features of memory Flashcards
what is memory
the ability to both preserve and recover information we have learned or experienced
what are the main 3 features of memory
coding
storage
retrieval
what is coding
the way in which information is stored into memory eg.acoustic,visual,semantic
what is capacity
a measure of how much can be held in memory
what is duration
a measure of how long a memory lasts in a store before it is no longer available
what is the STM coding experiment
baddeleys cat/mat study
what is baddeleys cat/mat study
Participants were shown one of these word lists and were then asked to recall the words in the correct order immediately after seeing them and after a delay
List 1: Acoustically Similar Words – For example, cat, bat, mat, and so on.
List 2: Acoustically Dissimilar Words – For example, cat, dog, pen, etc.
List 3: Semantically Similar Words – For example, large, huge, big, etc.
List 4: Semantically Dissimilar Words – For example, cat, pen, tree, etc
what was baddleys findings
Acoustically similar words were harder to remember in short-term memory because they caused confusion due to their similar sounds.
Semantically similar words were harder to remember in long-term memory because the meaning of the words caused interference when trying to organize and recall them after a delay.
what is the STM capacity experiment
jacobs serial digit span
what is the jacobs serial digit span test
asked PP to recall a number that was repeated to them
everytime the number increased by 1 digit up to 10 digits
what were jacobs findings
pps could only recall digits from 5-9 (came up with millers magic number 7+/-2 items)
chunking help increase the number of items we can hold in STM
what is teh STM duration test
petersons and petersons trigram retention experiemnt
what was the petersons and petersons test
- pps were read a nonsense trigram
- immediatelty after hearing it the had to count backwards in 3s from a random 3 digit number for a certain amount of time
- this time was called the retention interval designed to prevent rehersal
- end of retention they had to recall the trigram
what were petersons and petersons findings
without rehersal the duration of STM is short between 18-30 secs
what is the LTM coding experiement
badleys cat and mat experiement
what were the LTM coding finidings
semantic confusion because the codes of the works were so similar- concluded that LTM coding is done mostly semantically
what is the capacity of LTM
unlimited however the number of items stored in LTM cannot be measured there are no studies to test it
what was the LTM duration experiment
Bahricks high school year book experiemnt
what was the Bahricks high school year book experiemnt
- 400 pps
task 1- free recall- asked to name everyone in their year
task 2- cued recall- given a set of photos not all they went to school with asked to recgonise them
task 3- cued recall- given a set of names and asked to recognise then
