Memory Lessons 1-6

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

The process of retaining learnt information and able to access it when needed

Question 2

Three Processes in Memory

Answer 2

Coding - Information altered to store in Memory
Storage - Keeping information in memory until needed
Retrieval - Retrieving information when needed from memory

Question 3

Memory Stores

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Capacity

Answer 4

The amount of information able to be held in memory until new information displaces it

Question 5

Duration

Answer 5

The amount of time information can be held in memory until it is lost due to decay

Question 6

Coding AO2

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Coding AO3

Answer 7

+ 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

Question 8

Capacity AO2

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Capacity AO3

Answer 9

+ 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

Question 10

Duration AO2

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Duration AO3

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Multi-store Model

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Sensory Register

Answer 13

Unlimited capacity
Duration of 250 milliseconds
Codes to the STM when attention is focused on a stimuli

Question 14

STM

Answer 14

Coded - Information is coded Acoustically
Duration - 18 to 30 seconds
Capacity - 7 (+/-2)
Information is kept in the STM through maintenance rehearsal

Question 15

LTM

Answer 15

Duration - Lifetime
Coded - Semantically
Capacity - Endless

Question 16

Evaluation of MSM

Answer 16

• Shallice and Warrington with KF. Reduced STM but same 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 and words at the end were remembered well because they were fresh in STM. 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

Question 17

The Working Memory Model

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Central Executive

Answer 18

• Controls the different slave systems
• Responsible for decision making, reasoning and problem solving

Question 19

Phonological Loop and Phonological Store and Articulatory Loop

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Visuo spatial sketch pad

Answer 20

Made up of visual cache (shape and colour) and inner scribe (arrangement of objects)

Question 21

Episodic Buffer

Answer 21

Store of information in the WMM because slave systems have a very small capacity. General storage component

Question 22

Evaluation of WMM

Answer 22

+ 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