Chapter 12 Memory Psychology Flashcards
What is coding?
format in which information is stored in the memory system
What is capacity?
The amount of information that can be held in the memory store
What is duration?
length of time info can be held in memory
Difference between acoustic and semantic
acoustic is words that sound the same
semantic are words that mean the same
Experiment 1: test for memory (coding)
Allen Baddely tested 4 groups of ppts Group 1: acoustically similar Group 2: acoustically dissimilar Group 3: semantically similar Group 4:semantically dissimilar Baddely asked them to memorise these words, then recall them immediately in correct order
Findings for Baddely experiment for memory
Participants did worse in the acoustically similar words
If ppts recalled after 20 mins they did worse with semantically similar words. Shows that information is coded in the LTM.
Eval for Baddely experiment
-ve: Artificial stimuli
Baddely used words with no personal meaning for ppts, cannot generalise findings to different memory tasks. For example when processing more meaningful info people may use semantic encoding for the STM tasks. This suggests that the findings have limited application.
What does digit span mean
How much info can be held in the STM (capacity)
Experiment 2 : Who developed a technique to measure digit span?
Joseph Jacobs
Procedure to measure Digit span
Researcher gives 4 digits, ppts asked to recall these in correct order out loud. If correct researcher reads out more digits until they answer incorrectly
This determines the individuals digit span
Findings of measuring digit span
Jacobs found the mean span for digits was 9.3 items, mean was 7.3. Did better with numbers than letters.
Eval for Digit span
-ve: lacking validity
Conducted long time ago, lacked control, results not valid, cofounding variables.
What did Miller observe?
Observed everyday life, notices most things come in 7s. Concluded that the persons average span is around 5-7 items.
Eval for Miller
-ve: they overestimated the capacity of STM. That the capacity is more on the lower end of 5-7.
Duration of STM
Limited capacity, encoded acoustically
Capacity is around 5-9 items, duration of info stored is 18-30 secs
Duration of LTM
Permanent memory store, Semantically encoded
Unlimited capacity.
Experiment 3: Duration of STM
Margaret and Lloyd tested 24 undergrads. 8 trails, on each one they were given a syllable to remember. They were also given a 3 digit number, they were asked to count backwards from the number. On each trial they were told to stop at different times: retention interval
Experiment 4: Duration of LTM
Researcher Harry Bahrick did a study on 392 ppts from America from the ages of 17-74. Their highschool year books were used. They were tested on:
- Photo recognition
- Recall peoples names in their class
Findings of Duration of LTM
Ptps who were tested within 15 years of graduation were 90% accurate in photo recognition. After 48 years, recall declined to 70%. Recalling peoples names was worse, at 15 years it was 60%, 48 years was 30%.
This shows LTM can last a long time.
Eval duration for STM
-ve: meaningless stimuli
Stimuli material was artificial, memorising digits didn’t reflect real life, cannot generalise findings across different memory stores ect
Eval duration for LTM
+ve: used real-life, meaningful memories
natural experiment
what is maintenance rehearsal
when we repeat material to ourselves over and over again. Keeps info in our STM as long as we rehearse it over and over again until it goes into our LTM.
what are the two stores in the sensory register?
iconic and echoic
what is a iconic system?
deals with visual information
