(b) Describe the procedures and findings of one study that has investigated the capacity of memory.
Jacobs (1887) aimed to investigate the capacity of memory. To do this he presented his participants with a random sequence of digits or letters, and he then asked the participants to repeat the items back in the order that they were read.
Jacobs found that the average number of items that were correctly recalled was between five and nine, and he also found that digits were recalled better than letters. He also found that the number of correctly recalled items increased with age.
(c) Outline the finding(s) of one study of flashbulb memories and give one criticism of this
One study aiming to investigate ‘Flashbulb memories’ was Conway et al. (1994). Conway argued that the resignation of Mrs. Thatcher should have produced ‘flashbulb memories’. Conway tested people within a fortnight of this event and tested them again a year later, and thy found that 86% of the UK participants still had flashbulb memories, but only 29% of people from other countries had flashbulb memories of this.
A problem with this study was ‘sample drop-off’, with not all of the original participants taking part after the 11 months, this then may have produced a biased sample.
(d) According to Freud (1915) “repression lies simply in the function of rejecting and keeping something out of consciousness.” - Consider the extent to which research into the process of repression enables us to explain forgetting.
Repression is another reason for not being able to retrieve a memory, the memory that is being repressed is likely to be emotionally threatening to that individual. Repression therefore cannot really be linked greatly to forgetting, because the memory has not been forgotten, it has been repressed.
