Memory Lessons 1-6 Flashcards
Memory
The process of retaining learnt information and able to access it when needed
Three Processes in Memory
Coding - Information altered to store in Memory
Storage - Keeping information in memory until needed
Retrieval - Retrieving information when needed from memory
Three Memory Stores
SR - The sensory register contains unprocessed information retained from the senses
STM - Temporary store for information retrieved from the SR
LTM - Permanent store for information.
Capacity
The amount of information able to be held in memory until new information displaces it
Duration
The amount of time information can be held in memory until it is lost due to decay
How did Baddley investigate coding in STM and LTM
Coding is modality specific, sensory stores code information differently
Baddley investigated into STM, list A had a group of words that sounded similar and list B had a group of words that sounded different. Found that List A was remembered worse than list B. STM is coded acoustically through sound. Words were muddled up together in List A
Baddley repeated this experiment but then left a 20 minute delay after the words had been said to ensure information had been passed onto LTM. It was found that the recollection of List C (which had words with similar meanings) was worse than that of List D (which had different meanings). This meant LTM is coded semantically
Evaluation of Baddley’s investigation into Coding in STM and LTM
+ Controlled environment and the variables were kept the same during the experiment. This allows the findings to be considered to be reliable
- Low ecological validity because of the fact that it cannot be applied to real life and it also lacks mundane realism as it is not something individuals would come across in day to day life
How did Jacob’s investigate Capacity
STM - Jacob’s Digit span test. Individuals were read out a series of numbers then asked to repeat them back. 7 numbers (+/-2)
LTM - Capacity of LTM is unlimited
Capacity AO3 (Jacob’s Digit Span Test)
+ Jacob’s was first to acknowledge that STM improves over age, until a certain point
- Inconsistent findings, the span for letters is lower than the span for numbers
How did Peterson and Peterson investigate Duration in STM and how did Bahrick investigate it in LTM
STM - Peterson and Peterson gave participants a trigram. Count back from 100 in 3’s to stop maintenance rehearsal. They found that in 3 seconds, there was a 90% recall level, In 9 seconds there was a 20% recall level and in 18 seconds there was a 2% recall level in the trigrams.
LTM - Bahrick tested individuals recall of classmates. 90% recall within 15 years of leaving school, 70% recall within 48 years. Free recall of classmates was 60% accurate within 15 years and 30% within 48 years. LTM lasts a lifetime but people can’t recall due to retrieval failure
Evaluation of Peterson and Peterson’s Investigation into duration in STM and Bahrick duration LTM
STM - (Peterson and Peterson) (Trigrams while counting back in threes from 100)
+ Controlled environment and a use of standardised procedures
- Use of artificial materials, trigrams that people don’t remember
LTM - (Bahrick) (Classmate Remembering)
+ Higher ecological validity than the test of duration on STM
- Lack of control of extraneous variables. This is because people may be in contact with people after leaving school
Multi-store Model (MSM)
Atkinson and Shiffrin.
Attempts to explain how information flows from one store to the other
There are three stores of memory, Sensory Register, STM and LTM in this model
Sensory Register (Capacity,Duration,Coding)
Unlimited capacity
Duration of 250 milliseconds
Codes to the STM when attention is focused on a stimuli
STM (Capacity,Duration,Coding)
Coded - Information is coded Acoustically
Duration - 18 to 30 seconds
Capacity - 7 (+/-2)
Information is kept in the STM through maintenance rehearsal
LTM (Capacity,Duration,Coding)
Duration - Lifetime
Coded - Semantically
Capacity - Endless
Evaluation of MSM
- Shallice and Warrington with KF. Reduced STM but same LTM which supported the idea of separate STM and LTM. KF had poor STM in verbal tasks but a good STM with visual tasks. This suggests that there are multiple types of STM and it contradicts the MSM.
+ Murdock carried out a free recall experiment. Words at the start were remembered well due to elaborative rehearsal meaning they were transferred to the LTM (primacy effect)and words at the end were remembered well because they were fresh in STM (recency effect). Supports the idea of separate STM and LTM - Baddeley and Hitch found that the MSM doesn’t show why an individual can multitask. Only one type of STM means multitasking is not possible but we know it is
The Working Memory Model
Baddeley and Hitch created this model to explain why multitasking is possible. Made up of
- Central Executive
- Phonological Loop
- Visuo spatial sketch pad
- Episodic Buffer
Central Executive
- Controls the different slave systems
- Responsible for decision making, reasoning and problem solving
Phonological Loop and Phonological Store and Articulatory Loop
Component of working memory that deals with speech and auditory coded information. Duration is 2 seconds
Phonological Store is the store of words recently heard which lasts 1-2 seconds
Articulatory Loop holds information through maintenance rehearsal from the phonological loop
Visuo spatial sketch pad
Made up of visual cache (shape and colour) and inner scribe (arrangement of objects)
Episodic Buffer
Store of information in the WMM because slave systems have a very small capacity. General storage component
Evaluation of WMM
+ Shallice and Warrington KF. Shows why his verbal STM was bad but his visual STM was good. We have a phonological loop which is in charge of verbal processing and a visuo spatial sketch pad which is in charge of visual processing
+ WMM has practical applications meaning psychologists can use it to improve their understanding of on how people learn to read. It can help them learn how to aid those who have dyslexia and difficulty in reading
+ Baddeley and Hitch gave participants a dual task which included reading out loud and down a reasoning task. People were able to complete this because they used different slave systems. Reasoning was central executive and reading out loud was phonological loop. It supports the idea of slave systems and the separate components of STM
