coding, capacity and duration of memory

Question 1

what is memory?

Answer 1

-process by which we retain information about events which happened in the past

Question 2

what is STM?

Answer 2

-immediate events, disappear unless rehearsed, present immediate past

Question 3

what is LTM?

Answer 3

-events from the past(2mins to 100 years )

Question 4

what is coding?

Answer 4

-putting information into storage (auditory/ visual)

Question 5

what is capacity?

Answer 5

-how much information can be stored

Question 6

what is duration?

Answer 6

-how long information can be stored

Question 7

what was baddeleys study on coding?
-1966a and 1966b

Answer 7

-gave different lists of words to 4 groups of particpants for them to remember
-group 1 had acoustically similar(words which sound similar)
-grp2 acoustically dismilar (words which sound diff)
-grp 3 semnatically similar(words with similar meanings)
-grp4 semantically different (words with diff meanings)

Question 8

what were the findings of baddeleys coding study?

Answer 8

-in the first study 1966a, when recalling from STM- they did worse with acoustically similar words
-in 2nd study 1966b, recalling from LTM after 20 min interval, they did worse with semantically similar words
- so STM is acoustic
-LTM is semantic

Question 9

strenghts of research on coding?

Answer 9

-clear difference between memory stored identified
-it has stood that STM is mostly acoustic
-LTM is mostly semantic
-important findings in the invention of multi store model

Question 10

limitations of research on coding?

Answer 10

-artificial sitmuli
-doesnt tell us much on different kinds of memory tasks esp everyday life
-when processing meaningful info people may use more semantic even in STM
-so limited application given

Question 11

How did jacobs figure out digit span?

Answer 11

-he read out 4 digits and partipant recalls these out loud in correct order
-if correct, he read then read out 5 digits until the particpant couldnt recall the order correctly anymore
-indicates their digit span

Question 12

what did jacobs find from the sutdy?

Answer 12

-mean span for digits across all Ps was 9-3
-mean span for letters was 7-3

Question 13

what did miller find on span of memory and chunking?

Answer 13

-he noted things come in sevens
-e.g days of the week, musical scale
-suggested the span of STM i.e capacity is 7 plus or minus 2
- he also noted people can recall 5 words as easily as 5 numbers
-and this is done by chunking (group letters or numbers)

Question 14

strenghths of jacobs study?

Answer 14

-valid
-has been replicated
-early research in psych lacked adequate control e.g some Ps digit spans perhaps underestimated bc they were distracted e.g EVs
-jacobs findings were confirmed however by controlled studies e.g Bopp and verhaegen
-gives valdity to jacob

Question 15

limitations of millers study?

Answer 15

-overestimated STM capapcity
-Cowan reviwed other research and found that STM is only about 4 plus or minus 1 chunks

Question 16

what was peterson and peterson study on duration of STM?

Answer 16

-preseneted them w trigrams (3 letters)
-made them count backwards before recalling
-counted for 2 secs then 3 secs
after 3 secs recall was 80%
-after 18 secs recall was 3%
STM lasts between 3 and 18 secs

Question 17

whats was the limitation to peterson and peterson study on duration of STM?

Answer 17

-recalling consonant syllables does not reflect everyday memory where what we are trying to remeber is meaningful
-lacked external valditity

Question 18

How did Bahrick study durtaion of LTM?

Answer 18

-Studied duration but focused on LTM
-presented 392 american Ps (17-74)
-they had to recall their classmates using high school year books

Question 19

what was Bahrick study of durtaion of LTM findings?

Answer 19

-up to 15 years after grad recall was strong (90%)
-but declined w age
-recongiton rather than actually remembering their names
-memories were long lasting but hard to remember names
-some older Ps were able to recall everyhing suggetsing LTM lasts a lifetime

Question 20

what was the strenght of bahricks study of duration of LTM?

Answer 20

-High external valdiity
-investigated meaningful memories
-(e.g names and faces)
-when LTM done on meaningless pictures, recall was lower (shepard 1967)
-bahrick had more real estimation of LTM duration