Memory Flashcards
What is coding
Information is stored in memory in different forms , depending on the memory store . The processor converting information between different forms
Short term memory
The limited -capacity memory store . In STM , coding is mainly acoustic (sounds) , capacity is between 5 and 9 items on average , duration is about 18 seconds
Long term memory
The permanent memory store . I. LTM , coding is mainly semantic (meaning) it has unlimited capacity and Dan store memories for up to a lifetime
Alan Baddeley - gave different list of words to four groups of participants
Group 1 acoustic similar (words that sound similar )
Same with group 2
Group3 semantically words with similar meanings
Group 4 same as group 3
Alan Baddeley study - what did participants do
-Participants were sshown the original words and aksed to recall htem in the correct order .
-When they did this task immdeidatley , recalling froms tm , they tended to do wotde with ACCOUSITCALLY simialr words .
-When they recalled the word lsit after a time interval of 200 minutes , reclalling form thier LTM , they did worse withte semnaticlalys iialr words .
what did alan baddeleeys sudie suggest
-information id coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM
WHAT IS CAPACITY
THE AMOUNT OF information that cam ne held in a memory’s tore .
who did research on capacity and what was the sutdy /
Joseph Jacobs (1887)
found out by measuring DIDGIT SPAN .
-r.g the researcher reads out four digits and the participants recall these out loud in he correct order .
-If this is correct , the researcher reads out five digits and so on until the participants can recall this order CORRECTLY .
what did joseph jacob find out
mean span for digits across all participants was s9.3 times , the mean span for letters was 7.3
span of memory and chunking
-who did this research ?
-George Miller (1956)
-Made observations of every day practice (e.g noted that things come in seven )
-Miller though that the span (i.e. capacity ) of STM is about 7 items plus or minus 2 .
-But he also noted that people can recall five words as easily as they can recall five letters .
-*We do this by CHUNKING - grouping sets of digits or letters imto units or chunks .
what is duration
the length of time information can be held in memory
duaration of stm
-who did the research
-how short is the duration of stm
-Margaret and Lloyd Peterson (1959) tested 24 students in eight trials .
-One each trial the student was given CONSONANT SYLLABLE (such a s YCG) to remember .
-They were also given a 3 digit number .
-Students counted backwards until told to stop , (the counting backwards was to prevent any mental rehearsal of consonant syllable - which would increase the duration of STm memory for the syllable .
duration of stm
-who did the research
-how short is the duration of stm (2)
-on each trial , they were told to stop after varying periods of time 3,6,7 12,15,18 seconds (the retention interval ) .
-THe fidnings were simialr to the studnets data on the left .
What were the findings ?
-After 3 secpdms abergal recall was 80% .
-After 19 seconds it was abou 3% .
-PETEROSON and petersons findings suggested that STM duration may be about 18 seconds ,. UNLESS we repeat info over nad over (Verbal rehearsal ( .
Duration of LTM
-who did the research
-Harry Bahrick (1975)
-studied 392 american participants aged between 17 and 74.
-HIgh school yearbooks were obtained from the participants or directly from some schools.
-Recall was tested in various was , tested in variou s ways , including photo recognition test of 50 photos , some from the particiapntshigh school year books .
2. free recall tests where pariticpants recalled the names of their graduaign class /
duaration of ltm results .
-Participants tested within 15 years , of graduationw ere abour 90 % accuarate om photo rrecogonitoin .
-After 48 years , recall declined to about 70% for photo recongniton .
-Free recall was less acurrate than recognition - about 60% after 15 yeats dropping to 30% after 48 yeats .
-This shown that LTM , may last up to a lifetime for soem material .
EVALUATION - separate memory stores
-Strength of Baddeleys study
ONE STRENGTH - of Baddeleey’s study is that it idenitified a clear differemce netwee two memory stores .
-Later research showed that there are some expetiont to Baddeley’s findings . BUt the idea that STM , uses more acoustic coidn and LTM mostly semantic has stood the test of time .
-This was an improtant step in our understadnign ofthe memorys ytem ,w hich led to to the MULTI-STORE MODEL .
EVALUATION - Artificial stimuli
–Weakness of Baddeleys studie
-One limiaition of Bddeley’s study was that it used quite articical stimiuli rather than meanignful material .
-e.g words lsits ahd no personal meannting to participants . So , Baddleey;s findings amy not tellus mcuha bout coding in different kind of memeory tasks , especiallly in veerday life .
-when processing more meaningful information , people may use semantic coding even for STM task,
-This suggest tha the findings fromt hi study has limited applications.
EVALUATION - A valid study
-strneght of jacobs study
-Strength is that is has been REPPICLATED .
-THe sutdy is a very old one and early reasearch iin pscuholgy often lacked adequate xcontrols .
-For example , some participants digit spans have been underestiamte dbecausetheyw ere distracted during testing (confouning varbiable ).
-Despite this ,, Jaco’s fidnings have been confirmed by other , better controlled studies (bOPP 2005) .
- This suggests that the findings from this study have limited application .
EVALUATION - not so many chunks
-One limitiation of Miller’s research is that he may have oversitmaed STM capaacity .
Nelson Cowan (200) reveieiwed other reseaech and cocnldued that the capaictu of STM s only baotu 4 plus or mnus 1 chunks .
-THIS SUGGESTS that the lower end of Miller;s estimate (five items is mroe approptiate than seven tiems .
EVALAUTION - Meaningless stimuli in STM STUD
-One limtiaiotn of Peterson and Peterson;s stud is that the stimulus was artficial
-The study is no completrly irrelevant because we do soemtimes try to rememebr fairly menaingless mateirals (phone numbers)
-EVen so , recallin consosant sylables does nto reflect most everyday memeory activites where was we are trying to rememer in menaingful . Meanign it lacked EXTERNAL VALIDIDTY .
EVALUATION - High external validity
One strength of bahrcicks alstud is that it has HIGH EXTERNAL VALIDITY .
-This is becasue the researches investiated meannignul mrmeoies (peoples names+ faces ) .
-When stufi on Ltm wre conducted with meanignless pcitures to be rememebred recalll rates were lowerrd.
-This suggests that Bahricks et al’s fningd reflect a more ‘real;estiamte of the duration of Ltm .
Multi-store model
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin’s (1968-1971) multi - store m odal MSM , describe how information flows through the memory system SEE diagram on page 48 .
-Model suggests that memory is made up of three stores linked by processing .
Multi-store model (MSM) exam definition
-A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register , short-term memory 9STM) AND LONG TERM MEMEORY (ltm).
-It also describes how information is transferred from one store to another , what makes some memories last and what makes some memories disappear .
sensory register
-At simuli from the environment pass intot he sensory register .
-This parts of memory comprises several registers (sensory memory store) , one for each others five sense s.
-Coding in each store is modality - specific (dpeendso nt he sense ) .
-For example , the store coding for visual informationn ishte ICONIC MEMEORY and the store codign accousitically (sund) is echoc moeemry .
-There are othere sensory stores for touch , tase and smell ifnroamtion /
duration of material in the sensory register
-very breif - less than half a second .
-the sensory refisters ahev avery hih capcaity ,f or exmpal o ver hudnred millliocels inone eye storign data .
-ifno passses further intot he ememor sytem only if you paya ttention to it .
short term memory
-information in stm is coded mainly acoustically and lasts about
-stm is more of a temporary store .
-stm is a limited capacity store , because it can only contain a certain number of ‘things’ before forgetting occurs .
-on the previous spread we noticed that the capacity of stm is between 5-9 items of info . though cowans research suggests that it is five not nine .
short term memory - maintenance rehearsal
ocrrus when we repeat (rehearse) material to urselves over naod over again .
-We can keep the information in our stms as long as we rehearse it .
-if we rehearse it enoguh it passes into our Longterm memroy .
Long term memory
-This is the potentially permanent memory store for information that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time .
-We have already seen that LTMS are coded mostly semantically (in temrs of menaing ) .
-Psychologists believe that its duration may be up to a lifetime .
-For example , as we sawi in the orevious spread , Bahrick et al . (1975) fouund that many of their participants were able to recognise the names and faces of their school classmates almost 50 years after graduating .
-The capacity of the LTM is thorght o be practically unlimited .
-According to the MSSM , wehnw e wan to recall ifnormaitonf rom Ltm , it has be transferred back into STM by a proces called retrieval .
Evaluation research support
-One strength of the MSM is support from studies showing that LTM and STM are different .
-For example , Alan Baddeley (1966 , see previous spread) found that we tend to mix up words that have similar meanings when we use our LTMS .
-Further support comes from the studies of capacity and duration we encountered in the previous spread .
-These studies clearly show that STM and LTM are separate and independent memory stores ,a s claimed by the MSM .
counterpoint for the msm
-despite such apparent support , in everyday life we form memories related to all sorts of useful things - people’s support the MSM used none of these materials . Instead they used digits , letters \9jacobs) and sometimes words Baddeley .
-they even used what are known as consonant syllables that have no meaning \9peterson and Peterson ) .
-This means that msm may not be a valid model of how memory work sin our everyday lives where we have to remember much more meaningful information .
more than one stm store
-one limitation of the msm is
-One limitation of Msm is evidecne there is more thanone stm store .
tim shallice and elizabeth warrington (1970) studied a client then refrerred to as KF who had a clinical memory disorder called amnesia . KF’S STM for digits was very poor when they were read out loud to him .
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But his recall was much better whe he read the digits to himself.
-Further studies of KF (and others ) showed that there could even be another short-term store for non-verbal sounds (noises) .
-This evidecne suggests that MSM is wrong in claiming that there is just one STM store processing different types of information (visual)
elaborative rehearsal
-another limitiation of the mss is that prolomnged rehearsal is not needed to tranfer to LTM .
-According to the MSM , what maters about rehearsal is the amount of it - the more you rehearse something , the more likely it is to transfer to LTM . This is prolonged rehearsal .
elaborative rehearsal (2)
-But Gergus Craik and Michael Watkins (1973) found that the type of rehearsal is more improtant than he amount .
-Elaborative rehearsal is needed for long-temr storage . This occurs when you link the inofrmation to your exisiting kmnwodleeg or you hink about whati means .
-This means that inofrmation c an be transferred to LTM , without prolonged rehearsal .
-THIS SUGGESTS that MSM doe snot fully explain how long term storage is achieved .
EVALUATION EXTRA - meaningless stimuli in the STM STUDY
-One limitation of Peterson and Peterson’s study is that the stimulus material is artificial .
#-the study is not completley irrelevant because we do sometimes try to rememeber failry meaningless Materia .
-even so recalling consonnt sllables does not reflect most everyday memory activities where what we are trying to remember is meaninglful . Menaing it lacked external validity .
EVALUATION EXTRA - high external validity
-One strength of Bahrick et al’s study is that it has high external validity . This is because the researchers investigated meaningful memories \9i.e of people’s names and faces \0.
-When studies on LTM were conducted with meaningless pictures to be remembered , recall rayes were ;pwers (Shepard 1967) .
-THis suggests that Bahricks et al’.’s findings relfect a more findings reflect a more ‘real’ estimate of the duration of LTM .
EVALUATION - EXTRA
Bygone model
-Atkinson and Shiffrin based the MSM on the research evidence available at the time that showed STM and LTM to be single memory stores , separate and independant from each other .
-However , there is a lot research evidence that LTM , like STM is not a single memeorys tore .
-For example , we coul dhave one long - term store for our memories of the facts about the world , and we have a different one fo rour memories of hwo to ride a bicyle .
-combine with research showin there is more than one type of stm and more tha one type ofo rehearsal .
-the msm is an oversimplified model of meory .
Endel Tulving was one of the first cognitive pscyhologists tp realise the multistore model’s view of long term memory was too simplisitc and inflexible.
Tulving proposed that there are in fact three LTM stores containing quite different types of infromation .
-He calls them
-EPISODIC
SEMANTIC
PROCEDURAL
Episodic memory definition
A long term memory store for personal events . It includes memories of when the events occurred and of the people . pbjects places ad behaviours involved. Mmeories from this store have to be tertieved consciously and with effrot .
Semantic memory
a long term memory store for our knowldge of the world . This includes fa cts and our knowledge of wha words and concepts mean . These memories usually also need to be recalled deliberately .
procedural memory
a long term memory store for our knowldege of how to do things . This includes our memorie sof learned skills .
-We usually recall these memories without making a conscious or deliberate effort .
epsiodic memory
epsiodic memeory refers to our ability to recall events (epsiodes) from our lives .
-This has been likened to a diary , a record of daily personal experiences . Some example are ; your most recent ot the dentistd or concert you went to . These memories are compex .
-First of all hey are ;time stampled’ in other words you remember when they happened as well as what happened . Episodic memories also store information about how events relate to each other at a time .
episodic memory (2)
second , your memory of a single episode will incldue several elemnts , such as people and places , objects and behaviours . All of these memories are interwoven to produce a single memory .
-Third you have to make a conscious effort to recall episodic memories . You do this quickly , but you are still aware that you are searching for your memory of what happened when you went to the densits .
Semantic Memory
-This store contains our shared knowledge of the world .
-It has been likened to a combination fof amcuopaedia and a dictionary so it included knowledge of such things such as how to aply to university what an orange tastes like .
-your knowedge of an impressive number of concepts .
-These memories are not time-stamped . We don’t usullyy remember when we first HEAR bout the film frozxen for example .
-semantic kknmwodlge is lwaa ersonaland more facts we all share .
-it contains an immense collection of material which given its nature is constnaly being added to , according ot TUVLING , less vulnerbale to distortion and forgetting than episodic memeory
procedural
his is our memory for actions or skills , or basically how we do things .
-We can recall these memories without conscious awareness or much effort \9eventually ) .
-a good example is driving - our ability becomes automati c thorgh practise .
-These are the sorts of skills we might even find quite hard oto someone else try to descirw what your doing as you drive the tasks will become more difficulr .
Evaluationn
Clinical evidence
-One strength is evidence from the famous case studies of HM and Clive Wearing .
-EPIOSIDC MEMORRY iin btoh men was severy impaired due to brian damage (caued by an operayion snd infeciton respectivel ) .
HOWEVER , their semantic memory ws relativelu unffected . for example he undersood meaning of words
-THEIR PORCEDURAL memories ,w ere also intact they bothknew how to walk and speak , and CLIVE wearing ( a professional muscian 0 still knew how to read music , sing and play hte piao .
-THIS EVIDECNE supports tTUlving view ha there are differen memory stores in LTM - one sotre can be damged but other stores are unaffected .
Counterpoint
Clinical evidence
studying people with brai injuries can help researchers to understad howmemor is supposed to work normally .
-But clinical studies are not perfect .
- MAJOR LIMITTION - is that they lack control of varibables .
-The brain injuries experienced by particnts were usually UNEXPECTED .
counterpoint (2)
-The researcher has no knowledge of the indivudal’s memor before the damage . Without this , it is dificul to judge exxactly how much worsei i afterwrds.
-This laci of contorl limits what clinical stuies can tells us about different types of LTM.
EVALUTATION
Conflicting neuroimagin evidence
-One limitation is that there are conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain .
-For exmple , Rndy Buckner and Steven PEetersen (1996) reviewed evidence regardign the location of Semantic and episodic memory .
-They concluded that semanitc memor is located in the left sid of the PREFRONTL CORTEX and epsiodic memory on the right .
conflicitng neuroimagin evidence (2)
However , other research llins he left prefrontal cortext with epsidoci memeories nd the right prefrontal cortex with semanitc memories (TULVING ET AL 1994).
-This challenges any neurophysiological evidecne to support types of memorya s here is poor agreement on where each type might be located .
Evalutation
Real-world application
-nother stregnth is that understandign types of LTM allows psycholgists to hep people with memory problems .
FOR EXAMPLE , as people age , the experience memory loss . But research ah shown this seems t be specific to epsiodic memory - it becomes hardee to recll memories of personal events/experiences tht occured relatively recently though past epsioidc memories remin intct .
.
EVALUATION
Real-world applicaiton (2)Sylvie Belleville et all (2006) devised n itnervention toimprove epsiodic memories in older pople .
-The trained participants perfroemd better ona est o epsiodic memory after training than a control group .
-This hsows that distiniguishing etween tpes of LTM enables speciifc treatments to be devlepod
EVALUATION EXTRA
-morerecently TUlving (2002) ahs taken the view that epsiodic memory is a specialised subcategory of smemanitc memory so essentiall the smae store )
-Hissearch showed that some poeple with amnesia have a functionign semanitc memory alongisde a damged episodc memory .
-BUT he also condluded it is NOT POSSILE to have a fucnitoning epsiodic memory with a damged semanitc memory .
-HOWEVER ,john HOdges an dKAELAYN patterson founde that som people with alxheimers disease ould form new EPSIODIC memories ut not semanic meomries .
DOES THIS SUGGSTS EPSIODC AND SEMANITC MEORIES RE DIFFEETN ? rot he same ?
Working Mmeory Model (WMM)
Am represnetaation of short-term memory (STM) . It suggests that STM is a dynamic porcessor fo differnet types of inofrmation using suits co-ordinated by a central decision making sytem .
Centrall Executive (CE)
Tthe component of the WMM that co-ordiates the activities of the three subsytems in memory . It lso llocateds processing resources o thoe activities .
