short and long term memory

Question 1

what is long term memory

Answer 1

continual storage of info which is largely outside of our awareness but can be used into working memory when needed
-lasts from 2 mins-100yrs
-unlimited capacity + duration

Question 2

what is short term memory

Answer 2

-the info we are currently aware of or thinking about.
-The info comes from paying attention to sensory memories
-memory is measured in seconds + mins
-limited capacity short duration

Question 3

what is capacity

Answer 3

the measure measure of how much can be held in memory

Question 4

what is duration

Answer 4

a measure of how long memory lasts

Question 5

how can the capacity of STM be assessed and who assessed it

Answer 5

by using a digit span
-assessed by Joseph Jacobs

Question 6

what did jospeh Jacobs find about his assessment of the capacity of STM

Answer 6

he found that the average span of digits was 9.3 items and 7.3 for letters

Question 7

what was joseph jacobs explanation for why it was easier to recall digits

Answer 7

there was 9 digits whereas 26 letters

Question 8

what was millers research on human memory- CAPACITY OF STM

Answer 8

-the span of immediate memory is 7+-2
-he noted people cope well with counting 7 flashing dots on screen but not many more
-the same is true if you are asked to recall music notes, letters and words
- he found that people recall 5 words as well as they can 5 letters
-came up with chunking to help us remember more

Question 9

who studied the duration of STM

Answer 9

Peterson and peterson

Question 10

what was Peterson + Peterson research to study the duration of STM

Answer 10

• used 24 students
  -each pps were tested over 8 trials
• on each trial a pps was given a constant syllable and a 3 digit retention interval
• during their retention interval they had to count backwards from their 3 digit number

Question 11

what did peterson and peterson find on his research

Answer 11

pps on average:
-90% correct over 3 secs
_20% after 9 secs
-2% after 18 secs
-suggests that STM has a very short duration less than 18 secs

Question 12

who studied the duration of LTM

Answer 12

Harry Bahrick

Question 13

what was Harry Bahrick research on LTM

Answer 13

• tested 400 people of various ages 17-74 on their memory of classmates
  -a photo recognition test consisted of 50 photos some from high school book
  -in a free recall test pps were list the names they could remember of their class

Question 14

what did Harry Bahrick find on his study on duration of LTM

Answer 14

• pps who were tested within 15 yrs of graduation was 90% accurate at identifying faces of class
  -after 48 yrs it was 70%
  free recall:
• 60% accurate after 15 yrs
  -30% accurate after 48 yrs

Question 15

what is coding

Answer 15

the way info is changed so it can be stored in memor.it can be stored visually ,acoustically and semantically

Question 16

what is visual coding

Answer 16

memories stored visually ie pictures

Question 17

what is acoustic coding

Answer 17

memories stored due to sound

Question 18

what is semantic coding

Answer 18

memories with similar meaning

Question 19

who studied the effects of acoustic and semantic similarity on STM and LTM

Answer 19

Alan Baddeley

Question 20

what was Alan Baddeley research on the effects on acoustic and semantic similarity on LTM + STM

Answer 20

• used word lists to test the effects
• he found that pps had difficulty remembering acoustically similar words in STM then LTM
  -yet semantically similar words posed little problem for STM but muddled in LTM

Question 21

what did Alan Baddeley conclude in his study

Answer 21

STM is largely encoded acoustically
LTM is largely encoded semantically

Question 22

millers research AO3- capacity of STM

Answer 22

millers original findings have not been replicated.
-Cowan reviewed a variety of studies on capacity of STM
-concluded that STM is limited to 4 chunks
- research on capacity of STM for visual info- the limit is 4 items per chunk
-shows that the lower end of miller research is more appropriate so STM is not as extensive as thought

Question 23

cowan{2001} concluded what

Answer 23

magic number=4

Question 24

AO3- capacity of STM

Answer 24

size of the chunk affects how many chunks u can remember
-simon found that people had a shorter memory span of larger chunks than smaller chunks
-supports the view that STM had a limited capacity + refines understanding

Question 25

AO3 _ criticism of Peterson study

Answer 25

It did not actually measure what it set out to measure
- Peterson study - pps were counting the numbers in their STM
- may displace the syllables to be remembered
- Reitman used auditory tones instead of numbers and duration of STM = longer
Shows forgetting in Peterson study was bc of displacement not decay

Question 26

Ao3 - criticism of Baddeley research

Answer 26

Baddeley methodology has been criticised-lacking validity
-STM was tested by asking pps to recall a word list after hearing it
-LTM was tested by waiting 20 mins
-questionable if this is really testing LTM
Shows lack of validity in his research bc he wasn’t testing LTM