memory Flashcards
what is capacity?
a measure of how much can be held in memory. it is represented in terms of bits of information such as number of digits
what is coding?
the format information is stored as, such as visual codes, semantic codes, or acoustic codes
what is duration?
a measure of how long a memory lasts before it is no longer available
what are the two stores of memory?
the Long Term Memory (LTM), and the Short Term Memory (STM).
what is the capacity of the short term memory?
7 (+/- 2). about 7 items, sometimes less, sometimes more.
how can the capacity of the short term memory be assessed, who created it, and how is it carried out?
the Digit Span Test can be used to capacity of the STM. It was developed by Joseph Jacobs, and includes seeing how many words, letters, or numbers a person can recite in the correct order from reading or hearing a set list.
what is the duration of the short term memory?
18-30 seconds
who studied the duration of the short term memory, and how?
Peterson and Peterson assessed the duration of the STM. they did this using 24 students. each participant was tested over 8 trials. participants were given 3 letters and a 3 digit number, and they were asked to recall the letters after a retention interval of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 seconds. during the retention interval they were asked to count backwards from the given number.
what were the results for the Peterson and Peterson study on the duration of the short term memory?
on average, 90% of participants were correct after 3 seconds, 20% were correct after 9 seconds, and only 2% were correct after 18 seconds.
what are the coding’s of the long term and short term memories?
long term memory is largely encoded semantically and short term memory is largely encoded acoustically
what are the two explanations for forgetting?
interference theory and retrieval failiure
what does interference theory suggest?
it suggests long term memories become confused by other information whilst it is coded
what are the two types of interference in interference theory?
proactive and retroactive interference
what is proactive interference?
when old information interferes with the recall of new information
what is retroactive interference?
when new information interferes with the recall of old information
what two factors makes interference more likely?
how similar the two pieces of info are and time sensitivity
why are two similar pieces of information more likely to be forgotten?
this is due to response competition, both pieces of information are available, its just difficult to chose between them
when does time sensitivity affect memory more?
the smaller the difference in time between learning two pieces of information, the more likely they are to be confused
what is context dependant forgetting?
Context-dependent forgetting is when you struggle to remember something because you’re in a different environment from when you learned it.
what is state dependant forgetting?
State-dependent forgetting is when your memory is better if you’re in the same internal state (like mood or alertness) as when you learned something.
who developed the working memory model?
Baddley and Hitch
what is the phonological loop responsible for?
processing sound based information
what are the sub components of the phonological loop?
the articulatory control process, and the phonological store
what is the articulatory control process?
its the inner voice, which rehearses verbal sounds, helping us to prepare speech and think in words
what is the phonological store?
known as the inner ear as it receives and stores sounds, it focuses on speech perception
what is the visuospatial sketchpad?
the slave system which is responsible for processing visual information.
what are the components of the visuospatial sketchpad?
Logie suggested the VSS is made up of a visual cache and an inner scribe
what is the visual cache?
it stores information about visual items, e.g. colour, form
what is the inner scribe?
it stores the arrangement of objects in the visual field
what is the function of the Central Executive?
it directs attention to particular tasks, it has a very limited capacity, and has no capacity for storing data
what is the function of the episodic buffer?
it acts as a general store for information, and can store and process both visual and auditory information
who is KF?
a man who was in a motorbike accident which resulted in damage to his short term memory, specifically with verbal recall. when tested, he could only recall 2 items verbally from his short term memory, however, his recall was unaffected when his short term memory was tested using visual information.
what are the 3 types of long term memory?
episodic memory, semantic memory, and procedural memory
what does the case study of KF suggest?
that the STM must have separate stores for auditory and visual information
what is procedural memory?
they relate to motor skills and actions and memories of actions that are carried out in a certain order (knowing how to do things). They’re non-declarative, and can be hard to explain, and are unavailable for conscious inspection, we do them automatically.
what is episodic memory?
they relate to a specific episode (event) which happened in a persons life, they have a time and place and are an example of an autobiographical memory. they’re declarative and can be consciously inspected, meaning you are aware of the specific memory and you can explore it in your mind
what are semantic memories?
they relate to meaning, and are fact-based memories which include general knowledge. we may not be able to recall where we learnt and encoded a semantic memory as they’re not personal, however they’re declarative, so simple to explain
how did Tulving study and what did he find about the different types of Long term memory?
he reported data from studies that used PET scans, participants were asked to recall different memories whilst the blood flow in their brain was being monitored. different types of LTMs triggered different parts of the brain, showing how different parts of the brain
describe and explain the case study of H.M.
he suffered brain damage after an operation to remove his hippocampus in order to reduce his epilepsy, which left him unable to form new long term memories
what is anterograde amnesia?
the lack of ability to form new memories
what is retrograde amnesia?
the loss of past memories
