Coding, capacity and duration Flashcards
What is coding?
The format which information is stored in and the processing of transferring information from one format to another
What is capacity?
The amount of information which can be stored
What is duration?
The length of time information which can be stored
Outline Baddeleys study on memory (1966)
He gave different word lists to groups of participants
1) Acoustically similar
2) Acoustically dissimilar
3) Semantically similar
4) Semantically dissimilar
What were the results of Baddeley’s research on memory?
When they were asked to recall straight away, the acoustically similar words were recalled the worst.
When they were asked to recall after 20 minutes, the semantically similar words were the worst.
What conclusions can be drawn from Baddeley’s research?
Short term memory is coded for acoustically
Long term memory is coded for semantically
What is an evaluative point of Baddeley’s research?
The stimuli was artificial and therefore it lacks ecological validity
What was Jacob’s (1887) study on capacity?
Looked at digital span
RPS recalled 4 digits in order, if correct then 5 given and so on until recall by reading aloud is no longer possible
What were the results of Jacob’s study?
Mean span was 7.3 letters and 9.3 numbers
What did Miller (1956) look at regarding capacity?
The span of memory and chunking, observing the importance of 7’s in everyday life
Suggested that the span of STM is 7 (+/- 2) items
What is chunking?
Grouping sets of digits or letters together
What are some evaluative points of the capacity studies?
Lacks validity
Lacks adequate control of confounding variables
May have overestimated the capacity of the STM
What was Peterson and Peterson’s study? (1959)
Duration of STM
24 undergraduate students each had 8 trials where they were each given a consonant syllable or trigram to remember and a 3 digit number
They had to count backwards from their 3 digit number and were stopped at different times, then they had to recall the trigram
What were the results for Peterson and Peterson’s study on duration?
After 3 seconds, 80% recalled trigram compared to after 18 where only 10% did
STM has a very short duration unless it is repeated regularly
What are some evaluative points for Peterson and Peterson’s study?
The stimulus material is artificial, lacks ecological validity
Only considered duration for one type of stimuli
