Memory studies

Question 1

Capacity

Answer 1

Amount of information each memory store can hold

Question 2

Duration

Answer 2

Length of time that information can be held in a memory store

Question 3

Coding

Answer 3

Way in which information is translated into a form that the memory store can understand

Question 4

Sensory register capacity

Answer 4

sperling (1960)

3x4 grid, played a tone

Tone corresponds to row, asked to recall letters displayed, could 75%

Suggests capacity of sensory register is relatively large as could recall most information despite being shown for a v short time

Question 5

Sensory register duration

Answer 5

Triesman (1964)

Played message followed by another; same or different

Delay between 2, could only identify difference when delay was less than 2seconds

Suggests duration of sensory register for auditory information <2s

Question 6

Sensory register coding

Answer 6

Crowder (1993)

Shown visual & auditory info

Recalled straight after, milliseconds or seconds

Couldn’t recall visual from iconic store if delay more than milliseconds, could recall auditory from echoic after seconds

Suggests coding is different for different stores, held for different times

Question 7

STM capacity

Answer 7

Jacobs (1890)

Age 8-adults, shown series of letters & numbers at half-second intervals

Capacity, on average 7 +/-2

Miller (1956)

Observed things come in 7s, found people could recall 5 words as well as letters, chunking material by grouping them

Question 8

STM duration

Answer 8

Peterson and Peterson (1959)

Trigrams, brown-Peterson

90% recalled after 3 seconds, 5% after 18 seconds

Duration is v short, approx 18 seconds

Later research shows 6-30 seconds

Question 9

STM coding

Answer 9

baddeley (1966)

Encodes acoustically, able to remember acoustically dissimilar words

Question 10

LTM capacity

Answer 10

Unlimited

Question 11

LTM duration

Answer 11

Bahrick (1975)

392 graduates asked to name class mates by

1. Identifying from name recognition test
2. Photo recognition test

80% in name
70% in photo

Suggests LTM is v long, up to a lifetime

Question 12

LTM coding

Answer 12

Baddeley (1966)

Encodes semantically as able to remember semantically dissimilar words, made semantic confusion errors

Question 13

Limitation P&P, Baddeley

Answer 13

Low ecological validity

Which is when the findings of a study cannot be generalised to real life settings

This is because both studies used artificial stimuli rather than meaningful information, which is unlike information we are required to remember in everyday life

This means that the findings have limited application to real life settings

Question 14

Miller limitation

Answer 14

Findings haven’t been replicated, suggesting that findings may not be reliable

Cowan (2001) reviewed other research investigating capacity of STM and concluded capacity of STM was only about 4 chunks

Suggests that capacity of STM is not as extensive as 7 items suggested by Miller

Therefore, lower end of Miller’s estimation is more appropriate; five items rather than 7

Question 15

Bahrick strength

Answer 15

High external validity

Which is when findings of a study can be generalised to real life settings

This is because real life memories were studied, as it required recall of classmates

Shepard (1967) found that when studies into LTM were conducted using meaningless pictures, recall rates were lower

Confounding variables weren’t controlled, e.g. may have selected participants who regularly looked at yearbook photos or kept in contact with school friends, rehearing their memories over the years

Question 16

Peterson & Peterson limitation

Answer 16

Lacks internal validity

Which is when the procedure doesn’t measure what it intends to measure

This is because the participants were asked to count backwards in 3s from 100 to prevent maintenance rehearsal

Means that the original information may have been lost through displacement rather than spontaneous decay (lack of rehearsal), suggesting this may not be a valid way to measure duration of STM