Long Term Memory

Question 1

Conway et al. (1991)

Answer 1

–A psychology class was tested on their ability to recall names and general concepts taught in class and researches manipulated how long after learning they were tested
–Names were forgotten more rapidly than concepts
–Between 3 and 10 years, recall leveled off at about the same level for both kinds of knowledge
–After 10 years people were still recalling more than 25% of the material

Question 2

Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968, 1971)

Answer 2

–Emphasized the interactive relationship between STM and LTM
–What is stored in STM is a barrier to what enters LTM, but what information STM stores is heavily influenced by LTM
1. Rehearsal is the repetition of information until it is learned
2. Coding encrypts the information in the context of additional, easily retrievable information
3. Imaging involves creating visual images to remember verbal information

Question 3

Rundus (1971)

Answer 3

–Presented lists of 20 nouns to remember, one at a time for 5 seconds each
–Instructed to study by repeating words aloud
–The probability of recalling a word depended on its position in the list
–Words at the beginning and words at the end were easier to recall than words in the middle of the list
–The better recall of words at the beginning is called the primacy effect and the better recall of words at the end of the list is called the recency effect

Question 4

Fisher et al. (1970) - Primacy

Answer 4

Why does the primacy effect occur
–Early words were rehearsed more often than the other words that they should have a higher probability of being retrieved from LTM
–The primacy effect should be eliminated if all the words on the list are rehearsed equally often

Question 5

Postman and Phillips (1965) - Recency Effect

Answer 5

Why does the recency effect occur
–Words at the end of the list are still in STM when the recall test begins
–Information is rapidly lost from STM if people perform another task

Question 6

Baddeley and Warrington (1970)

Answer 6

–Patients with memory deficiencies help us get insight on memory effects
–Amnesiac people have difficulty in retrieving information from LTM but often have a normal STM
–These patients exhibited a recency effect but do not exhibit a primacy effect because their LTM system is damaged