Coding, Capacity And Duration of Memory

Question 1

What is coding

Answer 1

Coding is the format in which information is stored in the memory system

Question 2

Research on coding (Baddeley’s experiment)

Answer 2

Group 1 (acoustically similar) - words sound the same.
Group 2 (accoustically dissimilar)
Group 3 (semantically similar) - words with similar meaning 
Group 4 (semantically dissimilar) 

-participants shown words to recall them in correct order immediately (STM recall)- they tended to do worse with acoustically similar words.

If participants recalled after 20 minutes- they tended to do worse with semantically similar words. Information is coded semantically in long term memory.

Question 3

Research on coding (Baddeley’s experiment)&raquo_space;» strengths

Answer 3

Separate memory stores!!!!

The study helped us identify a clear difference between two memory stores. The idea that STM is mostly acoustic and LTM uses mostly semantic.

This is an important step in the understanding of the memory system which lead to the multi-store model.

Question 4

Research on coding (Baddeley’s experiment) ««&laquo_space;criticisms

Answer 4

Artificial stimuli

• Doesn’t use meaningful materials- they’re just words.
• No personal meaning to participants
• when processing more meaningful material, people may use semantic coding for STM tasks.
• Baddeley’s findings may not tell us much about coding in different kinds of memory tasks, especially in everyday life.
• Limited application, more apparent than real
• Need to be cautious in generalising the findings.

Question 5

What is capacity?

Answer 5

Capacity is the amount of information held in a memory store

Question 6

Research on capacity&raquo_space;» span of memory and chucking- miller (1956)

Answer 6

Miller made observations E.g

• 7 days in a week
• 7 notes on the music score

Span (capacity) of STM is about 7 items +/-2&raquo_space;» Range between 5-9 items.

Miller notes that people recall 5 words as well as they can 5 letters (this is done by Chunking- grouping units or chunks.

Breaking down big pieces of information into manageable chunks.

Question 7

Research on capacity&raquo_space;»> Digit span Jacobs (1887)

Answer 7

Researcher gives a number of digits to participant has to recall them all in order.

Researcher then increases the amount by 1 digit and the participant has to recall again until they cannot recall the correct order.

This determines their digit span.

The mean digit span for participants was 9.3 items for letters it was slightly lower at 7.3

Question 8

Research on capacity ( Digit span- jacobs (1887) and span of memory and chunking miller (1956)&raquo_space;» criticism

Answer 8

Lacking validity

• Miller conducted study in 1956
• Research in that time lacked vigorous control (more control nowadays than back then).
• Participants may have been distracted while being tested and so didn’t perform as well as they might otherwise do.
• Results may not be valid due to confounding variables.
• but the results of this study have been supported, supporting it’s validity.

Question 9

Research on capacity ( Digit span- jacobs (1887) and span of memory and chunking miller (1956)&raquo_space;» further criticism

Answer 9

Not too many chunks

• Cowan (2001)- the capacity is only about 4 chunks
• Capacity of STM may have been overestimated
• Lower end of miller’s estimated (5 items) may be more appropriate than 7 items.

Question 10

What is Duration?

Answer 10

Duration the length of time information can be held in memory.