L2 - Coding, Capacity, Duration Flashcards
Which study investigated coding in STM
Baddeley gave participants four lists of words to recall
What were the four types of lists used in Baddeley’s (1966) STM experiment?
- List A: Similar sounding words
- List B: Dissimilar sounding words
- List C: Words with similar meanings
- List D: Words with dissimilar meanings.
What conclusion did Baddeley (1966) reach about STM coding?
STM is coded acoustically. STM organises info according to how it sounds
How did participants perform on List A compared to List B in Baddeley’s (1966) STM study?
Participants performed worse on List A than on List B. No difference between c and d
What did Baddeley (1966) theorize about the organization of STM?
STM organizes information according to how it sounds.
What did Baddeley (1966) find regarding Long-Term Memory (LTM) coding? - findings
LTM is coded semantically. Organises info according to its meaning
What was the result of Baddeley’s (1966) LTM experiment after a 20-minute delay?
Participants’ recall of List C was worse than List D. No difference between a and d
What is the significance of the findings from Baddeley’s (1966) study?
Words with similar meanings can become confused in LTM.
AO3: +/- baddeley
1 - Laboratory experiment - highly controlled, easily replicated therefore reliable
2 - however, low ecological validity as doesn’t reflect real life memory. You wouldn’t be asked this in everyday life, especially in a lab setting
Which study to determine the capacity of STM - procedure
Jacob’s used A digit span test. Participants read sequences of letters/numbers and asked to repeat back immediately. An additional was added on each subsequent trial
What were the average recall capacities found by Jacobs (1887)? - findings
On average we can hold -
* 9.3 digits
* 7.3 letters.
What did Miller (1956) conclude about STM capacity?
The span of STM is 7 (+/- 2).
If capacity is exceeded, new info displaces old
What is chunking in the context of STM?
Grouping large amounts of information into smaller groups to aid memory.
AO3: jacobs
+ - his research was first to acknowledge capacity improved w age
- inconsistent findings, span for letters is lower than span for digits
- very early research, reduces validity
- repeated measures design, so could be potential order effects
- results were an overestimation of capacity. Recent research found capacity is four chunks of info not 7(+/-2) items
Which study to test STM duration
Peterson & Peterson gave participants à trigram (three letter non-sense syllable) and asked to count backwards from cert8n number for a specified time to prevent maintenance rehearsal. Then asked t9 recall original trigram
What method did Peterson & Peterson (1959) use to test STM duration?
Participants counted backwards after being shown a trigram.
What were the recall accuracy rates found by Peterson & Peterson (1959)
- 3 seconds: 90%
- 9 seconds: 20%
- 18 seconds: 2%.
What did Peterson & Peterson (1959) conclude about STM duration?
Information lasts for 18-30 seconds without rehearsal, before lost to decay
AO3: Peterson & Peterson
+ High level of control with standardised procedures, so that all experienced the same process. They used fixed timings for when p had to count back, also eliminated noise and other factors that could have an influence on memory.
- lack of mundane realism, uses artificial material people don’t remember this stuff in their everyday life
- findings of this may have been caused by interference, rather than stm having short duration. Earlier learnt trigrams confused w later ones
What’s the study of memory and who by
Bahrick tested 40 0eople ages (17-74) on memory of classmates. Participants shown 50 photos and decide if they belong to their classmates or not. Free recall test, list the names they cd remember from grad class.
What methods did Bahrick (1979) use to test memory?
- Photo recognition test
- Free recall test.
What were the accuracy rates for identifying faces and recalling names in Bahrick’s (1979) study?
- 90% accuracy for faces within 15 years. After 48 years dropped to 70
- 60% accuracy for names within 15 years. After 48 years dropped to30
What did Bahrick et al. (1979) conclude about the duration of LTM?
LTM duration is potentially a lifetime, but retrieval failure can occur. Need retrieval cues to accès this info
AO3: Bahrick
+ Higher ecological validity due to more meaningful material, relevant to everyday life
- hard to control extraneous variables - people may not stay in touch, or even often look at their yearbook
- uses an independent groups design
