Memory Flashcards
Encoding
in what form?
Capacity
how much information?
Duration
how long for?
Sensory Memory: Encoding
iconic memory (visual from the eye) - images
echoic memory (auditory input from the ears) - sounds
haptic memory (tactile input from the body) - feelings
Where does sensory memory take information for
from the sense organs and holds them in that same form
Research in Sensory Memory
information is stored in an unprocessed form
transferred to short term memory through attention
Sensory Memory: Sperling 1960 - recalling letters
presented a grid of letters for less than a second
sperling used a grid of letters to cue participants to recall a specific row
recall on the specified row was high
demonstrated we have large capacity in sensory memory
Short Term Memory: Encoding
in 1964 Conrad visually presented students with one letter at a time
letters that are acoustically similar are harder to recall from STM than those which are acoustically dissimilar
suggesting that STM mainly encodes things acoustically even though items were presented visually
Short Term Memory: Capacity
Miller 1956, the STM can hold ‘the magic number 7 plus or minus 2)
on average the capacity of STM is between 5 and 9 items of information
Short Term Memory: Extending Capacity, chunking
Miller 1956, increase capacity by combining separate bits of information into larger chunks
chunking involves making info more meaningful by organising it in line with existing knowledge from your LTM
Short Term Memory: Duration
the duration of STM is 18-30 seconds
Peterson and Peterson (1959)
got students to recall combinations of 3 letters (trigrams after longer and longer intervals)
prevented from rehearsing during trigrams using a counting task
Long Term Memory: Encoding
Baddeley 1966
presented lists of 10 words at a time
some lists were semantically similar some were not
tested immediately and then after 20 mins
after 20 mins did poorly on semantic test
suggesting we encode LTM’s according to what they mean so similar things get confused
Long Term Memory: Capacity
capacity - potential unlimited
Long Term Memory: Duration
anything up to a lifetime - difficult to test exact duration
Bahrick et al (1975) tested US graduates
show classmates photos years later
90% accuracy remembering faces and names 34 yrs after graduation this declined after 48 yrs particularly for faces
Multi Store Model of Memory Theory
Memory is the process of encoding, storing and retrieving information
encoding or coding is taking information from the environment, converting the information so that it can be stored
storage, retaining encoded information can be in LTM or STM
retrieval, access the information that has been stored
Multi-Store Model of Memory
Environment Input - Sensory Memory - STM (rehearsal loop) = LTM
+ recall, attention, prolonged rehearsal, retrieval
Primary Recency Effect
first few words are inputted into sensory memory and they are paid attention to an placed in STM and then rehearsed into LTM then retained back into STM
middle words are placed in sensory memory however they stay there and decay
last few word get to STM because first few words have now been processed
Evaluating Multi-Store Model of Memory
the first model of memory - pro
we can now study what STM and LTM is and can help solve issues, if someone new comes they have a good basis to start from
the model is oversimplified - con
many research finding cannot be explained by the model, more than one type of rehearsal, more than one type of STM and LTM
over emphasis the role of rehearsal - con
this is because it makes it sound like rehearsal is the only way to store information in your LTM
a pro is that it can explain primary recency effect
Case Study: Henry Gustav Molaison - 1953
HM had an accident as a boy which caused him to have seizures to control these seizures he had brain surgery to remove is hippocampus and amygdala
as a result of surgery the seizures decreased but he could no longer form new memories or remember the prior 11 years of his life
however he could remember childhood memories
the surgeon probably destroyed brain structures which played a role in sense of smell and forming new memories
anterogade amnesia due to loss of hippocampus
HM could use his memory only until STM and could live only in the moment
Brenda Miller’s experiment on HM
He was to trace an outline of a star, but he could only see the mirrored reflection. He did this once a day over a period of a few days and Milner observed that he became faster and faster. Each time he performed the task he had no memory of ever having done it before, but his performance kept improving. This is further evidence for localization of function – the hippocampus must play a role in declarative (explicit) memory but not procedural (implicit) memory
Does HM support the multi-store model
because the model can explain where HMs anterograde amnesia stems from
he is unable to move STM into the LTM which denotes both the existence of STM and LTM on separate stores and the need for the movement between them
Research Support for Seperation of LTM and STM
Baddeley 1966 gave ppts word lists, acoustically similar and dissimilar, semantically similar and dissimilar
ppts mixed up acoustically similar words in STM and semantically similar words LTM
supports model, as model suggests that LTM and STM are separate stores
this gives the model validity as it suggests its accurate
Flashbulb Memories
do not require rehearsal
an event that occurs that sticks with someone
an accurate and vivid memory effected by emotional states
multi-store model is unable to explain why they occur, this is a limitation of the model therefore lacks explanatory power for real life memory forming
Memory pros and cons concerning
memory research
HM
memory research uses nonsense tasks and is conducted in laboratories therefore does not have ecological validity because the tasks are situations that we would no face in everyday life
there are ethical tissues with HM case study because no informed consent from him because he forgot that he gave consent or had the right to withdraw they did have consent from his guardians
Working Model Memory Intro
Baddeley and Hitch
they believed that STM store in MSM was too simplistic they thought that STM was not a passive store but several active processes that manipulate info
Experiment Dual-Task
if digit span is a measure of STM capacity ppts should be expected to show impaired performance on the reasoning task because their STM would be fully occupied
ppts made errors on either however speed was slightly slower
they concluded that STM must be made of several components all of which are involved in processes other than simply storage
Working Model of Memory
central executive
visuo-spatial sketchpad
episodic buffer
phonological loop
Central Executive
drives the system
decides how attention is directed to particular tasks
allocates the resources to tasks
data arrives from the senses or from the LTM
has limited storage capacity, so cannot attend to many things at once
Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
stores and manipulates visual information, input is from eyes or LTM
if you imagine an object and then picture it rotating you are using your visuo-spatial sketchpad
2 sub-systems
visual cache - stores visual data
inner scribe - records the arrangement of objects in the visual field (where they are)
Episodic Buffer
the episodic buffer takes information from the other slave systems and adds information about time and order, ready for episodic LTM
Phonological Loop
inner ear, repeat sounds to remember use sound based code to remember, decays after 2 seconds
articulatory loop, inner voice, rehearses info verbally and has capacity of 2 seconds, repeat over and over again
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Support for WMM comes from clinical evidence
Support for WMM comes from clinical evidence - case study of patient KF they suffered brain damage then had poor STM ability for verbal information but could process visual information, only PL had been damaged this supports the separation of visual and acoustic stores, however may not be reliable because cases are unique
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Better at explaining memory than MSM
yes more developed STM less simplified, divides STM into parts which evidence suggests is accurate
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Concept of CE is vague
least understood of working components, needs to be more clearly explained than just simply being attention, may consist of separate components
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
WMM not complete explanation of
doesnt talk about LTM doesnt show how information moves to the LTM, can only be used when comparing MSM
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Logie et al (1989)
ppts play game and at the same time carry out either a visuo-spatial/ verbal memory distracter task
impaired performance on perceptual motor
conclusion separated PL and V-S SP, demonstrates limited capacity of components, can only do a certain amount of processing
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
WMM helps explain learning differences
DeSong 2006 dyslexia involves deficit in PL and CE functioning, effects childrens learning of phonics, ability to take apart and analyse sounds in words requires student to have strong working memory
real life application if we know PL + CE not functioning teachers can come up with strategies to help
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Brain scanning studies have been conducted
tasks involving CE during brain scan
greater activity in prefrontal cortex
activity in area increased as task became harder
as demand on CE increases it works harder
suggests STM is actively processing info
Evaluation of the Working Model of Memory
Dual task experiments have been carried out
support separate existence of V-S SP, more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks than one verbal and one visual, this is because they arent the same slave systems and therefore there is no competition
Types of LTM
procedural memory (non-declarative memory) - knowing how
declarative memory - knowing that
Procedural memory/ non-declarative memory
implicit, knowing how, not easy to put into words
memory for actions or skills
can recall these memories without conscious awareness or a great deal of effort
Declarative memory
explicit memory, knowing that, easy to put into words