Memory 1

Question 1

What are the 3 ways of testing memory?

Answer 1

-Free recall - Reproducing material from memory in an unconstrained way e.g. digit span task where you repeat words back
-Cued recall - Reproducing a specific item from memory when given a specific cue
-Recognition - Deciding whether you have seen something previously what it’s presented
-2AFC - 2 alternative forced choice
-4AFC - 4 alternative forced choice
-Yes/no recognition

Question 2

Duration of different memory systems

Answer 2

Sensory memory - Milliseconds
Short term memory - Seconds
Long term memory - Hours/Months
Semantic memory - Years

Question 3

Describe the multi store model of memory

Answer 3

-Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
-Sensory register - Brief sensory stores (iconic and echoic)
-Short term store - Primary memory where maintenance rehearsal occurs, has limited capacity of 7+/-2 chunks
-Long term store - Secondary memory where decaying can occur, unlimited duration and capacity

Question 4

According to William James (1890), what is the difference between primary memory and secondary memory

Answer 4

-Primary - ”Sensations outlast for some little time the objective stimulus which has occasioned them”
-Secondary - ”The knowledge of a former state of mind after it has already once dropped from consciousness”

Question 5

Jevons (1871) research into visual sensory memory

Answer 5

-The power of numerical discrimination
-Throw a handful of beans onto a black tray which contained a white box
-“How many beans are in the white box?”
-Accurate up to around 8 items, whenever it hit 9 and above he was only right around half of the time

Question 6

Averbach (1963) research; estimating the ‘Span of Apprehension’

Answer 6

-Found that withe extra viewing up to 150ms, the number of dots he could count increased steadily
-However, when more than 8 dots present, extra viewing time made very little difference it what was remembered
-Suggested that the limiting factor is the size of our visual memory

Question 7

Describe Sperling (1960) Partial Report Procedure

Answer 7

-When a ppt was asked to recall a whole grid of 12 items, maximum recall was 4/5 items
-If immediate recall occurs to recall one row, accuracy was around 100%
-If recall cue is delayed by 1 second, then accuracy falls to 30%
-Suggests that full grid of 12 items was once available in visual memory, but decayed instantly