Long & Short Term Memory Flashcards
What is the capacity for short term memory?
5-9 items
What is the duration for short term memory?
18-30 seconds
Whose study proves the duration of Short Term Memory?
Peterson & Peterson (1959)
What is the duration of Long Term Memory?
A lifetime
What is the capacity of Long Term Memory?
Unlimited/very large
Who tested the duration of Long Term Memory?
Bahrick et al (1975)
What did Peterson & Peterson do?
Asked 24 undergraduate students to remember consonant trigrams
Had to count back in 3s to prevent rehearsal
IMMEDIATELY said the words back
90% got it after 3 seconds
10% got it after 18 seconds
What is the evaluation of Peterson & Peterson’s experiment (1959)?
Good control of variables
Low ecological validity
Duration of Short Term Memory may not be tested properly
What did Bahrick et al do (1975) and find?
400 Americans tested on classmates memory
70% accuracy for linking names to faces - even after 48 years
30% accuracy with free recall
What is the evaluation for Bahrick et al (1975)?
Good ecological validity
Bad control of variables
Results can’t be applied to all information
Who tested the capacity of Short Term Memory?
Jacob (1887) - developed serial digit span technique
Miller (1956) - reviewed experiment into capacity
What did Jacobs (1887) do and find?
Read out 4 digits and asked participants to repeat back immediately
More digits added until participants couldn’t remember
9 digits and 7 letters recalled
Increases during childhood
What is the evaluation for Jacobs study (1887)?
It is repeatable - same results have been found
Low ecological validity
Capacity of Short Term Memory may not have been tested properly
How is Short Term Memory coded?
Acoustically (sound)
What are the 3 types of coding?
Acoustic
Semantic
Visual
