Duration AO1 + AO3

Question 1

what is the duration?

Answer 1

Duration is the amount of time the information can be stored in each memory store.

Question 2

procedure and findings on the duration of the stm Peterson and peterson

Answer 2

• Peterson and Peterson 1959 tested 24 students in 8 trials each
• on each trial, the student was given a constant syllable to remember 3 digit number
• Students counted backwards from this number until they were told to stop
• counting backwards = prevent mental rehearsal of the constant syllable which would increase the duration in the STM
• on each trial, they were told to stop after 3,6,9,12,15,18 seconds after the retention intervals
• after 3 seconds average recall was about 80%
• after 18 seconds it was 3%
• suggested that the same duration is about 18 seconds unless we repeat the information over and over again

Question 3

AO3 Peterson and Peterson, what is a limitation of the study?

Answer 3

stimulus material was artificial

• study is not completely irrelevant because we do sometimes try to remember fairly meaningless information
• recalling constant syllables does not reflect most everyday memory activities
• study lacks external validity

Question 4

procedure and finding o the duration of LTM Bharick at al 1975

Answer 4

• studied 392 American ppts aged between 17 and 74
• high school yearbooks were obtained from the school
• recall was tested in 2 ways:
  1. photo recognition test consisting of 50 photos
  2. free recall test - ppts recalled all the names of their graduating class
• ppts tested within 15 years of graduation were about 90% accurate in photo recognition and recall was 70%
• after 48 years - recognition = 70%
  free recall was less accurate as it dropped to 30%
• shows that LTM may last up to a lifetime for some materials

Question 5

AO3 what is a strength for bharicks study?

Answer 5

• high external validity
• investigated meaningful memories
• when studies on LTM were conducted with meaningful pictures to be remembered, recall rates were lower
• suggests that bharick et als findings reflect a more realistic estimate of the duration of LTM