Memory Flashcards
What is working memory ?
the small amount of information you can hold in mind at any 1 time and used in the execution of tasks
History of wm
Ebbinghaus found it easy to recall 7 but harder to recall lists of 12
What is the information processing approach to cognition ?
developed as an alternative to behaviorism
humans are processing systems: We encode store and retrieve
information
places memory at the heart of cognitive development
based on a computer metaphor
Assumptions of the information processing apprach
information moves through series of stores
cognitive system has a limited capacity.
Atkinson and Shiffrin
one of the first information processing models of memory
memory consists of several seperate stores
baddeley and hitch
current model: Working memory
sensory memory - wm if attention storage to LTM retrieval through WM
Executive control processes
WHat are the limitations of processing in childhood?
Brainerd (1983)
- encoding limitations
- retrieval limitations
- storage/ capacity limitations
- metacognitive problems
How can encoding be a problem for children
Miler and Seuer (1994)
. the crucial part of a task or experience might not be encoded.
Dont have selective attention - Miler and Seuer (1994) young children cant ignore other animals.
encoding strategies
rehearsal
Rehearsal- children under 10 use rehearsal less effectively than adults.
with age children can say and read faster which increases memory span.
Ellis and Hennelley (1980) welsh children have better memory for english numbers because they can be said quicker,
encoding strategies
organisation
elaboration
organisation: children under 10 do not spontaneously group items
elaboration : children remember associations better, but are less effective at thinking of them .
How is retrieval a limitation
children may know the strategy to apply but apply it in the wrong way
10 year old children can name 1 retrieval strategy only half of 5 year olds can
how is storage a limitation
this limits the amount a child can store.
storage capacity increases with age.
adults vs 10 year old chess experts - the adults outperformed the children on the digits
working memory is usually two items less than a childs short term memory
how is metacognition a limitation
due to poor metacgnitive problems children make less effort to encode things properly
- over estimate their own memory
- dont realise how useful strategies are
- less world knowledhr
more knowledge sometimes leads to more errors :
- recalling false memoriies
- overgeneralisation
- adding facts
Identifying which limitation a child is facing is not always easy.
Piget and Inhelder (1951) probability judgement task
4 and 5 year old children shown 10 tokens 7:3. had to predict which.
children only predict the most frequent on the first trial .
Brainerd (1983) tested why:
storage limitation= children forget (but when children had a second set of tokens to look at their performance stayed bad)
Retrieval limitation = children retrieve the most recent info (when children are reminded of frequency they are more successful)
WHat does working memory support?
- Language
- academic skills
- General school readiness
