Memory Flashcards
What does coding mean in terms of memory?
How the information is stored.
How is memory encoded in short term memory?
Acoustically.
How is information encoded in long term memory?
Semantically.
What does capacity refer to?
The volume of information that can be kept in any memory store at one time.
What is the capacity of STM?
5 - 9 items.
What is the capacity of LTM?
Unlimited.
Who demonstrated the mean letter span was 7.3 and the mean digit span was 9.3?
Jacobs.
What does duration mean in terms of memory?
The length of time information can be stored in each memory store.
What is the duration of STM?
18 - 30 seconds.
What is the duration of LTM?
Up to a lifetime.
Bahrick et al (1975)
Found that photo recognition of graduating classmates of the 393 participants decreased from 90% to 70% between 15 years and 46 years of graduation.
What is the multi-store model?
Represents how memory is stored, transferred between different stores, retrieved and forgotten.
What are the 3 stores of the MSM?
The sensory store.
Short term memory.
Long term memory.
When does maintenance rehearsal happen?
When we repeat new information to ourselves allowing the information to be kept in STM.
What happens as a result of prolonged maintenance rehearsal?
Allows information to pass into LTM.
What happens if there’s a lack of rehearsal?
Information is forgotten.
What must happen in order to remember something from LTM?
Retrieval.
What is retrieval?
When information is transferred back into the STM, and will continue to pass through the maintenance rehearsal loop afterwards.
What are the three types of long term memory?
Procedural.
Episodic.
Semantic.
What is episodic memory?
Describes memories that have some kind of personal meaning alongside details as to when and how these events occurred (+ associated people and places).
What is semantic memory?
Memories of the world and associated language.
What is procedural memory?
Memories of learnt skills such as swimming or driving.
What types of LTM must be recalled consciously?
Semantic.
Episodic.
Which types of LTM are recalled unconsciously?
Procedural.
What does the working memory model suggest that the STM is made up of?
The central executive.
Phonological loop.
Episodic buffer.
Visuospatial sketchpad.
What is the central executive?
An ‘attentional process’ with a very limited processing capacity.
Role is to allocate tasks to the 3 slave systems.
What is the phonological loop?
Processes auditory information and allows maintenance rehearsal to take place.
What is the phonological loop made up of?
Articulatory process (stores the words you hear) Phonological loop
What is the visuospatial sketchpad?
Combines the visual and spatial information processed by other stores giving a ‘complete image’.
What is the visuospatial sketchpad made up of?
Inner scribe
Visual cache
What is the episodic buffer?
Integrates all types of data processed by the other stores.
Crucial for linking STM to LTM.
When does inference occur?
When the recall of one memory blocks the recall of another, causing forgetting or distorted perceptions of these memories.
What is retroactive interference?
New memories block the recollection of old memories.
What is proactive interference?
Old memories block the recollection of new memories.
How was retroactive interference demonstrated by McGeoch and McDonald (1931)?
Participants were divided into 6 groups to recall different lists of words (synonyms, antonyms, unrelated words, 3 digit numbers, consonant syllables) or no new list (control group). Those who’d learnt the synonyms list experiences an average of 3.1 fewer correct items recalled, compared to the control group.
What does McGeoch and McDonald (1931) support with their study?
The idea that the extent of forgetting is larger when the two memories or materials are very similar.
