Memory Flashcards
What is memory
Defined as a system of retaining information from our daily experiences.
Sensory register
Capacity- very large (sperling)
Duration - from half to 2 seconds depending on the sense
Coding - modality (sence specific
Short term memory
Capacity - 6-9 pieces (Jacobs)
Duration 18-30 Seconds peterson and peterson
Coding - Acoustic (Baddeley)
Long term memory
Copacity - Unlimited
Duration - Potentially a lifetime (Babrick)
Coding - semantics meanings (Baddely)
Sensory register (SR)
Gathers info from our sense organs each is coded differently.
If we pay attention to SR memory then it will pass to short term memory.
Forgetting occurs due to rapid decay if no attention is given to it.
Short term memory (STM)
Based mainly on acoustic information.
Maintenance rehearsal allows information to be held in STM.
Flaborate rehearsal transfers info from STM to LTM by processing the information semantically.
Forgetting occurs from STM due to displacement and decay.
Long term memory (LTM)
Has unlimited capacity and the duration of a few minutes to a lifetime.
Codes information semantically (meaning).
Forgetting occurs because of interference and retrieval failure.
The multi-store memory
Developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin
Includes 3 stores: sensory register, short term and long term memory
MSM believes that information flows through the three separate stores in a fixed linear order and each has a different role.
Evaluation of MSM: Clinical studies
Evidence to support the distinction between STM and LTH include clinical studies of patients with Korsakoff’s syndrome.
Alchoholics con develop this, and therefore their LTM can be severely Impaired.
STM and LTM are separate stores supported by a case study, a motorcycle accident survivor’s STM was not affected but their LTM was.
Evaluation of MSM: Experimental support
-Glanzner and cunitz study on primary recency efforts and
show that when participants are asked to recall a list of words they are more likely to remember the first few and the last few words and not in the middle ones.
This can be explained by the first few words have been transfered to the LTM and the end words are in STM.
Evaluation of MSM: LTM and STM are not unitary stores.
MSM proposes that LTM is a single unitary store however evidence suggests that LTM is made up of several components.
LTM is made up of episodic, semantic and procedural memory.
Clive wearing had brain damage where his episodic memory was damaged but still had memory from the procedural memory.
Suggests that there are atleast 2 seperate systems of LTM therefore criticising the multi-store model as it’s view on LTM is far too Simpistic.
Evaluation of MSM: Too much emphasis on rehearsal
MSM suggests that rehearsal is the only method of transfering from STM to LTM.
lacks face validity as we do not always be need to rehearse info to remember it.
Individual differences in human memory influence how info is transferred to LTM and is not accounted for by the MSM.
Research: Sensory register
(Capacity)
Procedure: Sperling flashed a 3x4 grid of letters onto a screen for one twentieth of a second and asked participants to recall the letters from one of the rows. To decide which row to recall Sperling would sound a different tone.
Findings: Recall of the indicated row was high, which suggests that all the information was originally there, suggesting that the capacity of SR is quite large.
Research: Sensory register
(Duration)
Procedure: Participants were presented with identical auditory messages to both ears, with a slight delay between the presentations.
Findings: Participants noticed the messages were identical if the delay was 2 seconds or less. This suggests that SR has a limited duration of 2 seconds.
Research: Sensory register
(Coding)
Findings: Crowder found that the SR only retains information presented visually for a few milliseconds, but if the information is presented in an auditory form, then it can be retained for 2-3 seconds. This supports the idea that information coded in the SR is coded in different formats.
