Short-Term Working Memory

Question 1

What is the Modal Model?

Stimuli enter our _______ registers, of which there are 3 types: _____, _____ and _____ memory. These then enter our ____-term memory and via control processes is ______ into our ____-term memory. Responses are generated when info from our ____-term memory is ______ and transferred to our ____-term memory.

Answer 1

What is the Modal Model?

Stimuli enter our sensory registers, of which there are 3 types: iconic, echoic and haptic memory. These then enter our short-term memory and via control processes is encoded into our long-term memory. Responses are generated when info from our long-term memory is retrieved and transferred to our short-term memory.

Question 2

Who first discovered the Serial-Position Curve?

Answer 2

Ebbinghaus.

Question 3

What is the Serial-Position Curve?

Answer 3

The characteristic curve describing the probability of freely (in any order) recalling items from a list.

Question 4

Serial-Position Curve:

What is the primacy effect?

Answer 4

The primacy effect is when items from the beginning of a list tend to be recalled better than items from the middle of the list, because they have already been encoded into long-term memory stores.

Question 5

Serial-Position Curve:

What is the recency effect?

Answer 5

The recency effect is when items from the end of a list tend to be recalled better than items from the middle of the list, as they are still currently being held in short-term memory.

Question 6

What are double dissociations?

Answer 6

When 1 variable affects one of the memory systems, and a different variable affects the other memory system.

Shows that long-term and short-term memory are independent, but still related.

Question 7

Give an example of double dissociations when recalling items in their correct order.

Answer 7

When recalling a series of items in correct order, as opposed to free recall, this eliminates the recency effect, but has no impact on the primacy effect. This is because we cannot rehearse the last few words and move them into our long-term memory stores as we have to recall them from the start.

Question 8

What are list-length effects?

Answer 8

When using free recall, increasing the number of items on a list reduces the probability of recalling items form the middle of the list; but it doesn’t influence the recency effect.

Question 9

What are distractor tasks?

Answer 9

Having a secondary task (e.g count backwards for 10 seconds) prior to free recall eliminates the recency effect, but leaves the primacy effect intact. It works because it interferes with our short-term memory.

Question 10

What are item-spacing effects?

Answer 10

Using free recall, the presentation rate is increased from 1 word every three secs, to 1 word per sec. This reduces the number of items recalled from the middle of the list, but has no impact on the recency effect. It works by giving you less time to encode words into your long-term stores.

Question 11

All available evidence from list learning experimental has shown us that in contrast to long-term memory, short-term memory:

Answer 11

is a limited-capacity rehearsal buffer.

Question 12

What are the 2 types of basic operations in short-term memory?

Answer 12

1. Maintenance rehearsal.

2. Transfer (encoding).

Question 13

What is maintenance rehearsal?

Answer 13

Recycling info in the short-term memory.

Question 14

What is transference (encoding)?

Answer 14

Moving info from the short-term into the long-term memory.

Question 15

Who conducted early research into the capacity of short-term memory in 1956?

Answer 15

Miller

Question 16

What were the findings of Miller’s “Magic Number” capacity?

Answer 16

1. People retain 7 (+/- 2) items of info in short-term memory.
2. WIN.zip file:
   Meaningful info can be recoded (reorganised and compressed), allowing the retention of chunks that can later be decompressed.
3. There is a intrinsic relationship between short-term and long-term memory:
   Long-term memory uses prior knowledge to make info meaningful, allowing us to retain larger chunks in our short-term memory.

Question 17

Who conducted research into the duration of short-term memory in 1958 and 1959?

Answer 17

Brown, Peterson and Peterson

Question 18

What did Brown, Peterson and Peterson seek to answer in the Brown-Peterson Paradigm experiment?

Answer 18

How long non-rehearsed info remains in short-term memory.

Question 19

What was the method and logic used in the Brown-Peterson Paradigm experiment?

Answer 19

Method:

Subjects heard a 3 letter item. They then performed a distractor tasks (counting backwards) for a retention interval of 0-20 seconds. Subjects were then asked to recall the 3 letter item.

Logic:
Prevention of rehearsal shows how long info stays in our short-term memory.

Question 20

What were the 5 main results of the Brown-Peterson Paradigm experiment?

Answer 20

1. The distractor task causes info in the short-term memory to be lost, not encoded.
2. At 5 secs, half of info is lost.
3. At 9 secs, most info is lost.
4. At 18 secs, all info is lost.
5. Overall, the longer the interval delay, the less trigrams were recalled.

Question 21

What were the 2 main conclusions of the Brown-Peterson Paradigm experiment?

Answer 21

1. Short-term memory has a limited duration when rehearsal is prevented. This info is lost from short-term memory due to trace decay theory.
2. Short-term is different to long-term memory in terms of duration, thus, supporting the multi-store model of memory.

Question 22

Who sought to answer whether info in short-term memory decays or is overwritten with new info, in 1965?

Answer 22

Waugh and Norman.

Question 23

What did Waugh and Norman seek to answer in their experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 23

Whether info in short-term memory really decays, or is overwritten by new information.

Question 24

What was the method used in Waugh and Norman’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 24

Subjects heard a list of 16 letters presented at 2 different rates: 1 or 4 letters per second.

Whenever a letter was repeated, subjects were instructed to say the letter than had followed it.

Question 25

What were the results of Waugh and Norman’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 25

As the number of intervening items increased, the number of correct answers decreased.

Question 26

What were the conclusions of Waugh and Norman’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 26

1. Evidence shows Active-Overwrite process.

2. No evidence to support Trace Decay theory, as the faster the words were shown, the worse the recall.

Question 27

In 1967, who sought to investigate whether non-rehearsed info decays in short-term memory?

Answer 27

Talland

Question 28

What did Talland seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 28

Whether non-rehearsed info in short-term memory decays.

Question 29

What was the method used in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 29

Used the standard Brown-Peterson Paradigm, but with 2 distractor tasks.

Question 30

What were the 2 distractor tasks used in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 30

1. Active

2. Passive

Question 31

What was the active task used in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 31

Count backwards in 3’s (standard condition).

Question 32

What was the passive task used in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 32

Read aloud sequences of numbers that decreased by 3’s (easier task).

Question 33

What were the results of Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 33

1. Performance was better in the passive condition.

2. Performance was poorer in the active condition.

Question 34

Why was performance better in the passive condition, in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 34

Because removal of mental arithmetic meant less interference from the distractor activity, thus, causing info in the short-term memory to be forgotten at a slower rate.

Question 35

Why was the performance poorer the active condition, in Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 35

Due to the interference, info in the short-term memory was being overwritten.

Question 36

What was the main conclusion of Talland’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 36

Info in short-term memory is actively overwritten.

Question 37

In 1974, who sought to discover whether info in short-term memory really decayed, and what types of codes were used in short-term memory?

Answer 37

Peterson, Peterson and Miller.

Question 38

What 2 questions did Peterson, Peterson and Miller seek to answer in their experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 38

1. Does info in short-term memory really decay?

2. What types of codes are used in short-term memory?

Question 39

What types of 4 types of coding did Peterson, Peterson and Miller consider in their experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 39

1. Phonological
2. Sound-based
3. Semantic
4. Meaning-based

Question 40

What was the method used in Peterson, Peterson and Miler’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 40

Used the standard Brown-Peterson Paradigm, but with 2 types of items to be recalled.

Question 41

What were the 2 types of items to be recalled in Peterson, Peterson and Miller’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 41

1. Meaningless syllables.

2. Meaningful syllables.

Question 42

What were the results of Peterson, Peterson and Miller’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 42

Meaningful syllables were not forgotten as quickly.

Question 43

What did Peterson, Peterson and Miller conclude in their experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 43

Meaningful syllables recalled more shows evidence of short-term memory drawing upon the long-term memory to chunk pieces of info into something meaningful.

Question 44

In 1972, who noticed that subjects did well on the first few trials of the Brown-Peterson Paradigm, but then poorly on subsequent trials?

Answer 44

Wickens

Question 45

What theoretical questions did Wickens seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 45

1. What accounts for the decline in performance across trials?
2. Does earlier info from previous trials interfere with info in later trials?

Question 46

What 2 types of interference did Wickens’ consider in his experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 46

1. Proactive interference.

2. Retroactive interference.

Question 47

What is proactive interference?

Answer 47

Old information interfering with new info.

Question 48

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 48

New info interfering with old info.

Question 49

What was the method used in Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 49

Subjects performed the Brown-Peterson Paradigm across 4 trials, but with word (not letter) triples.

Control Group:
Task 1: apple, lime apricot
Task 2: blueberry, pear, grape
Task 3: banana, lemon, peach
Task 4: orange, strawberry, kiwi

Experimental Group
Task 1: apple, lime apricot
Task 2: blueberry, pear, grape
Task 3: banana, lemon, peach
Task 4: beef, chicken, pork

Question 50

What were the 2 major results in the Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 50

1. From trails 1-3, there was a decrease in performance.

2. In trial 4, in the experimental group there was an increase in performance.

Question 51

In the Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory, why was there a decrease in performance in trials 1-3?

Answer 51

Proactive interference:
due to the similarity between info between the first 3 trials.

The earlier info caused interference to ‘build up’; interfering with the retention of later info, as the first 3 trials were all about fruit.

Question 52

In the Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory, why was there an increase in performance in the experimental group during trial 4?

Answer 52

Being released from proactive interference:

shifting to a different semantic category (fruit to meat) helped the short-term memory recover.

Question 53

What were the 2 main conclusions in Wickens’ experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 53

1. Information in short-term memory is based on semantic codes.
2. Long-term memory can affect short-term memory.

Question 54

What is recognition?

Answer 54

When a stimulus is present, it may or may not be in memory.

Question 55

What is recall?

Answer 55

When a stimulus is not present, info about the stimulus must be retrieved from memory.

Question 56

What are the 2 methods for estimating durations of cognitive processes?

Answer 56

1. Subtractive method.

2. Additive factors method.

Question 57

What is the subtractive method?

Answer 57

2 tasks share the same processes, expect for one process:

E.g.

Task #1: encode process A -> process B -> process C -> respond.

Task # 2: encode process A -> process C -> respond.

Question 58

What are the 2 problems with the subtractive method?

Answer 58

1. Finding appropriate pairs of tasks.
2. Assumption of pure insertion:
   that component processes are completely independent. I.e. that one process can be clearly taken out without affecting the other processes.

Question 59

What is the additive factors method?

Answer 59

When we replicate one of the processes multiple times.

Task #1: encode process A -> process B -> process C -> respond.

Task #2: encode process A -> process B -> process B -> process B… -> process C -> respond.
(Process B is repeated N times)

Therefore the duration of process B =
(reaction time for #2 - reaction time for #1)
divided by (N-1)

Question 60

Im 1966, who sought to discover how long it takes to recognise info in short-term memory, and what the structure of the short-term memory process allows info to be recognised?

Answer 60

Sternberg

Question 61

What 2 questions did Sternberg seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 61

1. How long it takes to search for info in short-term memory.
2. What is the architecture of the process that allows info in short-term memory to be recognised.

Question 62

What are the 4 steps to the Sternberg’s Process Model?

Answer 62

1. Take icon via encoding.
2. Compare it to what’s in short-term memory N number of times.
3. Decide whether tie icons match.
4. Make a response.

Question 63

What was the 3 step method used in Sternberg’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 63

1. In each trial, subjects encoded a memory set of 1-4 letters in their short-term memory.
2. Subjects then viewed a single probe letter and responded (via button presses) to indicate whether a probe letter was in short-term memory.
3. Subjects then had to compare the probe letter to letters in their short-term memory to make their responses.

Question 64

What are the 3 possible ways of searching short-term memory? Each possible search has a pattern response times!

Answer 64

1. Serial self-terminating search.
2. Parallel search.
3. Serial exhaustive search.

Question 65

What is the serial self-terminating search?

Answer 65

Searching each letter in the short-term memory, one at a time, until you find a match or don’t, then stop searching.

E.g. looking for your keys at home.

Question 66

During the serial self-terminating search, as set size (icons in short-term memory) increases, response time (finding the icon) increases because:

1.

2.

Answer 66

1. You need to do more comparisons.

2. It takes longer if an icon is absent as you have to go through them all.

Question 67

What is the parallel search?

Answer 67

Searching all letters in short-term memory in parallel, at the same time, until you find a match or don’t, then stop searching.

E.g. looking for a yellow banana in a bowl of red apples.

Question 68

During the parallel search, as set size (icons in short-term memory) increases, response times is not affected (finding the icon) because:

Answer 68

You are comparing them all at the same time.

Question 69

What is the serial exhaustive search?

Answer 69

Searching each letter in short-term memory one at at time, continuing doing this even if you find a match, then stop searching.

Question 70

During the serial exhaustive search, as set size (icons in short-term memory) increases, response time (finding icon) increases because:

1.

2.

Answer 70

1. You need to do more comparisons.

2. As you continue even if you find a match, both have to continue to the end before making a response.

Question 71

What were the results of Sternberg’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 71

When searching our short-term memory, we use serial exhaustive search (counterintuitive), so reaction times are linear to set size!

Question 72

What 3 types of codes are held in short-term memory?

Answer 72

Acoustic, semantic and visual.

Question 73

In 1964, who sought to discover whether short-term memory codes were visual or acoustic?

Answer 73

Conrad

Question 74

What question did Conrad seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 74

Whether short-term memory codes were visual or acoustic.

Question 75

What was the method used in Conrad’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 75

Free recall of letters.

Question 76

What were the results of Conrad’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 76

Errors tended to be between acoustically similar letters, rather than visually similar ones.

Question 77

What was the main conclusion of Conrad’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 77

Short-term memory codes are acoustic.

Question 78

What did Wickens (1972) experiment on short-term memory show?

Answer 78

Release from PI provides evidence that short-term memory codes are semantic.

Question 79

In 1971, who sought to answer whether short-term memory codes were acoustic or visual?

Answer 79

Shepard and Metzler

Question 80

What did Shepard and Metzler seek to answer in their experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 80

Whether short-term memory codes are acoustic or visual.

Question 81

What was the method used in Shepard and Metzler’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 81

Method:

Subjects viewed pairs of 3 dimensional figures that could either be:

1. The same, but with one figure rotated.
2. Different, with one figure being a mirror image.

Subjects had to indicate via button presses whether or not the 2 figures were the same.

Question 82

What were the results of Shepard and Metzler’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 82

As you have to mentally rotate the object further, the longer it takes to make a decision, in a linear fashion.

Question 83

What was the main conclusion of Shepard and Metzler’s experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 83

Visual stimuli can be represented in short-term memory.

Question 84

What are the 2 main problems with the old theories about short-term memory?

Answer 84

1. Old theory says short-term memory only holds acoustic info (words). New evidence says it holds acoustic, semantic and visual info.
2. Old theory says short-term memory had a fixed capacity of 7 (+/- 2) chunks of info. New evidence says capacity changes depending on the task at hand.

Question 85

In 1978, who sought to answer whether short-term memory codes can be used, and whether short-term memory capacity is strictly fixed?

Answer 85

Brooks

Question 86

What 2 questions did Brooks seek to answer in his experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 86

1. How does the nature of concurrent tasks interfere with another, and affect short term memory capacity?
2. Do two tasks requiring the same short-term memory codes interfere with more than two tasks that require different short-term memory codes?

Question 87

What was the method used in Brooks experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 87

Subjects performed 2 tasks:

1. A primary task.
2. One of two other possible tasks.

Question 88

What was the primary task in Brooks experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 88

Subjects had to indicate via button presses, the upper and lower vertices on an imaginary letter ‘F’.

Question 89

What were the 2 other possible tasks in the second task in Brooks experiment on short-term memory?

Answer 89

1. Concurrent articulation:
   E.g. keep saying American bourbon whisky is the best, over and over.
2. Visual tracking of a moving point of light.

Question 90

What were the results of Brooks experiment on long-term memory?

Answer 90

Primary task accuracy was significantly greater during concurrent articulation than in visual tracking.

Question 91

What are the 2 main conclusions of Brooks experiment on long-term memory?

Answer 91

1. It is more difficult to do 2 visual spacial tasks at once, than 1 visual and 1 verbal task.
2. We can hold more info in our short-term memory by using 2 different codes.

Question 92

Who proposed the idea of a ‘working memory’ in 1986, 2000?

Answer 92

Baddeley

Question 93

What does the Working Memory Model consist of?

1.
2.
a.
b.
c.

Answer 93

What does the Working Memory Model consist of?

1. Central executive (controls system)
2. Slave systems:
   a. Articulatory (phonological loop).
   b. Visuo-spatial sketchpad.
   c. Episodic buffer.