Coding, capacity and duration of memory Flashcards
What is storage?
Holding information in place until it’s required
What is retrieval?
Getting information out from storage to use it
What is coding?
The format in which information is stored in various memory stores
What is memory?
The process by which we retain information about events that have happened in the past
What is short-term memory?
Where information is processed and recalled straight away as it is information we are currently aware of - if not rehearsed = forgotten
What is rehearsal?
Attending to information so it stays in memory
What was Alan Baddaley’s (1966) research on coding?
- Gave different lists of words to 4 groups for participants to remember (acoustically/semantically similar/dissimilar)
- Asked to recall in order
- Task immediately (STM) - worse with acoustically similar
- After 20 minutes (LTM) - worse with semantically similar
- Suggests information coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM
What is capacity?
The amount of information held in memory store
What is duration?
The length of time information can be held in memory
What is chunking?
Grouping sets of digits together into units/chunks
What is George Miller’s (1956) research on capacity?
- Made observations of everyday practice (e.g. things come in 7s)
- thought capacity of STM is about 7 items + or - 2, but noted people can recall 5 words as easily as 5 letters
- Done by chunking
What was Peterson and Peterson’s (1956) study in the duration of STM?
- Aim: see if rehearsal necessary to hold information in STM
- Method: participants given 3 letters to remember but asked to count in 3s backwards out loud
- Results: participants forgot almost all information in 18 seconds
- Conclusion: cant hold information in STM unless rehearsed
