memory Flashcards
who proposed the multi-store model
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
what is coding capacity and duraction
the three variables that can be used to describe the stores that informationn passes through
what does coding mean
the way in which infomation is stored/what format things are stored in
what does capcity mean
the amount of information that can be stored
what does duration mean
the time period that information is held in store
what three distinct stages does memory have to pass through in order to enter the storage
- sensory register
- short term memory
- long term memory
what dp Atkinson and Shriffin argue
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s (1968) model of human memory is based on the belief that we process memories in the same way that a computer processes information
what is the sensory register storage
The sensory register stores all incoming info from our senses. (registers sensory info from the outside world).The information is quickly discarded or transferred to short-term memory.
what is the duration/capacity of the sensory register
very brief duration - up to a couple of seconds.
capacity is big
what is stored in the sensory register
sensory information can be sights ,sounds, smellls and even textures. If we do not view the information as valuable we discard it and its duration is very short. IF WE VIEW IT AS VALUABEL THE IMFORMATION WILL MOVE ON INTO SHORT TERM MEMORY.
state the summary of the sensory register
duration:very quick (0.5 secounds)
capacity: large (all sensory info that we consume in their daily life)
coding: specific to each sense
sensory register has a sensory code
what is short term memory
a temporay storage system that processes incoming sensory memory
how long does short term memory storage last
20 secounds (estimated between 18 and 30 secs)
state the summary of short term information
duration: 20 secounds
capacity : 7+/- 2 items
coding: primarily acoustic
What is the term for the rehearsal process to move information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory?
memory consolidation
what is long term memory
the continuous storage of memory (unlike short term memory it has no limits)
state the summary of long term memory
duration: unlimited
capacity: unlimited
coding primarily semantic but can be others
what was Peterson and Peterson study
(1959) wanted to test the theory that information is quickly lost from short-term memory if its not rehearsed.
what procedure was conducted in peterson and petersons study
- laboratory experiment
- 24 psychology students participants
- participants had to try and recall trigrams (like PRC) after different intervals of time (3,6,9,12…)
- during these intervals participants were to count backwards from a random number in groups of three and four. This was to stop them from rehearsing the trigrams in their head
what was the results of petersons and petersons study (1959)
participants could recall fewer trigrams as the time gap increased eg
- 3-second intervals-participants recalled 80%correctly
- 18-second intervals-participants recalled 10% correctly
what was the conclusion of petersons and petersons study
our short term memory has limited duration when we cant rehearse information
what are the positives of petersons and petersons (1959)
good control of variables- because of lab setting
what are the cons of petersons and petersons study
- low ecological validity=because of artificial set up
- lacking variety of stimulus =no data on whether the type of stimulus affects the duration of the short term memory
what did Bahrick et al. (1975) study
studied very long-term memory (VLTM) by testing the ability of people to recall the names of ex-classmates.
what was Bahrick et al method
the teachers set up a series of three tests to test the long term memory of 392 participants.
the participants were tested 15 years , 30 years and 48 years after their graduation
what was Bahricks three tests
- free recall =simply asked to list ex-classmates with no prompts
- photo recognition=the participants were asked to recall the names of people from their photographs from their class year book.(no list of names were given)
- name recognition =asked to match the names of people to their photograph(ie they were given a randomised list of names )
what was Bahricks results
- the results showed that free recall (no pictures or memory cues) declined the most within 30 years, whereas name- recognition maintained a higher accuracy
- 15 years after graduation:
- there was a 90% accuracy for the name recognition test
- 60% accuracy for free recall test
- this was true fro even large class sizes
what was Bahricks results after 30 and 38 years
- 30 years after graduation: only 30% accuracy for free recall - 48 years after graduation: name recognition was 80% accurate photo recognition was 40% accurate
what did peterson and petetrson want to test
they wanted to test the theory that information is quickly lost from short-term memory if its not rehearsed.
what did Bahrick et al conclude
Through the years recognition was more accurate than recall. They concluded that the information is stored in long term memory but information may be difficult to retrieve.
name a postitive of Bahricks study
-ecological validity-
it was a field experiment conducted over a long period of time and tested name recall
name recall if a skill that the majority of people use everyday
name a negative of Bahricks study
name recall is generally more meaningful to people than other information and so results cannot be generalised to other types of information that people may hold in their long-term memory. Furthermore, the nature of the study made it very challenging to control for extraneous variables as took place over approximately 50 years.
what is acoustic information
how the words sounds eg acoustically similar words would be ball and mall
what is semantic information
based on the meaning of the words eg the words intelligent smart and clever and semantically similar
what did Baddeley and Hitch propose (1974)
a multi component model of memory
what does the multi component model of memory consist of
- the central executive
- the phonological loop
- the visuo- spatial sketchpad
- episodic buffer
Is the working memory store more or less static than the short-term memory store as proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin?
Less static.
Working memory is said to be a dynamic store where information can be manipulated and combined with new information.
Research on coding
Baddeley
Acoustic in STM, semantic in LTM
Evaluation of research on coding
Artificial stimuli - word lists had no personal significance
Research on capacity
- digit Span = Jacobs ( digit span ) : 9.3, 7.3 letters
- span of memory and chunking = miller : 7 +/-2 , pitting items together extends STM capacity
Evaluation of research on capacity
- lacking validity = could be extraneous variables such as distractions
- not so many chunks = Cowan : estimated STM as about four chunks
Research on duration
- STM - Peterson and Peterson: up to 18 seconds without rehearsal
- LTM - Bahrick et al ( yearbooks ) recognition of faces 90% after 15 years ,recall 60%. Recognition dropped to 70% after 48 years