2.1: Short-term memory (STM)

Question 1

Outline what psychological research has shown about short-term memory according to the multi-store model of memory (4 marks)

Answer 1

Capacity of STM is thought to be 7 items + or - 2 (between 5 and 9)

Question 2

Outline what psychological research has shown about short-term memory according to the multi-store model of memory (4 marks).
Capacity of STM is thought to be 7 items + or - 2 (between 5 and 9) and how can capacity be increased?

Answer 2

Capacity of STM is thought to be 7 items + or - 2 (between 5 and 9) and capacity can be increased by chunking items together to reduce the number of separate items overall

Question 3

Outline what psychological research has shown about short-term memory according to the multi-store model of memory (4 marks).
Capacity of STM is thought to be 7 items + or - 2 (between 5 and 9) and capacity can be increased by chunking items together to reduce the number of separate items overall.
Example

Answer 3

For example, Miller discovered that people can remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters through chunking

Question 4

Outline what psychological research has shown about short-term memory according to the multi-store model of memory (4 marks).
Capacity of STM is thought to be 7 items + or - 2 (between 5 and 9) and capacity can be increased by chunking items together to reduce the number of separate items overall.
For example, Miller discovered that people can remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters through chunking.
What is duration thought to be?

Answer 4

Duration of STM is thought to be approximately 18 - 30 seconds

Question 5

Outline what psychological research has shown about short-term memory according to the multi-store model of memory (4 marks).
Capacity of STM is thought to be 7 items + or - 2 (between 5 and 9) and capacity can be increased by chunking items together to reduce the number of separate items overall.
For example, Miller discovered that people can remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters through chunking.
Duration of STM is thought to be approximately 18 - 30 seconds.
How can duration be extended?

Answer 5

Duration can be extended by verbal rehearsal

Question 6

Outline what psychological research has shown about short-term memory according to the multi-store model of memory (4 marks).
Capacity of STM is thought to be 7 items + or - 2 (between 5 and 9) and capacity can be increased by chunking items together to reduce the number of separate items overall.
For example, Miller discovered that people can remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters through chunking.
Duration of STM is thought to be approximately 18 - 30 seconds.
Duration can be extended by verbal rehearsal.
What is coding in STM?

Answer 6

Coding in STM is acoustic

Question 7

Outline what psychological research has shown about short-term memory according to the multi-store model of memory (4 marks).
Capacity of STM is thought to be 7 items + or - 2 (between 5 and 9) and capacity can be increased by chunking items together to reduce the number of separate items overall.
For example, Miller discovered that people can remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters through chunking.
Duration of STM is thought to be approximately 18 - 30 seconds.
Duration can be extended by verbal rehearsal.
Coding in STM is acoustic.
As a result, what?

Answer 7

As a result, when material, for example a list of words, sound the same, it can cause difficulty when recalling it

Question 8

Outline what psychological research has shown about short-term memory according to the multi-store model of memory (4 marks).
Capacity of STM is thought to be 7 items + or - 2 (between 5 and 9) and capacity can be increased by chunking items together to reduce the number of separate items overall.
For example, Miller discovered that people can remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters through chunking.
Duration of STM is thought to be approximately 18 - 30 seconds.
Duration can be extended by verbal rehearsal.
Coding in STM is acoustic.
As a result, when material, for example a list of words, sound the same, it can cause difficulty when recalling it, as demonstrated where?

Answer 8

As a result, when material, for example a list of words, sound the same, it can cause difficulty when recalling it, as demonstrated in Baddeley’s 1966 study of coding

Question 9

A researcher investigating the multi-store model of memory tested short-term memory by reading out loud sentences of numbers of numbers that participants then had to repeat aloud immediately after presentation.
The first sequence was made up of three numbers: for example, 8, 5, 2.
Each participant was tested several times, and each time the length of the sequence was increased by adding another number.

Use your knowledge of the multi-store model of memory to explain the purpose of this research and the likely outcome (4 marks)

Answer 9

The purpose is to test the capacity of short-term memory

Question 10

A researcher investigating the multi-store model of memory tested short-term memory by reading out loud sentences of numbers of numbers that participants then had to repeat aloud immediately after presentation.
The first sequence was made up of three numbers: for example, 8, 5, 2.
Each participant was tested several times, and each time the length of the sequence was increased by adding another number.

Use your knowledge of the multi-store model of memory to explain the purpose of this research and the likely outcome (4 marks).
The purpose is to test the capacity of short-term memory.
How are short-term memories coded?

Answer 10

Short-term memories are coded acoustically

Question 11

A researcher investigating the multi-store model of memory tested short-term memory by reading out loud sentences of numbers of numbers that participants then had to repeat aloud immediately after presentation.
The first sequence was made up of three numbers: for example, 8, 5, 2.
Each participant was tested several times, and each time the length of the sequence was increased by adding another number.

Use your knowledge of the multi-store model of memory to explain the purpose of this research and the likely outcome (4 marks).
The purpose is to test the capacity of short-term memory.
Short-term memories are coded acoustically.
What is the likely outcome?

Answer 11

The likely outcome is that most of the people tested would be able to correctly repeat a sequence of between 5 and 9 items

Question 12

A researcher investigating the multi-store model of memory tested short-term memory by reading out loud sentences of numbers of numbers that participants then had to repeat aloud immediately after presentation.
The first sequence was made up of three numbers: for example, 8, 5, 2.
Each participant was tested several times, and each time the length of the sequence was increased by adding another number.

Use your knowledge of the multi-store model of memory to explain the purpose of this research and the likely outcome (4 marks).
The purpose is to test the capacity of short-term memory.
Short-term memories are coded acoustically.
The likely outcome is that most of the people tested would be able to correctly repeat a sequence of between 5 and 9 items, why?

Answer 12

The likely outcome is that most of the people tested would be able to correctly repeat a sequence of between 5 and 9 items, because according to the multi-store model, short-term memory has a limited capacity of 7 + or - 2

Question 13

A researcher investigating the multi-store model of memory tested short-term memory by reading out loud sentences of numbers of numbers that participants then had to repeat aloud immediately after presentation.
The first sequence was made up of three numbers: for example, 8, 5, 2.
Each participant was tested several times, and each time the length of the sequence was increased by adding another number.

After the study was completed, the researcher decided to modify the study by using sequences of letters rather than numbers.

Suggest one 4-letter sequence and one 5-letter sequence that the researcher could use (4 marks).
In the case of each sequence, give a justification for your choice.
Use a different justification for each sequence

Answer 13

XGKS

Question 14

A researcher investigating the multi-store model of memory tested short-term memory by reading out loud sentences of numbers of numbers that participants then had to repeat aloud immediately after presentation.
The first sequence was made up of three numbers: for example, 8, 5, 2.
Each participant was tested several times, and each time the length of the sequence was increased by adding another number.

After the study was completed, the researcher decided to modify the study by using sequences of letters rather than numbers.

Suggest one 4-letter sequence and one 5-letter sequence that the researcher could use (4 marks).
In the case of each sequence, give a justification for your choice.
Use a different justification for each sequence.
XGKS, why?

Answer 14

XGKS, because words have meaning and can be recalled as wholes

Question 15

A researcher investigating the multi-store model of memory tested short-term memory by reading out loud sentences of numbers of numbers that participants then had to repeat aloud immediately after presentation.
The first sequence was made up of three numbers: for example, 8, 5, 2.
Each participant was tested several times, and each time the length of the sequence was increased by adding another number.

After the study was completed, the researcher decided to modify the study by using sequences of letters rather than numbers.

Suggest one 4-letter sequence and one 5-letter sequence that the researcher could use (4 marks).
In the case of each sequence, give a justification for your choice.
Use a different justification for each sequence.
XGKS, because words have meaning and can be recalled as wholes.
?

Answer 15

TUGSL, because recognisable abbreviations have meaning and can be recalled as wholes

Question 16

A researcher investigating the multi-store model of memory tested short-term memory by reading out loud sentences of numbers of numbers that participants then had to repeat aloud immediately after presentation.
The first sequence was made up of three numbers: for example, 8, 5, 2.
Each participant was tested several times, and each time the length of the sequence was increased by adding another number.

After the study was completed, the researcher decided to modify the study by using sequences of letters rather than numbers.

Suggest one 4-letter sequence and one 5-letter sequence that the researcher could use (4 marks).
In the case of each sequence, give a justification for your choice.
Use a different justification for each sequence.
XGKS, because words have meaning and can be recalled as wholes.
TUGSL, why?

Answer 16

TUGSL, because recognisable abbreviations have meaning and can be recalled as wholes

Question 17

Jamie wanted to contact his doctor. He looked up the number in his telephone directory. Before he dialled the number, he had a short conversation with his friend. Jamie was about to phone his doctor, but he had forgotten the number.
Use your knowledge of the multi-store model to explain why Jamie would not remember the doctor’s number (4 marks)

Answer 17

According to the MSM, rehearsal is needed to keep information in the STM or transfer it to LTM

Question 18

Jamie wanted to contact his doctor. He looked up the number in his telephone directory. Before he dialled the number, he had a short conversation with his friend. Jamie was about to phone his doctor, but he had forgotten the number.
Use your knowledge of the multi-store model to explain why Jamie would not remember the doctor’s number (4 marks).
According to the MSM, rehearsal is needed to keep information in the STM or transfer it to LTM.

Answer 18

The conversation with his friend will prevent Jamie from rehearsing the phone number

Question 19

Jamie wanted to contact his doctor. He looked up the number in his telephone directory. Before he dialled the number, he had a short conversation with his friend. Jamie was about to phone his doctor, but he had forgotten the number.
Use your knowledge of the multi-store model to explain why Jamie would not remember the doctor’s number (4 marks).
According to the MSM, rehearsal is needed to keep information in the STM or transfer it to LTM.
The conversation with his friend will prevent Jamie from rehearsing the phone number.

Answer 19

STM also has a limited capacity and duration

Question 20

Describe one way in which psychologists have investigated the duration of short-term memory.
In your answer, you should include details of stimulus materials used, what participants were asked to do and how duration was measured (4 marks)

Answer 20

Peterson and Peterson (1959) presented participants with a consonant trigram.
Rehearsal was prevented by asking them to count backwards in threes from a specified number.
After intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds, participants were asked to stop counting and to repeat the trigram.
The percentage of trigrams correctly recalled was recorded for each time interval

Question 21

A case study was carried out on Peter whose brain was damaged in a motorcycle accident. Psychologists tested how many numbers he could hold in his short-term memory. They did this by reading him lists of numbers and asking him to recall the numbers immediately in the right order. He could recall a maximum of two items. The psychologists found that his long-term memory was normal.
Does this case study support the multi-store model of memory? Explain your answer (4 marks)

Answer 21

Yes, because the MSM suggests there are separate short-term and long-term stores.
Peter’s short-term memory was impaired, but his long-term memory was not.
This supports the idea of separate short-term and long-term stores, because one was damaged but not the other

Question 22

A case study was carried out on Peter whose brain was damaged in a motorcycle accident. Psychologists tested how many numbers he could hold in his short-term memory. They did this by reading him lists of numbers and asking him to recall the numbers immediately in the right order. He could recall a maximum of two items. The psychologists found that his long-term memory was normal.
Identify one ethical issue associated with this case study of Peter. Suggest how psychologists could deal with this ethical issue (4 marks)

Answer 22

Confidentiality.
Psychologists should keep the man’s details private and they should not use the man’s name in published work, but could use his initials instead