Short Term Memory

Question 1

Briefly describe what is the duration of Short term memory

Answer 1

Short term memory has a very short duration, less than 18 seconds as long as verbal rehearsal is preventeded

Question 2

What was the study for Short term memory Duration?

Answer 2

Peterson and Peterson (1959)

Question 3

What size was the sample did Peterson and Peterson (1959) used when conducting the study?

Answer 3

24 Students

Question 4

How many trials did Peterson and Peterson give their participants?

Answer 4

8

Question 5

Describe the task given by Peterson and Peterson

Answer 5

Each participant was given a consonant syllable and a three digit number (e.g THX 512) to recall after a retention interval where verbal rehearsal is prevented using a with the task of counting backwards

Question 6

What percentage was correct after 3 seconds?

Answer 6

90% correct

Question 7

What percentage was correct after 9 seconds?

Answer 7

20% correct

Question 8

What percentage was correct after 18 seconds?

Answer 8

2% correct

Question 9

What conclusion can be drawn from the data from Peterson and Peterson’s study on short term memory.

Answer 9

The findings suggest that Short Term Memory has a short duration as long as verbal rehearsal is prevented

Question 10

What is the capacity of short term memory?

Answer 10

7 plus or minus 2

Question 11

What is the capacity for digits according to Joseph Jacobs in the short term memory?

Answer 11

9.3

Question 12

What is the capacity for letters according to Joseph Jacobs in the short term memory?

Answer 12

7.3

Question 13

What Theory did George miller have and when?

Answer 13

The magic number ( 7 +/- 2) in 1956

Question 14

What did Miller find about how many words and letters we can remember? and why is this?

Answer 14

We can remember 5 words just as well as 5 letters because we can remember more when we chunk things together.

Question 15

How is the short term memory encoded?

Answer 15

Acoustically

Question 16

What is an evaluation for STM capacity?

Answer 16

“The size of chunk matters “ and “ Individual differences”

Question 17

Regarding the evaluation for STM capacity, explain why “Size of chunk matters”

Answer 17

• The bigger the chunk , the harder it is to remember
• Simon (1974) Found that people had a shorter memory for 8 phrases words or chunks compared to smaller chunks such as one syllable words.

Question 18

Regarding the evaluation for STM capacity, explain why “Individual differences” Matter

Answer 18

Jacobs found out that recall “aka digit span” increases with age

8 year olds remembered 6.6 digits whereas 19 year olds remembered 8.6 digits

Question 19

Why do you think there was a difference between the digit span of the 8 and 19 year olds?

Answer 19

• With age there may be an gradual increase in brain capacity
• With age the development of chunking may improve

Question 20

According to Jacobs what was the digit span of 8 year olds?

Answer 20

6.6

Question 21

According to Jacobs what was the digit span of a 19 year old?

Answer 21

8.6

Question 22

What are the evaluations for the duration of STM?

Answer 22

” Testing was artificial” - low in external validity

“STM results may be due to displacement” -

Question 23

Regarding the evaluation for STM duration, explain why “STM results may be due to displacement”

Answer 23

Displacement > decay

counting the numbers in STM may overwrite the syllables that were to be rembered

Question 24

Who suggested that a flaw in STM duration may be displacement rather than decay?

Answer 24

Reitman, 1974

Question 25

How did Reitmen suggest that STM duration may be limited by displacement rather than decay?

Answer 25

By using auditory tones rather than numbers (because auditory tones don’t interfere with verbal rehearsal ) and found that it was longer

• Nairne et al (1999) found that items could be recalled even after 96 seconds

Question 26

Who found that items could be recalled after 96 when using auditory tones?

Answer 26

Nairne et all (1999)

Question 27

Evaluation for STM being encoding acoustically

Answer 27

STM may not exclusively be acoustically encoded

• Brandimote et al (1992)
  in a visual task when participants looked at a picture and hand to say “la la la la la “ in an interval to prevent verbal rehearsal participants therefore used visual encoding to recall the picture.

-Wickens et al (1972)
claims that information is sometimes encoded to STM via semantic