memory Flashcards
Memory
“[Memory] is the process of retaining information after the original thing is no longer present”
(Eysenck, 2003)
Two main types of memories
Brief and quickly forgotten
Long-lasting
Coding
Format in which information is stored in the various memory stores
Capacity
The amount of information that can be held in a memory store
Duration
The length of time information can be held in memory
What did Joseph Jacobs research find in capacity of the short term memory
-used digit span
-How many digits the participant can read out correctly
-Jacobs found the mean span for digits across all participants to be 9.3
What is a strength of Jacobs study into capacity (A valid study)
-has been replicated
-the study is old and early research often lacks adequate control
-E.g confounding variables
-jacob’s findings have been confirmed by others
-This suggests that jacob’s study is a valid test of digit span in STM
What did George Miller find on capacity of the short term memory
-made observations of everyday practice
-noted things come in sevens
-Miller thought that the span of STM is about 7 items plus or minus 2
What is a limitation of Miller’s research into capacity on the STM (not so many chunks)
-He may have overestimated STM capacity
-Cowan reviewed other research and concluded that the capacity of STM is only about 4 plus or minus 1
-This suggests that the lower end of miller’s estimate (5 items) is more appropriate than 7 items
What research did peterson and peterson conduct on duration of the STM
-tested 24 students
-given consonant syllable (YCG) to remember)
-Had to count backwards to prevent mental rehearsal
Who conducted research on coding
Baddeley
What research did Bahrick conduct on duration of LTM
-studied 392 American participants
-High school yearbooks were obtained
-Tested participants recall in 2 ways.
-Free recall: remembering information without any aid
-photo recognition: remembering information with the aid of photos
What did research by bahrick conclude about duration of LTM
-Participants tested within 15 years of graduation had 90% accuracy in photo recognition
-after 48 years recall declined to 70%
-Free recall was less accurate will 60% recalling after 15 years and only 30% after 48 years
What does bahrick’s research suggest about the duration of LTM?
LTM may last a life time
What is a strength of Baddeley’s research (separate memory stores)
-Identifies a clear difference between two memory stores
-later research shows that there are some exceptions to Baddeley’s findings
-Idea that STM uses mostly acoustic coding and LTM mostly semantic has stood the test of time
-This was an important step in our understanding of the memory system
What is a limitation of baddeley’s research (Artificial stimuli)
-Used quite artificial stimuli rather than meaningful material
-E.g the word lists had no personal meaning to the participants
-So Baddeley’s findings may not tell us much about coding in different kinds of memory tasks
-This suggests that the findings from this study have limited application
Short-term memory
The limited-capacity memory store. In STM, coding is mainly acoustic, capacity is between 5 and 9 items and duration is about 18 seconds.
Long-term memory
The permanent memory store. In LTM, coding is mainly semantic, it has unlimited capacity and can store memories for up to a lifetime.
What experiment did Baddeley conduct in coding
-Gave different lists of words to 4 groups of participants to remember
-Acoustically similar, dissimilar, semantically similar, dismillar
-Were shown the original words and asked to recall them in the correct order
What did baddeley’s research conclude about coding
Information is coded acoustically in the STM and semantically in the LTM
Chunking
Grouping sets of digits or letters into units or chunks
What were the finding’s of Peterson and Peterson’s research
-After 3 second’s average recall was about 80%
-After 18 seconds it was about 3%
This suggests that the duration of the STM is 18 seconds unless we repeat the information over and over
What is a limitation of Peterson and Peterson’s research into duration (Meaningless Stimuli)
-Stimuli material was artificial
-The study is not completely irrelevant because we do sometimes try to remember fairly meaningless material
-Even so, recalling consonant syllables does not reflect most everyday memory activities where what we are trying to remember is meaningful
-This means the study lacks external validity
What is a strength of bahrick’s research into the duration of LTM (high external validity)
-Researchers investigated meaningful memories
-when studies on LTM were conducted with meaningless pictures to be remembered , recall rates were lower
-This suggests that Bahrick’s findings reflect a more ‘real’ estimate of the duration of LTM.
What is the process of the Multi-store model
- stimulus from the environment
- sensory register (iconic, echoic, other sensory stores
- information is only stored if attention is payed
- Short term memory store
- prolonged rehearsal to store in the long term memory
- response is remembering
How is information stored in the short term memory
Duration: 18 seconds with no rehearsal
Capacity: 5-9 items
Coding: mainly stored acoustically
How is information stored in the long term memory
Duration: lifetime/infinite
Capacity: unlimited
Coding: mainly semantically
What is the Sensory register
The memory stores for each of our five senses, such as vision (iconic store) and hearing (echoic store)
What is a strength of the Multi-store model of memory (research support)
-Studies show that the STM and LTM are different
-Baddeley (1966) found that we tend to mix up similar sounding world when using our STM, but similar meaning words when using LTM
-Further support in studies on capacity and duration
-These studies show that STM and LTM are separate and independent memory stores
What is a limitation of the Multi-store model of memory (Elaborative rehearsal)
-prolonged rehearsal is not needed to transfer to LTM
-Craik and Watkins found that the type of rehearsal is more important than the amount
-Elaborative rehearsal is needed for long-term storage and this occurs when you link the information to existing knowledge or think about what it means
-This suggests that the MSM does not fully explain how long-term storage is achieved
What is a limitation of the Multi-store model of memory (More than one STM store)
-Shallice and Warrington studied a client they referred to as KF who had amnesia
-KF’s STM for digits was poor when they were read out loud to him but his recall was better when he read the digits to himself.
-Further study of KF showed that there could even be another Short term store for non-verbal sounds
-This evidence suggests that the MSM is wrong in claiming there is just one STM store processing different types of information.
What is a counterpoint to research support for the multi-store model
-Studies that support MSM used information that was not meaningful.
-They used digits,letters and sometimes words.
-This means that the MSM may not be a valid model of how memory works in our everyday lives
What is the Multi-store model
A representation of how memory works in terms of three stores called the sensory register, short term memory and long term memory.
How is information stored in the sensory register
Duration: less than half a second
Capacity: very high
Coding: store depends on format
How is information passed on from the sensory register
By paying attention to it
Who came up with the Multi-store model of memory
Atkinson and Shiffrin
Maintenance rehearsal
We repeat material to ourselves over and over again which keeps it in the STM. If it’s rehearsed long enough it will pass onto the LTM
Retrieval
Recalling information from the LTM into the STM
What are the 3 types of long term memory
Episodic
Semantic
Procedural
Who came up with the types of Long term memory
Tulving (1985) realised that the MSM view of LTM was too simple and there must be multiple stores for different types of LTM.
What is a strength of the types of memory stores (clinical evidence)
-Evidence from case studies of HM and clive wearing
-episodic memory in both men was severely impaired due to brain damage
-but their semantic memory and procedural memory was intact
-Still understood the meaning of words
-Didn’t recall stroking a dog half an hour ago but didn’t need to have the concept of a dog explained to him
-This evidence supports Tulving’s view that there are different memory stores in LTM
What is a counterpoint of clinical evidence
-Studying people with brain injuries can help researchers understand memory
-Lack control variables
-The brain injuries experiences were usually unexpected
-Researcher had no way of controlling what happened to the participant before or during the injury
- no knowledge of the individuals memory before the injury
-This lack of control limits what clinical studies can tell us about different types of LTM
What is a limitation of the types of memory stores (conflicting neuroimaging evidence)
-conflicting research findings linking types of LTM to areas of the brain
-Buckner and Petersen reviewed evidence regarding the location of semantic and episodic memory.
-Concluded semantic memory is located in the left side of the prefrontal cortex and episodic is on the right
-Other researchers found that the left prefrontal cortex is linked to encoding of episodic memory and the right with episodic retrieval
-This challenges any neurophysiological evidence to support types of memory
What is a strength of the types of memory (real world application)
-Allows psychologists to help people with memory problems
-E.g as people age they experience memory loss. But research has shown this seems to be specific to the episodic memory
-Belleville derived an intervention to improve episodic memory in older people by training participants on a episodic memory test.
-This shows that distinguishing between types of LTM enables specific treatments to be developed.
Episodic memeory
A long term memory store for personal events. It includes memories of when the events occured and of the people, objects, places and behaviours involved. memories from this store have to be retrieved consciously and with effort.
Semantic memory
A long term memory store for our knowledge of the world. This includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean. These memories usually also need to be recalled deliberately
Procedural memory
A long term memory store for our knowledge of how to do things. This includes our memories of learned skills. We usually recall these memories without making conscious or deliberate effort.
The working memory model
A representation of short-term memory. It suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using subunits co-ordinated by a central decision-making system.
Central Executive
The component of the WMM that co-ordinate’s the activities of the three subsystems in memory. It also allocates processing resources to those activities.
Phonological Loop
The component of the WMM that processes information in terms of sound. This includes both written and spoken material. It’s divided into the phonological store and articulatory process.
The Phonological Store
The “Inner Ear”
Stores words you hear
The Articulatory Process
The “Inner Voice”
-Allows maintenance rehearsal to keep information in working memory.
-Capacity of about 2 seconds’ worth of sounds
The Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
The component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial information in a mental space often called our ‘inner eye’
What was the VSS subdivided into
- The Visual Cache
Stores visual data (e.g. form and colour) - The Inner Scribe
Records the arrangement of objects in the visual field.
The Episodic Buffer (later addition)
The component of the WMM that brings together material from the other subsystems into a single memory rather than separate strands. It also provides a bridge between working memory and long-term memory.
