MSM: Sensory Memory Flashcards
What is the capacity of the sensory register?
Vast
What is the duration of the sensory register?
0 - 2 seconds
What is the encoding of the sensory register?
Iconic or echoic
What is iconic encoding?
Storing information visually
What is echoic encoding?
Information stored by sound
What did Crowder find when testing the coding of the SR?
The SR only retains information in the iconic store for a few milliseconds, but for 2 or 3 seconds without the echoic store
What did Walsh and Thompson find when testing the duration of the SR?
The iconic sensory store has an average duration of 500 milliseconds, which decreases with age, duration is limited and dependant on age
What was Sperling’s procedure to test capacity of the SR?
Showed participants a grid of letters for 50 milliseconds, they were then asked to write down all twelve items, or they would hear a tone immediately after the exposure and they should write down the row
What did Sperling find?
- When reporting whole grid their recall was 40% (4-5 items)
- When one row recall was 75% (3 items) a much better percentage
What was Sperling’s conclusion?
Information decays rapidly in the sensory store, supporting the assumption that the sensory memory is very limited in duration
What are 3 evaluation points?
- Control of variables: limited extraneous variables
- High internal validity: accurate
- Lacks ecological validity: cannot generalise to real world
