Memory Flashcards
Define coding
The format in which information is stored
Who did research on coding?
Baddeley
Outline Baddeley’s procedure
Four groups were given lists to remember
A) acoustically similar words
B) acoustically dissimilar words
C) semantically similar words
D) semantically dissimilar words
They were asked to recall the words some had to immediately(STM) others had to wait 20 minutes (LTM)
Result of Baddeley’s experiment for STM
Acoustically dissimilar words were recalled more accurately than acoustically similar words
Results of Baddeley’s experiment for LTM
Semantically dissimilar words were recalled more accurately than semantically similar words
Conclusions for Baddeley’s experiment
STM - acoustic confusion, coded acoustically
LTM - semantic confusion, codes semantically
Negative evaluation of Baddeley’s experiment
The words used had no personal meaning to the participants so the stimuli was artificial
What is capacity?
Amount of information that can be held
Research for capacity
Jacobs and Miller
Method for Jacob’s study
Aim - see how much info STM can hold at one time (digit span)
Procedure: gave a certain number of digits then the participants recalled in correct order. If recalled correctly, amount of digits increased. Determines individuals digit span/STM capacity
Results of Jacob’s study
Participants had a mean score of 7 letters in order and 9 numbers in order
Negative evaluation of Jacob’s study
This was conducted a long time ago so there was a lack of control on extraneous variables. This could mean the results were not valid as there was confounding variables that were not controlled
What did Miller’s study discover?
Instead as keeping the information as individuals, he unit of information can be increased by chunking
What is duration?
Length of time information can be held
Who conducted STM duration research?
Peterson and Peterson
Method for Peterson and Peterson’s study
24 students were given a trigram, as well as a 3 digit number to remember. The student had to count backwards from this number(prevents mental reversal) told to stop counting at different seconds(eg. 3,9,18)
Results for Peterson and Peterson’s study
Amount recalled correctly:
3 seconds - 90%
18 seconds - 5%
(Significant difference between them)
Conclusion for Peterson and Peterson’s study
STM has a very short duration unless it is repeated over and over again(verbal rehearsal)
Negative evaluation of Peterson and Peterson’s study
Contains an artificial stimulus trying to remember constant syllabus’s does not happen in real life so lacks ecological validity
Who did a study on long term duration?
Bahrick et al
What is the duration of sensory memory?
250ms
How is information encoded in the sensory memory?
Sense specific
What is the capacity of sensory memory?
Unlimited