Coding,capacity And Duration

Question 1

What is meant by duration of memory

Answer 1

The length of time information can be stored in memory

Question 2

What is meant by capacity of memory

Answer 2

The amount of information that can be stored in memory

Question 3

What is meant by coding of memory

Answer 3

Memory encoding is a process by which the sensory information is modified and stored in the brain. The most common forms are visual,acoustic and semantic

Question 4

What are the differant types of memory store

Answer 4

Sensory register: initial contact with the stimuli
Short term memory: the information we are currently aware of or thinking about
Long term memory: continual storage of information which is largely outside our awareness

Question 5

What is the capacity of sensory memory

Answer 5

Very large capacity

Question 6

What is the capacity of STM

Answer 6

Limited between 7 plus or minus 2

Question 7

What is the capacity of the LTM

Answer 7

Potentially unlimited

Question 8

How is STM assessed

Answer 8

Digit span task- when someone says numbers and the other person has to recite them back as the order increases

Question 9

What did Jacob’s research find of capacity

Answer 9

He found the average span for numbers is 9.3 items
Fir letters the average decreased to 7.3 items

Question 10

What did Millers research find on capacity

Answer 10

We are good at remembering 5-9 items (7+/-2) he also found that people could recall 7 dots, 7 letters and 7 musical notes

Question 11

What did Miller suggest about chunking

Answer 11

Our ability to remeber things can be increased if we chunk items together.
If we find links between things and group them together we are more likely to remember them more

Question 12

Limitations to millers study

Answer 12

-He may have o ver-estimated the capacity of the STM

He didn’t specify the size of the chunk

Question 13

Limitations of research into capacity

Answer 13

-there are individual differances which affect the capacity of the STM
-findings lack ecological validity as research is often carried out in an artificial setting

Question 14

What is the duration of memory in the sensory store

Answer 14

Less than one second

Question 15

What is the duration of the STM

Answer 15

Aprox. 18-30 seconds (this comes from the Bahrick study)

Question 16

What is the duration of the LTM

Answer 16

Potentially infinite

Question 17

What was the procedure of Peterson and Peterson study

Answer 17

On each of the 8 trials p’s were given a consonant trigrams and a three digit number. They were asked to recall the consonant syllable after intervals of 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 second. To prevent rehearsal p’s were asked to count back from their 3 digit number

Question 18

Findings of Peterson and Peterson

Answer 18

3 seconds- 80% successful recall
9 seconds- 20% recall
18 seconds- less than 10% successful recall

Question 19

Procedure of Bahrick et al

Answer 19

Tested photo recognition of free name recall from the participants high school year book

Question 20

Findings of Bahrick et al - photo recognition

Answer 20

photo recognition-revision
Participants tested within 15 years were 90% accurate and after 48 yearsrecall declined to 70%

Question 21

Findings of Bahrick et al - free recall

Answer 21

After 15 years - 60% accurate
After 48 years - 38% accurate

Question 22

Limitations of P&P study

Answer 22

• it may not have been measuring trace decay and instead displacement lowering construct validity
  -lacks ecological validity

Question 23

Strengths of Bahricks study

Answer 23

Higher ecological validity than P&Ps research into duration

Question 24

How is information encoded in the SS

Answer 24

Modality specific (encoded in the same way it goes in)

Question 25

What is coding

Answer 25

The language the brain uses to take in information

Question 26

How is information encoded in the STM

Answer 26

Acoustically

Question 27

How is information encoded in the LTM

Answer 27

Semantically- meaning

Question 28

What is modality

Answer 28

Type of information e.g. auditory

Question 29

What was the procedure of Baddeley (1966)

Answer 29

Participants were shown a list of words and asked to recall them in the correct order

Question 30

Findings of Baddeley (1966)

Answer 30

Participants had difficulty remembering acoustically similar words when tested immediately but after 20 mins they had no difficulty
Participants had difficulty remembering semantically similar words after 20 mins but no difficulty when tested immediately

Question 31

Strengths of Baddeleys study

Answer 31

Shows there are separate and distinct memory stores

Question 32

Limitations of Baddleys studys findings on encoding

Answer 32

There is contradictory research evidence - Brandimote et al (1992) and Nelson and Rothbart (1972)

Question 33

Limitations of Baddleys research

Answer 33

-lack ecological validity as 5he research was carried out in a lab setting therefore cannot be generalised to the real world