5 short-term memory Flashcards
According to Atkinson and Shifrin, what types of memory exist?
Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968 modal model of memory
- Sensory memory is an initial stage that holds all incoming information for seconds or fractions of a second.
- Short-term memory STM holds five to seven items for about 15 to 20 seconds. We will describe the characteristics of short-term memory in this
chapter. - Long-term memory LTM can hold a large amount of information for years or even decades.
What is sensory memory?
retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of sensory stimulation
What is the flicker fusion threshold?
fluid motion at a frame rate of x images per second
flicker is imperceptible
-> persistence of vision
some animals have faster x
-> better fft
What did Sperlings experiment show?
duration of iconic memory store
created 12 letter screen, displayed for a limited time
-> tone indicated which line to recall
if tone was delayed by 1sec, participants could not remember more than 1 letter
-> iconic sensory memory lasts 1 second
What did Browns experiment show?
duration of short-term memory (18sec)
asked participants to memorize 3letter, count backwards to prevent rehearsal
What did Baddeley´s experiment show?
our ability to recall words depends on their length, we can recall the number of words we can pronounce in about 2 seconds
evaluated the impact of word length on the number of words participants could recall, fewer long words than short words
What did Craik and Lockhart´s experiment show?
the deeper the level of processing, the better the retention
asked participants to pay attention ot orthographic, phonological, or semantic characteristics of words, and tested how many words participants then remembered
-> semantic was best
What did Shepard and Metzler´s experiment show?
if participants needed time to answer, it means they are rotating the image, so they are indeed able to manipulate on mental images and not only sound
-> participants were shown similar shapes, one rotated and were asked to determine whether they were in the same shape or not
-> the more rotated the shape was, the longer it took participants to answer
What is the difference between iconic and echoic memory?
Echoic memory lasts up to 3/4 seconds in comparison to the iconic memory, which lasts up to one second.
However, iconic memory preserves 8/9 items, in comparison to 4/5 items in case of echoic memory.
What is the duration of STM?
15-20s or less
Brown 1958
decay = process by which information is lost from memory due to the passage of time
Keppel and Underwood 1962
-> proactive interference information learned previously interferes with learning new
information
retroactive inference = when new learning interferes with remembering old learning
What is the capacity of STM?
digit span - measure to see how many items STM holds
about five to nine items
Miller 1956
chunking = combining small units into larger ones, such as when individual words are combined into a meaningful sentence, can be used to increase capacity of STM
considered a control process in modal model of memory
Ericsson and colleagues - 1980
some chunks are easier to make than others
What is the phonological loop?
The phonological loop consists of two components: the phonological
store, which has a limited capacity and holds information for only a few seconds; and the articulatory rehearsal process, which is responsible for rehearsal that can keep items in the phonological store from decaying. The phonological loop holds verbal and auditory information.
What is the visuospatial sketch pad?
The visuospatial sketch pad holds visual and spatial information. When you form a picture in your mind or do tasks like solving a puzzle or finding your way around campus, you are using your visuospatial sketch pad
What is the central executive?
The central executive is where the major work of working memory
occurs. The central executive pulls information from long-term memory and coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketch pad by focusing on specific parts of a task and deciding how to divide attention between different tasks. The central executive is therefore the “traffic controllerˮ of the working memory system.
