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Outline and evaluate the multi-store model (12)
A01
Atkinson and Shiffrin argued that there
are three memory stores:
1. sensory store
2. short-term store
3. long-term store
According to the theory information from
the environment is initially received by
the sensory stores.
(There is a sensory store for each sense.)
Some information in the sensory stores is
attended to and processed further by the
short-term store.
In turn some information processed in
the short-term store is transferred to the
long-term store through rehearsal or
verbally repeating it. The more
something is rehearsed the stronger the
memory
trace in the long-term
memory.
The main emphasis of
this model is on the
structure of memory
on rehearsal
A02
Case studies support to the multistore model
Glanzer and Cunitz found that
when rehearsal is prevented, the
recency effect disappears.
There is evidence that encoding is
different in short term and longterm memory. For example
Baddeley
There are huge differences in the
duration of information in the
short term and long term memory
(Peterson & Peterson). (Bahrick et
al.)
oversimplified. (reductionist)
Active process:
PET scans
Outline and evaluate the working memory model
(12)
Amnesiac case studies Shallice &
Warrington (1974)
Episodic buffer was added by Baddeley in
2000
Baddeley (1986) found that
patients with damage to their
frontal lobe had problems
concentrating suggesting damage
to the central executive
(researcher biased)
Outline and evaluate the cognitive interview (12)
Outline and evaluate how a cognitive interview can
be used to improve the accuracy of eyewitness
testimony (EWT). (12)
Findings concerning the unreliability of
eye-witness accounts have led
researchers to attempt to devise
methods for improving retrieval. One of
these methods is the cognitive interview
(Fisher and Geiselman, 1992).
used by the police to enhance retrieval of
information from the witnesses memory.
The cognitive interview involves a
number of techniques:
mentally reinstate the environmental
and personal context of the crime
report the incident from different
perspective,
Recounting the incident in a different
narrative order. Geiselman & Fisher
proposed that due to the recency effect,
Witnesses are asked to report every
detail, even if they think that detail is
trivial.
Outline and evaluate research into the effects of
misleading information on eyewitness testimony.
Geiselman et al. (1985)
Aim: .
Method:
Results:
Conclusion
Loftus (1975)
The aim of this study was to discover the
influence of misleading information on
eye-witness testimony.
150 participants
Group 1:
Group 2:
A week later
17.3% of the group that were provided
with the misleading question, gave the
incorrect answer of ‘yes’. Only 2.7% of
the other group said ‘yes’.
- that misleading information can alter
the mental representation a witness has
of an event, consequentially reducing
their accuracy.
Eyewitness Testimony (Loftus and
Palmer) (1975):
AIMS:
PROCEDURES:
45 American students formed an
opportunity sample
This was a laboratory experiment with 5
conditions.
FINDINGS:
CONCLUSIONS:
language can have a distorting effect on
Eyewitness testimony, which can lead to
inaccurate accounts of witnessed events.
Geiselman (1985) compared
recall of some witnesses who had
normal cop interview with those
who had done a CI. Means:
Normal Cop Interview: 29 correct
statements Cognitive Interview: 41
correct statements. Supports the
idea that the CI improves recall,
perhaps by using cues and context
to tease out more detail from
witnesses
Hard to assess effectiveness as
CI is composed of several
techniques, and different police
forces have tended to use
different versions of it, making
comparisons difficult
CI can be time consuming, often
requiring more time to do fully
than police officers have
Geiselman and Fisher (1997)
found that CI works best when
used within a short time following
a crime rather than a long time
afterwards, Could limit their
usefulness if it takes too long to
find / interview witnesses
The research lacks mundane
realism,
It also differs from real life in that
the P’s knew that something
interesting was going to be shown
to them, and were paying full
attention to it.
- This research by Loftus and
Palmer is important in showing
that the memories of eyewitnesses
can easily be distorted.
- The P’s witnessed a brief film,
which may have contained much
less information than would be
available when observing an
incident or crime in real life.
Outline and evaluate studies that have investigated
the effect of anxiety on eyewitness testimony
Loftus (1979) The role of anxiety in
eyewitness testimony
Aim: To find out whether anxiety in
eyewitness testimony affected later
identification.
Procedure:
Findings:
Conclusion:
It was concluded that a weapon focuses
the attention and narrows the focus of
attention, resulting in accurate central
details but less accurate peripheral
details.
Supporting evidence by Loftus & Burns
(1982)
Participants were allocated to one of two
conditions.
1. Watched a violent short film where a
boy was shot in the head
2. Watched a non-violent short film of a
crime
Participants were less accurate in recall
when they saw the violent short film
than those who watched the non-violent
movie.
This demonstrates support for Loftus
(1797) as it shows that when people
witness anxiety provoking situations they
are less likely to recall accurately.
children and the accuracy of eye witness
testimony:
Outline and evaluate research into how age can
affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (EWT).
Children
Roberts and Lamb - they analysed 161
police interviews with children regarding
allegations of abuse. In 68 / 161 of the
interviews the interviewer
misinterpreted “in private” as “in the
privates” and in 2/3 of these cases this
remained uncorrected by the children.
Therefore, this research would suggest
that people of a young age do not have
accurate eye witness testimony.
Davies - found that differences between
child and adult interviews were
overstated and that children can provide
very valuable eye witness testimony as
long as care is taken during the
interviewing procedure. Therefore, this
research would suggest that people of a
young age do have accurate eye witness
testimony.
One weakness is that the majority
of research into anxiety and
eyewitness testimony is laboratory
based.
In addition to this laboratory
research is conducted in an
artificial situation, this means that
it may lack ecological validity.
Furthermore the participants may
recognise the expectations of the
research and may demonstrate
demand characteristics.
anxiety research raises ethical
issues.
The participants in Loftus (1979)
were deceived as they were led to
believe it was a real situation, this
it may have caused psychological
harm
.
Strength / Weakness - most of the
research is lab based meaning it is
replicable and scientific but is
lacking in ecological validity.
Research that is in the form of
naturally occurring phenomena
(Roberts and Lamb) has good
ecological validity but is not
scientific or replicable as variables
were not highly controlled and
because it is not artificial.
Weakness - the results could be
due to a number of factors such
as: young people may be more
used to memory tests or older
adults have poorer health leading
to memory impairment.
Weakness - the research findings
are inconclusive.
Weakness - the factors given by
researchers, such as the ones
stated, are only assumptions with
no scientific evidence.
Outline and evaluate research into how age can
affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (EWT).
The elderly
Describe and evaluate strategies for improving
memory.
techniques 1
Describe and evaluate strategies for improving
memory.
Techniques 2
the elderly and the accuracy of eye
witness testimony:
Cohen and Faulkner - they showed 70
year olds and 35 year olds a film of a
kidnapping then presented them with
misleading details before asking them to
recall what happened in the film.They
found that the 70 years olds were more
likely to be mislead than the 35 years
olds. Therefore, this research would
suggest that people of an old age do not
have accurate eye witness testimony.
Strength / Weakness - most of the
research is lab based meaning it is
replicable and scientific but is
lacking in ecological validity.
Coxon and Valentine - they asked
children (aged 8 ), young adults (aged 17)
and older adults (aged 70) questions
containing misleading information after
they had watched a video. They then
asked a further 20 specific questions to
assess whether they had accepted the
misleading information or not.They
found that the older adults were less
suggestible and were the only age group
not to show a statistically significant
misinformation effect. Therefore, this
research would suggest that people of an
old age do have accurate eye witness
testimony.
Weakness - the results could be
due to a number of factors such
as: young people may be more
used to memory tests or older
adults have poorer health leading
to memory impairment.
Acronyms E.g. ROYGBIV - To remember
the colours of the of the rainbow
Acrostics – E.g. My Very Easy Method
Just Speeds Up Naming Planets :
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
Rhymes – using the tune of twinkle
twinkle little star to remember the
alphabet
chunking (miller)E.g. Phone numbers
and post codes.
Hard to form an acronym that is
meaningful
Method of loci – learner associates
material to be learned with different
locations in a house, along a street ect.
Then the learner mentally retraces their
steps to recall the items
Key word method – used when
associating pieces of information E.g.
Learning a new language, the new word
is broke into components with images
created for each component that link to
English meaning
Mind maps – visual way of representing
material, the idea being that you
remember each part and remember
what it represents.
Research that is in the form of
naturally occurring phenomena
(Roberts and Lamb) has good
ecological validity but is not
scientific or replicable as variables
were not highly controlled and
because it is not artificial.
Weakness - the research findings
are inconclusive.
Weakness - the factors given by
researchers, such as the ones
stated, are only assumptions with
no scientific evidence.
Supporting evidence for
mnemonics – Bower et al
conducted a lab experiment. He
gave 112 words to learn. Recall
was 2-3 times better if the words
were presented in a organised
hierarchy rather than in random
order. Our memories naturally
organise themselves, using
mnemonics merely speeds up this
process
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When using visual aid,
once learnt the
technique can be used
regularly.
not everyone has the
ability to visualise, so the
techniques don't suit
everybody.