msm Flashcards
sensory register
the first store that hold the sensory information received through all the senses for a brief period of time
short term memory
- the memory of immediate events
- these memories tend not to last and disappear unless they are rehearsed
long term memory
the memory for past events that can last for the life-time of a person.
capacity
the measure of how much can be held in memory
duration
the measure of how long memory lasts before it is no longer available
encoding
- as information enters the brain via the senses, it is transformed into a code so that it can be stored
- the codes can be visual, acoustic and semantic
SR duration
milliseconds
SR duration
very large
STM encoding
acoustic and verbal
STM duration
15-30 seconds
STM capacity
7 +/-2 (Miller 1956)
LTM encoding
semantic, temporal
LTM duration
lifetime
LTM capacity
unlimited
SR capacity supporting evidence
- whole or partial report technique: asked to recall the whole (or part) array such as a line
- tachistoscope
STM encoding supporting evidence
Baddeley (1966)
Participants were divided into groups and given different lists of words to learn then recall
- Acoustically Similar (mad, man, map)
- Acoustically Dissimilar (pen, few, day)
- Semantically Similar (great, big, large)
- Semantically Dissimilar (hot, old, late)
Acoustically dissimilar words were recalled more accurately than acoustically similar, so there must be some acoustic confusion in recall, which suggests that coding is acoustic.
Other lists were recalled much better 60-80% accurate recall, the little difference in the semantic lists means that this is not the coding in STM
STM - capacity - supporting evidence
Miller (1956) : 7 plus or minus 2 (5-9)
STM - Duration - Supporting Evidence
Peterson and Peterson (1959)
- Participants saw a trigram, then had an interference task, like counting backwards in 3s, to prevent repetition of the trigram.
- Then asked to recall. After 3 seconds 90% were recalled
- After 18 seconds 5% were recalled
- This suggests that STM lasts little longer than 18 seconds, but when people aren’t expecting to recall, other research suggests it lasts much less
LTM - Coding - Supporting Evidence
Baddeley (1966)
Participants were divided into groups and given lists of words to learn then recall immediately
- Acoustically Similar (mad, man, map)
- Acoustically Dissimilar (pen, few, day)
- Semantically Similar (great, big, large)
- Semantically Dissimilar (hot, old, late)
Semantically dissimilar words were recalled more accurately than semantically similar, so there must be some semantic confusion in recall, which suggests that coding is semantic.
The little difference in the acoustic lists means that this is not the coding in LTM
