Mapping Psychology
TMA 04
Option B – ‘Memory is a constructive and active process’. Evaluate this claim, drawing upon evidence from Chapter 8. of Book 1, Mapping psychology
Memory is a subject that has been of much interest to psychologists for many years and various research has been carried out in aid of trying to understand how memory works. It can be understood that memory is compromised of three processes and three key subsystems which enable it to work and perform efficiently on a daily basis. The encoding process is where information is retrieved via what is known as sensory memory which is encoded either visually or semantically by attaching a meaning to a word. In terms of storage of memory, the information in the sensory memory is either held …show more content…
When information is unfamiliar or leading questions are asked about memories, this can affect our recall and the memories can become distorted which implies a constructive aspect when recalling information. A number of studies examining specific circumstances and their effects on memory support this concept. Encoding follows a similar principle, where depending on the circumstances the information is either encoded passively or constructed with a mix of new information and information stored in long term memory in order to attach meaning to the information. Storage on the other hand is primarily passive as the information is recorded automatically. It is also important to take into account that there is not just one type of memory but that it can be split into two different categories, short term memory and long term memory.(Brace and Roth, …show more content…
In the Bahrick et al (1975, as cited in Brace and Roth 2007) study which looked at the recollection of faces and names of people from their graduating classes it was found that even after 35 years there was almost no forgetting and accurate recall of names and faces. This Study supports the aspect of memory being a passive process as the information encoded is being recalled accurately and over a long period of time. These types of memories are classed as enduring memories and little or no loss or distortion occurs until very old age where other factors could be responsible. However a weakness of the study was that it only tested names and faces which is a small representation of the types of knowledge stored in long term memory so would be difficult to apply the findings to all aspects of long term
Option B – ‘Memory is a constructive and active process’. Evaluate this claim, drawing upon evidence from Chapter 8. of Book 1, Mapping psychology
Memory is a subject that has been of much interest to psychologists for many years and various research has been carried out in aid of trying to understand how memory works. It can be understood that memory is compromised of three processes and three key subsystems which enable it to work and perform efficiently on a daily basis. The encoding process is where information is retrieved via what is known as sensory memory which is encoded either visually or semantically by attaching a meaning to a word. In terms of storage of memory, the information in the sensory memory is either held …show more content…
When information is unfamiliar or leading questions are asked about memories, this can affect our recall and the memories can become distorted which implies a constructive aspect when recalling information. A number of studies examining specific circumstances and their effects on memory support this concept. Encoding follows a similar principle, where depending on the circumstances the information is either encoded passively or constructed with a mix of new information and information stored in long term memory in order to attach meaning to the information. Storage on the other hand is primarily passive as the information is recorded automatically. It is also important to take into account that there is not just one type of memory but that it can be split into two different categories, short term memory and long term memory.(Brace and Roth, …show more content…
In the Bahrick et al (1975, as cited in Brace and Roth 2007) study which looked at the recollection of faces and names of people from their graduating classes it was found that even after 35 years there was almost no forgetting and accurate recall of names and faces. This Study supports the aspect of memory being a passive process as the information encoded is being recalled accurately and over a long period of time. These types of memories are classed as enduring memories and little or no loss or distortion occurs until very old age where other factors could be responsible. However a weakness of the study was that it only tested names and faces which is a small representation of the types of knowledge stored in long term memory so would be difficult to apply the findings to all aspects of long term