Short term memory can last between 2-30 seconds, while long term memory has no duration limit. Mnemonic techniques like acronyms, rhymes, and the method of loci can improve memory by organizing information in verbal or visual ways. Organization helps memory by creating links between pieces of information.

1. D U R AT I O N
LT M – U N L I M I T E D
S T M – L AS T S B E T W E E N 2 - 3 0 S E C O N D S
Models of memory

2. Duration
LTM – Unlimited, STM – Lasts between 2-30 seconds
Short term memory:
 Peterson and Peterson:
 He used 24 university students to do an experiment using trigrams
 3 letters were read e.g- TXU or SQP, the participant had to remember
these letters whilst counting down in 3’s or 5’s backwards for a period
of time between 3-18 seconds when they had to repeat it back
 80 % remembered after 3 seconds
 10% remembered after 18 seconds
Evaluation:
 Low ecological validatity, uni students – one age group
 Controlled environment – extraneous variables - clear cause and effect
Long term Memory:
 Bahrick et all
 A longitudinal study of 392 graduates were used.
 The graduates were shown pictures from their yearbook
 They were split into two groups of recognition group (given names to
chose from) and recall group (had to remember name)
 Recognition – 90% remembered after 14 years
60% remembered after 47 years
 Recall – 60% remembered after 7 years
less than 2% remembered after 47 years
 People can remember things after a lifetime
Evaluation:
 Longitudinal study/large group number – better validity
 Only one type of memory tested

3. C APAC I T Y
LT M – U N L I M I T E D
S T M – 7 P L U S / M I N U S 2
Models of memory

4. Capacity
LTM – unlimited STM – 7 plus/minus 2
Short Term Memory:
Miller
 Letters were given to participants such as C-A-T-W-A-L-L
 It was found that it was easier to remember ‘C-A-T’ and ‘W-A-L-L’
as you could remember it as separate words
 It didn’t matter how many individual parts of information there
was, it was the ‘chunks’ of words that people remember and these
are what measure out memory.
 He decided that from this, we could remember 7 +/- 2 amounts of
chunks
Evaluation:
 Implications – Phone numbers are chunked so are easier to
remember – ecological validity
 Individual differences – some peoples memory are better than
others
Long Term Memory:
 Because long term memory is unlimited there is no proof needed
because no-one has reached their maximum memory.

5. E N C O D I N G
LT M – S E M AN T I C AL LY
S T M – AC O U S T I C O R V I S U AL LY
Models of memory

6. Encoding
LTM – Semantically STM – Acoustic or visually
Short Term Memory:
 Conrad:
 Gave participants a series of 6 letters visually, immediately they would
have to write the letters.
 He found that participants substituted letters which sounded the
same. For example: B for V and F for S.
 This showed that letters had been encoded by sound despite being
presented visually.
Evaluation:
 Individual differences – personal preference towards how we
remember best
 No longer a need to chunk – phones store numbers for us – mundane
realism
Long Term Memory:
 Baddeley:
 Participants were divided into 4 groups;
 Acoustically similar words (man, mad, map)
 Acoustically dissimilar words (pen, day, few)
 Semantically similar words (great, big, large)
 Semantically dissimilar words (hot, old, late)
 After 20 mintues…
 Recall was similar for acoustically similar and dissimilar
 Semantically similar was 55% and semantically dissimilar was 85%
Evaluation:
 Lab experiment – didn’t reflect everyday use of LTM
 It might simply be that short words are easier to recall than long
words because they are more familiar to us

7. T H E W O R K I N G M E M O RY M O D E L -
B AD D E L E Y AN D H I T C H
Models of memory

8. The working memory model –
Baddeley and Hitch
Central Executive:
 Direct attention to tasks
 Has a limited capacity and cannot deal with lots going on at once
 Sends information to the required part of the brain
Phonological loop:
 It deals with any auditory information
 Has a limited capacity by maintains rehearsal
 Baddeley eventually split it into Phonological store (holds words
heard) and Articulatory process (holds words seen/heard and repeats)
Visuo-Spatial Sketch Pad
 Visual or spatial information is stored in this part
 Arrangement of objects
 Acts as our ‘Inner scribe’
Episodic Buffer
 It is used as an extra storage system for when the central executive is
busy
 It takes information for all areas
Central
ExecutiveVisuo-
spatial
sketch pad
Episodic
buffer
Phonological
loop

9. Evaluation – The working memory
model – Baddeley and Hitch
Strengths:
 Case study of L.H – Involved in a road accident. Performed better
on spatial tasks than visual. This suggest that there is separate storage
systems which is what the model suggests.
 Baddeley – The phonological loop explains why the ‘word-length
effect’ occurs. It is harder to remember longer words rather than
shorter words because longer words are harder to rehearse which is
known as the ‘Word length effect’ . The reason we cant remember the
longer words is because of articulary suppression meaning its harder
to rehearse the long words.
 Baddeley – Asked participants to press keys on a key board however
the keys could not make a pattern. This was either carried out alone or
with another task such as reciting the alphabet or counting. He found
that the tasks were competing for the same space in the central
executive and phonological making it very hard to do.
Weaknesses
 Case study of EVR – They had a brain tumour removed. When
tested, they performed well on reasoning but poor at decision making
which according to the model was meant to both be from the central
executive. This suggests that the central executive must be more
complex than what the model suggests. The central executive is far to
simplistic and should have more components.
 The central executive doesn’t explain anything other than how it
diverts attention.
 There are other models that have been used to explain how memory is
stored e.g- the Multi-store model which also has supporting studies.

10. T H E M U LT I S TO R E M O D E L O F
M E M O RY
Models of memory

11. The Multi-Store model of memory
Sensory
memory
STM LTM
Constant
rehearsal
Decay Decay Decay
Elaborate
rehearsal
Retrieval
Environmental
stimuli
Haptic
Echoic
Iconic
Attention
Sensory Short-term Long-term
Capacity - 7 +/- 2 Unlimited
Duration 1-2 seconds 2-18 seconds Many Years
Encoding Iconic/Echoic Acoustically/
visually
Semantics

12. The Multi-Store model of memory
Strengths:
Glanzer and Cunitz - Gave participants 20 words to remember. Told to
recall the words in any order. They remembered the words from the
beginning (LTM) and those from the end (STM). Supports as there is clear
evidence of separate stores (long and short term)
Scans - PET or MRI scans take images of the brain and see what region is
active when doing a short term or long term memory task suggesting
separate stores.
Case study of HM - Had an operation to remove his hippocampus to reduce
the epilepsy he was suffering. He could no longer store any LTM which
proves evidence for separate stores as there was a breakdown between
STM and LTM.
Weaknesses:
Schacter at al – Suggested 4 LTM stores; Semantics, episodic, procedural
and perceptual – representation system. This differs and challenges the MSM
Case study of KF - Suffered brain damage which resulted in difficulty
dealing with anything short term verbally. However, he had a normal
ability when it came to processing visual short term information. This
suggests that short term memory is not just a single store and must be
more complex.

13. E Y E W I T N E S S T E ST I M O N Y
Memory in everyday
life

14. Eyewitness testimony
Misleading information/leading questions
Misleading information/ leading questions
 The wording of a question can change the way you answer
Agree:
Loftus & Palmer:
 45 students watched slides or film clips of a car crash
 They were asked in the interview how fast they thought the car
was going and if they saw any glass
 In this question the changed the describing word of the car from
‘bumped’ ‘collided’ ‘smashed’ ‘contacted’
 The speeds predicted were much higher if the word ‘smashed’ was
used at 40mph however when the word ‘contacted’ was used it
was only 31mph.
 Also, more people said that there was glass when ‘smashed’ was
used rather than ‘contacted’
Disagree:
Yuille & Cutshall
 After interviewing 13 people from a bank robbery, they asked 2
misleading questions 4 months after the event.
 Despite these misleading questions, the witnesses still provided
accurate recall which matched their initial reports.

15. Eyewitness testimony
Anxiety
Anxiety
 Research has looked at the effect of anxiety and accuracy of the
witness
High anxiety is better:
Christianson & Hubinette
 Survey was done on 110 participants who witnessed a real bank
robbery
 Those who were actually threatened by the robbery remembered the
event in much more detail than those who were just standing
 This shows that if they were threatened they had high anxiety levels
but they remembered more
Medium anxiety is better:
Yerkes-Dobson
 They found that a medium levels meant that they were more alert than
normal but no so much so that their attention was diverted
 Performance worked better when in average anxiety levels
Low anxiety is better:
Loftus
 Participants were exposed to either situation 1) heard a low key
discussion of a lab experiment failure. A person emerges from a lab
holding a pen and had grease on his hands. 2) heard a loud discussion
of a lab experiment failure with the sound of breaking chairs and
smashed glass. A person then emerges with blood on his hands and a
small knife.
 They were then shown 50 photos of potential men which they had to
indentify. 49% correctly identified the man in condition 1, but only
33% in condition 2.
 This shows that lower levels of anxiety result it better identification.

16. Eyewitness testimony
Age of witness
Age of witness
 Depending on the age of a witness, they could give more or less
accurate detail and some age groups are affected more on misleading
information.
Age differences
Yarmey
 651 adults were stopped in a public place and asked to recall the
psychical appearance of a young women of which they had just spoken
to 2 minutes ago
 Young and Middle aged adults had better recall whereas the older
adults were less confident
 There was little difference in accuracy of recall depending on age as
the older adults still remembered, they were just a little less confident
Own age bias
Anastasia and Rhodes
 Participants were divided into three groups (18-25) (35-45) (55-78)
 They were all shown 24 photos of which they had to rate on
attractiveness
 After an activity, they were then presented with 48 photographs
including 24 ‘distracter’ photos
 The age groups were better at identifying people from their own age
groups

17. Eyewitness testimony
Evaluation
Strengths:
 *any strength of any study
 Studies support the factor that influences eyewitness testimony
Weaknesses:
 Drugs or alcohol can impair attention so recall might be inaccurate
 Participants are not emotionally involved in a video or picture compared to
actually seeing an event so will pay less attention
 *any criticism of any study

18. C O G N I T I V E I N T E RV I E W
Memory in everyday
life

19. Cognitive interview
 There are 4 main stages used in the cognitive interview:
 Mental reinstatement- The interviewer will encourage the
interviewee to try to picture themselves back in the scene and
recreate what happened and where everything was in their mind
 Report Everything- The interviewer must record everything
that is said even if they feel as if what is being said is completely
pointless or irrelevant
 Changing the perspective- The interviewer could ask the
interviewee to try and explain what would have happened if they
were another person at the scene and imagine how it would have
appeared to a different witness
 Changing the order- The interviewer may ask for them to
recall different parts of the scene put in a different order to see if
there is any extra information given

20. Cognitive interview
Strengths:
Milne and Bull:
 Undergraduates and children were interviewed using one individual section of the
cognitive interview
 They found that by using and ordinary interview or only using one stage of the cognitive
interview recall was all similar
 When two or more stages of the cognitive interview were combined, recall of the event
was drastically higher
Mello and Fisher:
 Used 72 and 22 year olds and tested the cognitive and standard interview on them
 Cognitive was most effective in both age groups but more helpful for older participants
Memon:
 Used a cognitive interview in Brazil where the normal interview would involve torture
 Cleaning staff of a university watched a video of an abduction
 Compared to the standard interview, the cognitive one increased recalled information
Weaknesses:
 In some police forces, only certain aspects of the interview are used meaning its difficult
to evaluate its effectiveness and results cannot be compared
Memon:
 Detectives received around 4 hours training on how to use the cognitive interview which
did not actually increase the amount of information given
 The cognitive interview takes up so much time which is usually not available so it is
easier to use a standard interview

21. M N E M O N I C S ( V E R B AL AN D V I S U AL )
Memory improvement
techniques

22. Verbal & Visual Mnemonics
Verbal
 Acronyms – Where a word or a sentence is formed by using the first letter
of a words and creating a phrase to remember which each new word. E.g.
BBC means the British Broadcasting Corporation
 Acrostic – A poem or sentence formed by from using the first letter of each
word and changing them to make a mini story E.g. Richard Of York Gave
Battle In Vain means Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and
Violet.
 Rhymes – Groups of words formed to make a rhythm E.g. ‘Twinkle Twinkle
little star’ is used to remember the alphabet
 Chunking – Dividing long strings of information into smaller more
manageable chunks E.g. Postcodes or telephone numbers
Visual
Method of Loci:
 A mental technique where by you remember a set location that is already
stored in your brain.
 You then picture and item or material in different smaller places within
your chosen location
 You then begin to associate that small location with the item or material
Peg word method:
 The person would use a pre-learnt rhyme and combine each line of the
rhyme with an item or material
 You would then visualise each line of the rhyme adding in the item
 You then learn to associate each of the lines visually with that item

23. Verbal & Visual Mnemonics
Strengths
Gruneberg:
 30% of psychology students used techniques such as acronyms to help
revise
Giddens:
 Children with learning disabilities preferred using verbal techniques over
visual ones
 However these techniques were found to be ineffective over a long period of
time
O’Hara:
 Used older adults
 Found that the method of Loci was more useful over a long period of time
Weaknesses:
 Some studies were in lab conditions – artificial environment so has low
ecological validity
 Cannot generalise grunebergs study as only psychology participants from a
university were used

24. O R G AN I S AT I O N & E N C O D I N G
S P E C I F I C I T Y P R I N C I P L E
How Mnemonic
techniques work

25. Organisation
Organisation:
 By organising data, we establish links that help recall information i.e- word
associations and visual images create links to other information
 Normally, the brain will remember information in a self-organising process
that’s pieces together bits of information e.g- the smell of bacon makes you
salivate because you have eaten it before and recall it tastes nice and as a
result salivate – your brain associates the link between the nice taste and
bacon
Strengths:
Brower and Clarke:
 Participants were given 112 words to learn
 Group 1 were given them in a conceptual hierarchy and group 2’s words
were not organised
 Group 1’s recall was 2-3 times better than those given words in a random
order
 By creating a story to remember information means we can attach
information which is how long term memory is stored (semantics)
Weaknesses:
 Individual differences – some people learn better in different ways and
organisation doesn’t always work for everyone

26. Encoding specifity principle
 Memory is most effective when what item the memory is attached to is
there when trying to retrieve information – retrieval cues
 Recall and recognition thus may be triggered by elements of the context
being present e.g- wanted something that is downstairs, gone downstairs
and then forgotten what you wanted and when you go back upstairs again
you remember what it was that you wanted
 When you store something in memory, the memory is not just of the item
being stored but also of the context in which the memory occurred
Strengths:
Tulving and Thompson:
 A list of words were given to participants all of with had a ‘cue’ word
 Group 1 were asked to recall the words freely
 Group 2 were asked to recall the words but also were given the ‘cue’ words
 Group 2 out –performed group 1
 Real life application – triggers can remind us of forgotten memories
Weaknesses:
 If the cue is not given at the tine of storing information then the process
doesn’t work