Short Term Memory Flashcards
1
Q
Characteristics of STM
A
- Temporary storage info
- Rehersal, maintenance- increases probability of LTM transfer
2
Q
STM Capacity
A
- limited capacity shorter than sensory memory or long term memory
- duration depends
3
Q
In the study, “Does Rehersal Deposit info into LTM?” what is the task procedure?
A
- 20 nouns presented one at a time in 5s intervals
- STUDY: repeat aloud words on the list during each interval
- RECALL: after the last noun, free recall
4
Q
Results of the “Does Rehersal Deposit info into LTM?” Study
A
- the number of times rehearsed influences recall probability
- hightened recall for early and later items recalled
- last 5-7 items tend to be 1st items recalled
- primacy and recency effects
5
Q
Primacy effect
A
extra rehearsal for first few items, which are transferred to LTM
6
Q
Recency Effect
A
in study/recall tasks, when list ends, the last few items are till in STM
7
Q
What other aspects of rehearsal might affecct primacy and recency?
A
- delay between study and recall
- amount of time to rehearse
- number of items on study list
8
Q
Backward Counting Between Study and Recall Task
A
- Ps are given words to rehearse and have to count backwards between nouns aloud
- Primacy is due to rehearsal
- The longer the distrator task, the less likely items are still present in STM at recall
9
Q
Rate of Presentation During Study
A
- IV: presentation time (1s, 2s, 3s)
- Strong recency effect for all 3 variables
- Substantial primacy effect
- For middle words, stronger recall with slower presentation rates
- Rate of presentation doesn’t affect recency
10
Q
Manipulations of List Length
A
- 1s/ item, 20-40 items
- strong primacy and recency effects for all list lengths
11
Q
Brown-Peterson Task
A
- 3 letter trigram then 3 digit #
- count backwards out loud from that # by 3s until told to stop
- IV= time spent counting backwards
- DV= recall accuracy
- Ps asked to recall letters
12
Q
Results of Brown-Peterson Task
A
- info decays from STM as duration of distractor task increases
- without rehearsal, info is forgotten very quickly
13
Q
Causes of Forgetting
A
- decay due to passage of time
- interference due to shifting attention to new material
- BP Task- time and amount of interference confounded
- Probe Digit Tast- used to disentangle effects of time and interference
14
Q
Probe Digit Task
A
- Ps heard a list of 16 digits
- final digit was a repeat called the probe digit which was a cue to recall the digit that followed the first appearance of the probe
- IV= reading rate (1 item/ sec….4 items/ sec)
- IV2= # of items between probe and its first appearance
- DV= correct recall
15
Q
Probe Digit Task Results
A
- Both decay and interference predict a drop in recall with more items between probe appearances
- % correct recall is identical in both presentation rates
- amount of forgetting is similar for slow/fast
- # of intervening items is critical
