Memory - Types of Memory

Question 2

Define coding

Answer 2

The form that information is stored in

Question 3

Define retrieval

Answer 3

accessing information from long-term memory

Question 4

What does short term memory contain?

Answer 4

small amounts of information which we are currently aware of

Question 5

What coding is used for short term memory?

Answer 5

Acoustic (sounds/words/rhythms)

Question 6

What is the capacity of short term memory?

Answer 6

Limited - 7 plus or minus two on average

Question 7

What are the 3 types of memory?

Answer 7

Sensory Register

Short term memory

Long term memory

Question 8

What is the coding for long term memory?

Answer 8

Semantic and Procedural

Question 9

What is the capacity of long term memory?

Answer 9

potentially unlimited - lifelong

Question 10

What is the duration of short term memory?

Answer 10

18-30 seconds

Question 11

What does sensory memory hold?

Answer 11

information from the senses

Question 12

What is the duration of sensory memory?

Answer 12

0.5 seconds - unless we pay attention it spontaneously decays very quickly

Question 13

Describe the method of Sperling’s experiment into sensory memory

Answer 13

ppts shown a 3 by 4 grid of letters for 50 milliseconds

they then had to immediately recall either the whole grid (IV1) or a randomly selected row (IV2)

Question 14

What were the results of Sperling’s experiment into sensory memory?

Answer 14

IV1 - four or five letters successfully recalled on average

IV2 - average of 3 letters, no matter which row selected

Question 15

What were the conclusions of Sperling’s experiment?

Answer 15

As the ppts in IV2 didn’t know which row would be selected, they could recall 3 letters from any row - so therefore the whole grid must be in their sensory memory

However they couldn’t recall the whole grid because the trace had faded before they could finish recalling

Question 16

Describe the procedure for Glanzer and Cunitz’s experiment (1996)

Answer 16

ppts were shown a list of 20 words, presented one at a time, and then asked to recall them all

Question 17

What were the findings of Glanzer and Cunitz study into the multi-store model (1966)?

Answer 17

the serial position effect

Question 18

What is the serial position effect?

Answer 18

when asking people to remember a list of words greater than the capacity of STM, words tend to be remembered from the beginning and end of the list

Question 19

What does the serial position effect consist of?

Answer 19

The primary effect and the recency effect

Question 20

What is the primary effect?

Answer 20

The first 5 or so items are remembered

Question 21

What is the recency effect?

Answer 21

The last 5 or so items are remembered

Question 22

What are the 4 types of long term memory?

Answer 22

Procedural

Episodic

Semantic

Emotional/Attatchment

Question 23

Define episodic memory

Answer 23

memories with a narrative

Question 24

Define procedural memory

Answer 24

Unconcious memories that someone is not always aware of eg muscle memories - like riding a bike

Question 25

Define semantic memory

Answer 25

Memories with no emotion or context eg facts

Question 26

What is the HM case?

Answer 26

HM had severe epilepsy following a head injury as a child

To reduce this, he underwent an operation to remove the hippocampus

As a result he couldn’t form any more semantic or episodic LTM after the surgery

Question 27

What are some benefits of HM’s case?

Answer 27

Sparked lots of research into memory

Showed that the multi-store model is too simplistic - LTM can be split into different parts

Question 28

What are some drawbacks of HM’s case?

Answer 28

HM is a unique case - too many extraneous factors

subjective vs objective -> just 1 person isn’t objective

correlation vs causation -> hippocampus may not be sole part for creating episodic memories, maybe part in a chain

Question 29

What is an example of HM being able to form procedural memories?

Answer 29

He got better at doing a drawing task in a mirror even though he had no memory of doing it each time he completed the task

Question 30

What is the multi store model of memory?

Answer 30

Question 31

What is the working memory model?

Answer 31

bloop

Question 32

What is the central executive?

Answer 32

the area that makes the decisions and decides which area does what

Question 33

What is the capacity of the central executive?

Answer 33

limited and can only do a small number of things at once

Question 34

What does the phonological loop do?

Answer 34

deals with auditory information and preserves word order -> like an inner ear / maintenance rehearsal

Question 35

What does the visuospatial sketchpad do?

Answer 35

stores visual and/or spatial information

Question 36

What is the capacity of the visuospatial sketchpad?

Answer 36

limited - 3 to 4 objects

Question 37

What is the episodic buffer?

Answer 37

the area that stores chunks in order to be ‘built’ into bigger chunks

Question 38

Why was the episodic buffer added to the working memory model?

Answer 38

Baddeley realised that the model needed a general store

Question 39

Describe the procedure of Baddeley and Hitch’s 1976 experiment into STM

Answer 39

IV1 - repeating a word

IV2 - repeating random number sequences

DV - accuracy (seconds and errors)

Question 40

What were the findings of Baddeley and Hitch’s 1976 study into STM?

Answer 40

reduced accuracy when 2 areas of STM are used together

Question 41

What were the conclusions of Baddeley and Hitch’s 1976 study into STM?

Answer 41

the existence of the central executive and phonological loop is supported and they are functionally different

Question 42

What is the word length effect?

Answer 42

longer words are harder to remember in a list compared to shorter words due to them taking up more space in the phonological loop