Memory Flashcards
What is coding?
The process of converting information between different forms
Who did research on coding?
Baddeley (1966)
Describe research on coding
AB gave different list of words to 4 groups of ppts to rember:
acoustically similar
acoustically dissimilar
semantically similar
semantically dissimilar
ppts were shown the original words and asked to recall them in the correct order
What were the findings of the research on coding?
When they did the task immediately, recalling from STM, they tended to do worse with acoustically similar words. When they recalled the word list after 20 minutes, recalling from LTM, they did worse with the semantically similarly words.
These findings suggest that info is coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM
What is capacity?
the amount of information that can be held in a memory store.
Who researched capacity?
Joseph Jacobs (1887)
Describe research on capacity
Jacobs determined capacity by measuring digit span. For example, the researcher reads out 4 digits and the ppts recalls these out loud in the correct order. If this is correct the research reads out 5 digits and so on until the ppts cannot recall the order correctly. This indicates the individuals digit span
What are the findings of research on capacity?
Means span for digits across all ppts was 9.3 items. The mean span for letters was 7.3
What did George Miller suggest?
He made observations of everyday practise. He noted that things tend to come in sevens, and thought the capacity for STM was 7 plus or minus 2. He also noted that people can recall five words just as easily as five letters. We do this by chunking-grouping sets of digits or letters into units or chunks.
What is duration?
The lengnth of time info can be held in memory.
Who did research on the duration of STM?
Peterson & peterson
Describe research on the duration of STM
24 students, 8 trails. On each trial students were given a consonant syllable. to remeber. They were given a 3 digit number to count backwarxs from untl told to stop, to prevent any mental rehearsal. On each trial they would stop at varying periods of time: 3, 6, 9, 12,15 or 18 seconds (the retention interval).
Who tested the duration of LTM?
Harry Bahrick et al. (1975)
What were the findings of duration of STM research?
After 3 seconds, average recall was 80%. After 18secs was 3%. This suggest duration of STM to be about 18 secs, unless we engage in verbal reharsal.
Describe research into the duration of LTM
392 American participants betwee4n aged 17-74. They tested their recall using their school yearbooks, including photo-regonision test and a free recall test of names.
What were the findings of duration of LTM research
Ppts tested within 15 years of graduation were about 90% accurate in photo recognition. After 48%, declined to 70%. This shows that the LTM may last up to a lifetime for some material.
The multi-store model (A01)
The multi-store model is a nomothetic theory proposed by antikson & shiffirn as an explanation for how infomation flows through the memory system. The model suggests that memory is made up of three stores, linked by processing.
Describe the sensory register (AO1)
All stimuli from the environment pass into the sensory register. This part of the memory comprises of several registers (sensory memory stores), one for each of our senses. Coding in each store is modality-specific. For example, the store coding for visual info is iconic memory and the store coding acoustically is echoic memory. The duration of sr is very brief, less then half a second. However, it has a very large capacity-for example there are over one hundred million cells in one eye, each storing data.
Information passes further into the memory system only if you pay attention to it.
Describe STM (MSM) AO1
Infomation in STM is coded mainly acoustically, and lasts about 18 seconds, unless it is rehearsed, so STM is more of a temporary store. STM is a limited-capacity store, as it can only contain a cefrtain amount of ‘things’ before forgetting occurs, and this is believed to be 7 +-2. Maintance reheseal occurs when we repeat material to ourselves over and over again. We can keep the infomation in our STMs as long as we rehearse it. If we rehearse it long enough, it passes into LTM. If not, itll be forgetten.
Describe LTM (MSM) AO1
This is the potentially permeant memory store for info that has been rehearsed for a prolonged time. LTM is coded semantically, and its duration my by up to a lifetime. The capacity of LTM is thought to be pratical unlimited. According to the MSM, when we want to recall info from LTM, it has to be transferred back into STM by a process called retrival.
Multistore model (AO3)
A key strength of the Multi-Store Model (MSM) is its empirical support from clinical case studies, such as that of Clive Wearing, which not only demonstrate the separation of Short-Term Memory (STM) and Long-Term Memory (LTM) but also highlight the critical role of the maintenance rehearsal loop. Wearing’s condition, caused by damage to his hippocampus from a viral infection, prevents the transfer of information from STM to LTM. His STM span lasts only 7–10 seconds, indicating that without the ability to engage in rehearsal, memories cannot consolidate into LTM. This directly supports the MSM’s assertion that a rehearsal mechanism is essential for the maintenance and encoding of information into LTM. Additionally, Wearing’s ability to retain procedural LTM, such as playing the piano, despite an inability to form or retrieve episodic memories, further demonstrates the separation of memory systems. By linking the absence of rehearsal to his inability to form new long-term memories, the model is reinforced as a plausible framework for understanding the process of memory consolidation.
However, a significant weakness of the MSM lies in its oversimplification of the LTM store, which it conceptualizes as a single, unitary entity. Clive Wearing’s preserved procedural memory, juxtaposed with his inability to retrieve episodic memories, suggests that LTM is not homogeneous but consists of distinct subsystems, such as procedural, episodic, and semantic memory. This challenges the MSM’s assumption of LTM as a singular store and highlights the need for a more nuanced explanation of how different types of memories are stored and accessed. By failing to account for these distinctions, the MSM provides a reductionist view of memory processes. This limitation is further emphasized by evidence from neuroimaging studies, which reveal that different brain regions are involved in various types of long-term memory, an aspect not addressed by the MSM. As such, while the model provides a useful framework for understanding basic memory processes, it does not adequately capture the complexity of human memory.
