Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

What is meant by duration of memory?

A

The length of time information can be stored in memory

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2
Q

What is meant by capacity of memory?

A

The amount of information that can be stored in memory

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3
Q

What is meant by coding of memory?

A

A process by which the sensory information is modified and stored in the brain. The most common forms are visual, acoustic and semantic

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4
Q

What is the capacity of sensory memory?

A

Unknown, but very large

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5
Q

What is the capacity of STM?

A

Limited (7+/-2 ‘chunks’ of information)

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6
Q

What is the capacity of LTM?

A

Unlimited

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7
Q

How is STM often assessed?

A

Using a digit span task

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8
Q

What did Jacob’s research find on capacity?

A

He found the average span for numbers to be 9.3 items
For letters the average decreased to 7.3 items

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9
Q

What did Miller’s research find on capacity?

A

‘the magic number is 7 plus or minus two.’ He found we are good at remembering between 5-9 items
He found people could recall around 7 dots, 7 letters, 7 musical notes

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10
Q

What did Miller suggest about chunking?

A

Miller argued that our capacity for remembering information can be increased if we chunk items together
If we find links between things things and group them together then we will remember more

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11
Q

What is the duration of memory in the sensory store?

A

Less than one second

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12
Q

What is the duration of STM?

A

Approximately 18-30 seconds unless information is rehearsed

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13
Q

What is the duration of LTM?

A

Potentially lasts infinitely

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14
Q

What was the procedure of Peterson & Peterson?

A

To investigate the duration of STM
24 university students

On each of the 8 trials p’s were given a consonant trigram and a three-digit number. They were asked to recall the consonant syllable after intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, or 18 seconds. To prevent rehearsal ppts were asked to count backwards from their 3-digit number

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15
Q

What were the findings of Peterson & Peterson?

A

3 secs - 80% successful recall
9 secs - 20% successful recall
18 secs - less than 10% successful recall

Conclusion : The duration of STM is less than 18 seconds

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16
Q

What was the procedure of Bahrick et al?

A

To investigate the duration of LTM
392 ppts from the US aged 17-74
Tested photo recognition and free name recall from the participant’s high school yearbook
Had to recall the names of students from 50 photos in the high school yearbook
Asked to list the names they could remember from their graduating class

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17
Q

What were the findings of Bahrick et al?

A

PHOTO RECOGNITION
Ppts tested within 15 years go graduation were 90% accurate
After 48 years recall declined to 70%

FREE RECALL
After 15 years 60% accurate
After 48 years 30% accurate

Conclusion: This suggests that the duration of LTM can last a very long time

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18
Q

How is information encoded in the SS?

A

Modality specific (encoded in the same way it is received)

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19
Q

How is information encoded in the STM?

A

Acoustically

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20
Q

How is information encoded in the LTM?

A

Semantically

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21
Q

What was the procedure of Baddeley (1966)?

A

Ppts were shown a list of words and asked to recall them in the correct order.
To test STM ppts recalled the words immediately after hearing them, whereas a time interval of 20 minutes was given for LTM recall

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22
Q

What were the findings of Baddeley (1966)?

A

Participants had difficulty remembering acoustically similar words when tested immediately (STM) but had no difficulty remembering acoustically similar words after 20 minutes (LTM)

Participants had difficulty remembering semantically similar words when tested after 20 minutes (LTM) but had no difficulty remembering semantically similar words when tested immediately (STM)

Conclusion: This suggests that information is coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM

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23
Q

What is a model?

A

A representation of how something works and allows predictions to be made about human behaviour

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24
Q

What does the Multi-store Model of Memory (MSM) suggest?

A

Memory is made up of three separate and distinct stores. Each differs in coding capacity and duration.

It is a linear, sequential model which means information passes through the stores in order. Information passes from store to store if certain conditions are met.
Information can be lost in each stage of storage.

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25
Q

How does information transfer to the STM store?

A

Stimulus from the environment –> sensory memory/register –> short-term memory store (STM

26
Q

What stores are with the sensory register/memory?

A

Iconic & Echoic

27
Q

How can information get lost in the STM store?

A

Information here will decay if not rehearsed
New information can ‘push out’ old information due to STM’s limited capacity

28
Q

How does information enter the LTM store?

A

Moved from STM to LTM via the maintenance rehearsal. When information needs to be recalled it is retrieved back to STM

29
Q

What is the Iconic store?

A

Where visual images are kept for a short period (visual encoding)

30
Q

What is the Echoic store?

A

Where auditory senses are kept for a short period (acoustic encoding)

31
Q

What is the Haptic store?

A

The form of sensory memory specific to touch stimuli

32
Q

Define working memory

A

A limited capacity store for retaining information for a brief period while performing mental operations on that information

33
Q

Who created the WMM?

A

Baddeley & Hitch (1974)

34
Q

Why was the WMM created?

A

As a way of explaining some of the research findings that could not be accounted for by the multi-store model (MSM), for example, dual-task studies

35
Q

What does the WMM state?

A

It suggests that STM is not unitary, but compromises multiple components (central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad)
STM is an active processor with each of the three different components playing their own parts and working together

36
Q

What is the main role of the Central Executive (CE)?

A

The CE has a supervisory role. It does not store information. It has very limited processing capacity

37
Q

What three things does the CE do?

A

Directs attention to tasks and makes decisions
Allocates tasks to the slave-systems (sub-components)
Data arrives from the senses or from the LTM

38
Q

What capacity does the CE have?

A

Limited capacity

39
Q

What is the main role of the Phonological Loop (PL)?

A

Processes auditory information. It codes information acoustically and has a limited capacity of 2 seconds worth of information.

40
Q

What did Baddeley divide the PL into?

A

Phonological store: holds words heard
Articulatory control process: inner voice

41
Q

What capacity does the PL have?

A

Limited capacity

42
Q

What is the word length effect?

A

Immediate memory span is better with short words rather than with long words. This is explained by the fact that short words can be articulated faster, so that more words can be silently articulated before they decay

43
Q

What is the role of the VSS?

A

The VSS processes visual and/or spatial information. Visual refers to what things look like and spatial refers to relationships between things.

44
Q

What capacity does the VSS have?

A

Limited capacity of 3-4 items

45
Q

What is the dual-task technique?

A

Dual-task techniques are ones in which performance is measured as participants perform two tasks at the same time
Baddeley’s model found that if one store is utilised for both tasks then task performance is poorer than due to the store’s limited capacity

46
Q

What is the role of the Episodic Buffer (EB)?

A

The EB is a temporary store which integrates information from other slave systems
Baddeley added EB as he realised model needed a more general store as the slave systems deal with specific types of information and the CE has no storage capacity

47
Q

What is the capacity of the EB?

A

Limited capacity of approximately 4 chunks and it maintains a sense of time sequencing - recording events that are happening.
It also sends information to the LTM store

48
Q

Who proposed that there are 3 different types of LTM?

A

Tulving (1967)

49
Q

What are the three different types of LTM?

A

Episodic, semantic & procedural

50
Q

Describe episodic memory

A

Knowledge of personal events

51
Q

Give an example of episodic memory

A

Memory of your first day at school

52
Q

What 3 elements are involved in episodic memory?

A

Details of the event
The emotion
The time-stamped event

53
Q

Is episodic memory time stamped?

A

Yes

54
Q

What region of the brain is the episodic memory associated with?

A

Hippocampus and right prefrontal cortex

55
Q

Describe semantic memory

A

Responsible for storing information about the world. This includes knowledge about the meaning of words, as well as general knowledge

56
Q

Give an example of semantic memory

A

That London is the capital of England

57
Q

Is semantic memory time stamped?

A

No

58
Q

What region of the brain is semantic memory associated with?

A

Left prefrontal cortex

59
Q

Describe procedural memory

A

Responsible for knowing how to do things and carry out complex motor tasks. These memories are hard to verbalise

60
Q

Give an example of procedural memory

A

Knowledge of how to ride a bike

61
Q

Is procedural memory time stamped?

A

No

62
Q

What region of the brain is procedural memory associated with?

A

Cerebellum and motor cortex