Lesson 2 - coding, capacity and duration

Question 1

coding in short term memory study

Answer 1

baddeley
list A - words sounded similar, list B - words sounded dissimilar, list C - words had similar meanings, list D - words had dissimilar meanings
list A was worse than list B
no difference between list C and D
so STM organises info acoustically, so similar words get muddled

Question 2

coding in long term memory study

Answer 2

baddeley
repeated STM experiment but tested recall after 20 min delay
recall of C was worse than recall of D
no difference between list A and B
LTM is coded semantically - organised by meaning so words with similar meanings get confused

Question 3

strength of baddeleys coding experiment

Answer 3

lab experiment
easy to replicate
variables closely controlled
reliability can be assessed

Question 4

weakness of baddeleys coding experiment

Answer 4

low ecological validity
material for recall was artificial
lab setting is also artificial

Question 5

capacity of STM study

Answer 5

jacobs - digit span test
pps given sequences of digits/letters
asked to repeat sequence immediately after in correct order and sequence increased by one each time
concluded we can hold 9 digits and 7 letters

Question 6

what did miller conclude

Answer 6

span of STM is 7+/- 2
if we recall more info than we have capacity for, new info displaces old info
people can recall 5 words as easily as 5 letters
chunking helps remember more

Question 7

strength of jacobs study

Answer 7

study has been repeated and same results found
study has validity

Question 8

weakness of jacobs study

Answer 8

conducted a long time ago
may not to have been done to the same scientifically rigorous standard as research today
validity of findings in question

Question 9

duration of STM study

Answer 9

peterson and peterson
nonsense consonant trigrams
used maintenance rehearsal - pps count back in 3s
3s - 90% accuracy
9s - 20% accuracy
18s - 2% accuracy
STM lasts for 18-30s and is then lost due to decay

Question 10

strength of peterson and petersons study

Answer 10

used fixed timings
eliminated noise and other factors which could influence memory
high level of control using standardised procedures

Question 11

weakness of peterson and petersons study

Answer 11

findings may be due to interference rather than short duration
earlier learnt trigrams may be confused with later ones

Question 12

duration of LTM study

Answer 12

bahrick - 400 people age 17-74 tested memory of their classmates
link names and faces - 70% accuracy
free recall - 30% accuracy
lasts a lifetime
but retrieval failure occurs and retrieval cues needed to access information

Question 13

strength of bahricks study

Answer 13

higher ecological validity
tested meaningful material relevant to everyday life

Question 14

weakness of bahricks study

Answer 14

natural experiment
difficult to control extraneous variables
some people may still be in touch or have looked in their yearbook since leaving school