Memory
Discuss cognitive interviews
The cognitive interview is a technique used to obtain information from a
witness. It consists of 4 steps: report everything, context reinstatement ,
reverse the order of events and change perspective.
Report everything, this is where the witness is encouraged to try and recall
every detail of the event – no matter how insignificant they think it is. This is
done to try and trigger any repressed memories of the event(this provides
retrieval cues to help the eyewitness access their memory of the event).
Context reinstatement – the witness is asked to mental put them-self back into
the setting of the crime and recall what happened – this is used to trigger and
re-capture any small details on accessed about the event(This provides retrieval
cues to help the eyewitness access their memory of the event).
Reverse the order, the witness is the asked to recall the event in the backwards
order – to prevent the use of schemas which can alter the recall and force active
recall of the event(it also makes the witness think about the event in a different
way, which might unlock more memories).
Change perspective – the witness is asked to recall the event from a different
viewpoint – this could be from a person on the other side of the street or if you
would be looking in through a window. This is used to capture any little details
that could have been missed the original perspective (this is done because
psychological research has shown memories can be retrieved through a number
of different routes and therefore it is more productive to vary these access
routes during questioning).
A strength of the cognitive interviews is that is a supported by research –
Geiselman(1986). This was found the cognitive interview were less likely to
recall the rucksack as green (early in the interview participants were asked –
was the guy with the green backpack nervous). This shows the effectiveness of
the cognitive interview as it forces the individual to actively recall the details of
the event – meaning there is a decreased likelihood of inaccurate information
being recalled. Thus, increasing the validity of the cognitive interview.
A limitation of the cognitive interview is its practical application. There are few
police officers who are trained to perform the cognitive interview. This suggests
that the benefits of the cognitive interview can not be widely seen due to it
concentrated use. Similarly, the cognitive interview is time-consuming. Mixing
the factors that is it time-consuming and few officers are trained it suggests
that by the time a trained individual gets to the witness – information about the
event could have decayed or the police station may not even bother using this
technique.
The cognitive interview raises ethical issues. For example, witnesses are asked
to recall the traumatic event over and over again in a variety of different ways.
This is a weakness because such a process could cause witness (or participants
carrying out research into the cognitive interview) a great deal of stress and
distress which goes against the guidelines put forward by the BPS.
Discuss long term memory
According to Tulving ,long term memory is divided into three types: episodic,
semantic, and procedural.
, Episodic memory, a group if events related to space and time. It is the
individuals personal experiences and context around the event (emotions) –
conscious inspection – things that happen to you such likely your first birthday.
Semantic memory - knowledge memory, what you know about aspects of the
world and they may deprive from episodic memories, different as it is the
knowledge of facts. It could be tied to episodic memory such as how to act as a
funeral.
Procedural memory refers to motor skills that you have learnt – how to do
something. These memories are automatic, and motor/action based and
resistant to forgetting- how to ride a bike.
However, Coben and Squire had a different interpretation of long-term memory:
non-declarative memory (procedural memory – automatically recalled ) and
declarative memory (episodic and semantic memory which has to be consciously
recalled).
Scientific evidence captured from brain scans supports the view that there are
different types of long-term memory. For example, when asking participants to
recall different types of information different areas of the brain are shown to be
active. Episodic memories are associated with the hippocampus, semantic
memories with the temporal lobe and procedural memories with the
cerebellum. This is a strength because it provides objective evidence that
different LTMS activate different areas of the brain which supports the idea that
there are different types of long-term memories.
Research into the different types of LTM have typically been conducted on
individual patients. For example, the research into HM (idiographic) are highly
detailed and provide a lot of information but are fundamentally isolated cases of
one individual’s long-term memory damage. This is a weakness because the
findings cannot be generalised beyond the research. It would be inappropriate
to assume that everyone’s LTM is formed in the same way based on evidence of
two case studies. This means that while informative, the research findings
cannot be generalised beyond the research, but does provide a good solid basis
on which further research can be conducted.
Discuss the working memory model
The working memory model was created by Baddeley and Hitch – it consists of
the central executive , phonological loop, episodic buffer and visuo-spatial
sketchpad.
The central executive (decision making),supervisory component of the model
that drives the system and decides how attention is directed – allocates
resources and has a limited capacity – modality free (can intake information
from all stores.
Phonological loop (sound system of STM), it is a slave system that deals with
auditory information – codes acoustically and splits into two parts: Phonological
store (inner ear) holds information speech based on 1-2 seconds. And the
ACPMR, rehearses verbal info from phonological store , capacity is 2 seconds of
what is said.
Visuo-spatial sketchpad (vision), it is the 2nd slave system which holds visual and
spatial information for a short time. You use it when you are planning a spatial
Discuss cognitive interviews
The cognitive interview is a technique used to obtain information from a
witness. It consists of 4 steps: report everything, context reinstatement ,
reverse the order of events and change perspective.
Report everything, this is where the witness is encouraged to try and recall
every detail of the event – no matter how insignificant they think it is. This is
done to try and trigger any repressed memories of the event(this provides
retrieval cues to help the eyewitness access their memory of the event).
Context reinstatement – the witness is asked to mental put them-self back into
the setting of the crime and recall what happened – this is used to trigger and
re-capture any small details on accessed about the event(This provides retrieval
cues to help the eyewitness access their memory of the event).
Reverse the order, the witness is the asked to recall the event in the backwards
order – to prevent the use of schemas which can alter the recall and force active
recall of the event(it also makes the witness think about the event in a different
way, which might unlock more memories).
Change perspective – the witness is asked to recall the event from a different
viewpoint – this could be from a person on the other side of the street or if you
would be looking in through a window. This is used to capture any little details
that could have been missed the original perspective (this is done because
psychological research has shown memories can be retrieved through a number
of different routes and therefore it is more productive to vary these access
routes during questioning).
A strength of the cognitive interviews is that is a supported by research –
Geiselman(1986). This was found the cognitive interview were less likely to
recall the rucksack as green (early in the interview participants were asked –
was the guy with the green backpack nervous). This shows the effectiveness of
the cognitive interview as it forces the individual to actively recall the details of
the event – meaning there is a decreased likelihood of inaccurate information
being recalled. Thus, increasing the validity of the cognitive interview.
A limitation of the cognitive interview is its practical application. There are few
police officers who are trained to perform the cognitive interview. This suggests
that the benefits of the cognitive interview can not be widely seen due to it
concentrated use. Similarly, the cognitive interview is time-consuming. Mixing
the factors that is it time-consuming and few officers are trained it suggests
that by the time a trained individual gets to the witness – information about the
event could have decayed or the police station may not even bother using this
technique.
The cognitive interview raises ethical issues. For example, witnesses are asked
to recall the traumatic event over and over again in a variety of different ways.
This is a weakness because such a process could cause witness (or participants
carrying out research into the cognitive interview) a great deal of stress and
distress which goes against the guidelines put forward by the BPS.
Discuss long term memory
According to Tulving ,long term memory is divided into three types: episodic,
semantic, and procedural.
, Episodic memory, a group if events related to space and time. It is the
individuals personal experiences and context around the event (emotions) –
conscious inspection – things that happen to you such likely your first birthday.
Semantic memory - knowledge memory, what you know about aspects of the
world and they may deprive from episodic memories, different as it is the
knowledge of facts. It could be tied to episodic memory such as how to act as a
funeral.
Procedural memory refers to motor skills that you have learnt – how to do
something. These memories are automatic, and motor/action based and
resistant to forgetting- how to ride a bike.
However, Coben and Squire had a different interpretation of long-term memory:
non-declarative memory (procedural memory – automatically recalled ) and
declarative memory (episodic and semantic memory which has to be consciously
recalled).
Scientific evidence captured from brain scans supports the view that there are
different types of long-term memory. For example, when asking participants to
recall different types of information different areas of the brain are shown to be
active. Episodic memories are associated with the hippocampus, semantic
memories with the temporal lobe and procedural memories with the
cerebellum. This is a strength because it provides objective evidence that
different LTMS activate different areas of the brain which supports the idea that
there are different types of long-term memories.
Research into the different types of LTM have typically been conducted on
individual patients. For example, the research into HM (idiographic) are highly
detailed and provide a lot of information but are fundamentally isolated cases of
one individual’s long-term memory damage. This is a weakness because the
findings cannot be generalised beyond the research. It would be inappropriate
to assume that everyone’s LTM is formed in the same way based on evidence of
two case studies. This means that while informative, the research findings
cannot be generalised beyond the research, but does provide a good solid basis
on which further research can be conducted.
Discuss the working memory model
The working memory model was created by Baddeley and Hitch – it consists of
the central executive , phonological loop, episodic buffer and visuo-spatial
sketchpad.
The central executive (decision making),supervisory component of the model
that drives the system and decides how attention is directed – allocates
resources and has a limited capacity – modality free (can intake information
from all stores.
Phonological loop (sound system of STM), it is a slave system that deals with
auditory information – codes acoustically and splits into two parts: Phonological
store (inner ear) holds information speech based on 1-2 seconds. And the
ACPMR, rehearses verbal info from phonological store , capacity is 2 seconds of
what is said.
Visuo-spatial sketchpad (vision), it is the 2nd slave system which holds visual and
spatial information for a short time. You use it when you are planning a spatial
