Models of Memory

● A model of memory is a hypothesized representation of memory. It is the

visual representation of a theory designed to explain it.
● There are two memory models: Multi-Store Model and Working Memory Model.

★ Multi-Store Model of Memory (MSM)

Peterson & Peterson (1959)

● Aim: to investigate the duration of short term memory (STM)
● Participants: 24 university psychology students
● Procedure:
○ Participants were shown a trigram (three letters, e.g. FGL) and asked to
recall it after varying times (3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds)
○ In between seeing the trigram and recalling it, the participants did a
distraction task/interference task (counting backwards in threes from
different numbers) to prevent rehearsal and moving the information to
long term memory
● Results:
○ 80% of trigrams were correctly recalled after 3 seconds
○ The recall reduced with time until only 10% of trigrams were correctly
recalled after 18 seconds (the longer the interference task, the less
accurate the recall)
 ● Conclusion:
○ If the rehearsal is prevented then the information vanishes from STM
after only a few seconds
○ Supports the duration of STM in the MSM model
● Evaluation: Poor ecological validity. Doesn’t represent real life situation (since
trigrams are an artificial thing to remember)

Glanzer & Cunitz (1966)

● Aim: to examine whether the position of words influences recall and see if
there are two separate stores of memory (STMS and LTMS)
● Procedure:
○ Participants were 46 US Army enlisted males
○ They were presented a list of words (one by one) and asked to recall as
many words as they could (in any order)
○ Participants were allocated to one of three conditions:
- Immediate recall (no delay) - recall words immediately after
being presented these
- Recall after 10 sec delay - counted backwards for 10 seconds
before recalling the words presented
- Recall after 30 sec delay - counted backwards for 30 seconds
before recalling the words presented
● Results:
○ Without a distraction task (immediate recall), recall of the first and last
words are best (whereas recall for the middle words is poor)
○ In immediate recall, the first words are in the long term memory (LTM)
because they have been rehearsed and the last words are still in the
short term memory (STM)
○ The words in the middle are less well
recalled because participants were
too busy rehearsing the first to
remember them well
○ With a distraction task (recall after
delay), recall of the last words is just
as bad as the middle
 ○ After the distraction task, recall of the last words is poor since they have
been lost from memory. They have not gotten to LTM (not enough
rehearsal) and are displaced from STM (distraction task takes longer
than 30 seconds)
■ The serial position effect (primary-recency effect) is a cognitive phenomenon
in which people tend to remember the first (primacy) and last (recency) items
in a series
● Conclusion:
○ These findings support the distinction between STM and LTM
○ It also support the duration of STM (30 seconds) and the importance of
rehearsal

Scoville & Milner (1957) - The Case Study of HM

■ Henry Molaision case is one of the most famous and important case studies in
psychology, especially in cognitive psychology. It was the source of
groundbreaking new knowledge on the role of the hippocampus in memory

● Background information:
○ Localization of function in the brain - means that different parts of the
brain have different functions. Researchers have discovered this from
over 100 years of research into the ways the
brain work. One such study was Milner’s case
study on Henry Molaison
○ At the time of the first study by Milner, HM was
29 years old. He was a mechanic who had
suffered from minor epileptic seizures from
when he was ten years old and began
suffering severe seizures as teenager. These
may have been a result of a bike a accident when he was nine.
○ His seizures were getting worse in severity, which resulted in HM being
unable to work. Treatment for his epilepsy had been unsuccessful, so at
the age of 27 HM (and his family) agreed to undergo a radical surgery
that would remove a part of his brain called the hippocampus.
 ○ Previous research suggested that this could help reduce his seizures,
but the impact it had on his memory was unexpected. The Doctor
performing radical surgery believed it was justified because of the
seriousness of his seizures and the failures of other method to treat
them
● Methods and Results
○ In one regard, the surgery was successful as it resulted in HM
experiencing less seizures. However, immediately after the surgery, the
hospital staff and HM’s family noticed that he was suffering from
anterograde amnesia (an inability to form new memories after the time
of damage to the brain)
○ Here are some example of this memory loss described in the case
study:
- He could remember something if he concentrated on it, but if he
broke his concentration it was lost
- After the surgery the family moved houses. They stayed on the
same street, but a few blocks away. The family notices that HM as
incapable of remembering the new address, but could
remember the old one perfectly well. He could also not find his
way home alone
- He could not find objects around the house, even if they never
changed locations and he had used them recently
- He once ate lunch in front of Milner but 30 minutes later was
unable to say what he had eaten, or remember even eating any
lunch at all
- When interviewed almost two years after the surgery in 1955, HM
gave the dat as 1953 and said his age was 27. He talked
constantly about events from his childhood and could no
remember details of his surgery
○ Later testing also showed that he had suffered some partial retrograde
amnesia (an inability to recall memories from before the time of
damage to the brain) For instance, he could not remember that one of
his favourite uncles passed away three years prior to his surgery or any
of his time spent in hospital for his surgery. He could, however, remeber
 some unimportant events that occured just before his admission to the
hospital
○ His memories from events prior 1950 (three years before his surgery),
however, were fine. There was also no observable difference to his
personality or to his intelligence. In fact, he scored 112 points on his IQ
after the surgery, compared with 104 previously. The IQ test suggested
that his ability in arithmetic had apparently improved. It seemed that
the only behavior that was affected by the removal of the hippocampus
was his memory. HM was described as a kind and gentle person and
this did not change after his surgery

→ What is Amnesia?
● Amnesia refers to the loss (partial or total) of memory
● Amnesia can vary in degree and type
● It is possible to have one type of amnesia only or both at once

○ Retrograde amnesia: loss of memory before a specific time or event

○ Anterograde amnesia: loss of memory after a specific time or event

Shallice & Warrington (1970) - The Case Study of KF

● Patient who had had a motorcycle accident 11 years earlier which resulted in
an impaired STM, but no impairment to LTM (intact)
● He had lost his verbal STM performance (damage was restricted to verbal
information), but was still able to form some new LTM
● According to the MSM, KF should not have been able to form new LTM because
of the damage to his STM (which should have prevented encoding)
● Supports the existence of separate stores of memory
● Also suggest that the MSM model might be too simplistic (rehearsal in STM
might no be necessary for meaningful verbal inputs which go straigh to LTM)
Limitations of the MSM…
Is the rehearsal the only way to transfer information from STS to LTS?
● The MSM sees all information as ‘equal’
● This means that all types of information can be stored in the LTS as long as
they are rehearsed
● Alternative models question this claim
● These models differentiate between different ‘types’ of information and claim
that some types are more likely to lead to better recall than others
● There are alternative models of memory (such as the Levels of Processing
model by Craik and Tulving) which focus on the nature of the information and
how that affects our memory
● According to this model, the type of information we are faced with leads to
different levels of processing
● Each levels of processing in turn leads to different depths of memory -
semantic processing is the deepest and leads to the strongest memory
traces, whereas acoustic and iconic are less deep and this information wil be
most easily forgotten

→ level of processing:

→ Other factors that affect the transfer of information from the STS to the LTS
○ Emotional state - we learn best when we are alert, motivated and aroused
○ Association - associating new information with old memories in LTM enhances
memory
○ Familiarity?
○ Imaging?
 ★ Working memory model (WMM)
● The role of working memory is therefore to temporarily store and
manipulate information being used. We rely on working memory for
many functions, such as remembering telephone numbers and lists,
comprehending sequences of words in the form of sentences, mental
calculation and reasoning. However, working memory is fragile and
frequently susceptible to distraction (someone talking to you while you
are trying to remember a number), overload (a long list of items) and
overwork (complicated calculations)
● Is the small amount of information that can be held in mind and used in
the execution of cognitive tasks
● The WMM proposes that there are different sub-systems within the STS
for different types of information
● There are three main components of short-term memory - or working
memory - as the model re-names this store. These are:
○ The Central Executive
○ The Phonological Loop
○ The Visuo-spatial Sketchpad
● These three components work together, relatively independently, to process
different types of
information
● The WMM differentiates
different types of
information. Specifically
it makes a distinction
between visual/spatial
information (images)
and spoken/written
information (word
sounds)
→ Central Executive
● This is the “boss” of working memory. All information comes from sensory
memory to the Central Executive first
● Decides which information to send to the Visuo-spatial Sketchpad and which
information to sent to the Phonological Loop
● For this reason the Visuo-spatial Sketchpad and the Phonological Loop are
often called the “slave systems” of the Central Executive

→ Phonological Loop
● Spoken/written information is stored in the subsystem called the “Phonological
Loop”
● The phonological loop further subdivided into two components:
○ The Phonological Store is also known as the “inner ear”. This part of the
Phonological Loop is linked to speech. It holds information in a
speech-based form (i.e, spoken words) for 1-2 seconds
○ The Articulatory Control Process is also known as the “inner voice”. This
is the second component of the Phonological Loop. Its function is to
store and rehearse verbal information from the Phonological Store

→ Visuo-spatial sketchpad
● Is information in the form of pictures or images that are stored and processed
in the first subsystem called the “Visuo-spatial Sketchpad” or “inner eye”

→ Episodic Buffer
● The model of working memory later includes the Episodic Buffer
● This is the third component of this model, is thought to integrate these two
other functions with a sense of time so that events unfold continuously, much
like a story in a book or movie
● This theory explains why memories can be perceived as a seamless flow of
events as opposed to isolated instances
Vallar & Baddeley (1984) - Patient PV
● This patient had a left hemisphere stroke which resulted in brain damage in
the left hemisphere, which resulted in extremely poor recall of verbal material
but shoes no visual memory impairment

Trojano et al. (1992) - Patient SC

● This patient had a left hemisphere stroke and a poor verbal STM. However, his
visual STM was normal

Hanley et al. (1991) - Patient ELD

● This patient had difficulty recognizing and recalling visuospatial material
following a right-hemisphere aneurysm

Paulesu et al. (1993)

● Brain imaging techniques have also been very useful for showing the
existence of individual components of WMM
● A PET scan (Positron Emission Tomography) produced coloured maps of brain
activity (active brain parts)
● Paulesu et al. used a PET scan to record brain activity when participants were
performing either a verbal task (using the phonological loop) or visual tasks
(using the visuo-spatial sketchpad)
● Results showed that verbal and visual tasks are performed by different brain
regions
● This suggests that these WMM components are actually physcially separated
from one anothe
● Brain imaging techniques support the WMM by showing that different parts of
the brain are active in visual tasks as compared to verbal tasks

→ Applicability
Do you think we are able to multitask?
● Dual task experiments help us assess the applicability of the WMM claims
● The WMM is supported by dual task experiments requiring participants to
process multiple cognitive inputs at the same time (requires participants to
perform two cognitive activities simultaneously)
 ● Many dual task experiments have been conducted to investigate relationships
between multitasking and working memory, and how this affects cognitive
processing

Baddeley & Hitch (1975)

Dual Task Experiments
● Participants were given a visual tracking task (they had to track a moving light
with a pointer)
● At the same time, they were given one of two other tasks:
○ Task 1 was to describe all of the angles on the letter F
○ Task 2 was to perform a verbal task
● Task 1 was very difficult while task 2 was not. This was presumably because the
second task involved two different components or slave systems
● This provides evidence that there are two slave systems, one for words and
one for visual and spatial information (the visuo-spatial sketchpad)

Landry & Bartling (2011)

● Aim: to investigate if articulatory suppression would influence recall of a
written list of phonologically dissimilar letters in serial recall
● Participants: 34 undergraduate psychology students
● Procedure:
○ Control group: performed no concurrent task while memorizing a list
○ Experimental group: performed the concurrent task of articulatory
suppression while memorizing a list
○ In the experimental group, participants saw a list of 7 random letters
that they had to recall while saying the numbers “1” and “2” (at a rate of
two numbers per second) - articulatory suppression task -
○ They were shown the list for five seconds, were told to wait for another
five seconds and then told to write the correct order of the letters on an
answer sheet. This was repeated 10 times (one series at a time)
○ In the control group, participants saw the list but did not have an
articulatory suppression task
 ● Results:
○ Each trial was scored for accuracy of recall and researchers then
calculated the average of correct recall for each group
○ The scores from the experimental group were much lower (45%
accurate recall) than the scores from the control group (76% accurate
recall)
○ Articulatory suppression is preventing rehearsal in the phonological
loop because of overload
○ This results in difficulty memorizing the random letters for participants
in the experimental group

→ Strengths of the WMM

1. Research has led to revision of the WMM and the model is therefore evolving
○ Baddeley proposed the episodic buffer and added it into the model
○ This holds several sources of information active at the same time, while
you consider what is needed in the present situation
○ The role of the episodic buffer is to act as a temporary and passive
display store until the
information is needed (but
it has a limited capacity)
○ Baddeley argued that the
episodic buffer is
responsible for our
conscious awareness

2. Empirical evidence to support existence of individual components (a separate

visuo-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop)

→ Limitations of the WMM

1. Little empirical evidence supporting how the central exectuive works (what is
does) and its processing capacity
2. No explanation of how memory is transferred to LTM as LTM and sensory
memory are not developed in model
3. Much of the empirical evidence is derived from laboratory experiments which
often have low ecological validity and may not represent activities from
real-life
4. Discrepancies when WMM applied to subpopulations (i.e. the blind).
Lieberman (1980) argues that the VSS should be separated into two different
components (visual and spatial) as blind people have excellent spatial
awareness although they have never had any visual information
Memory and Schema Theory

What is memory?
● Memory is a process of encoding, storage and retrieval of information
● It is a series of mental operations/actions
● Three main processes are involved in memoery:
○ Encoding: converting (or transforming) sensory information into
memory
○ Storage: consolidating (or losing) the encoded information in memory
○ Retrieval: bringing memories back into consciousness for use in
thinking, decision making and problem solving

Bartlett (1920)
● Aim: to investigate how the memory of a story is affected by
previous knowledge (cultural background and unfamiliarity
with a text)
● Participants: students or teachers at a British university
● Procedure:
○ A native american folk-story called The War of the
Ghosts (developed by “primitive”
communities) was used
○ Participants were allocated to one of two
conditions:
- Repeated reproduction - the same
individual had to reproduce the story
over a period of time (a short time
after hearing it, after some days, after
some months and after some years)
- Serial reproduction - individual had to
recall the story and repeat it to
another person and so on
 ● Results:
○ All participants changed the story as they tried to remember it
○ No significant difference in recall between groups was found (although
there were more changes in the serial reproduction)
○ Three patterns took place:
- Assimilation: the story became more consistent with the
participants’ own cultural expectations - modern concepts -.
Details were changed to fit the British culture
- Levelling: the story became shorter with each retelling by
omitting “irrelevant” information
- Sharpening: the order of the story changed to make sense of it
using participants’ familiar terms, adding or exaggerating details
and changing the narrative structure

Schema Theory
■ Cognitive schemas: mental representations that organize our knowledge,
beliefs, and expectations (information about the world)
■ A schema is a cluster (group) of knowledge or memory that is stored in the
mind
■ Schemas are cognitive/mental structures and they have no physical form
(are abstract)
■ Schema theory essentially explains how human behaviour might be affected
by how sensory information is processed
■ Their function is to help people make sense of the complex world of
information
■ People’s knowledge of the world is organized and categorized
■ Schema processing is to a large extent automatic and conscious which saves
cognitive energy
■ Schemas help people simplify and make sense of the world existing
knowledge and experiences in the world
■ Schemas are based on past experience and are culture-specific
■ The plural of schema is schemata or schemas
Types of Schemas
People can have schemas for many things (objects, events, groups, etc). There are 3
main types of schemas:
● Script schema: patterns (sequences) of behaviour within a cultural context
that are learned through our interaction with the world. It acts like a script
informing what to do and say, and how to do it
● Self schema: memories that summarize an individual’s beliefs and
experiences about him or herself
● Social schema: general knowledge about how people behave in different
social situations. Expectations about how things function within their
environment
○ Stereotypes:
- Example of social schema
- Generalization of information about groups of people to save our
cognitive energy
- Long-lasting and diffcult to change

French and Richards (1993)

● Aim: to investigate the schemas influence on memory retrieval
● Procedure: In the study there were three conditions:
○ Condition 1: Participants were shown a clock with roman numerals and
asked to draw from memory
○ Condition 2: The same procedure, except the participants were told
beforehand that they would be required to draw the clock from memory
○ Condition 3: The clock was left in full view of the participants and just
had to draw it

In all conditions the clock used represented the number 4 with IIII instead of the
conventional IV.
● Findings:
○ In the first two conditions, the participants reverted to the conventional
IV notation, whereas in the third condition, the IIII
notation, because of the direct copy
 ○ They found that subjects asked to draw from memory a clock that had
Roman numerals on its face typically represented the number four on
the clock face as “IV” rather than the correct “IIII”, whereas those merely
asked to copy it typically drew “IIII”
● Conclusions: French and Richards explained this result in terms of schematic
knowledge of roman numerals affecting memory retrieval. The findings
supported the idea that subjects in the copy condition were more likely than
subjects in other conditions to draw the clock without invoking schematic
knowledge of Roman numerals

■ How are schemas linked to memory?

- The influence of schemas on memory is shown to be powerful (even in
everyday examples)
- Shema theory emphasises the role of previous knowledge and experience
- Claims that what we remember is influenced by what we already know

Loftus & Palmer (1974)

→ Experiment 1
● Aim: to investigate whether the use of leading questions would affect an
eyewitness’ estimation of speed
● Participants: 45 students participated in groups
● Procedure:
○ Participants were allocated into 5 different
conditions (independent groups design)
○ They were shown seven short films of a car
crash (from a driver’s education company) and
were asked to fill a questionnaire
○ One critical question from the questionnaire asked participants to
estimate the speed of the cars
involved in the crash
 ● Results: Some estimates in miles per hour

Verb Smashed Collided Bumped Hit Contacted

Mean speed 40.8 39.3 38.1 34.0 31.8

estimate (mph)

○ The more intense the verb used, the higher the mean speed estimate
○ When different verbs are used, they activate different schemas that
have a different sense of meaning and this affected eyewitness recall

Possible explanations…
1. Participants may have been unsure so the leading question (verb used)
guided their answer
2. The leading question causes a change in the participants’ memory of the
accident

→ Experiment 2 (follow-up study)

● Participants: 150 different students
● Procedure: A short film showing a car accident was shown, followed by a
questionnaire asking participants to describe the accident and answer a
series of questions about it
I. “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each
other” (50 participants)
II. “About how fast were the cars going when they hit into each other” (50
participants)
III. Not asked about car speed (50 participants)
○ 1 week later participants returned and answered a series of questions about
the accident (without viewing the film again)
○ The critical question was “Did you see any broken glass?”
- “There was no broken glass in the accident, but, since broken glass is
commensurate [equivalent] with accidents occurring at high speed, we
expected that the subjects who had been asked the smashed question
might more often say ‘yes’ to this critical question”
● Results:
○ The probability of saying “yes” to the broken glass question was higher
when the verb smashed (32%) was used rather than the verb hit (14%)
○ Smashed leads both to more “yes” answers and to higher speed
estimates
○ The connotation of the verb influenced memory recall (the verb
“smashed” changed participants’ memory such that they ‘see’ the
crash as being more severe)
○ Memory = information obtained during original event + external
information supplied after event
Thinking and Decision Making

● Thinking is the process of using knowledge and information to make plans,

interpret the world, and make predictions about the world in general (doing
something with the information)
● There are several components of thinking:
○ Problem-solving
○ Creativity
○ Reasoning
○ Decision making → the process of identifying
and choosing alternatives based on the
values and preferences of the decision-maker

Wason (1968)
Which card(s) must be turned over to test the idea that if a card shows an even
number on one face, then its opposite face is red
■ If the 3 card is red, that doesn’t violate the rule. The rule make no claims about
odd numbers
■ If the 8 card is not red, it violates the rule.
This card is a correct choice
■ If the red card is odd, that doesn’t violate
the rule
■ If the brown card is even, it violates the rule

The Dual Process Model of Thinking and Decision Making

There are two basic modes of thinking:
→ System 1
○ Is an automatic, intuitive and effortless way of thinking
○ “Fast” mode of thinking
○ Expected to create a greater feeling of certainty that our
initial response is correct
→ System 2
○ Is a slower, conscious and rational mode of thinking
○ Deliberate and effortful (assumed to require more effort)
 ○ Starts by thinking carefully about all of the possible ways we could interpret a
situation
○ Less likely to create feelings of confidence

Differentiating system 1 and 2:

SYSTEM 1 SYSTEM 2

● Contect-dependent (focuses on ● Abstract

existing evidence and ignores ● Conscious reasoning
absent evidence) ● Logical and reliable
● Concerns everyday decision ● Slow
making ● Requires intentional effort and
● Generates impressions and time
inclinations ● Transfers information from one
● Not logic based and prone to error situation to a new situation
● Requires little or no effort ● Rational
● Automatic ● Controlled
● Fast/quick ● Goal directed
● Nonconscious ● analyses/controls for biases
● Influenced by biases
● Intuitive

■ We often use both systems when solving a problem because system 1 is

activated before system 2, often system 1 interferes with the effectiveness of
system 2

Alter Et Al. (2007)

● Aim: to investigate the effect of cognitive disfluency on thinking

● Participants: 40 university students (undergraduates)
● Procedure:
○ Participants completed the cognitive
relection test (3 questions for which the
intuitive response is incorrect but can be
correctly solved after reconsiderations)
 ○ Half of participants had the questions printed a difficult-to-red font
(disfluent condition) while the other half had it in an easy-to-read font
(fluent condition)
● Results:
○ Participants answered more questions correctly on the CRT in the
disfluent font condition (difficult-to-read font)
○ Participants in the fluent condition (easu-to-read font) gave intuitive
and incorrect answers more often
○ 90% of participants in the fluent condition answered at least one
question incorrectly while 35% did so in the disfluent condition
● Conclusion: Researches found that hard-to-read font (cognitive disfluency)
forces the participant to slow down the reading and that triggered the rational
System 2 of thinking to solve problem

Evaluating the Dual Process Model

→ Strengths:
● Supported by empirical evidence
○ Alter & Oppenheimer and Wason selection task and other otest for
cognitive biases are reliable in their results
● Biological evidence that different types of thinking may be processed in
different parts of the brain
○ Bechara et al (2000): Used the Iowa Gambling Task with patients with
lesions in the ventromedial prefrontal cortices (vmPFC’s), who only used
system 1, making decisions based on impulse without considering the
consequences. Controls were able to consider long term consequences
and took decisions that were better in long term that in the short term
○ The prefrontal cortex seems to be responsible of inhibiting impulsive
decisions (system 1) and making decisions based on more factors
(system 2)
● Supported by evolution
○ System 1 is believed to have evolved in the distant past to make quick,
potentially life saving decisions, while System 2 is a more modern
adaptation to help us think deliberately and carefully
→ Limitations:
● Model can seem overly reductionist (does not explain how or if these models
interact and if emotion could influence decision making). Is it a continuu, of
reasoning
● Some argue that there are not two systems, but just a continuum of reasoning
● The definition of System 1 and System 2 are not always clear
○ Fast processing is related to the use of System 1 rather than System 2.
How ever we can not be sure of that. Experience and expertise can
influence how fast can be used System 2
● There are not actually two different parts of the brain responsible for this. Many
brain areas are involved in both System 1 and System 2 thinking

Heuristics in Decision Making

● Intuitive heuristics: when faced with a difficult question, we often answer an

easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution
● Cognitive bias: is defined as a pattern of thinking that deviates from norm or
rationality in judgment. Inferences about other people and situations are often
woven in an illogical fashion, and individuals can create their own “subjective
reality” from their respective perceptions
○ Illusory correlation: occurs when a person perceives a relationship
between two variables that are not, in fact, correlated (stereotyping)
○ Optimism bias: occurs when a persona overestimate how well he/she
will do relative to the facts, or indications of general trends, or even the
fates of our peers. As well as when he/she overestimates its abilities
required to perform a specific task

Heuristics
■ A type of cognitive bias
■ Is a mental shortcut that allows people to solve problems and make
judgmens quicly and efficiently
■ These rule-of-thumb strategies shorten decision-making time and allow
people to function without constantly stopping to think about their next course
of action
■ They use a system 1 process
→ Why do we rely on heuristics
● Effort reduction: the use of heuristics can be a type of cognitive laziness.
Heuristics reduce the mental effort required to make choices and decisions
● Fast and frugal: although heuristics does not let always to the best decision,
heuristics are actually more accurate than they are biased. In other words, we
use heuristics because they are fast and usually correct

→ Common Uses of Heuristics

● Reduce mental effort needed to make decisions
● Simplify complex and difficult questions
● They’re a fast and accurate way to arrive at a conclusion
● Help with problem-solving

Type of Heuristics

→ Framining Effect:
● Drawing different conclusions from the same information presented differently
● In politics and the sider media, framing effect
constantly change and influence public
opinion. The next time you’re considering your
stance on a certain issue, listen closely to the
information presented and try to uncover its
real meaning

Tversky & Kahnemann (1981)

● Aim: test the influence of positive and negative frames on decision making
● Participants: a self-selected (volunteer) sample of 307 US undergraduate
students
● Procedure: They were asked to make a decision between one of two options in
a hypothetical scenario where they were choosing how to respond to the
outbreak of a virulent disease. For some of the participants the information
was framed positively while for others it was framed negatively
○ Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian
disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs
 to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume that the exact
scientific estimate of the consequences of the programs are as follows:
○ In condition 1, the participants were fiven the “positive frame”. Their
choices were the following:
- If Program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved
- If Program B is adopted, there is ⅓ probability that 600 people will
be saved, and ⅔ probability that no people will be saved
○ In condition 2, the participants were given the “negative frame”. Their
choices were the following:
- If Program C is adopted 400 people will die
- If Program D is adopted there is ⅓ probability that nobody will die,
and ⅔ probability that 600 people will die
○ It is important to note that all four options, (A, B, C and D) are effectively
the same; 200 people will survive and 400 people will not
● Findings:
○ In the positive condition, 72% of the participants chose Program A
whereas only 28% chose Progam B
○ In the negative condition, 22% of the participants chose Program C and
78% chose Program D
Where the information was phrased positively, (the number of people who would be
saved) people took the certain outcome, (option A) and avoided the possibility of a
loss in the less certain option (option B). By contrast, when information was phrased
in terms of people dying (a negative frame) people avoided the certain loss (option
C) and took a chance on the less certain (option D)
● Conclusion: The results clearly demonstrate the influence of the frame

■ Applicability in marketing
- In a word - Context. If you have the opportunity to go see Sting’s show,
you would probably be willing to pay quite a bit for a ticket. But if he
would be performing on the side of the street, you would probably
continue walking, not noticing him at all. In other words, it all depends
on context and the specific situation
- What would you prefer? Low-fat ice
yogurt containing 90% less fat tha the
 average yogurt? Or a yogurt containing 10% of the average fat content?
Most people asked would choose the first option
- The same thing goes for a question like: A plastic surgery with 90%
chance of success, or a plastic surgery with 10% chance of failure. When
we phrase something of this sort, it is important to give thought to the
outcome (positive or negative) and the qualities that we want to
highlight

→ Anchoring effect:
● Excessively focusing on the first piece of information you receive when making
a decision
● People are influenced by the first information they
are exposed to regarding a particular subject
● When negotiating the price of an item we are
often swayed when we feel we’re getting a
bargain. Make sure to consider if the price is
actually reasonable for that item or if you have
perceived the value based against the original price

Tversky & Kahnemann (1974)

● Aim: Investigate if the first number seen in a multiplication would bias the
estimate of the value by the participant
● Participants: a sample of high school students
● Procedure: It uses an independent measure design, two groups and each one
went trough a different experimental condition
○ Participants in the “ascending condition” were asked to quickly estimate
the value of 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8
○ Participants in the “descending condition” were asked to quickly
estimate the value of 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1
● Findings: The researchers found that the median for the ascending group was
512 and the median for the descending group was 2250. The actual value is
40320
● Conclusion: He ascending/descending presentation of a multiplication affects
the estimation of the value due to anchoring bias
Strack and Mussweiler (1997)
● Aim: To test the influence of anchoring bias on decision making
● Participants: the researchers used an opportunity sample of 69 German
undergraduate were recruited from the university canteen
● Procedure: The participants answered questions on a computer scream. Each
question had two components
○ The first one is a comparative judgement about something. This
question acted as the anchor. Anchors were either high or low, plausible
(likely) or implausible (unlikely)
- For example: Type of ancle:
Did Mahtma Gandhi die before of after the age of 9? (low, implausible)
Did Mahtma Gandhi die before of after the age of 140? (high, implausible)
Did Mahtma Gandhi die before of after the age of 64? (low, plausible)
Did Mahtma Gandhi die before of after the age of 79? (high, plausible)
○ The second one is an absolute estimate for the target information
- E.g: How old was Mahatma Gandhi when he died? (The actual
answer is 78)
● Findings: Results were calculated as the mean value offfered for the second
task. The data below shows the mean values for the estimated ages in
response to the Mahatma Ganghi question → 50.1 | 66.7 | 99.6 | 67.9
● Conclusion: The anchors (plausible & implausible) clearly influenced the final
value offered

■ Applicability in marketing
- People rely too much on the exposed information and it becomes like
an anchor that is hard to move
- In our daily lives, we encounter it a lot when a
question is asked like how much a specific product
would cost, or how long it would take to get to a
specific place. We get a certain initial answer that
we would probably stick to later on. If we fo back to
eCommerce stores, you may see this principle
implemented where as soon as you enter a home page, you see a
 particular item with a discount price next to it, and an original price
crossed out
- If you search a little further on that site, you would likely find a similar
product (perhaps identical) at the same price or even at a cheaper
price

→ Peak End Rule

● Have you watched the last episode of tv show’s season and you could
not expect to watch the next season? How was the last episode?
● The peak-end-rule states that people
generally judge an experience based on how
they felt as its peak-whether it was positive, or
negative- and the end or conclusion of the
experience. They don’t take into account the
experience in its entirety, but rather focus and
recall the most memorable and extreme snapshots

Kahneman & Frederickson (1993)

● Aim: Investigate the effect of peak end rule
● Procedure: The research team asked participants held their hands in a tub of
cold water. The experiment consisted of three rounds:
○ Round 1: 60 seconds at 14 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit)
○ Round 2: 60 seconds at 14 degrees Celsius followed by 30 seconds at 15
degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit)
○ Round 3: Option to choose between repeating Round 1 or Round 2
● Findings: The most logical choice would have been to repeat Round 1. Water is
still unpleasantly chilly at 15 degrees Celsius, so it would be rational to choose
60 seconds of discomfort instead of 90 seconds. As it turns out, the slightly less
uncomfortable final 30 seconds of the experiment changed how people
perceived the entirety of Round 2. 80% of the study participants preferred
Round 2 and chose to repeat that condition in the final trial
● Conclusion: A small improvement near the end of an experience radically
shifted people’s perception of that event
■ Applicability of this theory:
- Childbirth, shows how positive endings (childbirth) diminish an verall
painful experience
- Break ups, even though the relationship might,ve been pleasant if it
ended in wrong terms you will remember the general experience as
bad (until some time passes)
Reconstructive Memory

Is memory reliable?
● Bartlett concluded that memory is reconstructed every time it is recalled
(memory as constructive in nature)
● Memory can be easily distorted and transformed
● Memory encoding is not an exact copy of events but a constructive process
● Previous knowledge will be used to interpret the information and to
reconstruct memories
● Memory is a reconstructive process and is therefore open to distortion
○ Memories are actively and consciously rebuilt when we are trying to
remember certain information

Loftus & Pickrell (1995)

→ “Lost in a shopping mall”
● Participants:
○ 24 participants (3 males and 21 females) were recruited by university
students
○ Pair of individuals included a participant and the participant’s relative
(parent or sibling)
● Procedure:
○ Participants received a booklet with 4 short stories about events from
their childhood (previously provided by relative). These were not
traumatic
○ 3 of the stories were true, and 1 was false (event about getting lost in a
mall). Stories were from when participants were between four and six
years old
○ Then participants were asked to write down details of each memory in
the booklet
○ They were then interviewed twice and asked to share everything they
remembered about the events. They also rated the clarity of their
memories
○ Researchers then revealed that one of the memories was false and they
asked participants to guess which one it was
 ● Results:
○ 6 of 24 participants (25%) “remembered” the false event, either fully or
partially
○ The clarity ratings were lower for the false events than for the true
events
○ Results reveal that people can be led to believe that entire events
happened (memory implantation) to them after suggestions to that
effect

False memories
→ recalling an event that never happened and believing it to be true

Wade Et Al. (2002)

● Aim: to investigate the influence of doctored photographs on memory
● Participants:
○ 20 adult confederates (individuals who seem to be participants but are
really part of the research team) each recruited a family member
○ Participants (10 male and 10 female) were university students

● Procedure:
○ Confederates each provided photographs in which participants were
4-8 years old
○ These photos were pasted into a photo of a hot air balloon
○ Participants were interviewed 3 times and
they shared everything they could
remember from the photos
○ Confidence of memories was also rated
○ Researchers then revealed that one of the
4 photos was fake and asked participants
to guess which one
● Results:
○ At the end of the interviews, 50% of participants recalled the false event
either partially or clearly (“remembering” at least some details of a hot
air ballon ride during childhood)
○ Participants were more confident that the true events had occurred
than the false event had occurred
Emotion and Cognition

● Psychological and neuroscientific research has revealed that emotion and

cognition are intertwined (relationship between both)
● Emotion influences our perception and how we remember

Flashbulb Memories
■ Is the theory that will be used to analyse how emotions affect memory
(emotion and cognition) and to discuss the reliability of memory (reliability of
cognitive processes)
■ Are vivid, long-lasting memories surrounding a person’s discovery of
emotional and surprising events (of persona, national or international
importance)
■ Flashbulb memories
○ Last for many years (or forever)
○ Are resistant to change
○ Form in situations where we encounter surprising,
relevant and highly emotional information
○ Are maintained by overt rehearsal (discussions
with others) and by covert rehearsal (provate
rehearsing or ruminating)
○ Differ from other memories in that they are more
vivid, last longer, more consistent and accurate
○ Are created by a specialized neural mechanism which stores
information permanently in a unique system
→ Key factors recalled
■ Place: where was the news heard?
■ Informant: who supplied the information? (what was the source of the
information)
■ Event: what were they doing at the time of hearing the news?
■ Affect: how did they feel and how did others feel (emotional state) when
receiving the news?
■ Aftermath: what were the consequences of the event for the individual?
Brown & Kulik (1977)
● Aim: to study whether surprising and personally significant events can cause
flashbulb memories
● Participants: 40 black and 40 white American males
● Procedure:
○ Participants filled out a questionnaire about the death of public figueres
(i.e. John F Kennedy) as well as personally significant events
○ They were asked diverse questions about the event:
- Where were you when you heard about the event?
- How did you feel when you heard about the event?
- What were you doing when you heard about the event?
● Results:
○ 90% of participants recalled a significant amount of detail about the
day when these events occurred
○ Most had very detailed memories of the death of a loved one
○ There was a difference in their memories of the assassination of public
figures based on the personal relevance of the event to the participant
(e.g. memories of murder of Martin Luther King higher in black
participants than in white participants)

Neisser & Harsch (1992)

● Aim: toassess the overall accurancy of flashbulb memories
● Participants: 44 university students (30 women and 14 men) in a psychology
class
● Procedure (pt.1):
○ Participants were asked to recall their reaction to the Challenger
disaster (space shuttle which exploded in space live on TV) the morning
after the event
○ They were asked to write a description of how they had heard the news
and to complete a questionnarie
○ Questionnaire questions:
- What time was it?
- How did you hear about it?
- Where were you?
 - What were you doing?
- Who told you?
- Who else was there?
- How did you feel about it?
- How did the person who told you seem to feel about it?
- What did you do afterward?
● Procedure (pt.2):
○ Two and a half years later, the same participants (now seniors) were
given again the questionnaire
○ They were also asked to rate how confident they were of the accuracy
of their memory
○ Some months later, after identifying discrepancies, researchers carried
out semi-structured interviews to see if participants would repeat what
they had written before or revert to the original memory
○ The interviewer also presented participants instructions to help them
retrieve memories of the event
● Results:
○ Researchers found discrepancies between the original questionnaire
and the follow up (2 and a half years later)
○ The mean score (of the content questions) was 2.95 out of 7
○ 11 participants were wrong about everything
○ Only 3 participant scored the maximum score of 7
○ Despite the lack of accurancy, participants showed a high level of
confidence
○ 2.5 years later, many of the flashbulb memories obtained were
mistaken - this suggests vivid and confident flashbulb memories can
be mistaken

Sharot Et Al. (2007)

● Aim: to determine the potential role of biological factors on flashbulb
memories
● Participants: 24 participants (16 males and 8 females)
● Procedure:
 ○ 3 years after the 9/11 attacks, participants who were in New York City on
that day were asked to retrieve autobiographical memories related to a
word cue shown on a screen while in a fMRI
○ The words “summer” or “September” were shown in order to have the
participant link the memory to either summer holidays (June-August)
or 9/11 events
○ After the scanning session, they rated their memories on the factors
that characterize flashbulb memories and wrote a description about it
● Results:
○ Half of the participants reported having flashbulb memories of the 9/11
event. Those that did were closer to the World Trade Center and
included more detailed descriptions
○ Participants close to the World Trade Center showed a higher activation
of the amygdala when recalling 9/11 memories (than summer
memories)
○ The strength of amygdala activation correlated with flashbulb
memories
○ This suggests that flashbulb memories only exist for those with close
personal experience of a shockin public event

Bernsten & Thomsen (2005)

● Aim: to test the accuracy of flashbulb memories
● Participants: 145 older Danes (between 72 and 89 years)
● Procedure:
○ Participants were asked for their memories of different events from
WWII (invasion, liberation, positive personal memory, negative personal
memory)
○ For the news of the Danish invasion and liberation, they were asked to
describe their personal context for receiving this news
○ Questionnaires were then sent asking factual details (e.g. weather, day
of the week) that could be corraborated against objective records (a
younger control group was also given the same questionnaire)
● Results:
○ Almost all participants reported that they remembered where they were
and what they were doing when they were invaded and when the
liberation took place
○ 95% of the memory reports fulfilled the minimum criterion for a
flashbulb memory (according to Brown and Kulik)
○ Older participants remembered context-related details (i.e. weather,
day of the week, time of announcements)
Digital Technologies

○ Are present in our everyday lives, through social media and 24-hour news
coverage
○ Through the access to digital technologies we are exposed to infinite amount
of information
○ This eventually leads to the incapability of storing and evaluating information
○ By examing the effects of digital technology and media on psychological
aspects of human libes we can see the clear effects on human behaviors,
actions, attitudes, motivation and learning

→ Technology, Emotion and Cognition

● How do digital technologies relate to emotions?
○ Digital technologies relate to emotion through flashbulb memories
○ The manner in which we hear news → significant role in how we recall
them = reception context
○ Strong emotional responses and over rehearsal is formed through the
media images a person sees
○ Social media sites → increase the vividness and confidence in the
accurancy of memories
○ Talarico et al (2017) proved that the recall acurrancy for
- Personal Communication & Social Media Vividness → Low
- Television Exposure Accuracy and Vividness → Strong
● Why is understanding the idea is important?
○ Exposure can affect negatively in some cases the viewer
○ Some kind of censorship should be inserted into
medias of communication
- Ensures there is consent
- Provides a choice and a warning
Examples: intagram has begun to put an announcement
asking for consent before showing a sensitive image
Shaffer et Al (2011)
● Summary:
○ Students were asked to engage in a recall task regarding what they
heard about the attacks on the news
○ The aim was to investigate if there were differences in memories of the
9/11 terrorist attacks depending on the reception context
○ They were assessed both 28 hours after the event and again six months
later
○ The participants were divided into two groups. The immediate group
were people who had witnesses the event live on television as soon as it
happened
○ The delayed group consisted of participants who had viewed the event
on television several hours after it happened
○ The findings revealed that the reception context did not impact the
quantity of information recalled by the participants. However, the
delayed viewing of images resulted in less detailed and less consistent
memories

Relation to emotion/digital technologies:

- People who saw the news in television immediately have a higher recognition
of the memory as seeing it on live can create a high level of empathy as the
person is going through this in the exact moment

Talarico et Al
● Investigated if the reception context would make a difference in the
accurancy of memories of the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the leader
of the 9/11 attack.
● Memories were compared depending on how they found about the attack -
through television, social media, or through another person
● Asked to recall then and after 2 days:
○ How they heard about the event?
○ What they remembered two days after the assassination?
● After two days, the findings were that - television exposure was strongest in
the accuracy of the memory
 ● Findings of the study:
○ Overexposure in the TV causes anxiety for people
○ Helps you remember the moment better

Ahern et Al (2002)
● Summary:
○ Investiagted the role that viewing graphic television images may play in
PTSD
○ They carried out a telephone survey in which the participants’ exposure
to violenta video games and their symptoms of PTSD were discussed
- Specific violence or disaster related television images were
associated with PTSD and depression
○ Participants that repeatedly played violence videogames → higher
prevalence of PTSD and depression that those who did not

Relation to emotion/digital technologies:

■ People who play violent video games often may become used to violence and
become less sensitive to its effects. Their capacity to comprehend traumatic
experiences may be affected by this normalization
■ Playing violent video games can distort someone’s perception of violent
stimuli. This bias may increase people’s ability to perceive unclear
circumstances as threatening or frightening, which may affect their emotional
and psychological reactions

→ Technology on thinking and decision making

● In our dual processing model, System 1 is influenced by our biases and
heuristics, resulting in cognitive biases
● Influenced by the information we receive through the digital world, increasing
our confirmation bias of information depending on
what we decide to pay attention to
○ confirmation bias - the tendency to interpret new
evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs
or theories
● This confirms our view and is influenced by the algorithms seen in technology
Positive effects of technology on T & DM
● Working memory capacity - the amount of information we can hold in our
minds at any moment
○ Technology in the form of computer games can be used → designed to
be fun and engaging while also forcing us to make a memory
effort-wise
○ Technology trains our spatial skills which can be improved benefiting
individuals over a long period of time
○ Problem solving skills are also benefited with video games, as these
skills can be transferred to ther spatial tasks
○ Technology also allows us to develop our cognitive flexibility after
strategic thinking is practiced

Negative effects of technology on T & DM

● Social media can be affected by:
● This is shown in the Social Comparison Theory, which states that people
determine their social and personal worth by comparing themselves to others
● People who are more active on social media are more likely to be affected by
negative cognitive bias (which refers to the negative comparison of
themselves to others) as they are more exposed to people’s likves which
changed their mood and creates false expectations
○ This negative cognitive bias could be further intensified with upward
comparisons (compare our experiences, behaviours, and
characteristics to others and think of these as better than our own)
○ This is because people tend to present themselves in the media as their
best version instead of a genuine one
● Social media also influences our thinking through availability heuristics: when
people are more likely to base their self-esteem on example that have more
available (easily remembered) which are usually such that show excitement
and fun
Chou & Edge
In most cases, being concerned and aware of how other people perceive them leads
people to present themselves in a specific way to manage these impressions in a
way that benefits them
● This, through the implementation of social media platforms such as: Facebook
and Instagram
● Has only enhanced this need for validation as during the intake of this
information, users employ the availability bias, a heuristic directly linked to
System 1, which allows the first piece of information given to be seen as
complete fact leading many to see their lives as a downgrade from other as
what is projected on social media is what is assumed to be a clear image of
real-life
Negative effects:
● One study which aimed to investigate the negative effects of technology on
our thinking and decision making is that of Chou and Edge (2012), who aimed
to determine exactly what effect the availability bias had on how users on
Facebook perceived themselves in contrast to others
● Procedure: Questionnaire provided to participants to record exactly how they
felt about their presence on Faceboob regarding their following, time spent
and genuine connections
● Results: Participants who spent an increased amount of time on Facebook
were more likely to believe that their friends and other people on social media
had a better quality of life, than those who spent more time away from their
screens
● They also determines how many people overestimate how the quality of
someone’s life has on that of their instead of reaching an overall consensus
about the scenario

Bavelier et Al.
● Aim: the study was done to observe the correlation between decision-making
and action games
● Procedure: Participants were split into two groups of men and women (26
years old) - they had not played video games in the past year -
 ○ First group: participants were told to play two action video games for 2
hours for a total of 50 hours
○ Second group: participants was asked to play a simulation game in
which they had to make decisions about a character’s life also for 50
hours
○ After this, all participants were asked to do a test on a computer screen
consisting of identifying the majority direction moving dots displayed
on the screen (some easy and some complex)
● Findings: the first group of participants (who played action videos) were more
efficient (fewer errors) and faster when doing the task than the participants in
the second group, showing that they were more capable of concluding more
quickly after analysing many facts
Positive aspects:
● Visual selective attention and minimising the influence of irrelevant or
distracting stimuli
● Bavelie et al. study has revealed that playing fast-paced action video games
can improve different aspects of selective visual attention compared to
control games

→ Digital technology on memory

● Transactive memory systems
○ Externally storing information
○ This concept proposed by Wegner et al (1985) that when two or more
individuals spend a lot of tiem around each other and work together,
they create a shared store of knowledge between them
○ Collaboration between group members may also be necessary for the
retrieval of information
○ This system allows the members of the group to access information
whenever it is needed as they know the others know it, so there is no
need to store that information in the long-term memory store
- I.e. Group-level knowledge sharing and memory system
○ The information stores is not only the memories of the information but
also where the information can be found
Sparrow (2011)
Sparrow et al, wondered if the Internet had become an enormous transactive
memory store. Individuals would no longer need to remember information but would
simply need to remember how to search for it effectively using a search engine such
as Google. He noticed our tendency to directly go to Google when in need of an
answer, and that this would be done as a reflex
● Aim: to see if people would invest less effort in committing information to
memory if they believe we could retrieve it from an external store such as
Google.// To study the effects of external information storage systems
● Hypothesis: Participants would not make a great effort when committing
information to memory
● Procedure:
○ Two independent variables were manipulated at two different levels
○ Participants were asked to type 40 trivia facts into the computer
- Some of the facts were expected to represent new knowledge,
whilst other facts were more likely to be already known to the
participants
- Half of the participants were told that the computer would store
everything they typed for later reference while the other half were
told the information would be erased
● Results: In this same series of experiments, the researchers also showed that
participants were better at
remembering where to find saved
information, than they were at
remembering the information itself

Storm et Al.
Their argument is that access to the internist makes people less likely to use their
minds to decode things, and instead they use the internet to solve their problems
 ● Aim: to research if successfully retrieving information from google makes you
more prone to use it in the future instead of using memory
● Participants: 60 undergraduate students
● Variable:
○ Independent variable: if they were allowed to use the internet
beforehand
○ Dependent variable: the proportions on which the participants choose
to use the internet to answer the general knowledge questions on the
second phase
● Procedure:
○ There were two phases to this experiment
○ In the first phase, participants were allocated in 3 different conditions
1. Participants were told to use the internet to find the answers to 8
trivia questions
2. Participants were told to answer a set of 8 trivia questions with
their memory
3. The control group wasn’t asked any questions
○ In the second phase the participants were asked to answer easy
general knowledge questions as fast as they could, and had access to
google but were not explicitly told to use it
● Results: Those who had prior access to google, used it more than those who
didn’t. This suggests that people who
use the internet to answer most of
the questions they vaae are more
likely to rely on it rather than their
minds
● Strengths: Clearly manipulate & prove the relationship of the IV and DV
● Limitations: Low ecological → trivia questions, we don’t know if this would be
how people behave in normal environments when they were required to
remember more meaningful information than trivia

Muller & Oppenheimer (2014)

Their argument is that when we take notes by hand, we cannot write fast enough to
“keep up” with the professor; as a result, we have to process information bu putting it
into our own words to get it on paper. This processing helps the learning process
better than taking notes on the computer, regardless of how “complete” the
computer notes may be
● Aim: to research if taking notes by hand vs taking notes in laptop affect
academic performance
● Independent variable: notes taken by hand vs typing
● Procedure:
○ In pairs participants (109 UCLA students) were shown 4 lectures
○ They were asked to take notes about the lectures in either laptops or
notebooks (2 conditions)
○ Two sub conditions → Study:
10 min and review notes // No
study: tested immediately
after the lectures finished
○ 40 questions were asked:
factual and conceptual // 10 per lecture
● Strenghts:
○ High internal validity; the study is done in a single sitting and it is done
under highly controlled conditions
○ Highly standardized procedure: easy to replicate
● Limitations:
○ Low ecological validity → students not often take notes on lectures
where they are not aware of what the topic will be
○ Independent sample: ability to memorize can vary between individuals
● Conclusion:
○ When taking notes by hand, there is more processing involved then
when typing, as typing doesn’t require us to process information
○ Writing by hand requires a deeper level of processing as people tend to
transcribe the information before writing it. This allows for a more
conceptual level of understanding