Short and long term memory Flashcards
What does capacity mean?
The measure of how much can be held in memory, it is represented in terms of bits of information
What is coding?
The way information is changed so that it can be stored in memory. Information enters the brain via the senses and is then stored non various forms: visual codes, acoustic codes and semantic codes
What is duration?
A measure of how long a memory lasts before it is no longer available
Who proposed the magic number and what was it?
George Miller & 7+/-2
Whats an issue with generalising the capacity of STM?
Individual differences
What did Peterson and Peterson find in their study of STM? And what was their study/findings?
STM has a very short duration
24 students tested over 8 trials -given a consonant syllable and a three digit number - asked to recall the consonant syllable after intervals of 3 (where they had to count backwards from their three digit number)
90% correct after 3 seconds
Only 2% correct after 18 seconds
What did BAHRICK etl al find in their study of classmates?
90% participants after 15 years were able to correctly identify their classmates from photo recognition - dropping to 70% after 48 years
60% of participants were able to accurately free call their classmates after 15 years - dropping to 30% after 48 years
What issues are there with measuring the duration of STM?
Tests are often artificial and not reflective of real life - lack relevance
What did BADDELEY find about acoustic and semantic coding?
STM largely encoded acoustically whereas the LTM is largely encoded semantically
What issues are there with Baddeleys’ findings?
His methodology (waiting 20 mins) is questionable into testing LTM
STM may not be exclusively acoustic
LTM may not be exclusively semantic
