coding, capacity and duration of memory Flashcards
what is memory?
ability to recall events, experiences, information and skills
what is short term memory?
limited capacity memory store
what is long term memory?
permanent memory store
what does coding mean?
● way in which info is changed into a form that can be stored in our memory
● i.e whether its stored acoustically, visually or semantically
what does semantic mean?
● facts
● info
● meanings
● general knowledge
what does capacity mean?
● refers to the actual amount of information that can be stored by our memory systems
● i.e how much it can store before it reaches ‘capacity’ / is full
what does duration mean?
● refers to the length of time that information can be stored in our memory systems
● i.e. how long it can be held in memory before info is lost / forgotten
who conducted research into coding of both STM and LTM?
baddeley
what was the procedure of baddeley’s study of coding?
● participants were presented with one of four lists
● group 1 - acoustically similar (words sounded similar)
● group 2 - acoustically dissimilar (words sounded different)
● group 3 - semantically similar (words with similar meanings)
● group 4 - semantically dissimilar (words with different meanings)
● participants shown original words and asked to recall in correct order
● to test STM, participants asked to recall words immediately
● to test LTM, participants asked to recall words after 20 mins
what were the findings for STM in baddeley’s study of coding?
● participants did worse (less accurate) on acoustically similar recall
● conclusion: coding in STM is mainly acoustic
what were the findings for LTM in baddeley’s study of coding?
● participants did worse (less accurate) on semantically similar word recall
● conclusion: coding in LTM is mainly semantic
explain the research into the capacity of STM
● digit span technique consists of participants hearing a list of numbers and trying to recall them in correct order
● miller reviewed research - found that most people can recall between 5 and 9 items of information
concluded that the capacity of STM is 7 +/- 2 items of information
● also found that people just as capable of remembering 5 words as well as 5 letters due to chunking
● which is where we can remember more if we group items together
can the capacity of LTM be tested?
● accepted capacity of LTM is unlimited
● very difficult / impossible to study as there is no way to scientifically study the exact capacity of a person’s LTM
what was the aim and method of peterson and peterson’s study into the duration of STM?
● aim: test how long STM can last when participants prevented from rehearsing test material
● method: p’s presented with a consonant trigram (3 letter which do not form a recognisable word)
● rehearsal prevented by asking them to count backwards in 3s from a specified number
● after intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 secs, p’s asked to stop counting and repeat the trigram
what were the results and conclusions of peterson and peterson’s study into duration of STM?
● results: p’s able to recall 80% of trigrams after a 3 second interval
● after 18 seconds, fewer than 10% of trigrams were recalled correctly
● conclusions: if rehearsal prevented, information rapidly vanishes from STM
what was the aim and method of bahrick’s study into the duration of LTM?
● aim: investigate length of time that memories can be maintained in LTM
● method: investigators interviewed graduates from a high school over a 50 year period
graduates shown a set of photographs and list of names - from high school yearbook
they had to identify which of the faces were their class mates and give their name
what were the results and conclusions of bahrick’s study into duration of LTM?
● results: p’s were 90% correct in recognising faces and names 15 years after graduation
those who’d left 48 years previously - recalled 80% of names and 70% of faces
● conclusion: LTM is virtually lifelong
