Short Term Memory Flashcards
What model did Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968 make?
Stage theory of memory, also known as modal model
Algorithmic explanation
incoming information sent to the sensory memory (brief, automatic) then to STM without the rehearsal and encoding process forgetting can happen, when information is rehearsed in the STM, information is stored from the STM to the LTM this is called retention. Here information can experience interference and forgetting. From LTM information can be retrieved and sent to the STM again.
What was the procedure for Sperling 1960’s study on sensory memory?
Sensory memory
Display grid for 500ms
Whole Report task: ps have to remember as many letters as possible
Partial Report task: arrow points to a row, and ps have to report that row, ps don’t know which row ahead of time
What were the results from Sperling’s 1960 study?
Whole report task: ps remember 3-4 letters
Partial report task: ps report the entire row, the entire stimulus was stored but decayed away before it could be reported in the whole report task (limited time)
Sensory information stores everything but is brief
What is the Brown-Peterson paradigm?
Ps shown 3 constant trigrams
After 30 seconds recall it perfectly
Unlikely to recall it perfectly if ps perform tasks during the retention phase, these tasks may be counting back by 3’s
Correct recall was 10% after 15 seconds
Suggests loss from STS (short term storage) called decay
What is the STM (short term memory)?
Temporary storage place for information
What is the WM (Working Memory)?
Limited capacity
Retains information over the short term (maintenance)
Activation and manipulation of information for complex tasks
in other words, what you’re currently working on
How is the working memory different to the STM?
Several subcomponents
Activated status rather than passive storage
Manipulate information
What are the working memory subcomponents?
Baddeley and Hitch 1974 the working memory model
Subcomponents include Visuo-sketchpad, central executive, articulatory loop/phonological loop
What is the central executive?
Allocates attention to inputs Limited capacity
Directs how other components operate
Flexible system
Stores information briefly
Processes information in any sensory modality
What is the Articulatory/Phonological loop?
Holds words when we speak out loud
Deals with how verbal
information is articulated
Recalling a list of words is poorer when many words on the list sound similar than when when they sound dissimilar even if the meanings are similar
Acoustic code in WM not semantic
Phonological store: acoustic store for sound inputs
Articulatory component: rehearsal of visually presented items to be remembered over the short term
What is the Visuo-sketch pad?
Stores visual and spatial information
Handles more than one stimulus at a time
Navigation
Rehearses material
Visual/spatial information not phonemic
What study did Baddeley and Hitch 1974 do to test the visuo-sketchpad and articulatory/phonological loop components?
VS Sketchpad and articulatory/phonological loop are separate systems
Ps had to repeat a list of numbers to the experimenter, and a verbal task where ps had to answer true or false questions
Number of digits remembered didn’t effect the number of errors made in the verbal task
If both tasks use the same component there is an impairment issue, if both tasks use separate components there’s no impairment
What’s was Miller’s 1956 digit span task?
Give ps a list of numbers
They are repeated back
People can remember 7 + - 2 items
What is chunking?
Putting things together into larger units can reduce the memory load
Capacity is flexible but depends on how you organise the information
What is the algorithmic model of memory?
Input goes into the sensory memory where decay can happen, if attention is given to the input then it’ll go to the central executive. The CE can send information into the VS Sketchpad or the LTM or the Phonological loop. In the phonological loop there is the articulatory control and the phonological store.
