Perterson and Peterson (1959)

Question 1

What did Peterson’s study investigate?

Answer 1

The duration of STM whether trigrams can be recalled following an interference fast of varying length.

Question 2

What were the procedures?

Answer 2

Participants were briefly shown a trigram and asked to recall it after a period of:
3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds. After they were then given an interference task of counting backwards in 3’s between the initial presentation of the trigram and recall. This was to prevent rehearsal.

Question 3

What were the findings?

Answer 3

The time between presentation and recall increased, successful recall decreased.