Research On Capacity

Question 1

What did miller find out

Answer 1

He noted that things come in sevens like 7 days of the week, 7 deadly sins and so on
This suggests that the capacity of stm is about 7+-2
He also noted that people can recall 5 words as they can recall 5 letters by chunking

Question 2

What did miller refer to the capacity of STM

Answer 2

7+-2

Question 3

What did Jacobs’s develop

Answer 3

He developed a technique to measure digit span
E.g researcher gives pp 4 letters and tells pp to recall them in the correct order, if recalled correctly the researcher reads out 5 letters and so on until pp cannot recall the order correctly
This determines the individuals digit span

Question 4

What was the findings of Jacobs’s procedure

Answer 4

Found that the mean span for digits across alll pps was 9 items for numbers and 7 for letters

Question 5

Evaluate miller: positive

Answer 5

Practical applications in areas such as education and memory enhancements
For instance understanding the significance of the number 7 influences design of phone numbers and so on for easy recall

Question 6

Evaluation miller: negative

Answer 6

Miller may have overestimated the capacity of of stm as Cowan 2001 reviewed the research and stated that the capacity of STM was only 4 chunks
Suggesting that the lower end of millers estimate is more appropriate than 7

Question 7

Evaluation Jacob: positive

Answer 7

Simple and controlled methodology as its a lab experiment with standardises procedure
Presenting sequences of letters and numbers increases both its replicability and internal validity as extraneous variables are controlled

Question 8

Evaluation Jacobs’s: negative

Answer 8

Conducted a long time ago (1887) and therefore lacks temporal validity as it lacks adequate controls
Pps may have been distracted and therefore not performed as well meaning that results are not valid as extraneous variables were not controlled