Memory Flashcards
Coding
The format in which information is stored in the various memory stores.
Capacity
The amount of information that can be held in a memory store.
Duration
The length of time information can be held in memory.
Short term memory (stm)
The limited-capacity memory store. Coding is mainly acoustic (sounds), capacity is between 5 and 9 items on average, duration is between about 18 and 30 seconds.
Long term memory (ltm)
The permanent memory store. Coding is mainly semantic (meaning), it has unlimited capacity and can store memories for up to a lifetime.
Research on coding
The process of converting information from one form to another is called coding.
Alan Baddeley gave different lists of words to four groups to remember. Group1- words sounded similar. Group2- words sounded different. Group3- words with similar meanings. Group4- words with different meaning. When recall was immediate, words that were similar sounding was worse. After 20 mins recall was worse with similar meaning words.
Research on capacity
Jacobs, gave 4 digits if they recalled right he would increase by one each time, the mean span for digits was 9.3 items, the mean span for letters was 7.3.
Miller, 7+-2.
Research on duration (stm)
Peterson, tested 24 undergraduate students. They were given 8 trials and on each trial they were given 3 letters, and a 3 digit number which they had to count back from (for 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds). Found that the stm has a short duration unless we repeat rehearsal.
Research of duration- ltm
Bahrick, 392 participants from ohio age 17 to 74. Photo recognition from year book or recall names from class with nothing. If tested within 15 years it was 90% accurate in photo 60% in recall. If tested within 48 years, it was 70% accurate for photo and 30% in recall.
Evaluation on coding
Baddeley’s study used artificial stimuli, the words had no personal meaning, so can’t generalise or apply the findings.
Evaluation on capacity
Jacobs study lacks validity, it was done a long time ago and lacks adequate control. Could be distracted whilst recalling, confounding variables that were not controlled.
However since then more studies have confirmed his research, supporting his validity
Evaluation on duration
Meaningless stimuli in stm study, remembering letters doesn’t reflect real life, lacks external validity. But we do remember numbers.
Higher external validity in ltm, real life, but confounding variables aren’t controlled, they may have looked through their year books throughout the years.
The multi store model of memory
See picture. It described how information is transferred from one store to another, how it os remembered and forgotten.
Sensory register
The memory stored for each of our senses. Coding in the iconic (vision) sensory register is visual and in the echoic (hearing) sensory register is acoustic. The capacity of sensory registers is huge and information lasts for a very short time.
Maintenance rehearsal
When we repeat material to ourselves over and over again. If we rehearse it long enough it passes into long term memory.
The multi store model of memory evaluation
There’s more than one type of stm, KF suffered from amnesia, recall was very poor when they read out the digits but much better when he was able to read the digits himself. One for listening and one for visual.
Types of long term memory
Episodic
Semantic
Procedural
Episodic memory
Personal events. It includes memories of when the event occurred, people, objects, places and behaviours involved. They have to be retrieved consciously and with effort.
Semantic memory
Knowledge of the world. This includes facts and our knowledge of what words and concepts mean. Need to be recalled deliberately.
Procedural memory
Knowledge of how to do things. This includes memories of learned skills. No deliberate or conscious effort.