Long Term Memory

Question 1

What is the capacity of the LTM?

Answer 1

Potentially unlimited

Question 2

Who investigated the duration of the LTM?

Answer 2

Bahrick et al

Question 3

Describe Bahrick’s experiment

Answer 3

• Bahrick studied 392 participants from an US University aged between 17 and 74.
• Using the participants high school yearbooks, recall was tested
• Firstly by: photo-recognition (can the participants name the person in the photo?)
• Secondly by: free recall (participants have to recall all the names in their class)

Question 4

What were the results?

Answer 4

• Participants who had left high school 15 years ago could name 90% of the photos. Free recall
  was 60% accurate.
• Participants who had left high school 48 years ago could name 70% of the photos. Free recall
  was 30% accurate.

Question 5

What is the duration of the LTM?

Answer 5

Very long, up to a lifetime

Question 6

Evaluate Bahrick’s study

Answer 6

Pros:
- Sample = very representative
- High mundane realism
- High external validity

Cons:
- Low internal validity

Question 7

Who investigated how the LTM codes?

Answer 7

Badderley (1966)

Question 8

Describe Badderley’s study

Answer 8

Gave different lists of words to four groups of participants to remember.
- A list of words that were either ACOUSTICALLY similar (sound the same, e.g. hat, cat, mat etc. )
- A list of words that were ACOUSTICALLLY dissimilar (dog, tap, try).
- A list of words that were either SEMANTICALLY similar (mean the same thing e.g. tall, high big).
- A list of words that were SEMANTICALLY dissimilar (late safe foul).

Question 9

How does the LTM code?

Answer 9

When testing for LTM (asking PP’s to recall the lists in order after 20 minutes), they struggled with semantically similar list. The similarity causes confusion as the words interfere with each other – This is because the LTM codes SEMANTICALLY

Question 10

What are the three different types of LTM?

Answer 10

Episodic Memory, Procedural Memory and Semantic Memory

Question 11

What is Episodic Memory?

Answer 11

• A type of LTM that involves remembering specific events and experiences, and when/where they occurred.
• Has to be recalled deliberately with conscious effort
• It is less resistant to forgetting

Question 12

What is Procedural Memory?

Answer 12

• A type of LTM that involves remembering specific actions and skills - often called muscle memory
• Can be recalled without conscious effort
• The most resistant to forgetting

Question 13

What is Semantic Memory?

Answer 13

• A type of LTM that involves remembering general knowledge, concepts and facts
• Has to be recalled deliberately with conscious effort
• Not tied to specific personal experience

Question 14

Who is Clive Wearing and what is so remarkable about him?

Answer 14

The man with the worst short-term memory loss in the world - he forgets things after around 7 seconds. However, he used to be a pianist and can still play piano very well and compose music.

Question 15

What is a strength of Clive Wearing as a study?

Answer 15

He shows evidence for the long term memory having different stores - he can still play piano perfectly (procedural memory), can remember what O-Levels are (semantic memory) but can’t remember what his wife has just told him (episodic memory).

Question 16

What is a weakness of Clive Wearing as a case study?

Answer 16

• Case studies lack control of variables
• We do not know what Wearing’s STM was like before he became ill
• We can’t judge cause and effect and internal validity is limited

Question 17

What is a practical application used to evaluate the LTM stores?

Answer 17

• A strength
• Bellville et al (2006)
• Created an intervention to improve episodic memory in older people
• Trained participants performed better on an episodic memory test compared to the untrained control group