Lecture 8 - Short Term & Working Memory Flashcards
How many items can sensory memory hold? (Sperling, 1960)
3 or 4
What did Sperling (1960) conclude?
Sensory memory stores everything, but only briefly
What is the Brown-Peterson Paradigm?
Loss from short term storage called decay
What are the three components of the WM model? (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974)
Central Executive, Visual-Spatial Sketchpad, Articulatory/Phonological Loop
What is the Central Executive?
At top of hierarchy, directs operation of other components, like a pure attentional system
What is the Articulatory/Phonological Loop?
Verbal rehearsal loop e.g. for a number. Organises info in a serial and temporal fashion
What is the Visual-Spatial Sketchpad?
Stores visual and spatial information. Handles more than one stimulus at once. Rehearses materials. Navigation.
What do Dual Task studies test?
The WM model - Should be no impairment if two components tested simultaneously
What did Miller (1956) suggest WM item capacity was?
7 give or take 2 items
What is chunking?
Putting things together into larger items can reduce the memory load
What did H.M. and Clive Wearing suffer from?
Anterograde amnesia - inability to form new memories, LTM remains intact
What is the primacy effect mediated by?
Rehearsal and LTM mechanisms
What is the recency effect mediated by?
WM mechanisms
What did patient KF have issues with?
Working Memory
What was patient KF’s WM item capacity?
2
