Coding, Capacity and Duration

Question 1

What is coding?

Answer 1

The format in which information is stored in a memory store

Question 2

What is capacity?

Answer 2

The amount of information that can be held in a memory store

Question 3

What is duration?

Answer 3

The length of time information can be held in a memory store

Question 4

Baddeley (1966) research

Answer 4

Gave four groups of p’s different lists of worlds to remember (acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar or semantically dissimilar). When recalling words immediately, p’s performed worse on acoustically similar words, whereas after 20 minutes, p’s performed worse with semantically similar words

Question 5

Jacobs (1887) research

Answer 5

The researcher read out a certain digit span and p’s had to recall the digits out loud in the correct order. Mean span for digits was 9.3 items and 7.3 for letters

Question 6

Miller (1956) research

Answer 6

Miller made observations of things in everyday practice. Capacity of STM is ≈7+-2 items. However, chunking can be used to recall ‘more’ items

Question 7

Peterson and Peterson (1959) research

Answer 7

Students, in 8 trials, were given a consonant syllable to remember and a 3-digit number. The student counted back from this number until told to stop. After 3s, average recall was ≈80% and after 18s, average recall was ≈3%, suggesting STM duration may be ≈18s

Question 8

Bahrick (1975) research

Answer 8

392 American students were tested on photo-recognition and free recall of names from their high school yearbooks. For photo recognition, p’s tested within 15 years of graduation were ≈90% accurate, whereas after 48 years were ≈70% accurate. For free recall of names, p’s tested within 15 years of graduation were ≈60% accurate, whereas after 48 years were ≈30% accurate

Question 9

Evaluation of coding research

Answer 9

• Baddeley’s findings displayed memory stores are distinct and separate (eg. STM coded acoustically, LTM coded semantically)
• Baddeley’s study lacks mundane realism (eg. Meaningless, artificial stimuli)
• Contradictory research on Baddeley’s findings (eg. Brandimote found visual coding in STM if given a visual task)

Question 10

Evaluation of capacity research

Answer 10

• Replication of Jacobs study
• Miller may have estimated STM capacity
• Jacobs results lack ecological validity (eg. Artificial stimuli lacked mundane realism)

Question 11

Evaluation of duration research

Answer 11

• Bahrick’s results have high ecological validity (eg. Meaningful stimuli - own high school classmates)
• Peterson & Petersons study lacks mundane realism (eg. Artificial stimuli)