Last memory section

For those on the history trip on Thursday 15th, it is vital that you catch up on this work as it will not be covered again in class.

We finished the memory module today. Strategies for memory improvement include visual imagery, mnemonics, method of loci & dual coding hypothesis (plus many more - you only need about 4). For each method you need to describe the strategy and then explain why it works. For an example of a past exam question on this topic see Q2 on this paper (January 2011). My ppt is here but is fairly brief - you must make your own notes from the textbook. A sheet that I have used in previous years is here - this contains a table to fill in on the different strategies.

The cognitive interview is straightforward enough. Describe it (remember COPE), give some supporting research, and say why it works. There are a few downsides as well - possibly unsuitable for children and very resource-intensive. My ppt is here.

Biological Therapies

Yesterday we introduced biological therapies with a look at psychosurgery and electroconvulstive therapy (ECT). Here is the presentation, which contains more detail than you need, especially on psychosurgery which you won't be asked specifically about in an exam (but could write about as part of a general question on biological therapies).

We went through the first ten of the twenty questions I set last week - we will go through the biological ones on Thursday when we will finish biological therapies.

Next Tuesday we will have a test on the whole of the Abnormality topic, so revise your definitions and the four models as well as the therapies. These multiple choice questions are to help you in your revision of therapies, and this Abnormality Specification Overview tells you exactly what you need to know for next Tuesday's test and your AS exam, with boxes to colour in when you initially audit your understanding and when you revise each topic.

Age & eyewitness testimony

Today's powerpoint is here, and if you missed the handout come and find me to get one. You need to know three ways in which eyewitness testimony is affected by age, and describe supporting evidence for each. The own-age bias is relevant here - superior recognition for those of our own age. Since many research studies use young people, this might go some way to explaining reduced performance in older participants.