incoming sensory make a conscious effect to recall them.
number to count backwards from. The retention interval Procedure: Experimenter tested 4 groups and tested information in order to avoid overloading the system.
was varied: 3,6,9,12,15, 18 seconds. After 3 seconds – the effects of acoustic and semantically similar words
average recall was around 80%. After 18 seconds – on recall (74 ptps). Ptps were given a list of acoustically LTM store 2: semantic memory.
recall was about 3%. STM without rehearsal is similar/dissimilar or semantically similar/dissimiliar. Sensory Register: All stimuli from the environment Semantic memory is like an combination of an
around 18 seconds. Ptps were asked to recall words in order. passes through the SR. Has five stores for each sense. encyclopaedia and a dictionary. Eg knowledge of
Coding: modality-specific, dependant on the sense meaning of words. Not time stamped and are less
Duration: brief + less than half a second personal than episodic memories and more about
Coding: Findings: Immediate recall was worse with acoustically Capacity: very high eg over 100 million cells in each eye the knowledge we share.
Brandmore et al (1992): ppts used visual coding when similar words. STM is acoustic. Recall after 20 minutes storing data
they were given a visual task and prevented verbal was worse with semantically similar words. LTM is
rehearsal eg by going la la la. We translate visual semantic. LTM store 3: procedural memory.
images into visual codes in STM but verbal rehearsal Transfer from SR to STM: Information passes further Memories of how we do things. Eg driving a car. Skills
was prevented so only visual codes were used. into memory only if attention is paid to it. become automatic with practice. Explaining the step-by-
step procedure is hard because you do it without
conscious recall.
STM (Coding, capacity and duration)
Tulving theory of LTM: Endel Tulving (1985) was one
Transfer from STM to LTM: Maintenance rehearsal of the first psychologists to realise that there are 3 types
occurs when we repeat (rehearse) material to ourselves. of LTM. Multistore model was too simplistic and
We can keep information in STM as long as we inflexible to demonstrate this.
rehearse it, it goes into LTM.
Brain scan evidence: Tulving injected himself with
LTM (Coding, capacity and duration) radioactive particles of gold that he could track brain
blood flow in a scanner. Scanned through when he
thought about historical and personal experiences.
Retrieval from LTM: Recalled information stored in LTM Historical = blood flow increased at the back of the brain
has to be transferred back into STM. Personal = blood flow increased at the front of the brain
Forgetting: STM has a capacity of 5-9 pieces of Tulving (1994): different types of memory are stored in
, information. If this becomes full, information may be different parts of the brain. Got ptps to perform various
displaced. If too much time passes, then information tasks whilst in a PET scan.
decayed. Episodic: prefrontal cortex > right prefrontal
Semantic: prefrontal cortex > left prefrontal
Procedural: cerebellum and basal ganglia
Serial Position Effect: words are better recalled from
the beginning of the list = primary effect; words
rehearsed and transferred LTM
Words are better recalled from the end = recency effect;
words in STM at start of recall
Words in the middle = less good recall
Glanzer and Cunitz (1966): Condition 1= immediate
recall. Condition 2= distractor task (counting back in 3s).
Sperling 1960: tested the iconic SR. Ptps saw a grid of Corkin (1968): Corkin studied HM and HM was able to
digits and letters for 50 milliseconds. They were either store new LTM. HM was taught a new motor skill
asked to write down all 12 items or they were told they (tracking lines on a moving disk). Initial performance
would hear a tone immediately after the exposure and was poor but he gradually improved. Several days
they should write down the row indicated. When asked later, he was tested again. He was able to perform the
to repeat, recall was poorer (five items recalled = 42%) task as well as he previously could, although he had no
than when asked to give one row only (three items recollection of doing this before. HM could form new
recalled = 75%). Shows that information decays rapidly procedural memories.
in the SR.
Cohen and Squire (1980): argues that there are not
Scoville and Milner (1966): Case of HM – suffered three types of LTM, there are two types. Experimenters
from epilepsy and underwent brain surgery to remove disagreed with Tulving’s division of LTM. They accept
part of his temporal lobes and hippocampus. Alleviated procedural memories. However, they argue that
his epilepsy but left him with severe memory deficits. semantic and episodic are stored in one LTM called
Could not form new LTM, suggests hippocampus declarative memory.
may function as a memory gateway.
Shallice and Warrington (1970): Case of KF – suffered
brain injuries after a motorcycle accident. Intact LTM –
was able to learn new information and recall stored
information. STM affected – recency effect of only
one item. He had trouble with verbal STM but not with
visual STM. Multistore model oversimplifies STM and
doesn’t recognise there is multiple types of STM.
Jacobs 1887: Bahrick et al: + Evidence to support STM and LTM as different + Case study evidence to support different types of
Lab experiment so high levels of scientific control High external validity: everyday meaningful stores: Baddeley found that we tend to mix up words LTM: Clinical studies of amnesia (HM and Clive
Repeatable, reproducible, reliable memories were studied, so findings reflect a that sound similar when using STMs (STM coding is Wearing) showed both had difficulty recalling events that
Use of different ages can be used to generalise to more real estimate on duration of LTM. acoustic). But we mix up words that have similar had happened to them in their pasts (episodic memory).
all members of society. Ptps could of rehearsed beforehand meanings when we use LTMs. Shows LTM coding is But their semantic memories were relatively unaffected
Experiment is objective and measurable. Did not take place in a laboratory so lacks semantic. This supports the MSM’s views that these eg HM did not need the concept of dog explained to
Not generalisable to real life and lacks mundane ecological validity two memory stores are separate and independent. him. Procedural memories were also intact eg Clive
realism – no distractions CA: Despite support, the studies tend not to use could still play the piano. This supports the view that
Memory impairments eg brain damage everyday information. Therefore, the MSM may not be there are different memory stores in LTM because one
Intelligence can affect differences in results as Baddley 1966: a valid model of how memory works in everyday life store can be damaged but other stores are unaffected.
well as age High internal validity: Controls were in place to where memory tend to involve meaningful information. CA: Researchers lack control in clinical cases – they do
prevent extraneous variables not know anything about the person’s memory before
Research led to identification of two memory brain damage. Therefore clinical studies are limited in
Millers Magic 7: stores -More than one STM store: KF had amnesia. STM what they can tell us about different types of LTM.
Supportive of research by Jacobs Used artificial stimuli: limited application to real recall for digits was poor when he heard them, but much
Relied on a systematic and reliable procedure, world scenerios. better when he read them. Other studies confirm there
produced valid findings may also be a separate STM store for non-verbal -Conflicting findings about types of LTM and brain
Jacob’s research was done in the 1800s so may sounds. Therefore, the MSM is wrong to claim there is areas: Buckner and Petersen (1996) reviewed research
not have been well controlled just one STM processing different types of information. findings and concluded that semantic memory is located
in the prefrontal cortex and episodic with the right
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