Past paper questions- memory

Question 1

Briefly outline one way in which researchers have investigated the capacity of short-term
memory.

Answer 1

participants asked to read sequence of letters or numbers and recall them in the same sequence back IMMEDIATLEY. The digit span technique is used, additional digit added on each trial to measure capacity of STM

Question 2

Briefly outline one way in which researchers have investigated the duration of
short-term memory.

Answer 2

peterson+peterson
participants given consonant syllables and 3 digit number. asked to recall consonant syllable after intervals of 3,6,9,12,15,18. during interval had to count backwards from 3 digit number
OR
participants are given a trigram (three-letter nonsense syllable) and then asked to count backwards
from a certain number for a specified time. They are then asked to recall the original trigram.

Question 3

What are the 4 parts of a cognitive interview

Answer 3

-mental reinstatment
-report everything
-change order
-change perspective

Question 4

What are the components of the WWM

Answer 4

Central executive, visuo-spatial sketchpad, eposopic buffer and phonological loop

Question 5

Who was WWM proposed by

Answer 5

Baddeley and hitch

Question 6

What does the phonological loop do

Answer 6

coordinating auditory information
-phonological store: this component stores spoken words (the inner ear)
- articulatory process: this component stores written words (the inner voice)

Question 7

What does visuo-spatial sketchpad do

Answer 7

storing visual and/or spatial information
-visual cache:
-inner scribe

Question 8

What does episodic buffer do

Answer 8

-storage, takes info and sends to LTM

Question 9

Discuss the working memory model. Refer to Rory’s behaviour in your answer INTRO

Answer 9

-WWM proposed by baddely and hitch, critisised MSM.
-STM system with multiple components
-4 components, central executive that allocates slave systems, VSS,EB,PL