Memory

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

Retaining learned info and accessing when needed

Question 2

3 main processes in memory

Answer 2

Coding - changing info to store
Storage - in memory system till needed
Retrieval - recovering when needed

Question 3

Memory stores

Answer 3

Sensory register (SR) - unprocessed info impressions via senses - different sensory store for each input - echoic, iconic
STM - temporary store of info from SR
LTM - permanent store with potentially infinite capacity and duration

Question 4

Capacity and Duration

Answer 4

Capacity - how much info can be held until new info displaces it
Duration - how long info can be held before it decays

Question 5

Baddeley coding

Answer 5

List A and B similar and dissimilar sounding words
List C and D similar and dissimilar meanings
List A worse recall when within seconds but not CD so STM coded acoustically
List C worse after 20 mins but not AB so LTM coded semantically

Question 6

Baddeley word lists eval

Answer 6

+ Lab experiment so controlled and easily replicated - reliable reproducible
- Low ecological validity and mundane realism as people dont usually memorise word lists

Question 7

Jacobs capacity

Answer 7

Digit span with immediate recall - average is 9.3 digits and 7.3 letters and Miller reviews studies to get 7+- 2. 5 words just as easy as 5 letters so chunking helps.

Question 8

Jacobs digit span eval

Answer 8

+ First to acknowledge capacity gradually improves with age
- Inconsistent letter span is lower
- Lacked adequate control so confounding variables and less validity
- Repeated measures designs to order effect issues
- Recent research suggests 4 chunks info capacity rather than 7+- 2

Question 9

Peterson and Peterson duration

Answer 9

Gave trigram then count backwards from a certain number for increasing times - 90% accuracy after 3 seconds but 20% after 9 seconds, 2% after 18 seconds, so STM lasts 18-30s before decay

Question 10

Peterson and peterson trigram eval

Answer 10

+ Controlled as other factors like noise gone and standardised procedure
- May instead be interference as earlier trigrams confused with later ones
- Lack of mundane realism as artificial

Question 11

Bahrick memory

Answer 11

400 17-74 age on classmate memory with 50 photos of potential classmates or a list of names they could remember
90% accuracy within 15 years of leaving, 70% after 48 for photo recognition
60% within 15 years and 30% after 48 years for free recall
So LTM is potentially lifetime but affected by e,g retrieval failure

Question 12

Bahrick classmate recall eval

Answer 12

+ Ecological validity as real life material
- Extraneous variables such as staying in touch or looking at yearbooks
- Independent groups design so participant variable issues

Question 13

Atkinson and Shiffrin

Answer 13

Developed MSM to explain how info flows between memory stores

Question 14

Memory stores in MSM and characteristics

Answer 14

SR - unlimited - 250ms - modality specific
STM - 7+-2 - 18-30s - acoustic
LTM - ‘infinite’ - ‘lifetime’ - semantic

Question 15

Memory flows in MSM

Answer 15

environmental stimuli and senses into SR, some info paid attention into STM or lost by decay, STM can be maintenance rehearsal or elaborative moving to LTM, LTM move to STM via retrieval and out via retrieval or displacement/ decay, LTM lost via retrieval failure

Question 16

MSM eval

Answer 16

+ HM epilepsy treated by hippocampus removal so new LTM unable to be coded but STM unaffected
+ KF had bike accident so reduced STM capacity 1-2 digits but unaffected LTM
- But KF had poor STM only in verbal tasks and LTM access was not affected despite via STM
+ Murdock (1962) word list free recall where words at start and end remembered better - serial position effect supporting STM LTM ideas
- Oversimplified with only one STM type (unlike WMM) and LTM type (procedural, semantic etc)
- Baddeley and Hitch (1974) argued it ignored multitasking which is impossible with one STM type

Question 17

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Answer 17

WMM - argued STM is an active store with several info while LTM is passive for STM to use when needed - argued STM is complex with several parts and built as a counter to MSM

Question 18

CE

Answer 18

Central executive - drives WMM and allocates data to slave systems - deals with cognitive decision making, reasoning, problem solving - CE allocates limited attention between spans where repeated tasks become more automated so need less attention e.g driving

Question 19

PL

Answer 19

Phonological loop - spoken and written material with auditory coding, info phonetically with 1-2 seconds capacity.
Phonological store - inner ear - speech perception and stores info
Articulatory loop - inner voice - speech production and rehearse and store info from phonological store - maintenance rehearsal

Question 20

VSS

Answer 20

Visuo-spatial sketchpad - inner eye - spatial and visual info with visual coding and capacity depends on visual complexity
Visual cache - stores form and colour
Inner scribe - handles spatial relationships

Question 21

Episodic buffer

Answer 21

Added by Baddeley in 2000 as a general storage component as slave systems only process and temporary store and CE has no storage - integrates info into unitary and multidimensional code w about 4 chunks info capacity, maintaining some time and sequence

Question 22

WMM eval

Answer 22

+ KF had bike accident so poor STM for verbal info words but not visual
+ Baddeley and Hitch (1974) dual task for reasoning and reading aloud, and both tasks done well so separate CE and PL
+ Baddeley et al (1975) word lists with either all short or all long then immediate recall - more short words recalled supporting 1.5 - 2secs rather than 7+-2
+ Practical uses such as understanding learning how to read and assisting with dyslexia
- CE is vague and untestable, Damasio (1985) presented EVR with removed cerebral tumour - good reasoning but couldnt make decisions so CE must be more complicated