Memory research
Much of the traditional laboratory research on memory conducted in the past century has followed Ebbinghaus (1895) in using tightly controlled experiments that facilitate the quantification of memory (see Baddeley, 1990; Schacter, 1989). This tradition has been strongly criticized in the past two decades, however, most notably by Neisser (1978), who provocatively dismissed the laboratory research of the past 100 years as largely worthless for answering "the important questions about memory," and called for a shift to the "realistic" study of memory. Since Neisser's call, there has been a growing number of studies on such varied topics as autobiographical memory, eyewitness testimony, prospective memory, "flashbulb" memory, memory for action, memory for faces, memory for places, etc. (see, e.g., Cohen, 1989; This new wave of everyday memory research has resulted in a proliferation of research methods that are quite removed from those traditionally employed in the laboratory. The rift between proponents of naturalistic and laboratory memory research, as well as efforts at reconciliation, may be seen in the lively debate) sparked by Banaji and Crowder's (1989) paper. It is apparent from the commentaries that "everyday memory" is an ill-defined category (Klatzky, 1991), and that the dimensions of the controversy are not simple to specify. In general, the battles appear to be
Consider psychological research into explanations of forgetting in Short-term memory
Consider psychological research into explanations of forgetting in Short-term memory The term forgetting is used when learnt information can't be retrieved from both the short term memory and the long term memory. There have been many suggestions made to explain the reason that we forget information. The most common explanation came from Freud who devised the theory of repression. In his theory he believed that forgetting occurs because memories can be emotionally painful, mainly as they are the remnants of a trauma or an unpleasant event. Repression occurs when the mind represses these memories. Although this is a valid explanation for the forgetting of tragic memories it fails to explain the vast amount of forgetting of more daily occurring mundane events. To justify forgetting within STM psychologists suggests that information stored in the STM simply disappears with time, or it is pushed out by new information. Considering that the STM only has memory duration of 18-30 seconds it is understandable that we forget information. This school of thought was studied by Peterson and Peterson (1959) who investigated the duration of the STM using the Brown-Peterson technique from which they found that memories have a physical basis or trace. These traces decay over time unless the information is passed to LTM through rehearsal. In their experiment participants were shown
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND THERAPIES
MARK SUFFOLK GROUP A PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND THERAPIES There are different therapies available in psychopathology. All treatments are supposed to benefit the patient. However as therapists charge for these services it is sometimes unclear how much of the treatment is for the benefit of the patient and how much is for the therapist, because of this ethical issues arise. One approach is psychoanalysis. The main technique is free association, the patient is encouraged to talk freely about their childhood and relationships. The aim of psychoanalysis is to make people happier and better adjusted, and as the patient is talking freely the patient is actively involved in the process. However a problem is that the therapy is difficult to evaluate as happiness is hard to measure. It is also important to note that patients are paying a lot of money to a psychoanalysist and it isn't obvious when the treatment should cease. The treatment could last for years therefore this raises the issue of who is getting the most benefit the patient or the therapist. Patients also have to give consent to the therapy at the beginning, because of this the patient sometimes feels obliged to carry on with the treatment even if they are not happy to do so. Psychoanalysists try to get the patient to give an insight to the root causes of feelings by asking the patient to talk freely about difficult issues.
The Biological model
Outline & evaluate the Biological/Medical Model and consider its strengths and weaknesses. The biological model assumes that all mental illnesses have a physiological cause. One assumption of the biological model is genetic inheritance; it assumes that genes have a major effect on the likelihood of developing a mental illness. Illnesses can be inherited by parents and relatives. Kendler et al found that relatives of SZs were 18 times more likely to develop the illness than a matched group. Another assumption is biochemistry, this is chemical imbalances in the brain are involved in certain disorders; neurotransmitters play an important role in behaviour. It has been found that an excess of the neurotransmitter dopamine has been linked to SZ. Finally infection is a common cause for physical illness; Barr et al found a significant link between mothers who had influenza whilst pregnant and their child developing SZ. As there are physiological causes of abnormality therefore the treatments are physiological these are Drugs, ECT, which involves a small electric shock being sent to the brain causing a small seizure/convulsion and psychosurgery. Where electrodes are inserted into the brain and the infected part of the brain tissue is 'burnt' away. There are many strengths and weaknesses with this approach, firstly it is a humane approach unlike the cognitive approach, and the
Are Forgotten Memories Lost, or Just Irretrievable ?
Are Forgotten Memories Lost, or Just Irretrievable ?.Discuss. ============================================================= Introduction Memory is a great artist. For every man and for every woman, it makes the recollection of his or her life a work of art and an unfaithful record. (Maurois, 1929) Memories are events in our daily life that are either retained because they are personally significant or lost because of their insignificance. Retained memories may be of a vivid quality but their accuracy upon retrieval is questionable, containing minor or major errors. Substitution of the Old for the New Loftus (Loftus & Loftus,1980) provided evidence disproving the view that all memories are permanent and thus potentially recoverable. It was argued that when people are given new and misleading information about a previously seen incident, they are often unable to remember the original incident accurately and that the "forgetting" observed under these conditions is due to the loss of original memories once new information has been encoded. That is, substitution of the old information for the new has occured. This updating of old memories is assumed to be automatic and has the consequence of removing any previously existing knowledge that is contradicted by the new information. Hence, according to Loftus, forgetfulness is due to a potential loss of memory. A
Outline and evaluate research related to eyewitness testimony
Outline and evaluate research related to eyewitness testimony The definition of eye witness testimony is as follows: evidence supplied by a person(s) who has witnessed a specific event or crime, relying only on their memory. Bartlett (1932) was interested in the way a message gets distorted during the game of Chinese whispers. He wanted to see whether memories changed over time as a result of prior knowledge in the form of schemas. He presented English subjects with the War of the Ghosts story, which is a North American folk tale. He executed this to produce a conflict between the story content and the participant's knowledge of the world. Bartlett's theory of Reconstructive Memory suggested that recall is subject to personal interpretation dependent on our learnt or cultural norms and values. Subjects were asked to recall the story immediately afterwards and some time later. The results showed that the story had become more and more distorted with each recall; it became more westernized. Bartlett explained that because the story was from another culture, the participants found it difficult to understand. In order to make sense of the story, they added new details to make the story fit with what they knew about their world. For example, canoe changed to boat, and black substance from the mouth became blood. The reconstructive nature of memory therefore demonstrates that
Outline and evaluate research (theories and/or studies) into eyewitness testimony
Outline and evaluate research (theories and/or studies) into eyewitness testimony (18 marks) Eyewitness testimony investigates the accuracy of memory following a crime or an incident worth interrogating and the types of errors made in such situations. Sometimes eyewitness testimony can be unreliable, which can lead to horrific consequences in a court of law for example, hence many Psychologists have studied and theorized why this happens. One leading researcher on Eyewitness testimony is Elizabeth Loftus and her colleagues, in 1975, participants were shown an event by film of a car crash, the participants were split into 2 groups and ask questions on what they had just seen, Group 1 were asked questions that were consistent with the incident, while Group 2, were given same question except one, which was misleading (involving a barn). A week later participants were ask another ten questions, and the last question ask did they see a barn (which was not in the incident). Only 2.7 % gave the incorrect answer and in-group 2 17.3% gave the incorrect answer. Loftus concluded that the introduction of the barn in the first misleading question was now recalled as part of the original event. Elizabeth performed a further study (1978) on eyewitness testimony and found the same thingy, also that the effect of the misleading question became more prominent over time. Evan though the
To what extent does psychological research support the accuracy of eye witness testimony?
To what extent does psychological research support the accuracy of eye witness testimony? (18 marks) Eye Witness Testimony is an area of research into a witness' recollection of an event, (crime, act of violence, car crash), and the accuracy of their memory. It can prove accurate and invaluable to police investigations but it is also fallible. This research studies what about the testimony is reliable, why errors are made and how to make them more reliable. * Rattner reviewed 205 cases of "wrongful arrest" and found that in 52 % of cases, incorrect EWT had been to blame. * This could be due to Bartlett's theory of Reconstructive Memory. This is the idea that witnesses take original information (e.g. a folk story, as Bartlett studied in 1932), and use "effort after meaning" with their existing ideas, experience and cultural teachings (schemas). * Loftus said that certain situations improve the validity of EWT, which include proximity to the incident, racial similarities and the sobriety and emotional state of the witness. There are a lot of studies finding errors in EWT - Elizabeth Loftus, in 1979, found that Weapon Focus in a hostile situation detracts the witness from the description of the accused. Participants were exposed to two different situations, one being a minor argument in the adjacent room, a person then left that room covered in grease holding a pen.
Explain two theories of forgetting
Psychology h/w Mr Edwards 07/11/04 .Explain two theories of forgetting Retrieval failure is the failure to find an item of information because we have insufficient clues or cues. The context where initial learning takes place or the mood we were in may act as a cue later. Lack of these cues will lead to greater forgetting. Interference refers to the tendency for one memory to 'interfere with' accurate retrieval of another memory. Proactive interference is when the past material interferes with attempts to learn similar new material, causing us to forget new material. Retroactive interference is when current learning interferes with material already learned, causing is to forget the material already learned. In order to prevent forgetting it is important to consider why forgetting occurs The most frequent reason for forgetting information is difficulty in transferring it from working memory to long-term memory. In addition, we can forget because of an inability to recall information that is in long-term memory. There are many theories to consider which explain why forgetting occurs, one of them being interference- When something gets in the way of something else. When used in the study of forgetting it refers to the tendency for one memory to 'interfere with' the accurate retrieval of another memory. There are two types of interference, proactive and retro active. PI is
‘So long as you explore the relevant issues and areas, it does not matter how witnesses are asked questions.’ Critically consider this statement in the light of eyewitness testimony research.
'So long as you explore the relevant issues and areas, it does not matter how witnesses are asked questions.' Critically consider this statement in the light of eye witness testimony research. The way an eye witness is asked a question, can seriously affect the reliability of the evidence he/she gives. This is due to the reconstructive nature of memory which was investigated by Bartlett in 1932 using 'War of the Ghosts'. Bartlett believed that memory cannot be replayed like a videotape and therefore suggested that the process of remembering things is an active reconstruction which is affected by schemas. A schema is an organised packet of information stored in long term memory which develops over a lifetime, giving meaning to events, telling you how to behave and what to expect. They are also believed to influence what we think we have seen and how we recall it. Stereotypes also fall into the category of schemas as they summarise information and represent different classes of people regarding their characteristics such as race and gender. In 1932, Bartlett read 'War of the Ghosts', a Native American tale, to a group of English participants and then asked them to recall it twenty hours later. The results from this recall showed that he original tale had become distorted in memory, as the tale was shortened and now reflected a
