Peterson & Peterson's Trigram Study (memory) Flashcards
aim
to investigate the duration of short term memory
participants
24 psychology students
where did it take place?
in a lab
method
- participants shown trigrams
- then participants had to count backwards from a random digit until a red light appeared at increasing intervals
- they then had to recall the trigrams
what was the purpose of counting backwards?
to prevent rehersal of the trigram
IV of the experiment
duration of delay
DV of the experiment
number of trigrams recalled
Overall results
the longer the interval, the less accurate the recall of the trigrams
after 3 seconds, what percentage of trigrams were recalled correctly?
80%
after 6 seconds, what percentage of trigrams were recalled correctly?
50%
after 18 seconds, what percentage of trigrams were recalled correctly?
less than 10%
conclusions (2)
- short term memory has a limited capacity of about 18 seconds when rehersal is prevented
- if we are unable to rehearse information, it will not pass into the LTM
other possible variables eg noise which could have affected results were eliminated
this increases validity of results
a standardised procedure was used (2)
- this gives the study a high degree of control, increasing validity
- it also means the study can be easily replicated, increasing reliability of results
experimental method (trigrams) are not something people would have to remember in real life
the study therefore lacks mundane realism
