Lesson One: Intro to Cognitive Psychology

1. Specification • A – Models of Memory • The multi-store model including concepts of encoding, capacity and duration. Strength and weaknesses of the model • The working memory model including its strengths and weaknesses • B – Memory in everyday life • Eyewitness testimony and factors affecting the accuracy of EWT including anxiety and age of witness • Misleading information and the use of cognitive interview • Strategies for memory improvement Homework Produce a visual representation of cognitive psychology and its functions (e.g. memory, perception, thought processes) Complete the key terms from this lesson and enter Sperling’s research into your research grid in your course pack Lesson One: Intro to Cognitive Psychology Starter Write a list of things you have done this morning – did you need any memory skills to be able to do this?

2. Lesson Objectives: By the end of this lesson, you will be able to: • Explain what is meant by cognitive psychology • Explain what is meant by memory • Understand what is meant by sensory memory and apply this understanding to evidence for its existence

3. Ever walked into a room and forgotten what you’ve gone in there for?! • Put something in a ‘safe place’ and then totally forgotten where it is?

4. Clive Wearing • An interview with Clive Wearing • Clive Wearing was a very talented British musician who suffered severe memory loss after contracting a viral infection • We can still talk, walk, read and write and play the piano • However his personal memories and general knowledge memory have been severely reduced. • He no longer reads or watches the news as he is unable to follow the threads

5. Cognitive psychologists - ask why? • Registering/acquiring (encoding information) - Events are not registered in his brain so no memory trace is laid down • Storing (retaining) information over time – the memory trace was laid down but it fades away • Retrieving (recovering) information when required – the memory trace was laid down, still exists but cannot be retrieved

6. Key words to know by the end of the lesson: • Cognitive Psychology • Memory • Model • Short-Term Memory (STM) • Long-Term Memory (LTM) • Sensory Memory (SM) Using your course pack complete the reading and cognitive psychology questions for debate (15 minutes)

7. Memory • It’s just one function of both the human brain and computers • Definition: The ability to recall or recognise previous experiences

8. Models of Memory • Since memory is an abstract concept, psychologists try to create diagrams to separate its many elements • Definition: A pictorial or written representation of the elements (and the respective functions) of memory

9. The Multi-Store Model of Memory • Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) • A representation of memory in the form of three stores, • SM • STM • LTM • to complete your flow chart on this in your study pack

10. Information is registered through the sensory & attentional systems The rehearsal loop allows info to be maintained in STM for longer periods STM LTM A limited amount of info is held for a short time in STM Rehearsal allows info to be moved to LTM for long term storage Multistore Model 2 minutes to revise the model – then you’ll need to fill it in in your packs

11. Sensory input; point of interest…..The Man who mistook his wife for a hat • Visual agnosia – The ability to recognise a stimulus or its know it’s meaning is lost • Patients cannot recognise what they see. It results from a lesion disconnecting visual sensory input from high level processing

12. Sensory Memory Definition: A set of limited capacity, modality-specific stores that hold information for a very brief period of time. Enable us to integrate information. Examples: Circling a light, watching a cartoon/ soap • Iconic store (vision) • Echoic store (hearing) • Haptic store (things we feel/touch)

13. TASK • Look at the light-bulb (or out the window towards the sun) • Close your eyes…what do you see? • Look at the picture for 1 minute

14. Evidence for the existence of sensory memory (Sperling, 1960) • Have a go at ‘deconstructing’ this study, using p 6 in the textbook. • Complete the study sheet in your course pack ‘Deconstructing Sperling’ • Use your knowledge of research methods from the course so far and use psychological terminology

15. The 4 characteristics of the multi-store model of memory • The two stores, STM & LTM, are fundamentally different in terms of: • Encoding – how information is coded • Capacity – how much information can be stored • Duration – how long information is stored for • Forgetting – how information is lost • p7 – 8 – complete grid in your course pack

16. Check you understanding • Short Term Long Term • Encoding • Capacity • Duration • Forgetting • Unlimited • Mainly semantic • Very limited • Mainly interference • Mainly acoustic • Very limited (approx. 7 items) • Unlimited (up to a lifetime) • Mainly displacement

17. Check your key words: • Cognitive Psychology • Memory • Model • Short-Term Memory (STM) • Long-Term Memory (LTM) • Sensory Memory (SM)

18. Eye on the exam • Using the multi-store model of memory, outline how information is transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory (2 marks) • Outline the main features of the Multi-Store Model of Memory (6 marks) • Using the list below, complete the table to distinguish between long-term memory and short-term memory (3 marks) Unlimited Up to a lifetime 7+/-2 items Mainly acoustic Seconds Mainly semantic