2.1: Short-term memory (STM) Flashcards
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)
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?
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
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
For example, Miller discovered that people can remember 5 words as easily as 5 letters through chunking
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?
Duration of STM is thought to be approximately 18 - 30 seconds
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?
Duration can be extended by verbal rehearsal
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?
Coding in STM is acoustic
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?
As a result, when material, for example a list of words, sound the same, it can cause difficulty when recalling it
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?
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
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
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?
Short-term memories are coded acoustically
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?
The likely outcome is that most of the people tested would be able to correctly repeat a sequence of between 5 and 9 items
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?
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
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
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?
XGKS, because words have meaning and can be recalled as wholes
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, because recognisable abbreviations have meaning and can be recalled as wholes
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?
TUGSL, because recognisable abbreviations have meaning and can be recalled as wholes
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
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
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.
STM also has a limited capacity and duration
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)
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
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)
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
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)
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
