faber-memory Flashcards
What are the memory processes?
1) coding
2) storage
3) retrieval
What is coding?
changing information so that it can be stored
What is storage?
holding and maintaining information so that it can be found and used at a later date
What is retrevial?
bringing information from storage to be remembered and recalled
What are the two main types of memory store that James 1980 suggested?
1) short term memory (STM)
2) long term memory (LTM)
What is duration?
The length of time that the memory store holds information
What is capacity?
The amount of information that the memory store holds
STM (coding, duration, capacity)
coding; acoustic (sounds)
duration; 18-30 seconds
capacity; 5-9 items average
LTM (coding, duration, capacity)
coding; semantic (meaning)
duration; lifetime
capacity; unlimited
What is the key study for STM / LTM coding?
Baddeley (1996)
-presented participants with words that were;
1) acoustically similar (sounds - taught, naught)
2) semantically similar (meaning - huge, big, great, wide)
3) acoustically dissimmilar (foul, old, deep)
4) semantically dissimilar (pen, day, ring)
when short term memory was tested, less acoustically similar words were recalled because the memory store got confused by words with a similar sound -> we encode information in our short term memory acousticall (by sound)
What is a limitation of baddeley’s study?
used quite artificial stimuli rather than the meaningful material
-> the cautiousness of generalising findings has to be enhanced
-> the findings of the study has limited applications
What is the capacity study of STM by Jacob (1887)?
capacity; 5-9 iitems
limitations; conducting long time ago
-> lacked adquate control
-> extranrous variables have turned into confounding variables
What is the capacity study for STM by Miller (1956)?
made obervations of everyday life (things come in sevens)
-> 7+-2 = 5-9
limitation; overestimated the capacity of STM
-> cowan (2021) stated that the capacity of STM was actually only four chunks (not five to nine as miller states)
What is chunking?
grouping sets of digits or letters into units or chunks
What is the duration study of STM?
Peterson and Peterson (1959)
each student was given a constant syllable in each trial (also known as triagram eg, YCG) to remember
-> also given a three digit number to count backwards (retection interval) within different times
-> aim to write out letters after 3, 6, 9, 12 ,15 ,18 seconds
shows that the duration of STM is short
What is a limitation of peterson and peterson’s study?
stimulus of material was artificial
-> suggests that this experiment does not reflect real life memory actvities
-> this study lacks external valdity
What is the duration study of LTM?
bahrick et al (1975)
studied 392 particiants from ohio america who were age 17 to 74 to recall names from highschool
1) with yearbook 2) free recaalal (without yearbook)
findings;
15 years after graduation -90% accurate
48 years after graduation - 70% accurate
-> LTM lasts a long time
What is a strength of bahrick et al’s study?
High external validity
-> real life validity activity were recordedand studied
What is a limitation of bahrick et al’s study?
extaneous variables were not controlled and became confounding variables
-> participants might have looked at their yearook and refreshed their memoeries over the years
Who stated the multi store model?
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
What is the multi store model?
stimulus from the environment
->
sensory register
-> (paying attention)
short term memory store (STM)
->rehersal
<-retrieval
long term memory store (LTM)
What is the coding, capacity and duration of the sensory register?
coding; iconic = visually & echoic = acoustically (sounds)
capacity; high (milions of receptors)
duration; less than half a second
What is the coding, capacity and duration of STM?
coding; acoustically
capacity; limited (5-9 items)
duratiion; lasts 18 - 30 secnds unless rehearsed
What is the coding, capacityand duration of LTM?
coding; semantically (meaning)
capacity; unlimited
duration; lasts up to a lifetime if rehearsed
What is a strength of the multi store model?
supporting research evidence for different meomory stores
-> baddeley found that we tend to mix up words that sound similar when using our STM but mix up words with similar meanings when using LTM (suggests that coding in STM is acoustic and coding in LTM is semantic)
-> supports the multi store model’s view that there are separate memory stores
What are some weaknesses of the multi store model?
1) there is more than one type of STM
-> amnesia (clinical condition): Shalice and Warrington (1970) found out a patient with amnesia had very bad short term memory when digits were read aloud to him but was much better when he could read the digits to himself
-> research shows that there must be at least one type of STM to process visual information and another to process auditory information
2) there is more than one type of rehearsal
-> Craik and Watkins; elabourative rehearsal needed for LTM but maintanence rehearsal which is described within the model only maintains in STM and doesn’t transfer information to LTM
-> another research model which cannot be explained by the model
What is the Murdock serial position effect?
The first and last items are better remembered than the middle within a series
First; primary effect - rehearsal - LTM
Last; recency effect - recent - STM
There are multiple memory stores found therefore this effect supports the multi store model
Who, when and why was the working memory model created?
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
-> actually the STM could be sub divided into more areas of the brain
-> biggest weakness of the MSM was that it claimed that the STM and LTM were separate singular units that dealt with singular units with all memories of that type
What is the WMM?
input
-> sensory memory (decay)
-> (attention) central executive
1) -> episodic buffer
2) <-> visuo-spatial scratch pad
3) <-> phonological loop (articulatory control & phonological store)
-> long term memory
What is the use of central executive? (CE)
controls working memory by allocating resources and making decisions about what information should or should not be processed
- main component of WMM
What is the capacity of CE?
limited
What is the use of phonological loop? (PL)
deals with auditory information
What is the coding of the phonological loop?
Acoustic
What is the phonological loop subdivided into?
1) phonological store (temporary storage of verbal material - what you hear)
2) articulatory process (maintenance rehearsal)
What is maintenance rehearsal?
Repeating sounds or words in a loop to keep them in working memory while they are needed
What is the use of visuo-spatial sketchpad? (VSS)
processes visual and spatial information
What is the capacity of VSS?
limited
What is the VSS subdivided into?
1) visual catche (storing)
2) inner scribe (manipulating)
What is the use of the episodic buffer? (EB)
integrates information processed in other subsystems
What is the episodic buffer linked with?
Long term memory
What is the capacity of the episodic buffer?
limited (for chunks)
What are three studies that support the working memory model?
1) baddeley
2) braver et-al
3) eyesenck and keane
What is braddeley’s study that supports the working memory model?
found that participants recalled shorter words better than longer ones (as predicted by the WMM)
-> phonological loop has limited capacity
-> word length effect will disappear if the participant is given a repetitive verbal task to perform at the same time over and over again out loud because the tasks uses articulatory process (short words no longer have an advantage because there is no more room to rehearse them then there is for any more longer words)
What is braver et-al’s study that supports the working memory model?
central executive is associated with a specific part of the brain
-> biologically based evidence of -different components handle different memory functions
-more brain activity in CE as there is greater demand placed upon it
What is the aim of eyesenck and keane’s study except that it supports the working memory model?
To investigate the existence of a phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad
What design does eyesenck and keane’s study use? (and what is the definition?)
Repeated measure
->the same participants participate in each independent variable condition
What is the method eyesenck and keane used in their study?
gave participants a series of tasks to complete
1) remember 8 words in 15 secs
2) -15 secs retention time
-“tick tock tick tock”
-draw front of house
3) recall
What were the results of eyesenck and keane’s study?
best performance: task 1 - articular loop was used to retain the words through rehearsing them
worst performance: task 2 - articular loop was used to complete the task
task 3 - no effect - visuo spatial sketchpad is used
What is the conclusion of eyesenck and keane’s study?
supports the working memory model because it shows that there are different components in STM
What are some strengths of the working memory model?
1) clinical evidence
case study KF: phonological loop is damaged but visuo-spatial sketchpad is still intact
->poor STM ability for verbal communication but could process visual information normally
-> supports the existence of the PL and VSS in different parts of the brain
2) Brain scan support - Braver et al (1997):
participants were given tasks to perform while they were having a brain scan
-> greater activity in left cortex which increases along with the difficulty of the task
-> demands of CE increases, it works harder
3) dual task performance - Baddeley (1975): supports existence of VSS
What are some weaknesses of the working memory model?
1) low validity:
evidence from brain damaged patients might not be reliable (cannot be replicated)
-> difficult to generalise findings
2) doesn’t explain role or state evidence of central executive (the most central part of the model)
-> central executive isn’t as important as the WMM states
What is the study that specified the different types of long term memory? and why?
Tulving (1972)
-> because he thought the multi store model presented a simplified view of LTM
What are the different types of LTM?
1) episodic
2) semantic
3) procedural