Peterson and Peterson (1959)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

How long information was able to be held in the short term store

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

Participants were given a sequence of letters (TRA) and then a number (340). The participants would have to count backward from the number (337, 334, 331, 328…)

Question 3

Results

Answer 3

After 6 seconds the ability to remember the sequence of numbers was about 50%, but after 18 seconds there was almost no recollection.

Question 4

Findings

Answer 4

Unrehearsed short term memory almost completely disappears after 18 seconds