Introduction to Cognitive Psychology - Department of Psychological ...

Prof. Greg Francis 1/2/13Testing modelsTest location of PI by changinginstructions after the list is presentedExperiment stimuli are names of indoor and outdoorgames subjects usually do not notice that wordon the fourth trial is an indoor game andothers are outdoor gamesTake two groups of subjects one has traditional PI type experiment one is told of difference on fourth trial, atthe time of testTrial 1Trial 2Trial 3Trial 4Purdue UniversityFOOTBALLSOCCERBASEBALLWALLYBALLInterference at recallIf PI prevented the last item from being stored your telling asubject that the fourth item was an indoor sport, shouldmake no difference (other than guessing) but it makes a big difference, they show release from PIPercentage correct1008060Not told40Told2001 2 3 4TrialPurdue UniversityACTHow to take a testAvoid PIAnswering successive questions on thesame topic hurts recall after answering unrelated questions go back to questions you cannot answer less proactive interference should recall moreT1, T1, T1, T1vsT1, T1, T1, T2Purdue UniversityLong-long term memory Bahrick et al (1975)392 subjects brought in their high schoolyearbook asked to matchnames with faces or recall names forfacesPurdue UniversityLong-long term memoryWhy is memory generally poorer with time?DiscriminationOne can suggest at least two explanations for poorermemory as time elapses1) Retroactive interference from subsequent faces/names2) The mental representation of temporal positionbecomes blurred as a function of time Recent events are easy to discriminate in time~25 years~50 years Long ago events are difficult to discriminate in timePurdue UniversityPurdue UniversityPSY 200: Intro. to Cognitive Psychology 4