Memory - Coding, Capacity And Duration

Question 1

Short-term memory

Answer 1

The limited capacity memory store

Question 2

STM encoding

Answer 2

Acoustic(sound)

Question 3

STM capacity

Answer 3

Between 5 and 9 items on average

Question 4

STM duration

Answer 4

About 18 seconds

Question 5

Long-term memory

Answer 5

The permanent memory store

Question 6

LTM encoding

Answer 6

Semantic (meaning)

Question 7

LTM capacity

Answer 7

Unlimited

Question 8

LTM duration

Answer 8

Up to a lifetime

Question 9

Coding

Answer 9

The format information is stored in the various memory stores

Question 10

Capacity

Answer 10

The amount of information that can held in a memory store

Question 11

Duration

Answer 11

The length of time information can be held in a memory store

Question 12

What is the process of converting information between different forms

Answer 12

Coding

Question 13

Who researched coding?

Answer 13

Alan Baddeley in 1966

Question 14

In Alan Baddeley’s research, what were the four groups of participants given to remember?

Answer 14

1. Acoustically similar words - words that sound the same
2. Acoustically dissimilar words - words that sound different
3. Semantically similar words - words with similar meanings
4. Semantically dissimilar - words with different meanings

Question 15

What were the results of Alan Baddeley’s research?

Answer 15

when recalling from STM, participants did worse with acoustically similar words

When recalling LTM (after 20 mins), they did worse with semantically similar words

Question 16

What did Alan Baddeley’s findings suggest?

Answer 16

Information is coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM

Question 17

What are the strengths of Alan Baddeley’s study?

Answer 17

It identified a clear difference between two memory stores

It was an important step in understanding memory, which lead to the multi-store model

Question 18

What are the weaknesses of Baddeley’s study?

Answer 18

There are some exceptions to his findings

The stimuli were artificial and unmeaningfull, so his findings do not tell us much about coding in different kinds of memory tasks, especially everyday tasks. This suggests his findings have limited real world applications, therefore low external validity

Question 19

Who researched capacity?

Answer 19

Joseph Jacobs in 1887

Question 20

Describe Joseph Jacobs digit span study

Answer 20

The reseracher would reas oyt 4 digits and the participants would recall them out loud in the correct order. If this is correct the reserafcher reads out five digits, adding one more digit each time until the participants cannot recall the order correctly. This was the digit span

Question 21

What did Joseph Jacobs study find?

Answer 21

The mean digit span was 9.3. The mean span for letters was 7.3

Question 22

What are the strengths of Jacobs’ study?

Answer 22

It has been replicated, showing that it is a valid test of digit span in the STM

Question 23

What are the weaknesses of Jacobs’ study?

Answer 23

He may have overestimated the capacity of the STM. Nelson Cowan concluded that the STM has a capacity of about 4

Question 24

Who researched capacity (span of memory and chunking)?

Answer 24

George miller in 1956

Question 25

What did Geroge Miller observe?

Answer 25

Everyday practise

Question 26

What observations did George Miller make?

Answer 26

Many things come in 7s-7 days of the week, 7 notes of a music scale

Question 27

What did Miller decide from his research?

Answer 27

The capacity of the STM is about 7 +/- 2 items

Question 28

Who researched duration of the STM?

Answer 28

Margaret and Lloyd Peterson in 1959

Question 29

Describe the Petersons’ study

Answer 29

They tested 24 students in 8 trials. In each trial, the student was given a consonant syllable to remember. They were also given a 3-digit number. The student counted backwards form this number until they were told to stop. On each trial they were told to stop after varying periods of time, after 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds (the etention interval time)

Question 30

What were the results of margaret and lloyd peterson’s study?

Answer 30

After 3 seconds, the averae recall was about 80%

After 18 seconds, the average recall was about 3%

Question 31

What did the Peterson’s study suggest?

Answer 31

The STM duration is about 18 seconds

Question 32

What was the use of counting backwards in the Petersons study?

Answer 32

To prevent any mental rehearsing of the sonsonant syllable, which would increase the duration of the STM

Question 33

What are the weaknesses of the Petersons study?

Answer 33

The stimuli material was artificial, so they lacked mundane realism and external validity

Question 34

Who reserached the duration of the LTM

Answer 34

Harry Bahrick et al in 1975

Question 35

Describe Harry Bahrick’s study

Answer 35

392 American aged between 17 and 74 were shown their year book and were tested on:

1. Photo-recognition, tested on 50 photos, some from the participants high school yearbook
2. Free recall, tested on their recall of all of the names of their graduating class

Question 36

What were the results of Harry Bahrick’s study?

Answer 36

Participants tested within 15 years of graduation were about 90% accurae in photo recognition, and 60% in free recall. Participants tested 48 years after graduation were about 70% accurate in photo recognition, and 30% in free recall

Question 37

What does Harry Bahrick’s study suggest?

Answer 37

The LTM may last up to a lifetie for some material

Question 38

What are the strengths of Bahrick’s study?

Answer 38

It has high external validity, because meaningful memories were investigated, reflecting a more real estimate of the duration of the LTM