Memory Flashcards
What is coding?
Coding is the format in which information is stored in the brain and the changing of these formats.
Baddley’s research into coding
Participants went through 4 lists of words (Acoustically similar/ acoustically dissimilar and semantically similar, semantically dissimilar). They had to remember the order of the words in each list immediately after memorising and 20 minutes later.
Findings of Baddleys research
Found that recall immediately after struggled with the acoustic lists as the STM got acoustic confusion and recall after 20 minutes struggled with the semantic list as it got semantic confusion. STM prefers acoustic words and LTM prefers semantically similar words.
Strength of Coding research
One strength of Baddleys research into coding is it identifies two clear differences in the memory stores. Although later research has showed differences, the general idea that STM codes for acoustic and LTM codes for Semantic still stands. This has lead to research into the multi-store model of the brain being developed.
Limitation of Baddleys research into coding.
One limitation of Baddleys research into coding is that there was artificial stimuli. This means that because the words had to real meaning to the participants they may have been coded in a particular way as meaningful words may have been acoustic but coded in the STM. This means that there is limited real-life application
Jacobs research into capacity (STM)
Used the digit span test where individuals had to repeat the digits that the researcher told them. Found that the STM for digits is 9.3 and for letters its 7.3
What does capacity mean?
Capacity refers to how much information can be held in the memory at one given time
Millers research into capacity (STM)
Miller concluded that individuals can remember 7 pieces of information (stored in the STM). 7±2 for most words. He identified chunking where people group pieces of information together which make it easier to remember.
Strength of Jacobs capacity study
One strength of Jacobs study is that there are supporting studies. For example, although older studies lack control over their variables, Jacobs study has been replicated by better controlled studies since. This suggests that the study has high reliability which means the findings can be generalised.
Limitation of Millers capacity study
One limitation of Millers capacity study is that he may have overestimated the capacity of the STM. Researchers conducted research on the visual capacity of the STM and found there is a limit of 4 chunks. This suggests that the lower end of Millers estimate is more appropriate.
What is Duration ?
Amount of time information can be held in for memory.
Peterson and Petersons research into duration (Method)
Participants were given non-sense trigrams and a 3-digit number. They had to recall their trigram after a retention interval (3,6,9,12,15,18 seconds) to prevent practice, participants had to count down from their 3 digit number.
Peterson and Petersons duration research (Findings )
After 3 seconds 80% of participants recalled correctly, 18 seconds 10?% recalled correctly. Found that the STM duration is between 18-30 seconds.
One strength of Bahrick’s research into duration
One strength of Bahricks research is that it has high external validity. This is because the stimuli used are meaningful memories. Other researchers using meaningless pictures had lower recall rates. This suggests that Bahricks research reflects a ‘real’ estimate of the duration of the LTM.
One limitation of Peterson and Peterson study
One limitation of Peterson and Petersons study is that it used artificial stimuli . This is because the stimuli used such as the nonsense trigrams do not reflect real meaningful activities which are different from daily activities where meaningful information is remembered. This means the study lacks ecological validity as it may not be possible to generalise findings to real life.
Strength of multi-store model of memory
One strength of Atkinson and Shiffrins research is that there is research that shows the STM and LTM are two separate stores. For example, Baddelys study into coding showed that the STM coded acoustically as there was acoustic confusion and the LTM coded semantically as there was semantic confusion (it was harder to recall words these types of words in these stores). This shows that there are two types of memory stores.
Limitation of multi-store model (Counterpoint)
However, all the stimuli used in relevant studies are artificial. They hold no real meaning to the individual unlike important memories which studies have shown they code in the brain differently. This means that the multi-store model may not be an accurate or valid model of how memory works in our everyday lives.
Limitation of the Multi-Store model (More than one type of STM)
One limitation of the MSM is evidence for multiple STM stores. Researchers studied a patient who had amnesia. The patients recall for digits was lower when the researchers read the digits to him however, when he read the digits himself, his recall was significantly higher. This evidence suggests that there may be a different type of STM store for non-verbal sounds. Therefore, the MSM is wrong in claiming one type of store for the STM when there could be multiple which code for different types of information.
Limitation of MSM (Elaborative rehearsal)
Another limitation of the MSM is that prolonged rehearsal is not needed to store information in the LTM. For
