Section 2 : Memory - Types of Memory Flashcards

1
Q

Research on Coding
Baddeley

A

Coding - process of converting memory between different stores

Method:
4 differnt lists of words
-acoustically similar
-acoustically disimilar
-semantically similar
-semantically disimilar
Participants shown list, asked to recall in order
Recall:
Immediate, STM
20 mins later, LTM

Results:
STM - worse when acoustically similar
LTM - worse when semantically similar

Conclusions:
Info coded acoustically in STM
Info coded semantically in LTM

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2
Q

Research on Coding
Evaluate Baddeley

A
  • lacks ecological validly
  • other types of LTM (procedural, episodic memory) which this study doesn’t consider
  • other methods of coding (visual) which this study doesn’t consider
  • independent groups design means no control over participant variables
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3
Q

Research on Capacity
Jacobs

A

Digit Span
Method:
-Read out a list of digits
-Participants asked to recall in correct order
-Length of list increased if participant correctly recalled last number

Results:
Mean span of:
Digits - 9.3
Letters - 7.3

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4
Q

What are the three types of memory

A
  • sensory register
  • short-term memory
  • long-term memory

Each differ in duration (how long it lasts), capacity (how much can be held), coding (how it is stored)

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5
Q

What is the sensory register

A
  • stores information from our senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell)
  • unless we pay attention to it, it disappears quickly through spontaneous decay
  • has a limited capacity and very limited duration
  • information is coded depending on the sense that it has picked up (visual, auditory, tactile etc.)
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6
Q

What is the short term memory

A
  • limited capacity memory store
  • coding is usually acoustic (sound)
  • capacity 5-9 pieces of information
  • duration 18s
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7
Q

What is long term memory

A
  • permanent memory store
  • coding is usually semantic
    -unlimited capacity and duration
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8
Q

What are the three types of long term memory

A
  • Episodic memory
  • semantic memory
  • procedural memory
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9
Q

define coding

A

information transformed in to a format in which it can be stored and retrieved from meory

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10
Q

What is episodic memory

A
  • Stores information about events that you’ve actually experienced, e.g. concert
  • stores facts and knowledge that we have learnt and can consciously recall
  • does not contain details of time or place where you learnt the information
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11
Q

What is procedural memory

A
  • stores knowledge of how to do things e.g. walking
  • this information can’t be consciously recalled
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12
Q

What did sterling investigate

A

Investigated the sensory register using brief displays

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13
Q

What was the method of Sperling 1960

A
  • Lab experiment
  • shown a grid with three rows of four letters for 50 milliseconds (0.05s)
  • then they had to immediately recall either the whole grid or a randomly chosen row
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14
Q

What was the results of Sperling 1960

A
  • when recalling the whole grid they only managed to recall 4 or 5 letters on average
  • when a recalling a row, participants could recall 3 items average no matter which row
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15
Q

what was the conclusion of sperling 1960

A
  • the participants didn’t know which row was going to be selected , so in theory they would have been able to recall items from any row meaning almost the whole grid was held in their sensory register
  • they couldn’t report the whole because the trace faded before they could finish recall
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16
Q

what are the evaluations of Sperling 1960

A
  • lab experiment, variables could be controlled and easily replicated
  • lacks ecological validity, people don’t normally have to recall letters in response to a sound so results might not represent what would happen in the real world
17
Q

what did peterson and peterson investigate

A

short term memory using trigrams

18
Q

what was the method of peterson and peterson

A
  • participants were shown nonsense trigrams (3 random consonants e.g. CVH) and asked to recall them after 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 seconds
  • during the pause they were asked to count backwards in threes from a given number
  • this interfered with the participants so they wouldn’t repeated the
19
Q

what were the results of peterson and peterson

A
  • after 3 seconds participants could recall about 80% of trigrams correctly
  • after 18 seconds only about 10% were recalled correctly
20
Q

what was the conclusion of peterson and peterson

A

when rehearsal is prevented very little can be held in the STM for longer than 18 seconds

21
Q

what was the evaluations of peterson and peterson

A

+ lab experiment, variables were tightly controlled
- nonsense trigrams we’re artificial so lacks ecological validity
- meaningful or real life memories may last longer in the STM
- only one type of stimulus was used; the duration of STM may depend on the type of stimulus
- each participant saw many different trigrams, could have led to confusion meaning that the first trigram was the only realistic trial

22
Q

What was the method of Bahrick et al 1975

A
  • 392 ppts asked to list names of ex classmates (free recall)
  • they were shown photos and asked to recall names of the people shown (photo-recognition test)
  • or given names and asked to match them to a photo of the classmate (name-recognition test)
23
Q

What was the results of Bahrick et al

A
  • within 15 years of leaving school, participants could recognise about 90% of faces and names and they were about 60% accurate on free recall
  • after 30 years, free recall had declined to about 30% accuracy
  • after 48 years name-recognition was about 80% accurate and photo recognition about 40% accurate
24
Q

What was the conclusion of Bahrick et al 1975

A
  • The study is evidence of Very Long term memories in a real life setting.
  • recognition is better than recall, so there may be a huge store of information but not always easy to access all of it; you just need help to get to it
25
Q

What was the evaluations of Bahrick et al 1975

A

+ field experiment, high ecological validity
+ showed better recall than other LTM studies
- hard to control all variable in field experiments, makes findings less reliable
- info recalled may be because it was meaningful and therefore stored better
- this type of info could be rehearsed (still in touch with classmates etc.) increases the rate of recall
- results can’t be generalisable to other types of info held in the LTM

26
Q

What is the methods of Jacobs 1887

A
  • ppts were presented with a string of letters and digits
  • had to repeat them back in the same order
  • the number of digits or letter increased until the ppts had failed to recall the sequence correctly
27
Q

What was the result of Jacobs 1887

A
  • the majority of the time, ppts recalled about 9 times and about 7 letters
  • this capacity increased with age during childhood
28
Q

What was the conclusion of Jacobs 1887

A
  • That STM has a limited storage capacity of 5-9 items.
  • Individual difference were found as STM increases with age, possibly due to memory techniques e.g. chunking
  • digits may have been easier to recall as there were only 10 different digits to remember compared to 26 letters
29
Q

What are the evaluations of Jacobs 1887

A
  • research is artificial and lack ecological validity
  • meaningful info may be recalled better, perhaps showing STM to have an even greater capacity
  • Also the previous sequences recalled by the participants might have confused them on future trials
30
Q

What is Miller’s Magic number

A

Seven plus or minus 2

31
Q

What did miller suggest to make sequences more meaningful

A

We use chunking, e.g. if the sequence is 20031987 we chunk it to become 2003 1987 so it becomes more easier to remember

32
Q

How do we try to keep information in the STM

A

By actively repeating it to ourselves, generally involving acoustic coding (about how the info sounds)

33
Q

How do we try to keep information in our long term memory

A

Generally semantic coding (about the meaning of the information), it’s more useful to code words in terms of their meaning, rather than what they sound or look like however can also be coded thru visual and acoustic

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38
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