STM vs LTM: coding

Question 1

Define coding

Answer 1

The process of converting information from one form to another.

Question 2

Research into coding (pt.1)

Answer 2

Baddeley
- Gave different lists of words to 4 ppts to remember.
Group 1: acoustically similar (sound similar).
Group 2: acoustically dissimilar (sound different).
Group 3: semantically similar (similar meanings)
Group 4: semantically different (different meanings).

Question 3

Research into coding (pt.2)

Answer 3

• Ppts were shown original words and asked to recall them in the correct order.
• When they had to do this recall task immediately after hearing it (STM), they tended to do worse with acoustically similar words.
• If ppts were asked to recall the word list after a time interval of 20 mins (LTM), they did worse with the semantically similar words.
• This suggests that info is coded semantically in the LTM.

Question 4

Evaluation of Baddeley’s research.

Answer 4

Artificial stimuli:
- The word lists had no personal meaning to the ppts.
- This means we should be cautious about generalising the findings of different kinds of memory tasks.
E.g. when processing more meaningful info, people may use semantic coding even for STM.
- This suggests that the findings of the study have limited application.