Effective encoding Flashcards
what are the 4 types of memory reserch?
1) Pragmatic
2) Experimental
3) Atheoretical
4) Theoretical
what is pragmatic memory research?
Seeking ways to improve people’s abilities to learn and remember
what is experimental memory research?
Documenting the existence and nature of memory phenomena with observations that are systematically collected
what is atheoretical memory research?
Characterising memory in an intuitive and informal manner; focusing on phenomena rather than explanations
what is theoretical memory research?
Explaining the mechanisms of memory with theories, models, or metaphors that capture part of a phenomenon
what did Plato discover about memory?
describe memory metaphors: Wax tablet, aviary, scribe
what did Aristotle believe about memory?
believed that things that are encoded together are remembered together (Laws of Association)
what did Ebbunghaus believe about memory?
- believed that the scientific study of memory was possible
- his fundamental unit of memory was the ‘nonsense syllable’
- he measured how long it took hum to learn a list well enough that he could repeat it perfectly on two occasion (method of complete mastery)
what is Ebbinghaus’ method of saving?
- it’s a key measure of retention
- how long it takes to relearn the nonsense syllable list
what did Ebbinghaus find about encoding long lists?
- encoding up to 7 items was effective
- after 7 items, longer to learn
- but after that the rate if increase in difficulty may reduce
- no evidence of any “maxiumum” list length
what is better massed or distributed learning?
- massed conditions show show and steady improvements over time
- distributed learning shows crossed-day forgetting
what did Baddely and Longman (1978) find when training postmen to type postcodes?
- training for one hour per day is most effective, 4 hrs per day least effective
- long term retention was also poorer in the 4hr group (2x2)
- but the 1x1 group were the least satisfied with the training
why does distributed encoding work?
- because its hard you have to do more so its more likely to remember it
- Encoding variability: Multiple learning in slightly different contexts produces more available cues
- you don’t pay as much attention to things you encounter commonly, s if you revisit once a week then you will pay more attention
- with distributed learning, you tend to retrieve the previous episode of learning each time you re-learn and retrieval itself benefits memory
Brewer and Treyens (1981) study on memory
- ppts told to sit in office before the study begins
- confederate comes and takes them out the office and asks them to recall as many things they can remember about the office
- out of 30 ppts, most recalled chair, desk, wall, poster, door
- 9 recalled books, 3 cabinet , 2 pens and 2 windows
- but books were a false memory
the study looked at schema expectancy (did they expect ti see it in an office), and saliency (how noticeable the object is)
what does schema expectancy and saliency predict?
- they predict recall
