Coding, Capacity And Duration Flashcards
Outline procedure of Allan Baddeley’s research into coding of STM and LTM
Gave different groups different words to remember.
1: acoustically similar words
2: acoustically different words
3: semantically similar words
4: semantically different words
They were asked to recall the words immediately and again after 20 miniutes.
Outline the findings of Alan Baddeley’s research into coding of STM and LTM
When asked to recall the words quickly, participants did worst with acoustically similar words.
When asked to recall the words after 20 miniutes, participants did worst with semantically similar words.
Outline the conclusions of Alan Baddeley’s research into the coding of STM and LTM
Information is coded semantically in three LTM and acoustically in the STM.
One strength and one limitation of Alan Baddeley’s research into the coding of STM and LTM
Strength: led to development of MSM
Limitation: used artificial stimuli (words were irrelevant) so not reflective of real life
Outline George Millers study of the capacity of STM
He observed that things came in groups of 7 (musical scale, days of the week ect) so he said that the STM had a capacity of 7.
People could recall 5 words the same as they could recall 5 letters, due to chunking.
One limitation of Miller’s capacity of STM
Cowan concluded STM has a capacity of 4 chunks suggesting that Miller overestimated the capacity of
Outline Peterson and Peterson’s study on the duration of STM
24 undergraduate students
Students given a consonant syllable (e.g. BPT or HDR) and also a 3 digit number.
They were told to count back from this 3 digit number until they were asked to stop (at various intervals between 2-30 seconds) and recall their consonant syllable. (Counting backwards prevented maintenance rehearsal of consonant syllable).
Outline the findings of Peterson and Peterson’s study on duration of STM
The longer the person was left to count, the worse their recall was.
After 3 seconds, recall was 80%, after 18 seconds recall was 3%.
Outline the conclusions of Peterson and Peterson’s study on duration of STM
STM has a short duration unless verbal rehearsal takes place.
Outline the procedures of Bahrick et al’s study on duration of LTM
392 Americans ages 17-74
They obtained high school yearbooks to test memory in 2 ways.
-photo recognition of 50 photos
-free recall where participants recalled as many names as possible from their graduating class.
Outline the findings of Bahrick ET al’s study on duration of LTM
Photo recognition test: 90% accurate within 15 years of graduation and 70% 48 years after graduation.
Free recall test: 60% accurate within 15 years of graduation and 30% 48 years after graduation
Outline the conclusions of Bahrick et al’s study on duration of LTM
LTM has a very long span and is helped by cues (e.g photos of class)
One limitation of Peterson and Peterson’s study on duration of STM
Lacks external validity as the things participants were asked to recall are meaningless.
One strength of Bahrick et Al’s study on duration of LTM
High external validity as they used meaningful memories.
