Memory Workbook

Name: _______________________________________________________

Group:_______________________________________________________

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The specification for memory (cognitive psychology)

Models of memory The multi-store model, including the concepts

of encoding, capacity and duration.
Strengths and limitations of the model
The working memory model, including its
strengths and limitations
Memory in Eyewitness testimony (EWT). Factors affecting
everyday life the accuracy of EWT, including misleading
information, anxiety, age of witness
Improving accuracy of EWT, including the use
of the cognitive interview.
Strategies for memory improvement

Lesson Plans: What We Will Be Covering

Multi-Store Model of Memory

o Sensory Register, Short-term Memory, Long-Term Memory
o Coding, capacity, and duration
Types of Long-Term Memory
o Episodic, Semantic, Procedural
Working Model of Memory
o Central Executive, Phonological Loop, Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad,
Episodic Buffer
o Coding and capacity
Explanations of Forgetting
o Proactive and Retroactive Interference
o Retrieval Failure due to the absence of cues
Factors affecting the accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony
o Misleading information
o Leading questions
o Post-event discussion
o Anxiety
Improving Eyewitness Psychology
o Use of the Cognitive Interview
Research Methods
o Experimental Methods
o Research Methods
o Selecting Participants and Sampling Techniques
o Aims and Hypotheses
o Experimental Design
o The role of Pilot Studies
o BPS Code of Conduct and Ethical Issues
o Reliability and Validity

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 o Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion
o Correlations and Interpreting Qualitative Data

Long and Short-Term Memory

Short term Memory: Short-term memory stores and allows recall of information for a
period of several seconds up to 30 seconds without rehearsal. Its capacity is very
limited.
Long term Memory: Stores and enables us to recall of information from the more
distant past. Its capacity is unlimited and duration is potentially a lifetime.

Short and Long term memory are different in 3 ways:

1) Duration
2) Capacity
3) Encoding

Duration
A measure of how long a memory lasts before it can no longer be recalled.

Short Term Memory Duration

Short-term memories do not last long. In order to keep information in our STM
for more than a few seconds, we will most commonly rehearse it (repeat it
over and over again, either aloud or in our heads) to keep it active.

Peterson and Peterson (1959)

1) Participants presented with a consonant trigram (3 random
consonants)
2) Asked to count backwards in threes to stop them repeating/rehearsing
the consonant trigram.
3) After intervals of either 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds, participants had
to stop counting and repeat the trigram.
4) Repeated using different trigrams

Results: Participants could remember about 90% of trigrams after 3

seconds, 20% after 9 seconds and about 2% when there was 18 second
interval.

Conclusion: Information decays (disappears) very quickly when you cant

rehearse it. The maximum STM duration is about 20 seconds.

Experiment Evaluation
- It is a lab experiment where variables can be tightly controlled. The
procedure can also be replicated to test if results are reliable.
- However trigrams are unrealistic things to remember. How often in life
do we have to remember meaningless consonant trigrams? It can
therefore be said the experiment has low ecological validity (the
findings may not apply to everyday life).
- Trigrams presented on earlier trials may have caused confusion when
participants came to remember trigrams in later trials.

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Since Peterson and Petersons study more research into the STM duration has
been done. The overall conclusion is that the STM maximum duration is
between 20-30 seconds without rehearsal.
Long Term Memory Duration

Bahrick et al (1975)
Tested how well 392 graduates American high school graduates could
remember their former classmates using tests like asking them the identify
pictures, matching names to pictures and recalling names with no picture
cue.
Results: Even after 48 years, when asked to link names and faces, accuracy
was at about 70%.
Conclusion: 30-50 years on participants were still able to remember their
classmates. This backs up the idea that long term memories can last a
lifetime. The study also showed that individuals cannot immediately access
all the information stored in their LTM- cues (n this case photographs) are
often needed to help retrieval.

Evaluation
- This was a natural experiment with meaningful material so has higher
ecological validity.
- Because it is a natural experiment the experimenter had less control
and its likely that some of the names had since been rehearsed e.g. if
classmates were still in touch or had been talked about since.
- It only looked at a very specific type of information- names of
classmates. This type of information is particularly meaningful and
regularly rehearsed. Obviously not all LTMs remain there for a lifetime.

Capacity
-Measure of how much information can be held in memory. LTM has a
potentially unlimited capacity, whilst STM has a very limited capacity.

Capacity of the STM

Jacobs (1887): developed the digit span techniques.
What is the digit span technique (also known as serial digit recall)?

Results: On average about 9 digits and 7 letters were correctly recalled. This
capacity increased with age during childhood (average digit span for 8 year
olds was only 6). This may because there is a gradual increase in brain
capacity and /or because people develop strategies to improve their digit
span, such as chunking. Digits may have been easier to recall as there are
only 10 digits to remember, compared to 26 letters.

Evaluation:
Jacobs research lacks ecological validity- learning random lists of numbers is
not a realistic test of STM. More meaningful information may be recalled
better, perhaps showing STM to have an even greater capacity. Also, previous
sequences recalled by participants may have confused them on later trials.

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Miller- 7+/-2
Miller (1956) reviewed experiments into the capacity of short-term memory
and concluded that it has a capacity of 72 items (the title of his famous
paper, "The magical number 72").

He also said that memory capacity can be increased through a process called
chunking. Miller found, for example, that people could remember 5 words as
well as they could remember 5 words. However, obviously the size of the
chunk is very important.
Types of Long Term Memory

Long-
term
memory

Declarat
ive Implicit
memory memory

Semanti Procedu
Episodic
c ral
memory
memory memory

For each type of memory, find a definition and give an example:

Declarative Memory:

Example:

Implicit Memory:

Example:

Semantic Memory:

Example:

Episodic Memory:

Example:

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Procedural Memory:

Example:

Exam questions

1) Outline 2 ways in which the STM and LTM differ (2 +2)

2) Outline one study which investigated the duration of the STM (4)

Quick quiz

1) In what 3 ways do STM and LTM differ?

2) What did Peterson and Peterson ask participants to remember?
3) How did they prevent rehearsal?
5) What was the shortest interval before they had to repeat the trigram?
6) What was the longest?
7) What percentage of trigrams could be remembered after 3 seconds?
8) What percentage after 18 seconds?
9) Peterson and Petersons test can be said to be unrealistic. What do
psychologists call this?
10) Who tested the ability of individuals to remember their
classmates?
11) In what country was the study conducted?
12) After how many years were participants still mainly accurate in
matching names to faces?
13) What test did Jacobs use to test capacity of the STM?
14) What is the STM maximum capacity now known to be?
15) What is the capacity of the LTM?

Encoding

How is information changed so it can be stored in the memory?

There are 3 possible ways information can be encoded:

Acoustic coding: storing information in terms of the way it sounds.
Semantic coding: coding information in terms of its meaning.
Visual coding: storing information in terms of the way it looks.

Research has shown that information is mainly encoded in short term

memory in acoustic (sound) form. Information is mainly stored in long term
memory on the basis of its meaning (semantics).

Evidence

Baddeley (1966)
Participants shown a sequence of 5 words under one of four conditions, and
then immediately had to write them down in order:

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 1) Acoustically similar word (e.g. map, mad, cad, cap, cat)
2) Acoustically dissimilar word (e.g. pen, cow, pit, day, sup)
3) Semantically similar words (e.g. tall, high, broad, wide, big)
4) Semantically dissimilar words (e.g. foul, thin, late, safe, strong)

Results: When tested immediately (a test of short term memory)

participants were least accurate with the acoustically similar words- they
commonly got them muddled.

When tested 20 minutes later participants were least accurate with

semantically-similar words.

Conclusion: Information is normally encoded acoustically in the STM (and

therefore we find acoustically similar words harder to remember) and
semantically in the LTM (and therefore we are more likely to make mistakes
remembering semantically similar words).

However information can be stored in the STM and LTM in other forms .e.g.
visually.

Activities:

The following statements all contain at least one mistake. Cross out the
mistake and correct the statement so it becomes true:

1) Peterson and Peterson used words to test the capacity of the LTM

2) H.M had a dysfunctional STM, although his LTM was intact and fully
functioning.

3) Bahrick et al found that people could still remember photos of high

school classmates 20 years later.

4) It has been proposed that the duration of the STM can be increased by
chunking.

5) Baddeley found that the STM tends to use a semantic code.

6) Baddeley found that the LTM tends to use a visual code.

7) The words cat and dog are semantically dissimilar.

8) The STM always uses an acoustic code.

9) Jacobs serial digit technique enabled him to establish the maximum

duration of the STM.

10) The STM capacity remains relatively stable over age.

Define the following key terms:

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STM:

LTM:

Capacity:

Duration:

Encoding:

Fill in the table below. Where relevant add the name of a study:

Duration Capacity Encoding

STM

LTM

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 Models of memory

The multi-store model

- Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

Memory involves a flow of information through a series of stages in a fixed

sequence. The multi-store memory is essentially what it says- a description of
memory in terms of 3 stores:
1 Sensory memory
2 Short term Memory or STM
3 Long term Memory or LTM

Draw a diagram of the model below:

Sensory Register

Sensory memory is the ability to retain impressions of sensory information

after the original stimulus has ceased. It refers to items detected by the
sensory receptors. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) proposed that there are three
separate sensory stores to accommodate different kinds of input:-
Iconic store is where visual images are kept for a short period. It is
important for our experiences as it helps us integrate our visual
experience.
Echoic store is where auditory senses are kept for a short period.
Estimate of the duration of echoic memory range from 250
milliseconds up to a few seconds.
Haptic store in sensory memory retains physical senses of touch and
internal muscle tensions.

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The sensory store is constantly receiving information from your senses (it has
a very large capacity), but most of this receives no attention and decays
within less than a second. If you pay attention to the information it moves
into the STM.

Information from the STM is transferred to the LTM only if that information is
rehearsed.

If rehearsal does not occur, then information is forgotten, lost from short term
memory through the processes of displacement or decay.

3 stores of the MSM

Store Capacity Duration Encoding

Sensory store

STM

LTM

Strengths of the multi-store model:

1) Can explain primacy and recency effects

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966):

They found words at the beginning and end of a list of about 20 words are
best recalled. Words in the middle are recalled least well- this produces what
is called a serial position curve. Draw the serial position curve below:

It was argued that we are more likely to remember words at the beginning of
a list because they are the first words we see, and we have enough time to
rehearse them. This increases the likelihood that they will move into the LTM.
This is called the primacy effect

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It is argued that we are more likely to remember words from the end of the
list as they are still held in our STM. This is called the recency effect.

Why are few words from the middle of the list remembered?

2) Case studies support the idea that STM and LTM are separate.

H.M was a patient studied by Milner (1966)

1) What parts of his brain were removed and why?

2) What were the consequences?

H.M could still recall a list of 6 numbers in order. This shows H.Ms short term
memory was still intact, but his surgery had left him unable to form long term
memories. If you can lose one but not the other they must be different.

Brain-scanning techniques have also supported the idea that long and short
term memories are separate stores. Beardsley used brain scanning to
investigate brain activity and found that the different parts of the brain are
active during STM and LTM tasks.

Weaknesses of the multi-store model:

1) The idea that all information needs to be rehearsed in order to

move in the LTM is an oversimplification. It doesnt take into account
that information more relevant to our lives is far easier to remember.
Similarly if we do not fully understand a piece of information no matter how
many times we rehearse it is unlikely it will stay in our LTM for a long period
of time.

Although we do sometimes use repetition to remember information, most of

the time this is not necessary- we remember lots of information we have only
been exposed to once.

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It is now understood that understanding material and processing it on a
deeper level is more important than simple rehearsal. This has lead to
changes being made to the original MSM, with the distinction being made
between maintenance and elaborative rehearsal. Maintenance rehearsal
just means repeating things, and is sufficient for keeping information in short
term memory. Although maintenance rehearsal can create long term
memories, elaborative rehearsal (involving deeper, more semantic analysis)
is more important.

-Kulik and Brown found highly emotional, significant or shocking events

(flashbulb memories) are easily stored in our long term memories without
any rehearsal.

2) Evidence suggests that the STM and LTM are not single stores.

It is now believed that STM can be divided up into at least 2 stores: one for
visual information and another for auditory information. In support patient K.F
sustained brain damage which left him with a severely impaired STM for
verbal information only (his visual STM showed no impairment). This suggests
that K.F had damaged just part of his STM and therefore that it is not a single
store.

-Evidence also suggests that LTM is not a single store as described by the
Multi-store model. Schacter et al (2000) suggests the following LTM stores:

-Semantic memory- for knowledge about the world, including about word
meaning
- Episodic memory- for past events in your life
-Procedural memory- for skills e.g. reading, riding a bike

Amnesiac patients typically have damaged episodic memories, but intact

procedural and semantic memories showing clearly that LTM must have more
than one store.

Weaknesses of studies supporting the MSM

-Most experiments supporting the model are unrealistic (low in ecological
validity), with participants asked to complete simple, unrealistic tasks, which
didnt test their memories in ways relatable to everyday life.
- Most of the studies have involved psychology students, who are willing
participants, but represent only a small group of the general population. Their
memories may be slightly different from other age groups.
- Lab experiments have the associated risk of demand characteristics.
Psychology students especially may be more likely to guess what the
experiment is about, and then maybe deliberately respond give answers that
they think the experimenter wants to hear.

Summary- the multi-store model: fill in the gaps

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The multi-store model of memory was first outlined by ____________ and
_________, and describes the memory in terms of ___ stores. Information first
enters the ________ memory from the _________, via the _______ and it is held
there for a maximum of 1 second, until it decays or alternatively, if __________
is paid to it, it enters the _______ _________ _________. The short term memory
has a capacity of _________ items only. It also has a short ________-
approximately 20 seconds maximum unless information is _________. If
information is ____________ enough it will eventually moved into the long term
memory, which has a potentially ___________ capacity. Information has the
potential to stay in the long term memory for a __________. It is ___________
here based on its meaning, in contrast to the short term memory where
information is encoded _____________.

Summary: the multi-store memory

By ____________________ and __________________

Describes the memory in terms of 3 stores

Questions
1) Jamie wanted to contact his doctor. He looked up the number in his
telephone directory. Before he dialed the number, he had a short
conversation with his friend. Jamie was about to phone his doctor, but he had
forgotten his number. Use your knowledge of the multi-store model to explain
why Jamie would not remember the doctors number (4)

3) A case study was carried out on Peter whose brain was damaged in a
motorcycle accident. Psychologists testes how many numbers he could
hold in his short-term memory. They did this by reading him lists of
numbers and asking him to recall the numbers immediately in the
right order. He could recall a maximum of 2 items. The psychologists
found that his LTM was normal

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 a) How was Peters STM after the accident different from most
adults STM? (2)
b) Does this case support the multi-store model of memory?
Explain your answer. (4 marks)

4) Outline one strength of the MSM (3)

5) Outline one weakness of the MSM (3)

Questions: STM, LTM and MSM

1) Define STM
2) Define LTM
3) Who lost his ability to form new LTMs but had an intact STM?
4) What are the 3 ways STM and LTM differ?
5) What is the duration of the STM?
6) Who showed this?
7) What did they ask participants to remember?
8) How did they prevent rehearsal?
9) What is the capacity of the STM?
10) What was Jacobs technique to test STM capacity called?
11) Who elaborated on this, and highlighted the importance of
chunking?
12) What is the capacity of the LTM?
13) What is the potential duration of the LTM?
14) Who showed this?
15) How is information encoded in the STM?
16) How is information encoded in the LTM?
17) Whose study showed these encoding differences?
18) What sort of words/letters are confused if stored in the STM?
19) What sorts of words are confused if stored in the LTM?
20) Who developed the MSM?
21) What are the 3 stores?
22) Where does information that enters the sensory store come
from?
23) What is the duration of the sensory store?
24) Why does only some information move from the sensory store to
STM?
25) How does information stay in the STM for more than 20
seconds?
26) How does information eventually move into the LTM?
27) What is the primacy effect?
28) What is the recency effect?
29) How H.M does supports the MSM?
30) What 2 aspects of the MSM are too simplistic?
31) Give some different types of LTM?
32) What was K.Fs problem?

The Working Model of Memory (Baddeley and Hitch)

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Baddeley and Hitch argued that the short term memory (as described by
Atkinson and Shiffrin) was too simple. They believed that the STM has more
than one store and does more than just passively store information.

The working memory (their alternative name for the short term memory) is
an active space which temporarily stores and manipulates information so
tasks can be carried out.

It receives information from the sensory memory and LTM and has 3 main
components:

1) Central executive

The central executive has overall control, directing attention to particular

tasks, deciding which of its slave systems are needed to complete them. It
has as a limited capacity and a short duration.

There are also 2 slave systems with different roles.

2) Phonological loop
Stores and rehearses word-based information. Can be subdivided into:
- Phonological store- stores the word-based information
- Articulatory process- rehearses the word-based information.

The phonological loop has a limited capacity and duration.

3) Visuo-spatial sketchpad
Limited- capacity stores and rehearses visual and spatial information. It has a
limited capacity and duration.

4) Episodic Buffer
A temporary store for information which integrates the visual, spatial and
verbal information processed by the other stores and records events that are
happening.

Draw a sketch of working-memory model below:

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 1) Outline the key features of the working memory model (6 marks)

2) A brain scan shows that one area of the brain is more active when a
person is doing a verbal task. However, when this person is doing a
visual task, a different area of the brain is more active.
(a) Explain how this could relate to the working memory model. Refer to
different parts of the working memory model in your answer (4)
(b) Give an example of an appropriate verbal task and an appropriate visual
task which could be used during the brain scan (1 + 1)

Strengths of the working memory model

1) It can account for dual-tasking- the fact that we can carry out 2 tasks
at once if one is auditory and one is visual.

However- we find it hard to do 2 tasks at once if both are visual or verbal.

This is because the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad have a
limited capacity. This was shown by.

Baddeley et al (1973):
Participants given a simple tracking task- to follow a light spot with a pointer)
whilst simultaneously also carrying out either:
1) A visual imagery task where they had to imagine looking at an angular
block capital letters such as H. T, F and E and answer questions about
their corners.
2) A verbal task

Results: Participants found it much hard to track the light and carry out task
1, than did they did task 2.
Conclusion: When participants simultaneously completed task 1, both tasks
were completing for the visuo-spatial sketchpad resources.

Why did they find it much easier to carry out, at the same time, the tracking
task and the verbal task?

Evaluation: the tasks set were not really real to life .i.e. this was a lab
experiment with low ecological validity

3) The working memory model accounts for case studies like K.F

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-K.F (studied by Shallice and Warrington, 1970) had working LTM but some
aspects of his STM were impaired. His STM for auditory information was worse
than for visual information, and for auditory information, it was only really
with verbal information (and not other sounds) that he had difficulties. It has
therefore been proposed that he had damaged his phonological loop.

Weaknesses of the working-memory model:

1) Exact role of the central executive remains unclear. It has been argued
that it allocates resources and is involved in directing attention. This is
very vague. It may consist of separate components.

2. It doesnt explain how the phonological loop and visuo-spatial

sketchpad communicate. Visual and auditory information may be
processed separately, but at some point information needs to be
coordinated, particularly when tasks have a visual and auditory
component.

4) The WMM is restricted to STM and says nothing about LTM. Will this is
not necessarily a weakness in itself, it would be helpful to know the
role of long term memory relative to working memory.

Model answers

Discuss one strength of the multi-store model (5 marks)

The main strength of this model is that it describe short term memory (called
working memory) in terms of more than one component. Specifically, as
well as the controlling central executive, Baddeley and Hitch outlined the
phonological loop (for auditory information) and the visuo-spatial sketchpad
(for visual information). This explains why it is possible to carry out a visual
and a spatial task at the same time; they each require use of a different
component of our working memory. It also explains the problems patient K.F
showed. After sustaining a brain injury, although he was able to form new
long term memories, his short term memory were damaged, but selectively
so, for he only had problems remembering auditory information on a short
term basis. Thus it was suggested that he had damaged his phonological
loop, with the remainder of his working memory, still, at least to some
degree, still intact.

Exam-style questions
1) Outline the main features of the multi-store model (5 marks)
2) Outline one strength of the multi-store model (4 marks)
3) Outline one weakness of the multi-store model (4 marks)
4) Outline the main features of the working memory model (5
marks)
5) Outline one strength of the working memory model (4 marks)
6) Outline one weakness of the working memory model (4 marks)
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 Summary- what you MUST know

1) A definition of memory, STM and LTM.

2) The capacity, duration and encoding for STM and LTM plus
associated studies.

Key studies: Peterson and Peterson, Jacobs, Bahrick, Baddeley

3) The features of the multi-store model (MSM)

4) The strengths of the MSM including the case of H.M and how
the model explains the serial position curve
5) The weaknesses of the MSM including how the idea of
rehearsal is too simplistic and how STM and LTM are likely to
have more than one component.
6) Definition of working memory
7) The key features of the WMM
8) The strengths of the WMM including how it explains dual
tasking and the case of K.F
9) The weaknesses of the WMM including how the role of central
executive is unclear.

Fill in the following chart

Multi-store model Working memory model

Developed
by:
3 key
components

Supporting
case study

Strengths

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Weaknesses

Question

Zac is playing a computer game which involves sorting coloured shapes that
appear on the screen. He has to capture the shapes and drag them to the
appropriate collection box. While he plays, he chats to Dan about a football
match. When he has completed Level 1, he moves on to Level 2. Here, the
shapes are replaced by words that have to be sorted according to their
meaning. Zac begins to make mistakes and so stops talking to Dan.

With reference to features of the working memory model, explain why

Zac can easily cope with Level 1 and chat to Dan but, when he gets to
Level 2, he cannot do both things at the same time. (6 marks)

Forgetting

Think of 3 examples of things you have forgotten recently. Why did

you forget? Did you eventually remember? What strategies did you
use to remember?

The Multistore model of memory states that LTM has an unlimited capacity,
and memories have a duration of potentially a lifetime. However, we know by
experience that we forget information stored in the LTM. But does that mean

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 the memories are gone (availability), or we just cant reach them
(accessibility)?

We are going to look at two theories:

1. Proactive and retroactive interference
2. Retrieval failure due to absence of cues.

Interference: one memory disturbs the ability to recall another. This might
result in forgetting or distorting one or the other or both. This is more likely
to happen if the memories are similar.

Proactive interference

Retroactive interference

Memory in everyday life

Retrieval failure due to absence of cues

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 This theory explains forgetting in the LTM as a retrieval failure: the
information is stored in the LTM but cannot be accessed. Forgetting according
to this theory is due to lack of cues.

Two types of cues:

Cues which are linked meaningfully to the information to be
remembered.
Cues which are not linked meaningfully to the information to be
remembered.

This theory proposes that when we learn the information we also encode the
context (external cues) in which we learn the information and the mental
state we are in (internal cues). These can act as cues to recall.

Context-dependent forgetting can occur when the

environment during recall is different from the environment
you were in when you were learning.

Aim: Godden and Baddeley (1975) investigated the effect of environment on

recall.

This study took place in Scotland.

Procedure:
18 divers from a diving club were asked to learn lists of 36 unrelated words of
two or three syllables

4 conditions:
a. Learn on beach recall on beach
b. Learn on beach recall under water
c. Learn under water recall on beach
d. Learn under water recall under water

Results:

What conclusion can we draw from this study?

State-dependent forgetting occurs when your mood or 21

physiological state during recall is different from the mood
you were in when you were learning.
Evidence for state-dependent forgetting

Goodwin et al. (1969). Forty-eight male medical students participated on day

1 in a training session and on day 2 in a testing. They were randomly
assigned to four groups.
Group1: (SS) was sober on both days.
Group 2: (AA) was intoxicated both days.
Group 3: (AS) was intoxicated on day 1 and sober on day 2.
Group 4: (SA) was sober on day 1 and intoxicated on day 2.

The intoxicated groups had 111 mg/100 ml alcohol in their blood .They all
showed signs of intoxication. The Participants had to perform 4 tests: an
avoidance task, a verbal rote-learning task, a word-association test, and a
picture recognition task.

Results:
More errors were made on day 2 in the AS and SA condition than in the AA or
SS conditions, however this was not the case for the picture recognition test.
The SS participants performed best in all tasks.

Write a conclusion for this study?

Evaluation of the cue-dependent forgetting theory

In pairs find at least 3 evaluation points
EVALUATION
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

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 Memory in Everyday Life
Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimony is a legal term. It refers to an account given by people

of an event they have witnessed.

Juries and police officers heavily rely on it. However, evidence has
consistently shown EWT is not always as trustworthy as it may appear.

Well et al (1998) reported on 40 cases in the USA where criminals convicted

on the basis of EWT were later cleared on the basis of DNA evidence. 5 of
these criminals had been on death row.

The accuracy of eyewitness recall may be affected during initial encoding,

subsequent storage and eventual retrieval.

Key question: How accurate/reliable is EWT?

Some cognitive psychologists, including Loftus, would argue not very.

Loftus has particularly focused on the effect of leading (misleading

questions),

A misleading question is a question that suggests to the witness what answer

is desired, or leads him/her to give a certain answer.

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Part 1
Participants shown video of car accident. Then asked a question about the
speed of the car on impact. One group of participants asked, how fast were
the cars going when they hit each other?

Other participants were asked the same question but the verb hit was
replaced with either smashed, bumped, collided or contacted.

What were the results of the experiment?

Part 2

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The experiment was repeated but this time only 2 verbs were used:

How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?
OR
How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?
(There was also a control group who were not asked a question)

One week later, all participants returned and were asked:

Did you see any broken glass?
There was no broken glass in the film.

Results: participants in the smashed condition were significantly more likely

to say they had seen broken glass.

What does this show?

Overall Conclusion: The verbs used in the experimenters questions were

misleading, encouraging participants to believe that cars were going faster or
slower than they really were. This is strong evidence that post-event
information (information supplied after an event) can affect memory.

On the basis of these experiments, one would conclude that EWT are not
reliable, as memories can so easily be altered.

Loftus and Zanni (1975)

Participants shown video of car accident and then asked questions. When
they were asked if that had seen a broken headlight, 7% of participants said
yes. 17% of participants said yes if they were asked if they had seen the
broken headlight, even though there was no broken headlight.

Conclusion: The word the was misleading as it implied there was a broken
headlight. The fact participants were affected by this suggests eye witness
testimony is not reliable and can altered by a single word in a question.

However- such a conclusion is made on the basis of lab studies of EWT which
have serious weaknesses

Weaknesses of lab studies into EWT

They lack ecological validity .i.e. do not reflect eye witness testimony in
real life. This is because:
1) Normally watching a video of an event- very different to watching a
real event in real time.
2) Watching a staged event on a video is not emotionally arousing.
Studies have shown small amount of anxiety increase accuracy.
3) No consequences. In real life EWT may have serious consequences.
This is not true for lab studies.

24
 4) Risk of demand characteristics- participants may guess the aim of the
experiment and give answers they feel the experimenter wants to
hear.

5) Many of Loftus key experiments involved student participants. This is

not a representative group (students may have better memories for
example) so we cannot generalize the findings. We can therefore say
that the sample has low population validity.

What about EWT in real life? Evidence suggests that in real life, post-
event information and misleading questions have far less of an effect on the
original memory.

Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

In this study witnesses of a real life incident (a gun shooting outside a gun
shop in Canada during which the thief was killed) were interviewed.
Thirteen of them were re-interviewed five months later. Recall was found to
be accurate, even after a long time, and two misleading questions inserted
by the research team had no effect on recall accuracy.

It was also found that those who had been most distressed at the time of
shooting were the most accurate

Conclusion: The study suggests that misleading questions may not have the
same effect in real life as has been found in laboratory studies (e.g. Loftus &
Palmer)

This does not mean that EWT in real life is reliable. Indeed, Wells and Olsen
reported that mistaken EWT was the largest single factor in convicting
innocent people. Psychological research, like that of Loftus, has been the
crucial in providing a scientific understanding how misleading information
may partly explain such faulty EWT.
Quick questions

1) In Loftus and Palmers (1974) experiment what did participants

observe?

2) What were participants asked to estimate?

3) What 5 different verbs were used?

4) Which verb was associated with the highest estimated speed?

5) Which verb was associated with the lowest estimated speed?

6) In part 2 were the 2 verbs used for the 2 experimental groups?

25
 7) How many days later were participants invited back?

8) What question were they asked?

9) Why was this a misleading question?

10) What was found?

11) In Loftus and Zannis (1975) experiment what key word was
changed?

12) What percentage of participants reported seeing the broken

headlight?

13) Who did Yuille and Cutshall interview?

14) How many people were interviewed 5 months after the incident?

15) What did these participants not seem to be affected by?

16) Who seemed to have the most accurate memory recall of all?

17) Bullet point below why Loftus lab studies can be criticized for
lacking ecological validity?

What are factors influence the accuracy of EWT?

1) Anxiety

Research on the effect of anxiety on EWT accuracy suggests that some

sometimes anxiety increases accuracy and sometimes it deceases it. These
contradictory findings can be explained by the Yerkes-Dodson law: medium
levels of anxiety/arousal enhance accurate recall, whereas high levels
decrease it.

Represent this law in graph form below:

26
Supporting the idea that high anxiety leads to poor recall.
Loftus and Burns (1982) - participants shown video where boy was shot in the
face. Participants had significantly impaired recall for the events leading up to
the incident. This supports the idea that recall is poor after participants have
seen events that cause high anxiety.

How could we evaluate this study?

An example of high anxiety: The Weapon focus effect

Loftus (1979) - participants sat outside a laboratory and heard one of 2
situations from inside
1) A friendly conversation followed by a man emerging with a pen.
2) An argument, with smashing glass and overturned furniture followed
by a man emerging with a blood stained knife.

All participants then had had to identify the man on the basis of 50 photos.

Results: Witnesses were 49% accurate in identifying the man with the pen,
compared to 33% accuracy with the knife.

Conclusion: Anxiety generated by the weapon diverted attention away from

the face of the man. This was called the 'weapon-focus effect'. Steblay (1992)
found in his meta-analysis of a variety of cases found that the presence of a
weapon significantly reduces the chances of a person accurately identifying
the person holding it.

Evaluation of study
Although Loftus study took place in a lab ecological validity was still
relatively high- participants werent aware they were taking part in a
study, and that the man who came out the room was an actor.
Because of this risk of demand characteristics was also quite low.
Ethics: did not get fully informed consent, and they were deceived.
There was also a risk of psychological harm.

However

Yuille and Cutshall (1986) found witnesses who had been most distressed at
the time of a real-life shooting in Canada gave the most accurate account five
months later. This suggest that high anxiety doesnt necessarily result in poor
memory recall.

27
Yuille and Cutshall study has the strength of being a naturalistic study-
participants had seen a real crime. However, the people who were likely to
have experienced the highest levels of anxiety were nearest to the
incident so would have been able to see more clearly what happened.

Outline and evaluate research into the effect of anxiety on the

accuracy of eyewitness testimony

It is generally understood that small-medium amounts of anxiety

increase EWT accuracy but high amounts- decrease EWT.
Outline study by Loftus and Burns which showed that high anxiety
decreases EWT accuracy.
Evaluate the study- ethics (risk of psychological harm). Low ecological
validity (only watching video .etc.).
High anxiety may also be caused by presence of a weapon, leading to
the weapon focus effect.
Outline method, results and conclusion of Loftus study on the weapon
focus effect.
Evaluate the study- higher ecological validity and minimal risk of
demand characteristics, ethics.
If you have time- refer to Yuille and Cutshalls study.
Conclusion- the accuracy of EWT can obviously be vitally important
and so taking into consideration anxiety is important when assessing
the reliability of eye witness testimony.

Example of A grade evaluation

Loftus and Burns study can be considered ethically questionable. This is

because participants were shown a potentially very distressing video which
could have caused psychological harm. The study can also be criticized on
the grounds of low ecological validity. Participants were only watching a
video of a crime which is very different to watching a crime in real life; this
means we cannot necessarily apply the findings to real eye witness
testimony. Finally, because it was a lab study there was a risk of participants
guessing the aim of the study and showing demand characteristics thereby
affecting the validity of results.

Questions

Why have findings into the effect of anxiety on EWT been described as
contradictory?

What does the Yerkes-Dodson model argue?

28
Why might some people criticize Loftus and Burns study? Suggest at least 2
reasons.

In Loftuss study what 2 different things did the participants see the man
carry?
Out of how many photos did the participants have to identify the man from?

Fill in the following: Witnesses were _____% accurate in identifying the man
with the pen, compared to _____% accuracy with the knife. This was argued to
be because___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Why could Loftus study be said to have higher ecological validity than Loftus
and Burns study?

Why does Yuille and Cutshall (1986)s study contradict the Yerkes-Dodson
law?

Exam question: What has research shown about the effect of age on
ETW accuracy (6)

For questions like this, it is generally best to start with an overview sentence
about the effect of age on EWT. Then back up your statement with evidence.

The Cognitive Interview

Originally developed by Geiselman et al (1984) the Cognitive Interview aims

to increase the accuracy of witness recall of events by providing them with
cues to help with retrieval.

29
Traditional standard police interviews have been criticized on for the use of
lots of brief, direct and closed questions. Witnesses can be often interrupted
and not allowed to talk freely. Geiselman argued such interruption can break
concentration and short answers generate less detail. He also argued that
recall is better when witnesses are provided with retrieval cues.

The alternative Cognitive Interview includes four principles for the

enhancement of accurate recall.

1) Context reinstatement.
Try to remember the context of the event in question. I.e. recall the scene,
weather, how you were feeling. Etc. This is intended to trigger memory.

2) Report everything:
Report all you can remember, even what may seem like trivial information.
The idea is that trivial information may aid in recall of more important details.
By allowing the witness to recall everything, interruption is also avoided.

3) Recall in changed order:

Report the event in different a time orders- from the end and moving back in
time. This may help because people will often remember what happened at
the end best. Working backwards may therefore trigger extra memories.

4) Recall from changed perspective

Try to describe the event from different people viewpoints, not just your own.

All these techniques are designed to enhance memory retrieval, with detail
designed to provide extra cues. The latter 2 techniques are based on the idea
that by remembering information from a different order or perspective, extra
information may be remembered.

As well as using one or more of the principles above, the interviewer should
also:
1) Minimize distractions
2) Should actively listen
3) Ask open ended questions
4) Pause after each response
5) Avoid interruption
6) Encourage use of imagery
7) Adapt their language to suit the witness
8) Avoid any judgmental comments.

Is the cognitive interview effective?

Gieselman et al (1985) showed participants videos of a staged crime and

then tested different groups with cognitive interview, standard police
interview, or an interview under the influence of hypnosis. He found that the
cognitive interview generated more information.

30
There is also evidence that as the cognitive interview not only generates
more information but also more accurate information

Gieselman et al (1986)
Method: In a staged situation, an intruder wearing a blue rucksack enters
and steals a slide projector from a classroom. 2 days later, participants are
questioned using either a standard interview or cognitive interview
procedure. Early in the questioning, participants were asked the misleading
question, was the guy with the green backpack nervous? Later in the
interview the participants were asked what colour the mans rucksack was.

Results: participants in the cognitive interview condition were less likely to

recall the rucksack as being green than those in the standard interview
condition
Conclusion: The cognitive interview reduces the effect of leading questions

Evaluating the cognitive interview

The cognitive interview technique has been less successful in improving

recall with children. Geiselman (1999) found that the technique lead to
children under 6 reporting events less accurately. This may be because they
find instructions difficult to understand. The cognitive interview is however
effective with children 8 years or above.

Weaknesses of the cognitive interview:

1) The CI can be very time consuming, with the amount of time

required not always available to the interviewer.
2) It requires that the interviewer receives a lot of training in order to
see results.
Memon et al (1994) reported that when experienced detectives received
relatively little training (4 hours) in CI, it did not produce any significant
increases in the amount of information generated compared to standard
interview techniques.

3) Many of the studies testing the effectiveness of the CI tested

volunteers EWT in a lab, which may not generalize to everyday life.

However it is difficult to test the effectiveness of the CI in the real world as

police tend to use it selectively .i.e. they use some of the principles but not
others.

31
Cognitive interview: summary

Weaknesses of standard interview:

1)

2)

Cognitive interview: Aims to provide cues to aid memory retrieval

4 principles:
1)
2)
3)
4)

Other features:

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Main strengths Main weaknesses

1.
1.Provides more detailed information-
shown by:

He found that the cognitive interview 2

generated more information than
__________________ and
_____________________________
3

2. Interviewees are less affected by

misleading questions- shown by:

who found that:

Past exam questions

32
Jenny was standing at a bus stop talking on her mobile phone. The weather
was wet and cold. Two men in the bus queue started arguing. One of the men
was stabbed and badly injured. Later that day the police questioned Jenny,
using a cognitive interview. They asked her to report everything she could
remember about the incident even if it seemed unimportant. Apart from
report everything, explain how the police could use a cognitive interview to
investigate what Jenny could remember. In your answer you must refer to
details from the passage above.
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
(4 marks)

An American space shuttle exploded soon after it was launched. All of the
astronauts on board were killed. Crowds of people were watching, including
friends and relatives of the astronauts. Six months after the explosion, a
student decided to investigate the accuracy of some of the eyewitnesses
memory of this event.
5 (a) Outline how the student could have used a cognitive interview to
investigate this event. Include at least one example of what the participants
would be asked to do.
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................

33
...........................................................................................................................
.................
(4 marks)

Explain why it might be better to carry out research into eyewitness

testimony in the real world, rather than in a laboratory.
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
(3 marks)

Research methods- Part 1

Different experimental methods

Laboratory experiments

1) Research is carried out in a controlled way.

2) The aim is to control all variables except on key variable, which is
deliberately changed (manipulated) to see what its effect is. The variable you
are changing is called the independent variable.
3) Dependent variables are changes that occur due to independent
variables .i.e. what is being measured/recorded.
4) For an experiment to be successful, the dependent and independent
variables must be operationalized .i.e. clear, specific and testable. For
example, if measuring aggression in children this must be testable .e.g. the
number of times the child shows displays a verbal or physical act of
aggression in a 10 minute period.
5) Extraneous variables are any factors that could affect your results. The
more extraneous variables there are the harder it is to make a conclusion.
The aim is to minimise extraneous variables as much as possible.

Advantages Disadvantages
1. Control- the effects of extraneous 2. Lack of ecological validity- because
variables can be minimized, so it is the setting is artificial experiments
easier for the experimenter to come may not be a reflection of real-life
to a conclusion. behaviour.
2. Replication- control means it is 2. Demand characteristics-

34
easier to replicate the study to test
the reliability of findings.
participants may either accurately or
inaccurately guess the aim of the
experiment and respond according to
what they think is being is
investigated.

A psychologists wants to investigate whether background noise affects our

ability to remember a list of words.
Think of a suitable way of testing this in a lab setting.

1) What would be the independent variable (what is being changed)?

2) What would be the dependent variable (what is being

measured/recorded)?

3) What extraneous variables would need to be controlled for/taken into

account?

Field Experiments

Behaviour is measured in a natural environment like a school or street. The

independent variable is manipulated by the experimenter (i.e. participants
are put into conditions) so that its effect can be measured.

Advantages
1. Higher ecological validity- field
experiments are less artificial than
those done in a laboratory, so they
relate better to real life.
2. Demand characteristics- these can
be avoided in a field study if
participants arent aware that theyre
in a study.
Disadvantages
1. Less control- it is harder to
minimize extraneous variables in a
field study, making it harder to come
to a conclusion.
2. Ethics- participants who didnt
agree to take part might experience
distress and cant be debriefed.
Observation must respect privacy.

A psychologist wants to test whether listening to background classical music

helps students to perform and learn better in mathematics classes. Outline
briefly a field study they could conduct to test this:

35
What would be the independent variable?

What would be the dependent variable?

What extraneous variables would need to be considered and controlled

where possible?

Natural experiments

A natural experiment is a study that measures variables that arent directly

manipulated (caused) by the experimenter, for example comparing behaviour
in a single-sex and mixed school. Effectively the experimenter is finding
participants who already meet the conditions of the experiment, rather than
allocating participants to conditions.

Advantages
1. Ethics- makes it possible to study
variables that it would be unethical to
manipulate e.g. you could compare a
community that has TV with a
community that doesnt to see which
is the most aggressive.
Disadvantages
1. Participant allocation- you cant
randomly allocate participants to
each condition, and so extraneous
variables (e.g. what area the
participants live in) may affect results
making it very difficult to reach
conclusions.
2. Rare events-some groups of
interest are hard to find e.g. a
community which doesnt have TV

Observation

Controlled observation- participants are observed in a controlled

environment.

Naturalistic observation- involves observing subjects in their natural

environment not interfering in any way with the participants.

Advantages Disadvantages
1. Ecological validity- behaviour is 1. Extraneous variables- cant control
natural and there are no demand variables that may affect behaviour.

36
characteristics as the participant is
unaware that they are being
observed.
2. Theory development- can be a
useful way of developing ideas about
behaviour that could be tested in
more controlled conditions later.
2. Observer bias- observers
expectations may affect what they
focus on and record. This may affect
the reliability of the results since
another observer may interpret
behaviours differently, leading to the
production of very different results.
3. Ethics- psychologists should only
conduct observations where people
expect to be observed by strangers.
This limits the situations where a
naturalistic observation can be
conducted. Debriefing and gaining
informed consent is difficult and
sometimes impossible.

Activity
A psychologist conducted an experiment into the effectiveness of spider
diagrams for learning material. 2 groups of students were given a list of
shopping items. 1 group of students were told to create an associated spider
diagram before learning the items. The other group of students were just told
to learn the material. 25 minutes later the students were asked 20 questions,
and the number of correct answers recorded.

What is the independent variable? (1)

What is the dependent variable? (1)

What experimental method was used? (1)

What is the advantage of using such a method in the context of this study?
(3)

What is the disadvantage of using such a method in the context of this study?
(3)

Name one extraneous variable that could possibly affect results (1)

Describe how this extraneous variable could have been controlled for? (2)

37
 Sampling Techniques

Sampling is a shortcut methods for investigating a whole population. Data is

gathered on a small part of the whole parent population and used to inform
what the whole picture is like. Sampling is used because there is not enough
time, energy, money, manpower, equipment and access to measure the
entire population. Therefore, an appropriate sampling strategy is adopted to
obtain a representative and statistically valid sample of the whole.

Random Sampling
Each member of the total population has an equal chance of being selected.
This selection can be done using random number generators or random
number tables.

Systematic Sampling
Samples are chosen in a systematic or regular way, for example, evenly
spatially distributed, at equal intervals or regularly numbered (every tenth
person).

Stratified Sampling
Stratified sampling is used when the population is made up of sub-sets of
known size, which can make up different proportions of the total. Stratified
sampling ensures that the results are proportional and representative of the
whole. Stratified sampling can be done randomly or systematically.

Opportunity Sampling
The researcher samples whoever is available and willing to be studied. For
example, researchers who work in universities often conduct their
experiments with students.

Volunteer Sampling
People actively volunteer to be in a study by responding to a
request/advertisement for participants.

Event Sampling
A series of short observations to confirm a pattern behavior and explore
causes and effects of behavior.

Time Sampling
Behaviour is recorded at regular pre-set intervals.

Complete the table:

Advantages Disadvantages
Random Sampling

38
Systematic Sampling

Stratified Sampling

Opportunity Sampling

Volunteer Sampling

Event Sampling

Time Sampling

Questions
1) Many publications such as Womens Own, Psychology today and
Cosmopolitan have done surveys on the sexual habits of their readers.
Readers are invited to send in a completed questionnaire (anonymously) to
the magazine. Think of at least 3 ways in which the sample so obtained can
be described as biased and the results therefore not able to be generalized to
the population at large?

2) What is an opportunity sample?

3) Name one difference between a volunteer and a random sample:

4) Why is an opportunity sample quicker than a volunteer sample?

5) An occupational psychologists wishes to find out how the employees in

a firm feel about new proposals for important reorganization within the firm.
The firm has 5 departments
a) Shopfloor workers: 60%

39
 b) Supervisors: 10%
c) Office staff: 20%
d) Buyers: 5%
e) Management: 5%

The total number of employees is approximately 1,000 and the psychologist

wants to use a sample of 50. How would she select a random sample form
the workforce?

6) Why in this circumstance may random sampling work whilst in other

psychological studies is completely unpractical?

7) How might this issue be addressed?

8) If the psychologist decided to use a volunteer sample, how might she go

about obtaining volunteers?

9) What would be a major disadvantage with using an event sample?

Demand Characteristics
Demand Characteristics
Any cue from the researcher or from the research situation that may be
interpreted by participants as revealing the purpose of the investigation. This
may lead to a participant changing their behaviour within the research
situation.

Social Desirability Bias

Occurs when participants act untruthfully in order to present themselves in
the best way possible, making the results less valid.

Experimenter Bias
The researcher may knowingly or unintentionally affect the responses of
participants through their speech, body language and/or actions.

Investigator Effects
When the investigator becomes too involved in the experiment and causes a
change in the results.

Research methods: part 3

Research Aims

An aim is a statement of a studys purpose- for example the Peterson and

Petersons study aimed to find out the maximum duration of the STM.

Although the aim states the purpose of a study it isnt usually precise enough
to test. What is needed are clear statements of what is actually being tested-
the hypothesis.

40
The null hypothesis is a prediction that the independent variable will not have
an effect on the dependent variable e.g. gender will not affect STM capacity
or that there will not be a relationship between 2 variables .e.g. there is no
relationship between hours spent studying and performance in a test.

The experimental hypothesis predicts that the independent variable will

impact upon the dependent variable or that there will be a relationship
between 2 variables.

At the end of the study, based on their research, a psychologist will either
accept their null hypothesis and reject their experimental hypothesis or vice
versa.

Example:
Baddely wanted to test if reading information aloud increased the capacity of
the STM.

Experimental hypothesis: participants who read digits aloud will recall a

greater number of digits than participants who dont read the digits aloud.

Null hypothesis: there will be no difference in the number of digits recalled

by participants who read digits aloud compared to those who dont read them
aloud.

As you can see hypotheses must be detailed and precise.

Activity
Think about the following aims could be investigated and then write a precise
and detailed null and experimental hypothesis:

Example:

Aim: to see if arranging words into categories helps people remember them
better:

Experimental hypothesis: That participants will be recall more items from

a shopping list where foods have been arranged into categories compared to
a list where items are in a random order.

Null hypothesis: That there will be no difference in the number of items

recalled from a shopping list where items have been arranged into categories
compared to a list where items are in a random order.

Look at the aims below. Think of an appropriate experiment and write an

experimental and null hypothesis. For the first 2 I have written either the
experimental or null hypothesis for you

1) Aim: to see if there is a link between TV and aggression in children.

41
Experimental hypothesis: There is a relationship between hours watched of
TV per week and the number of aggressive behaviours seen during a one
hour period of play in children aged 3-6.

Null hypothesis:

2) Aim: to see if old people are more susceptible to misleading questions

Experimental hypothesis:

Null hypothesis: Old people (aged 65-85) are no more likely to be affected by
misleading questions about a staged crime they have just watched compared
to younger participants (aged 25-45)

3) Aim: to see if the capacity of STM is affected by the presence of

background noise.

Experimental hypothesis:

Null hypothesis:

4) Aim: To see if girls spend more time on homework than boys.

Experimental hypothesis

Null hypothesis:

Directional and non-directional hypotheses

42
Directional (also called one-tailed hypothesis):

A directional hypothesis states the direction in which results are expected to

go. Typically it states which group will do better, for example a researcher
may predict that a group that get to rehearse a list of words will remember
more than a group which dont get the opportunity to rehearse.

Directional hypotheses are often used when previous research findings

suggest which way the results will go.

Non-directional hypothesis (also called two-tailed hypothesis):

A non-directional hypothesis would predict a difference, but doesnt give a

predicted direction .e.g. wouldnt say which group would do better. For
example a researcher may predict that gender has an impact on performance
in a maths test, but doesnt say which group would do better.

Non- directional hypotheses are used when there is a little previous research
in the area under investigations, or when previous findings are mixed or
inconclusive.

Activity

Decide whether the following hypotheses are one of two-tailed:

1) Alcohol affects reaction time

2) Men who have beards are perceived as older as clean-shaven men.
3) The quality of beer affects bar takings
4) Boys are more aggressive than girls
5) Children who eat more fruit and veg perform better in their A-levels
6) The faster you type the more mistakes you make
7) Individuals are more likely to obey a man than a woman.
8) Anxiety affects the level of adrenaline in the blood.

For the following hypotheses give the independent variable and the
dependent variable and state whether the hypothesis is one or two-tailed.
Remember the independent variable (or IV) is what the experimenter
manipulates (or changes) and the dependent variable is what they measure.

1) There is a difference in the speed with which people react to visual and
auditory stimuli:
-Directional or non-directional?
-IV:
-DV:

2) Drugs affect memory.

- Directional or non-directional?
-IV:
-DV:

43
 3) Bulls will charge more when presented with a red rag than when
presented with a blue rag.
- Directional or non-directional??
-IV:
-DV:

4) First children learn to speak earlier than second and subsequent

children.
- Directional or non-directional?
-IV:
-DV:

5) Social class affects IQ scores

- Directional or non-directional?
-IV:
-DV:

6) It is easier to remember items which are chunked together than it is

to remember individual unconnected items
- Directional or non-directional?
-IV:
-DV:

7) Stressful experiences increase the likelihood of headaches.

- Directional or non-directional?
-IV:
-DV:

Exam questions

A psychologist decided to investigate the impact of age on EWT accuracy.

Specifically she was interested in whether 17 year olds might recall more
information from a scene than 11 year olds. She decided to show the young
people a video of a crime scene. Afterwards she interviewed each person,
inviting them to recall all they could remember. She had a check list of key
features of the scene, which could be ticked off if mentioned accurately by
the participant.

1) Write a directional hypothesis for this study (2):

2) What experimental method was the psychologist using here (1)?

44
 3) What would be one strength of using this method in the context
of this study?

4) Suggest on sampling technique the psychologist could recruit

participants in this study:

Sampling technique
..........................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................
................................
Explanation of how it could be used to select the young people
...........................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................
................................................................................................
(1 mark + 2 marks)

Experimental Designs

There are three main research-designs:

Independent groups design:

This is where there are different participants in each group/condition. This
avoids the problem that if all the participants did the test in both conditions
any improvement in performance may be due to them having had a second
opportunity to complete the task (which would be an extraneous variable)

Repeated measures design

This is where the same participants are used in each condition. The
researcher can therefore compare the performances in each condition
knowing that the differences werent due to differences in the participants
(.e.g. one group happened to have a better memory than the other)

Matched-pair design
This is where there are different participants in each condition, but they are
matched on important variables (e.g. age, sex and personality)

Control groups
Some studies use control groups. These are groups which have not
experienced any of the manipulations of the independent variable that the
experimental group might have. This allows the researcher to make a direct
comparison between them.

45
 Advantages
Independent No order effects. Either:
groups design -getting better through
practice (learning effects).
- getting worse through being
bored or tired (fatigue
effects)
Repeated Participant variables- because
measures the same people do the test
design in all conditions any
differences between
individuals shouldnt affect
results.
Fewer participants are
needed to get the same
amount of data.
Matched pair No order effects because the
design same people are used in each
condition
Participants variables-
important differences are
minimized through matching
Disadvantages
Differences between people in
each group may affect the
results e.g. one group may just
happen to be composed of
individuals who have a better
memory
Twice as many participants are
needed to obtain the same
amount of data compared to
having everyone do both
conditions.
Order effects- any
improvements in later
conditions could be due to
practice rather than due to the
effects of the independent
variables. Alternatively
participants could perform
worse due to fatigue or
boredom.
Twice as many participants are
required compared to repeated
measures.
Practicalities: time-consuming
and can be difficult to find
participants who match.

The role of pilot studies

In order to help foresee any problems, a small scale pilot study can be
conducted first.

This should establish whether:

the design works (for example if the task too hard or too easy)
Whether the instructions are clear.
Whether technology/equipment works effectively.

Problems can then be addressed before running the main study, which could
save wasting time and money.

Exam question

A psychologist carried out an experiment using an independent groups

design. The psychologist wished to investigate the effectiveness of a strategy
for memory improvement. In one condition, participants were taught a
memory improvement strategy. In the other condition, participants were not
taught this memory improvement strategy. All participants were asked to
memorise 10 pictures of familiar objects. For example, the first was a doll, the

46
second was an apple. All participants were then given 50 pictures each, and
asked to select the original 10. The psychologist did a pilot study before
carrying out the experiment.

2 (a) Write a directional hypothesis for this experiment.

...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
...... (2)
2 (b) Explain what is meant by an independent groups design.
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
......... (1)

2 (c) Explain one strength and one limitation of using an independent

groups design.
Strength ..........................................................................................................
..................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
Limitation ........................................................................................................
..................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.... (2 +2)
2 (d) Explain why the psychologist did a pilot study.
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................
...........................................................................................................................
.................

47
...........................................................................................................................
.................
(3 marks)

Activity: Designing your own experiment

Below are three questions that a psychologist might want to investigate.

1) Does anxiety affect STM capacity?

2) Does caffeine improve reaction time?
3) Are people on the streets more likely to offer assistance to a woman
compared to a man?

Decide on how you would devise an experiment to investigate each of the

questions above and then write out the method to your experiment. As part
of this you should include:

1) A hypothesis and null hypothesis

2) The independent variable
3) The dependent variable.
4) What experimental method are you going to use?
5) Would it be better to use repeated measures, matched pair or
independent measures design? Why?
6) What extraneous variables might affect your results? How will you try
to control for them?
7) What sampling technique will you use to recruit participants?
8) Are you going to do a pilot study? What will you be looking out for?

Ethical Considerations in Psychological Research

All British psychologists should carry out their research under the BPS (British
Psychological Society) guidelines.

The British Psychological Society Guidelines in Summary

Informed Consent
Participants should know what they are agreeing to do and give real consent.

Deception
Should be avoided if possible. If participants are deceived, they should be
told the true aim of the study as soon as possible.

Debriefing
When participants know that have participated in a study they should get an
explanation quickly and should leave in at least as positive mood as when
they started.

Withdrawal
Participants should be told they can leave the study at any point regardless of
payment and be allowed to withdraw their data.

48
Confidentiality
Unless agreed with participants in advance, individual results and personal
information about them should remain secret and safe.

Protection
Participants should not be exposed to any physical or psychological harm
(greater than they would encounter in their usual lifestyle).

Privacy Observations
Privacy should not be invaded. If observation is non-disclosed it should only
be done where participants would expect to be watched.

Work with a partner to fill in the table

How this guideline could How this guideline can
be violated be upheld
Informed Consent

Deception

Debriefing

Withdrawal

Confidentiality

49
Protection

Privacy Observations

Reliability/Validity and Controlling the Effect of Extraneous Variables

Reliability

Refers to how consistent a study or measurement is. A measurement is said

to be consistent or reliable if the measurement can produce similar results if
used again in similar circumstances. There are two types: internal and
external reliability.

Internal Reliability
Refers to the internal consistency of a test/experiment. E.g. in a questionnaire
testing aggression do participants get consistent scores throughout the study.
For questionnaires, to test this sometimes the split-half technique is used. A
questionnaire is randomly split into two- if all participants score similarly on
both halves, we can say internal reliability is high.

External reliability
If the experiment was repeated would the experimenter gain the same
results? This can be assessed using the test-retest method.

Inter-rater reliability
Concerns whether 2 observers or interviewers come to similar conclusions.
For example, do 2 observers agree on a childs attachment type?

Validity

The extent to which a study measures what it is supposed to measure. Can

be divided into internal and external validity, but there are three other sub-
types of validity: face validity, concurrent validity and content validity.

Face Validity (a type of internal validity)

The extent to which items look like what the test claims to measure.
Example:

50
Content Validity (a type of internal validity)
How well a test measures the behavior for which it has been intended.
Example:

Concurrent Validity (a type of internal validity)

The extent to which performance on a measurement is related to current
performance on a similar, previously established measurement.
Example:

Temporal Validity (a type of external validity)

How relevant the time period of in affecting the findings.
Example:
How to Ensure your Experiment has Internal Validity I.E. How to
Control Extraneous Variables

Recap:

Extraneous Variable
Any variable other than the IV that may have an effect on the DV if it is not
controlled. They are nuisance variables that do not change with the IV.

Confounding Variable
Any variable other than the IV that may have affected the DV so we cannot
be sure of the true source of the changes to the DV.

Highlight the differences and similarities between extraneous and

confounding variables

Counterbalancing:

If an experimenter is using a repeated measures design the participants may

perform better the second time because of practice or worse due to fatigue.
This is called order effects.

This can be overcome through counterbalancing half the participants can do

task A first, and the other half task B first. That way order effects will cancel
each other out.

51
 Random Allocation

Randomly dividing the participants into each experimental condition (each

participant has an equal chance of being allocated to each group) to reduce
any bias in the distribution of participant characteristics.

Randomization
Participants are assigned by chance, rather by choice to either the
experimental or the control group.

Standardization

A set of consistent procedures to treat participants in an experiment. May

include instructions that are standardized to ensure that each participant
receives the same information without variation.

Activity: Answer the Following Exam-Style Questions

In order to investigate encoding in memory, an experimenter gave

participants two lists of words. List A contained 10 acoustically similar words
and List B contained 10 semantically similar words. Each participant read
aloud List A and then recalled the words in the list. Then each participant
read aloud List B and recalled the words in this list. The number of words
correctly recalled in each condition was recorded and compared to see
whether participants remembered more words from List A or from List B.

1) What would be independent variable in this study? (1 mark)

2) What would be the dependent variable? (1 mark)

3) What is meant by an extraneous variable? (2 marks)

4 (a) Which type of experimental design was used in this investigation?

(1mark)

4 b) Identify one flaw in the design of this investigation and explain how the
experimenter could have overcome this flaw (3 marks)

6 ) Psychologist showed participants 100 different cards, one at a time. Each

card had two unrelated words printed on it, eg DOG, HAT. Participants in one

52
group were instructed to form a mental image to link the words. Participants
in the other group were instructed simply to memorise the words. After all the
word pairs had been presented, each participant was shown a card with the
first word of each pair printed on it. Participants were asked to recall the
second word. The following results were found.

Number of words recalled

Mental Image Group Memorising Group
Mean score 80 45

(a) What is the independent variable (IV) in this study? (2 marks)

(b) What is the dependent variable (DV) in this study? (2 marks)

(c) What experimental design was used in this study? (1 mark)

(d) Explain one strength of this experimental design in the context of this
study (2)

(e) Explain one weakness of this experimental design in the context of

this study (2)

(f) Explain how a psychologist could find out whether these results are
reliable (2)

(g) Suggest one possible extraneous variable in this study.(1 mark)

(h) Suggest one way in which the students could control for this
extraneous variable.(2 marks)

Data Analysis: Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative data?

53
 What sorts of studies/experimental techniques would involve qualitative
data?

What are the benefits of quantitative data?

When a researcher is dealing with quantitative data, typically they will want
to identify the central tendency in the data (the middle or centre). There are
3 measures of central tendency available: mean, mode and median.

Measure of Description Advantages Disadvantages

central
tendency
Mean Adds up the total Most sensitive measure Can be distorted by
scores and divides by of central tendency, extreme scores with the
the number of people. taking all the scores consequence that it
into account. becomes
unrepresentative of the
data.
Median The middle score after Unaffected by extreme Unlike the mean, only
the data is ordered. scores. takes one or two scores
into account- the middle
value(s).

Mode The most frequently Unaffected by extreme Only takes the most
occurring score. scores common score (which
may not be
representative) into
account.

As well as central tendency is it also important to also use measures of

dispersion. This tells you how much variation there is in the data (.i.e. how
spread out it is)

There are 2 measures of dispersion: Range and Standard deviation

What is the range and how is calculated?

54
More commonly the standard deviation is used because (unlike the range) it
takes all the data into account. Standard deviation shows how much variation
or "dispersion" exists from the mean (.i.e. how spread out the data is. A low
standard deviation indicates that the data points tend to be very close to the
mean, whereas high standard deviation indicates that the data points are
spread out over a large range of values.

If most data is close to the mean then the standard deviation will be ________.
It much of the data is far from the mean then the standard deviation is
_________. If all the data values are equal then the standard deviation will be
________.

To calculate the standard deviation of these numbers: 9, 2, 5, 4, 12, 7, 8, 11.

1. Work out the Mean (the simple average of the numbers)
2. Then for each number: subtract the Mean and square the result
3. Then work out the mean of those squared differences.
4. Take the square root of that and we are
done!

Measure of Advantages Disadvantages

dispersion
Range Quick and easy to Easily affected by extreme
calculate scores. Does not take all the
data into account.

Standard deviation It takes all the data into It can be affected by

account, so it a more outliers/extremes values.
sensitive measure of
dispersion.

1) Draw a pie chart to show the following results with an appropriate

title. A psychologist wanted to see what flavor ice-cream 100
students preferred. Calculate their percentages first. 22 students
liked vanilla, 23 students chose chocolate, only 10 people picked
strawberry, 15 students liked mint and 30 students preferred
other flavours.

55
 2) Work out the mean, median and mode for the following sets of
data:
a) Group A: 10, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100

Mean:

Median:

Mode:

b) Group B: 35, 40, 45, 50, 50, 60, 60, 65, 70, 75

Mean:

Median:

Mode:
3. In order to work out the standard deviation you need to know the mean
score.
- 1 standard deviation above or below the mean score stands for 68%
of the population (34% above the mean and 34% below the mean)
- 2 standard deviations above or below the mean score stands for
27.2% of the population (13.6% above and 13.6% below)
- 3 standard deviations above or below the mean score stands for
4.8% of the population (2.4% above and 2.4% below)

Draw the above on a graph.

4. What is the range of scores 2 standard deviations below and above the
mean if the mean is 25 and the SD is 4?

56
5. What is the range of scores 1 standard deviation below the mean if the
score is 33 and the SD is 5?

6. Two groups of patients took part in a trial to compare the effectiveness of

two different drug therapies. One of the groups was given Drug A and the
other group was given Drug B. All patients completed a rating scale at the
start of a ten-week course of treatment and again at the end of the course.
This scale measured the severity of symptoms.

The Drug A group had an average score of 9 before the therapy and an
average score of 4 at the end of the course. The Drug B group had an
average score of 7 before the therapy and an average score of 5 at the end
of the course. Sketch and label a bar chart to illustrate the data.

Correlations

Correlation is a measure of the relationship between 2 variables e.g. hours of

revision and performance is a test.

Once data has been collected, a correlation coefficient is calculated. This is a

number between -1 and +1 and shows:

1) How closely the variables are linked. If the correlations coefficient is

close to +1 or -1 then they are closely related. If it is close to 0 is
suggests that there is no relationship.
2) The type of relationship. A positive correlation coefficient (between 0
and +1) means that as one variable rises, so does the other, whilst a
negative correlation (between -1 and 0) means that as one variable
rises the other falls.

In the exam you can describe correlations as strong, weak or moderate.

Advantages of Correlations Studies

1) Correlational research doesnt involve controlling any variables, it can
be used when, for practical or ethical reasons, a controlled experiment
is difficult or impossible (.e.g. an experiment into the effects of
smoking on humans)
2) Correlational analysis can then give ideas for future, perhaps more
controlled, research.

57
Limitations of Correlational Studies

1) Correlational analysis cant establish cause and effect relationships- it

can only show that theres a relationships between the variables.

Variables can be related without changes in one causing changes in another-

a third variable may be involved. Only a controlled experiment can show
cause and effect.

E.g. there may be a positive correlation between ice-cream sales and

numbers of deaths by drowning. This does not mean that ice-cream itself
leads to more drownings.

2) Care must be taken when interpreting correlation coefficients- high

correlation coefficients could be down to chance.

Correlations: Activities

A recent study recorded the amount of time that children spent in day care
from birth to four years, and asked each childs mother to rate her child for
aggression and disobedience. The study found that, as the time spent in day
care went up, the mothers rating of aggression and disobedience also went
up.

1 a) What kind of correlation is this research showing? (1 mark)

b) Outline one strength and one weakness of using correlational research

to investigate
the effects of day care. (2 marks + 2 marks)

c) Suggest one sampling technique the psychologist could use to obtain

participants (1)
d) How could she use this technique in practice?
e) Suggest 2 ethical issues the psychologist would have to be aware of in this
study (2 + 2)

More exam style questions

1) Outline 2 principles of the cognitive interview and explain why they are
argued to enhance recall (2+2)

2) A psychologist wants to test the effectiveness of the cognitive

interview in eliciting detailed EWT. In his experiment all participants
watch a short video of a kidnapping. Three days later, one group of
participants were asked a series of direct, closed questions. The other
group of participants were interviewed using the cognitive interview,
with a focus on using the principles of context reinstatement and

58
 report everything. As they were being interviewed, a checklist of
details from the video was ticked off as item was accurately recalled.

a) What is the independent variable (1)

b) What is the dependent variable (1)
c) Which experimental method was used here (1)
d) In the context of this experiment, what would be a strength of using
such a method (2)
e) What would be a weakness (2)
f) What experimental design was used
g) In the context of this experiment what would be strength of this
method? (2)
h) What would be a weakness? (2)
i) Explain how interviewer effects could impact upon results (3)
j) How could the experimenter minimise the risk of interviewer effects?
(2)
k) How might this weakness be addressed? (2)
l) Outline one ethical issue the experimenter should consider (1)
m) How could they go about addressing this ethical issue?

Homework

Homework 1: STM and LTM

1) Define short term memory (2 marks)

2) Define long term memory (2 marks)
3) Describe one study (.i.e. outline method, results and conclusion) which
explored the duration of the STM (5 marks)
4) Referring to experimental evidence, compare the way information is
encoded in the STM and LTM (5 marks)
5) A psychologist wanted to compare STM capacity in adults (aged 25-30)
to children (aged 5-10)

59
 a) Suggest one method he could use to measure the capacity of the
STM (3marks)
b) What do you expect the psychologist to find? Justify your answer (3
marks).

Homework 2: MSM

1) Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory (12 marks) - essay
plan provided in booklet.

This is an essay question show should be about a page long. 6 marks are
given for outlining/description and 6 marks given for evaluation (discussion of
strengths and weaknesses).

2) Jamie wanted to contact his doctor. He looked up the number in his

telephone directory. Before he dialed the number, he had a short
conversation with his friend. Jamie was about to phone his doctor, but he
had forgotten his number. Use your knowledge of the multi-store model to
explain why Jamie would not remember the doctors number (4)

3) The multi-store model of memory has been criticized in many ways. The
following example illustrates a possible criticism.

Some students read through their revision notes lots of times before an
examination, 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 multi-store model of

memory (4 marks)

Homework 3: WMM

1) Outline and evaluate the working memory model of memory (12

marks)

2) A brain scan shows that one area of the brain is more active when a
person is doing a verbal task. However, when a person is doing a visual
task, a different area of the brain is more active.
a) Explain how this could relate the working memory model. Refer to
different parts of the working memory model in your answer (4)
b) Give an example of an appropriate visual and an appropriate verbal
task which could be used during the brain scan (1 + 1)

3) 1 (a) Which two from the following are features of the working memory
model.

A Serial position curve

B Incidental learning store

60
 C Central executive
D Phonological loop

Homework 4: EWT Accuracy

1) Outline and evaluate studies which have investigated the effect of

misleading questions on EWT. (12 marks-see essay plan)

2) Explain why studies of eyewitness testimony have been criticized as

lacking validity (5 marks)

3) One of the questions below is a leading question. Identify which is a

leading question,
A or B, and explain why it is a leading question (3 marks)
A .Did you see a man crossing the road?
B .Did you see the man crossing the road?
4) What has research shown about the effect of anxiety on EWT accuracy
(6)

Homework 6: Cognitive Interview

1) Trevor is a policeman. He is concerned that eyewitness statements he has

taken have proven to be incomplete and sometimes contained false
elements. When he interviews witnesses he generally asks lots of short,
closed questions. Because he is always busy, he avoids asking general
questions and tends to interrupt if witnesses dont recall what he wants to
know immediately. He claims his habit of asking questions in no particular
order keeps witnesses on their toes and stops them elaborating on what
has really happened.

Identify the problems with Trevors current method of interviewing

witnesses and suggest changes he could make to improve the accuracy of
EWT (6marks)

2) Explain how a cognitive interview differs from a standard interview (4

marks)

3) Outline weaknesses of the cognitive interview (4 marks)

4) In an experiment, participants watched a video of a robbery. Afterwards

they were interviewed using either the standard interview or the cognitive
interview
a) What experimental design was used in this experiment (1 mark)
b) Explain one limitation of the design that was used in this method (2 marls)
c) Participants in the standard interview were asked to describe what
happened in the film. Suggest one way in which participants in the cognitive
interview condition could have been asked to recall what happened (3 marks)

Exam-style questions

61
Some psychology students read about an experiment which suggested that
organisation is a useful strategy for improving memory. The students carried
out an experiment to investigate the effects of organisation on word recall.
They made up a list of 50 items that could be bought in a supermarket. The
participants were teachers at their school. One group of participants saw the
words organised into categories such as fruit, vegetables, dairy products and
cleaning materials. The other group saw the same words presented randomly.
The results are given in Table 1 below.

Table 1 The number of words correctly recalled by participants who

saw the organised
Organised list Random list
20 15
15 13
18 19
45 14
24 20
23 10
28 21
21 6
25 22
30 25
Measure of central
tendency
Measure of
dispersion

1(a) Write a directional hypothesis for this study.

(b) Identify a suitable measure of central tendency that could be used with
these data. Justify your answer. (2 marks)
(c) Why is helpful to calculate a measure of dispersion alongside a measure
of central tendency? (2 marks)
(c) Suggest a suitable measure of measure of dispersion and justify your
answer (2 marks)
The psychology students decided to use a volunteer sample. Suggest one
way in which this sample could be obtained. (2 marks)
(d) Suggest one possible extraneous variable in this study.(1 mark)
(e) Suggest one way in which the students could control for this extraneous
variable. (2 marks)

2) It is argued that encoding in STM is mainly acoustic. In an experiment to

investigate
this, a psychologist compared participants recall of the following two lists of
letters.
List 1 BVTCDGEP
List 2 MRWLZYQA
All participants were read List 1 and then, after recalling List 1, were read List
2 and

62
asked to recall it. The data was recorded in the table below and the number
of correctly recalled letters for each list was compared.

(a) Examine the letters in each of the lists and explain why the investigator
selected
the letters in each list. (3 marks)

For each participant, the number of correctly recalled letters for List 1 and
List 2
was entered on a table of results.

Participants Number of letters Number of letters

recalled from List 1 recalled from List 2

1 4 7
2 3 5
3 4 5
4 6 8
5 7 7
6 3 7
7 5 6
8 3 5
9 6 7
10 8 7

b) Suggest a measure of central tendency that would appropriate for this

study and justify your answer (2)
c) Calculate the range for the 2 conditions (2).
d) What is a weakness of using the range as a measure of dispersion (2)
e) What experimental design was used in this study (1)
f) Suggest why the experimenter may have chosen this design (2)
g) In the context of this study, what would be a weakness of using this
design? (3)
h) How could the experimenter go about overcoming this weakness? (2)

Possible essay questions for memory:

1) Outline and evaluate the multi store model

2) Outline and evaluate the working memory model
3) Outline and evaluate research into the effects of misleading
information
4) Outline and evaluate research into the effects of anxiety on
EWT accuracy
5) Outline and evaluate research into the effects of age on EWT
accuracy
6) Outline and evaluate the cognitive interview.

63
 Working Memory Model word search

AUDITORY STORE
BADDELEY
CENTRAL EXECUTIVE
PHONOLOGICAL LOOP
VISUO-SPATIAL SKETCHPAD
WORD LENGTH EFFECT

D C B O D W F Q J Z V M E U X A Q T L J B H L E M M B L X Z
G A B Z O L V Y D M M S U U G S F P N S R Y V U N U H R F A
B K P E Y W K E H H G O R V T X C C J Y K I H X M X V F T P
M P D H G H Y V C H P Z K C C B S V J J T W I B X T S H K V
X M S K C T L K S D X M K L Z O N G F U E I J O G Q W A E H
T Z R A M T J C I A P E W A Z B V Y C E V B D D I L O I R S
X D B M B J E G K Y A Q M J U F G E Q J G F N S K J Q U F F
Q K S Y Y F O K Z L D L K V F D X Y C P N E S W Q J C E U B
Y K Z U R I X H S R A B M N T E I L X S B G P N B X X H C F
T N M D A U P H J L N F C C L D E T B J M Z C Q L F R L S N
L G F L S T G C W F A E I A G B I M O Y A Y Q N Q O R W D N
W N A V K R G C U C O I R U A B R Y O R L S I A J E S U K F
P K O W B N N H C T F T T D K E I K I E Y J H U W L X W Z C
O Y Y O E O T L X R N U D A I R M F E J M S Z C L Z N Q R B
O C V Q R D I J F E R E H C P L A T M C Z I T P K H X Q J F
L R Q O M S K Z C I L G X H Y S S T K E S V X O I L P I I B
L B B C W K B I A E V I C C M A O J P S Q Z R Q R I R M W V
A R D F Q E C U Y U D B T R L N G U O R E L Y D L E Z N A A
C X U A X K T S N W U O O O Q J Z W S F M L D O K B L K V G
I W A P Z X V A A B R Q X L R U K I A I V H A J X W Z K B V
G W L R P E F Y P N R F R O S U H Z Z W V W G L T L C Q I L
O W T Y S S E C O R P L O R T N O C Y R O T A L U C I T R A
L Q A Y K M T T A Y W C S T Y O T S Z X L N E S C U A Q I G
O N S O N G D J R J I L J J A I C O U H P A O Q W N M Y Z H
N C K Q M I T V U U D L D W G K H K Q K E M O O D O V Q T J
O N G Y V I O D E T Z V M Y J I K I G U Y A L N X A Z J D A
H W O R D L E N G T H E F F E C T A Q L B H Z I X O U G J Q
P O G V H U J H P X W K R Q G Y G J T K A B E W R E R E U Z
Z I L B Y C J A F X E R C C F A X D A D H I S N Z U C N U K
L G S K C I N Z S P I A Q C O K H I J Y S Q B H P G N F B P

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 Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory

1) By Atkinson and Shiffrin.

2) Describe the model- the 3 stores (including the capacity and durations)
and how information moves between the stores.
3) Strengths of the model:
Makes a distinction between STM and LTM. This accounts for:
-Studies which show that the STM and LTM have different capacities
and durations.
-The case of H.M- if you can lose your LTM but have your STM still
intact the 2 must be separate.
- Explains the primacy and recency effects- when given a lots of words,
individuals are more likely to remember words at the beginning of the
list (because theyve been rehearsed so moved into the LTM) and end of
the list (still circulating in the LTM).

4) Weaknesses of the model:

- Argues that information only moves from the STM to the LTM through
rehearsal. This is too simplistic. Elaborative rehearsal i.e.
understanding meaning and processing information on a deeper level
is far more important. Information being of relevance and/or evoking
strong emotional reactions also sometimes makes rehearsal
unnecessary.
- STM and LTM are not single stores- seem to be made up of multiples
stores. STM seems to be subdivided into visual and verbal STM.
Supported by case of K.F who selectively lost his verbal STM. People
with amnesia have selectively lost their episodic LTM.

Outline and evaluate the working memory model of memory

1) By Baddeley and Hitch, the working memory model focuses only on

short term memory which they argue is an active space where tasks
are carried out. Receives information from the senses and the LTM.
2) Argues the STM has 3 stores:
- Central executive: coordinates the working memorys activities.
Directs attention and decides which slave system should be allocated
the task.
- Phonological loop: stores and rehearses word-based information. Can
be divided into phonological store (which stores the information) and
the articulatory process (which rehearses the information)
- Visuo-spatial sketchpad: stores and rehearses visual and spatial
information.
All 3 stores have a limited capacity and duration.

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 3) Strengths of the model:
Makes a distinction between visual and verbal STM. This explains:
-The nature of dual-tasking: we can carry out a visual and verbal task at
the same time, but not 2 visual nor 2 verbal since both stores have a
limited capacity.
-The case of K.F- he selectively damaged his verbal STM.

4) Weaknesses of the model:

- No scope for communication between the phonological loop and visuo-
spatial sketchpad which would be necessary for tasks with a visual and
verbal component.
- Role of central executive: vague.

Outline and evaluate research into the effects of

misleading questions

1) Many laboratory studies, especially those of Loftus have suggested

that eye witness testimony is unreliable in that peoples original
memories are easily altered by post-event information including
misleading questions.
2) Outline 2 studies which show this. Must outline the method, results
and state the conclusion.
3) However, most studies that would lead us to question eye witness
testimony reliability are lab studies with low ecological validity.
- Participants typically watch a staged incident on a video.
- Lower emotional arousal, with experiments suggesting that small-
medium anxiety increases accuracy.
- Lack of consequences.

Also, risk of demand characteristics

4) So, is eye witness testimony more reliable in real life? Refer to Yuille
and Cutshall (1986)s study- interviewed 16 people who had witnessed
an armed robbery 4 months after the event and included 2 misleading
questions. Participants were not affected by the misleading questions.

5) Conclusion: laboratory studies suggest eye witness testimony is

unreliable and affected by misleading information. However, in real
life, although eye witness testimony is not always accurate and is
vulnerable to alteration, this does not seem to be true to the extent
laboratory studies have suggested.

Outline and evaluate what studies have shown about the effect of anxiety on
EWT accuracy

1) Anxiety. Generally understood that small-medium amounts of anxiety

increase EWT accuracy but high amounts- decrease EWT.
2) Outline study by Loftus and Burns which showed that high anxiety
decreases EWT accuracy.

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 3) Evaluate the study- ethics (risk of psychological harm). Low ecological
validity (only watching video .etc.).
4) High anxiety may also be induced by presence of a weapon, leading to
the weapon focus effect.
5) Outline method, results and conclusion of Loftus study on the weapon
focus effect.
6) Evaluate the study- higher ecological validity and minimal risk of
demand characteristics (participants werent aware that the study had
started), but participants deceived, fully informed consent not
obtained, and risk of psychological harm.
7) Conclusion- the accuracy of EWT can obviously be vitally important
and so taking into consideration anxiety is important in the analysis of
evidence when convicting potential criminals.

Outline and evaluate research into the effects of age on EWT accuracy

1) Although, it is generally thought that children and the elderly give the
least accurate EWT, the results of research into the effect of age on
EWT have infant been highly mixed.
2) Research generally suggests that children give least accurate eye
witness testimony and are easily misled.
3) Outline and evaluate study by Poole and Lindsay
4) However- Flin found that children can give accurate EWT if interviewed
close to the time of the event.
5) Research also suggests that children will commonly misinterpret/not
understand questions when being interviewed.
6) Research- suggests the elderly recall less information from an event
Refer to study by List.
7) Some studies have also suggested that they are more likely to be
misled. However this was not found by Valentine and Coxon. Outline
and evaluate their study.
8) Weaknesses of research into the elderly and EWT accuracy

Outline and evaluate the cognitive interview.

1) Explain why the cognitive interview was developed.

2) Describe and explain 4 principles
3) Outline additional features of cognitive interview
4) Strengths of cognitive interview- obtains more accurate information.
Interviewees less likely to be affected by misleading question (refer to
studies)
5) Weaknesses of cognitive interview- time consuming/requires extensive
training/most supporting studies are lab studies.

List of key studies/names you need to know for memory

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 1) H.M
2) Peterson and Peterson (1959)
3) Bahrick (1975)
4) Jacobs (1887)
5) Baddeley (1966)
6) K.F
7) Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
8) Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
9) Loftus and Palmer (1974)
10) Loftus and Zanni (1975)
11) Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
12) Loftus and Burns (1982)
13) Loftus (1979)
14) List
15) Valentine and Coxon (1997)
16) Geisleman et al (1984)
17) Giesleman (1986)

Revision check list

Key topic 1 2 3
Features of the STM (capacity, duration,
encoding)
Features of the LTM (capacity, duration,
encoding)
Features of the multi store model
Strengths of the multi-store model
Weakness of the multi-store model
Features of the working memory model
Strengths of the working memory model
Weaknesses of the working memory model
Lab experiments into the accuracy of EWT (2
needed)
Effect of age on EWT
Effect of anxiety on EWT
Features of the Cognitive interview
Evaluation of the CI
Strategies for memory improvement
Studies into strategies for memory
improvement

Tick column 1 when youve made revision notes

Tick column 2 when you have a good grasp of this topic
Tick column 3 when you feel you have mastery of this topic.

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