Memory - AO1 Flashcards
(47 cards)
Research on Coding in STM & LTM
Baddeley (1966) - Coding in STM & LTM
Procedure:
• Participants memorised either ACOUSTICALLY SIMILAR/DISSIMILAR WORDS, SEMANTICALLY SIMILAR/DISSIMILAR WORDS.
• Participants recalled these words in order.
Findings:
• Immediate recall task (STM) - acoustically similar words were worse.
• Recall task 20 mins later (LTM) - semantically similar words were worse.
• STM Coding = Acoustic, LTM Coding = Semantic
Research on Capacity (STM)
Jacobs (1887) - Digit Span
Procedure:
• 4 digits are read to participants and this is increased until the participant cannot recall them in the correct order.
Findings:
• 9.3 Numbers, 7.3 Letters were recalled on average.
Miller (1956) - Magic Number
• Capacity of STM is 7 +/- 2
• ‘Chunking’ improves recall (5 Chunks on average)
Research on Duration of STM & LTM
1) Peterson and Peterson (1959) - Trigrams (STM)
Procedure:
• Students were given a trigram to remember and were also given a 3-digit number to count backwards from for 3,6,9,12,15,18 seconds (varying ‘retention intervals’ to prevent rehearsal).
Findings:
• Students, on average, recalled 80% with a 3-second interval and 3% with an 18-second interval.
• Duration of STM = 18-30 seconds (without rehearsal).
2) Bahrick et al. - Graduation/Yearbook (LTM)
Procedure:
• Americans were tested on their long-term recall in two ways:
- Recognition Test (photos from high school yearbook)
- Free Recall Test (names of classmates)
Findings:
• For both tests, recall after 15 years was better than recall after 45 years (e.g. 90% > 60%, 60% > 30%)
• Duration of LTM = very long.
The Multi-Store Model of Memory
A representation of how memory works in and is transferred between three stores - the sensory register, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM).
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Sensory Register
• Takes in stimuli from the environment (e.g. sounds) and has one store for each of our five senses, such as the iconic and echoic stores.
Coding: Flexible (depends on sense)
Capacity: Very High (> 100m eye cells)
Duration: < 1/2 a second
• Paying ATTENTION allows information from the sensory register to pass into STM.
Short-Term Memory Store (MSM)
Coding: Acoustic
Capacity: 7 +/- 2 items
Duration: 18-30 seconds (unless rehearsed)
- Maintenance Rehearsal is used to keep material in our STM.
- Prolonged Rehearsal is used to transfer material to LTM.
Long-Term Memory (LTM)
Coding: Semantic
Capacity: Potentially Unlimited
Duration: Potentially up to a Lifetime
• Retrieval is required to transfer information back to STM for recall.
Types of Long-Term Memory
- Episodic Memory
- Semantic Memory
- Procedural Memory
Episodic Memory
- Our ability to recall events (episodes) from our lives.
- Very complex memories; consists of multiple elements (e.g. people, places).
- Time-stamped.
- Conscious effort to recall them.
Semantic Memory
- Our knowledge of the world and meanings (e.g. dictionary and encyclopedia).
- Not time-stamped.
- Less personal memories (more about shared knowledge).
Procedural Memory
- Memories for actions and skills.
- Recall occurs without conscious effort.
- Hard to explain procedural memories.
The Working Memory Model
A representation of STM which suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system.
Components: • Central Executive • Phonological Loop • Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad • Episodic Buffer
Central Executive
• An attentional process / decision-maker that monitors incoming data and allocates slave systems to tasks.
Coding: Flexible
Capacity: Very Limited
Phonological Loop
• Deals with auditory information.
1) Phonological Store - stores the words you hear.
2) Articulatory Process - allows maintenance rehearsal.
Coding: Acoustic
Capacity: 2 seconds worth of what you can say
Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad
• Stores visual/spatial information.
1) Visual Cache - stores visual data.
2) Inner Scribe - records arrangement of objects in visual field.
Coding: Visual and Spatial.
Capacity: Around 3-4 objects.
Episodic Buffer
- Temporary store for information.
- Integrates visual, spatial and auditory information from other stores.
- Maintains a sense of time-sequencing (recording events that are happening).
- Links working memory to LTM and wider cognitive processes.
Interference
Forgetting because two pieces of information are in conflict, causing one or both memories to be distorted/forgotten.
Proactive Interference
When an old memory interferes with the recall of a new memory.
Retroactive Interference
When a new memory interferes with the recall of an old memory.
Research into the Effects of Similarity on Interference
McGeoch and McDonald (1931) - Effects of Similarity
Procedure: • Participants learned a list of words until they could recall them to 100% accuracy. • They then learned a new list of words that varied in the degree of similarity to the old list: 1) Synonyms 2) Antonyms 3) Unrelated 4) Nonsense Syllables 5) 3-Digit Numbers 6) Control Group
Findings:
• The most similar list (synonyms) produced the worst recall.
• As the material got less similar, the mean number of items increased.
• Therefore, interference is strongest when memories are similar.
Retrieval Failure
A form of forgetting which occurs when we do not have the necessary cues to access memory.
Encoding Specificity Principle
Cues help retrieval only if the same cues are present at encoding and at retrieval.
Some cues are linked to the material-to-be-remembered (i.e. mnemonics) and others are not (e.g. context and state).
Context-Dependent Forgetting
When memory retrieval is dependent on an external/environmental cue.
State-Dependent Forgetting
When memory retrieval is dependent on an internal/state-of-mind cue (e.g. sadness, being drunk).
