MEMORYC O G N I T I V E P S YC H O LO GY

PA P E R 1

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• By the end of the session you will be able to:– Describe what memory is

– Outline (draw) the MSM

– Describe the coding, capacity and duration of sensory register

– Consider ONE piece of research into memory

WHAT IS COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY?

• The cognitive approach to help us to understand how mental processes shape our behaviour

• Cognition means knowing: how we come to know the world around us

• The human mind is compared with a computer – we are information processors

• Cognitive processors actively organise and manipulate information that we receive – humans do not merely passively respond to their environment

Key areas: perception; memory; language and thought; attention

WHAT’S A “MODEL”?• Not an exact copy, but a representation of something

• Helps us understand how something works

WHAT IS A MODEL?

• Looking at the evidence, research is conducted to test assumptions of a model

• Model is then either supported, updated or refuted

WHAT IS MEMORY

• Is it remembering the places you have been?

• Is it remembering how to ride your bike?

• Is it recognising the faces of people you know?

• Is it learning and recalling information?

• Is it remembering important events?

• How accurate is memory? Can we rely on it?

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS IT??!!

Memory has been defined as the ability to retain knowledge and information, as well as the ability to retrieve the information and knowledge which has been stored.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI_ceF5-OiQ

Psychologists use the term ‘memory’ to refer to these three processes.

Encoding Storage Retrieval

EncodingThis refers to how we encode sensory

information so that we can make sense of the information.

For example sound waves enter your ears and these are converted by your brain into words that have meaning.

This information can then be stored in your memory for use at a later date refers to the

ability to recover information from storage.

Retrieval

There are 3 Different types of retrieval

Recall This is when you retrieve information that is stored.Like writing down the number of words you can

recall from a word list.Recognitionis when you know something is familiarReintegration this is when you reconstruct a memory using cues.

MULTI STORE MODEL OF MEMORYAtkinson & Shiffrin proposed one model of memory - multi-

store model (1968)Sensory memory (Iconic & Echoic) can pass on info to the S-term store. Through displacement or lack of rehearsal, info can be lost in about 15-20 seconds.

Elaborative rehearsal can help new info to be related to patterns of knowledge stored in the LTS.

SENSORY STORE (CODING)The SM takes info from one of the sense organs and holds it in that same form

“ICONIC MEMORY”:

visual info from the eyes –things you SEE. Stored as

images.

“ECHOIC MEMORY”:

auditory input from the ears –

things you HEAR. Stored

as sounds.

“HAPTIC MEMORY”:

tactile input from the body – things

you’ve TOUCHED.

Stored as feelings.

SPERLING (1960)• What is sensory memory (SM)?

• The shortest memory store: memory for things which have reached the senses, before they enter STM

• Usually lasts just 0.5 to 2 seconds– Iconic 0.5s

– Echoic 2.0s

SENSORY MEMORY - CAPACITY & DURATION

EXAMPLE

• Imagine someone spoke to you but you were thinking of something else. If you focus within a second or so, you can hear a sensory ‘echo’ in your mind of what they said.

• SM is the brief store of sensory info before it is ‘attended to’.

WHAT IS THE CAPACITY OF SM?• Sperling (1960) found that participants could only

recall approx 4 items from a grid of letters.

• Short duration makes it difficult to test: as soon as a person starts writing, the memory trace has faded.

A G L N

M H K C

S Z Y T

P B R D

SPERLING• Sperling (1960) tried using tones to cue participants to recall a particular row:

A G L N (* e.g. High pitched tone)

M H K C

S Z Y T

P B R D

• Now recall was found to be 75%+

LETS TRY IT....

• The slide will show for 1s, after which you should write down as many letters as you can

WZ L PM G K HN B S D

• Same as before, but this time, after the slide, I will say either

• HIGH

• MIDDLE

• LOW

T G K HN B R SD Z Y M

•How was that?• If you got approx 3 items from the row, that suggests that you took in 9+ from the whole array...but they fade faster than you can write them down.

•So SM has:– a large capacity, but – a very short duration (0.5 – 2 s)

T G KH

N B RS

D Z YM

SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING?

• A presentation too brief to be noticed is called ‘subliminal’.

• In 1957, James Vicary boosted sales by showing 0.03s messages saying :

– ‘Drink Coca-Cola’

– ‘Eat popcorn’

• The finding has not been reliably replicated but subliminal advertising was later banned.

WHAT ABOUT THE IMAGE I SHOWED YOU AT THE START OF THE LESSON?!

• Use coloured pens to draw the image as you remember it

TASKS

• In your packs… Complete pg5 + 7 and draw pic of MSM (pg. 6)

Consolidation reading: pgs. 110-111 in OBB

Also revise for Social Influence test lesson 1 of next week