MEMORY

Question 1

Short term memory definition (STM)

Answer 1

memory for immediate events

Question 2

Long term memory definition (LTM)

Answer 2

memory for events that have happened in the past

Question 3

Duration definition

Answer 3

a measure of how long memory lasts before it is no longer available

Question 4

Coding definition

Answer 4

the format in which information is stored in the various memory stores

Question 5

Capacity definition

Answer 5

how much information can be held in a memory store

Question 6

STM duration experiment (procedure)

Answer 6

Peterson & Peterson (1959)
- 24 undergraduate students
- 8 trials
- trigram (consonants) + reciting a 3 digit number backwards
- recall trigram after retention intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 seconds

Question 7

STM duration experiment (results)

Answer 7

• 90% correct after 3 seconds
• 20% correct after 9 seconds
• 2% correct after 18 seconds

thus STM has a very short duration (>18 seconds) when verbal rehearsal is prevented.

Question 8

Criticisms of STM duration experiment (1959)

Answer 8

sample is too small
- sample bias by students (intelligence, age etc.)
- it wasn’t repeated thus lacks reliability
- an artificial task; lacks mundane realism
- artificial task means this is difficult to generalise memory as a whole

Question 9

LTM duration experiment (procedure)

Answer 9

Bahrick et al (1975)
- 392 American participants (aged 17-74) tested on their memory of classmates
- given 2 tests; photo recognition and free recall
- tested 15 and 48 years after graduation
(longitudinal)

Question 10

LTM duration experiment (results)

Answer 10

15 years after graduation
- photo recognition: 90% accurate
- free recall: 60%

48 years after graduation
- photo recognition: 70%
- free recall: 30%

Question 11

Coding of memory experiment (procedure)

Answer 11

Baddeley (1966)
- 4 groups with 4 different lists to remember
- group 1: acoustically similar list
- group 2: acoustically dissimilar list
- group 3: semantically similar list
- group 4: semantically dissimilar list

recall immediately after, and again after 20 minutes.

Question 12

Coding of memory experiment (results)

Answer 12

immediate recall - difficulty remembering acoustically similar words
therefore STM is coded acoustically

delayed recall - difficulty remembering semantically similar words
therefore LTM is coded semantically

information that uses the same coding method as a memory store becomes muddled in our brain!

Question 13

STM capacity experiment (procedure)

Answer 13

Jacobs (1887)
-digit span test
- 4 digits, then 5, then 6, then 7 etc.. (gets longer)

Question 14

STM capacity experiment (results)

Answer 14

• average span for digits: 9.3 items
• average span for letters: 7.3 items

Question 15

STM capacity experiment (results) - psychological research

Answer 15

Miller (1956)
- reviewed psychological research into STM
- STM: 7 (+/- 2) items
- (5-9 items)