Memory - Coding, Capacity And Duration

Question 1

What is meant by duration of memory?

Answer 1

The length of time information can be stored in memory.

Question 2

What is meant by capacity of memory?

Answer 2

The amount of information that can be stored in memory.

Question 3

What is meant by coding of memory?

Answer 3

Memory encoding is a process by which the sensory information is modified and stored in the brain.

Visual, acoustic and semantic are the most common forms.

There is evidence which shows that LTM and STM are distinct and separate stores with differences in coding, capacity and duration.

Question 4

What are the different types of memory stores?

Answer 4

Sensory memory/ sensory register, short term memory, long term memory.

(SM) is the initial contact for stimuli.

(STM) is the information we are currently aware of or thinking about.

(LTM) is continual storage of information which is largely outside of our awareness.

Question 5

What is the capacity of sensory memory?

Answer 5

Has a very large capacity.

Question 6

What is the capacity of STM?

Answer 6

Has a limited capacity (between 7+/-2 items)

Question 7

What is the capacity of LTM?

Answer 7

Has a potentially unlimited capacity.

Question 8

How is STM often assessed?

Answer 8

Often measured using a digit span task.

Question 9

What did Jacob’s research find on capacity?

Answer 9

Jacobs (1887) was among the first to use this technique to assess the capacity of STM. He found the average span for numbers to be 9.3 items. For letters the average decreased to 7.3 items.

Question 10

What did Miller’s research find on capacity?

Answer 10

George Miller (1956) reviewed psychological research and concluded that ‘the magic number is 7 plus or minus 2.’ He found we are good at remembering between 5-9 items. He found people could recall around 7 dots, 7 letters, 7 musical notes.

Question 11

What did Miller suggest about chunking?

Answer 11

Milgram argued that our capacity for remembering information can be increased if we chunk items together.

If we find links between things and group them together then we will remember more.

Question 12

Digit span

Answer 12

How many numbers you can repeat after the researcher has verbally said them.

Question 13

What is the duration of memory in the sensory store?

Answer 13

Less than one second.

Question 14

What is the duration of STM?

Answer 14

Approximately 18-30 seconds unless information is rehearsed.

Question 15

What is the duration of LTM?

Answer 15

Potentially lasts infinitely.

Question 16

What was the procedure of Peterson & Peterson?

Answer 16

On each of the 8 trials, participants were given a consonant trigram and a three-digit number.

They were asked to recall the constant syllable after intervals of 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds.

To prevent rehearsal participants were asked to count backwards from their 3-digit number.

Given them something else to remember which has displaced what they were trying to remember.

Question 17

What were the findings of Peterson & Peterson?

Answer 17

3 seconds – 80% successful recall
9 seconds – 20% successful recall
18 seconds – less than 10% successful recall

Question 18

What was the procedure of Bahrick et al?

Answer 18

Tested photo recognition and free name recall from the participant’s high school yearbook.

Question 19

What was Bahrick’s aim?

Answer 19

To investigate the duration of LTM.

Question 20

How many participants were in Bahrick’s experiment?

Answer 20

392 participants from the US aged 17-74

Question 21

What were the findings of Bahrick et al?

Answer 21

Photo recognition:
Participants tested within 15 years of graduation were 90% accurate.
After 48 years recall declined to 70%.

Free recall:
After 15 years 60% accurate.
After 48 years 30% accurate.

Question 22

What did the participants have to do in Bahrick’s study with photo recognition?

Answer 22

Has to recall the names of students form 50 photos in the high school year book.

Question 23

What did the participants have to do in Bahrick’s study with free recall?

Answer 23

Asked to list the names they could remember from their graduating class.

Question 24

How is information encoded in the SS?

Answer 24

Modality specific (encoded in the same way it’s received).
It is visual, auditory, tactile information.

Question 25

How is information encoded in the STM?

Answer 25

Acoustically – auditory information.

Question 26

How is information encoded in the LTM?

Answer 26

Semantically – meaning of something.

Question 27

What are acoustically similar words?

Answer 27

Cat, cab, can.

Question 28

What are acoustically dissimilar words?

Answer 28

Pit, few, cow.

Question 29

What are semantically similar words?

Answer 29

Great, big, large.

Question 30

What are semantically dissimilar words?

Answer 30

Good, huge, hot.

Question 31

What was the procedure of Baddeley (1966)?

Answer 31

Participants were shown in the list of words and were asked to record them in the correct order.

To test short-term memory, participants recalled the words immediately after hearing them, whereas the time interval of 20 minutes was given for long-term memory recall.

Question 32

What were the findings of Baddeley (1966)?

Answer 32

Participants had difficulty remembering acoustically similar words when tested immediately (STM) but had no difficulty remembering acoustically similar words after 20 minutes (LTM).

Participants had difficulty remembering semantically similar words when tested after 20 minutes (LTM) but had no difficulty remembering semantically similar words when tested immediately (STM).