memory Flashcards
what are the 4 main components of the MSM model?
environmental stimulus, sensory memory, STM and LTM
what does the environmental stimulus do?
the environmental stimulus picks up on stimuli that trigger a response from our senses
describe our sensory memory:
-material only lasts a short amount of time (0.5/second)
-high capacity
-little information passes from the sensory memory to STM unless we pay attention to it
describe our STM:
-limited capacity ( 7+/- 2 )
-information is coded acoustically and lasts 30 seconds unless rehearsed
-if it rehearsed enough it goes to LTM
describe our LTM:
-potentially permanent memory store
-unlimited capacity
-when we want to recall info it has to go back to the STM
Alan Baddely experiment for coding:
Gave 4 different lists of words to 4 groups of participants to remember:
group 1: acoustically similar
group 2: acoustically dissimilar
group 3: semantically similar
group 4: semantically dissimilar
Results for Alan Baddelys experiment:
When asked to recall the words immediately participants tended to do worse with acoustically similar words.
When asked to recall 20 minutes later they did worse semantically similar words.
Suggesting LTM is coded semantically
Joseph Jacobs experiment for capacity:
Joseph Jacob invented a technique to measure digit span.
The researcher gives for example 4 digits and then is asked to recall these out loud in the correct order.
- if this order is correct another digit it added and this repeats till subject cannot recall digit list correctly.
Results for Joseph Jacobs experiment:
The mean span for digits was 9.3 items.
The mean span for letters was 7.3.
Margaret and Lloyd Peterson experiment for duration of STM:
They tested 24 undergraduate students. Each student took part in eight trials.
On each trial the student was given a trigram ie: YCG and a 3 digit number ie: 371 and asked to count backwards to prevent mental rehearsal.
They were asked to repeat this experiment for different amounts of time 3,6,9,12->18. This is known as the retention interval.
Results of Margret and Lloyd Petersons experiment:
It showed that STM has a very short time interval unless we practice rehearsal.
Harry Bahricks experiment for duration of LTM:
Bahrick studied 392 participants who were aged 17-74. Highschool yearbooks were obtained from these participants or directly from some schools.
Recall was tested through free recall and photo recognition tests.
Results of Harry Bahricks experiment:
Participants tested within 15 years of graduations had around 90% accuracy for photo recognition.
After 48 years, recall declined to 70%.
For free recall, there was 60% recognition after 15 years and 30% after 48 years.
LTM can last a long time.
Case Study: HM
Suffered from epilepsy, hippocampus was removed his LTM was intact and STM wasn’t. Shows that LTM and STM are two distinct stores.
Case Study: KF
Had a motorcycle accident and damaged his STM. He recalled things better visually than auditory.
Goes against MSM model as only parts of his STM damaged not the whole store.
Case Study: CW
Had amnesia, STM gone (supports MSM), LTM partially stayed- he could play the piano and remember his wife.( goes against MSM )
What are problems with Case Studies?
-they are based on individuals experiences ( idiographic )
-demand characteristics ( people know they are being tested)
-subjects can’t give consent
What is Flash Mob Memory?
goes straight to LTM w/o rehearsal.
Evaluation of MSM memory model:
-STM is acoustic, LTM is semantic, supporting the idea that MSM stores are separate and independent.
-MSM states STM is a unitary store (only 1 type of STM) people w/ amnesia show that this is not true.
-Shallice and Warrington found that a patient w/ amnesia’s STM for digits was poor when read aloud but recall was better when he read them himself.
What are the main components of the WMM?
central executive, phonological loop visual-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer and LTM
Describe our central executive:
-small capacity
-directs information