L2 - Coding, Capacity And Duration

Question 1

How does the sensory register code?

Answer 1

• It is modality specific

- Each sensory store codes differently

Question 2

How does the STM code? Give a description of the experiment

Answer 2

• coded acoustically
• Baddeley gave participants 4 lists of words to recall
• List A had words that sounded similar but List B had words sounding dissimilar
• List C had words with similar meanings and List D has words with dissimilar meanings
• Participants performed worse with List A than B, but there was no difference between C and D
• He theorised that STM organises info according to how it sounds, so similar sounding words get mixed up

Question 3

How does the LTM code? Give a description of the experiment

Answer 3

• coded semantically
• Baddeley tested the participants recall after a 20 min delay so info was actually in the LTM
• Recall was worse with List C than List D, no difference between A and B
• LTM organises information according to meaning so words with similar meanings can be mixed up

Question 4

What is the capacity of the sensory register?

Answer 4

• unlimited

Question 5

What is the capacity of the LTM?

Answer 5

• unlimited

Question 6

What is the capacity of STM?

Describe the experiment

Answer 6

• 7+- 2 pieces of information
• Jacobs performed a digit test
• participants were given several sequences of digits/letters and had to repeat them immediately after they were repeated in the correct order.
• The sequences got longer and the average was 9.3 digits and 7.3 letters
• If we try and recall more, the information gets displaced
• chunking information helps us remember more

Question 7

What is the duration of the SR?

Answer 7

• 250 milliseconds

Question 8

What is the duration of STM?

Describe the experiment

Answer 8

• Peterson&Peterson used 3 random consonants to test STM duration
• Participants were asked to count backwards from 100 in threes to stop maintenance rehearsal
• After 3 secs, the recall was accurate 90%
• After 9 secs, the recall was accurate 20%
• After 18 secs, the recall was accurate 2%
• STM Memory lasts for 18-30 seconds without rehearsal before decaying

Question 9

What is the duration of LTM?

Describe the experiment

Answer 9

• Bahrick tested 400 people of various ages in their memory of classmates
• A photo recognition test was given, and participants had to decide how many of those 50 people were in their class
• In a free recall test, participants were asked to name people for their graduating class
• For identifying faces:
  there was 90% accuracy after 15 years
  there was 70% accuracy after 48 years
• For Free Recall of names:
  there was 60% accuracy after 15 years
  there was 30% accuracy after 48 years
• He concluded that LTM lasts a lifetime but requires retrieval cues are needed to access information. Sometimes we have retrieval failure