Types of memory

Question 1

What are short term and long term memory .

Answer 1

Short term memory- (STM) a type of memory that stores and allows recall of of information for up to a maximum of 30 seconds with a limited capacity .

Long term memory- (LTM) Stores and allows recall of information from the distant past and the duration of the memory can potentially last for life, the capacity is unlimited.

Question 2

In what 3 ways are short term and long term memory different.

Answer 2

Duration- How long information can be stored for/how long it lasts. STM has a limited duration while LTM can potentially last for life.

Capacity- How much information can be stored. LTM has a potentially unlimited capacity while STM has a very limited capacity.

Coding- the form in which information is stored in. There are 3 different forms-
Acoustic coding- storing information through how it sounds.
Semantic coding- storing information in terms of its meaning.
Visual coding- storing information in terms of how it looks.
STM uses more acoustic then LTM but LTM uses more semantic then STM.

Question 3

Short term memory- Duration study method and results

Answer 3

Our STM duration is short and in order to keep information in it for more then a few seconds we will often rehearse it to keep it active.
A study into STM is the Peterson and Peterson study. They got 24 undergraduate students as participants and presented them with consonant trigrams (3 random consonants) . They where asked to count backwards in threes to stop rehearsal and after an interval of 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds they had to stop counting and repeat the trigram. This was repeated using many different trigrams. The results show that at 3 seconds 90% of participants could remember the trigram, 20% after 9 seconds, and less then 10% after 18 seconds.
More research has been don’t after this study and the overall conclusion is that STM can last a maximum of 18-30 seconds.

Question 4

Short term memory- duration evaluation

Answer 4

+) It was a lab experiment so the variables where well controlled, and the study can be easily repeated to check reliability.

• ) the study isn’t realistic however and lack ecological validity and mundane realism.
• ) earlier trigrams can confuse participants when at later trigrams so the results may be caused by confusion not them forgetting the trigrams.

Question 5

Long term memory- duration study method and results

Answer 5

Bahrik et all study- tested how well 400 American participants between the age of 17 to 74 years old could remember their former classmates by asking them to name people in pictures, match name to pictures and recalling names with no pictures.

The results where even after 48 years there was 70% accuracy linking names to faces but without the picture this dropped to 30%. The results support that LTM can last a lifetime and showed people may need cues such as photos to fully access their LTM.

Question 6

Long term memory- duration study evaluation

Answer 6

+) it was a natural experiment with a meaningful task so has high ecological validity and mundane realism.

• ) it was a natural experiment do the IV was less controlled as some people could still be in contact with their old classmates.
• ) it only looked at names which are rehearsed often and meaningful suggesting not all LTMs remain for your entire life.

Question 7

Short term memory- capacity study method and results

Answer 7

Jacobs’s study (1887) developed the serial digit span technique, the researcher read out 4 digits and the participant had to read it back , this was repeated adding one digit to the number till they couldn’t repeat it accurately. The study also did this using letters instead of numbers.
The results showed that about 9 digits or 7 letters where recalled on average. This is higher then children as stage 8 the average digit span is 6.
The conclusion is as we grow older out STM capacity increases either due increasing brain capacity or we learn techniques such as chunking to help recall, digits where easier to remember possibly due to their being less digits then letters.
The capacity of long term memory is shown to be near limitless so it us hard to do a study measuring it.

Question 8

Short term memory -capacity evaluation

Answer 8

• ) jacob’s research lacks ecological validity and mundane realism, so more meaningful information may be recalled better.
• ) Since it was conducted so long ago we can nit be sure EVs where controlled however repeats of the study give similar results suggesting the study is valid.

Question 9

Short term and long term memory- coding study method and results

Answer 9

1966, Baddeley- Participants where shown a sequence of 5 words then immediately had to write them down in order. The 4 conditions where..
Acoustically similar words- words that sound the same such as cap ,cat, mat
acoustically dissimilar words- words that sound different such as pen,cow,day
Semantically similar words- words that mean similar things such as tall,high,big
Semantically dissimilar words- words that mean dissimilar things such as foul,thin,pot
Results- for when they are tested immediately (STM) participants where the least accurate with the acoustically similar words. When tested 20 minutes later participants where least accurate for the semantically similar words.
Information is normally recorded acoustically in the STM making it more likely we muddle acoustically similar words and for LTM information is recorded mostly semantically explaining why we muddle semantically similar words.

Question 10

Short term and long term memory- coding study evaluation

Answer 10

-) the study has low ecological validity and mundane realism as the task is not meaningful as it is just remembering words.

Question 11

who made the multi store model of memory and what is the multi store model of memory.

Answer 11

The multi store model was made by Shiffrin and Aktinson in 1968. In this model memory involves the flow of information through a series of stages in fixed sequences. There are three stores
sensory memory
short term memory
long term memory
It works like a flow chart diagram with the environmental input being information from your surroundings which are detected by sensory organs and enter the sensory memory, if attention is paid to the information it enters the STM.
It can go from the STM to the LTM if the information is rehearsed which is when we mentally repeat it , this can be consciously or unconsciously. If it doesn’t enter the LTM it is forgotten, memories can return to the STM through retrieval and the STM can maintain information through a rehearsal loop using recall.

Question 12

sensory memory explanation

Answer 12

The sensory memory stores information from the environment for a short period of time. Aktinson and Shiffrin said that there where 5 different sensory stores to hold different types of information.

Iconic store-visual images
Echoic store-auditory senses
Haptic store- physical sense of touch and muscle tensions 
Gustatory store-taste information
Olfactory-smell

The duration of information in your sensory memory is short only 0.25 seconds.
The capacity is unlimited
The coding depends on the sense

Question 13

STM and LTM in the multi store model

Answer 13

STM still has a 5-9 capacity and lasts up till max 18-30 seconds, unless maintenance rehearsal occurs (rehearsal loop). If this happens for an extended period of time the information goes into the LTM. Decay or displacement happens if the memory is not rehearsed and it is lost.
The LTM is a permanent store and when we recall information the information in the LTM must be transferred back through a process called retrievals.

Question 14

Multi store memory evaluation strengths.

Answer 14

+) It explains primacy and recency, when you remember the first and last parts of the list. The first words are in the LTM while the last in STM and the loss of the ones in-between shows they are two separate stores.
This is shown by Murdocks case study in which participants where presented a list of 10-40 words one to two seconds at a time one word at a time. The results where the last ones and first ones where often remembered the middle ones weren’t supporting primacy and recency. This shows two seperate stores in action

+) there are case studies supporting it such as HM who was a person suffering brain damage after having his hipocampus removed to get rid of his severe epilepsy. His short term memory was still intact along with personality and intellect but he couldn’t make anymore LTM showing they are separate stores.

+)Brain scans also support this as it shows different parts of the brain are active during LTM and STM tasks.

Question 15

Multi store memory evaluation weaknesses

Answer 15

• ) not all information needs to be rehearsed to move to the LTM, and even if we rehearse information we don’t understand it won’t go into the LTM for long.
• ) the MSM only focuses on maintenance rehearsal which is repetition not elaborative rehearsal which is when you linking information together and doing deeper processing.

-) There is evidence that suggests the LTM and the STM are not single stores , a case study K.F sustained brain damage and he lost most of his verbal STM but his visual STM was fine.
For LTM many amnesiacs have lost episodic LTM but still have working semantic and procedural LTM.

-) also study’s exploring LTM lack ecological validity as they are given unrealistic tasks such triagrams.

Question 16

What are the three types of LTM

Answer 16

Episodic LTM- gives someone an autobiographical record of personal events, they will remember the emotions they had at the time and the strength if the memory will be affected by the strength of the emotions felt at the time. It can also record a group of events occurring. Can help be distinguish real and imagined events.

Semantic LTM- the memory that records your knowledge , the strength of the memory lasts longer then episodicc ones. The more you process the information the better the memory. I

Procedural LTM - A type of memory that allows people to perform learned skills with little conscious thought for example getting dressed, it is also involved in language. People can use procedural LTM and doing other conscious tasks simultaneously

Question 17

Differences between the 3 types of LTM.

Answer 17

Episodic and semantic LTM are conscious, procedural LTM is unconscious

Semantic memory uses the left prefrontal cortex while episodic memory is in the right, this was seen through brain scanning.
Semantic may not record time and place when we learnt things episodic uses time and place

Question 18

Evaluation for different types of LTM

Answer 18

+) It is supported by case studies such as HM as he had impaired episodic memory but could learn new skills and had decent semantic memory’s showing that’s there are different stores for LTM.

+)Brain scans show that different types of LTM are stored in different parts of the brain, they looked at people doing memory tasks while scanning them and the results have been replicated so it’s reliable.

+) it can be used in real life as by distinguishing different stores you can target different stores if people have difficulty with a certain one.

• ) case studies have methodological issues such as lack of control and each case study and individual are different so it is hard to generalise any findings about LTM from them.
• ) there are more differences in LTM as a study in Sweden looking at LTM in a 1000 people and found females did better in episodic memory tasks suggesting that the 3 stores do not work exactly the same for everyone

Question 19

What is the working memory model(WMM)?

Answer 19

The WMM was made by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974, this model suggests the STM is not one unified store but has several sub stores which process information independently although all have limited capacity. The named it working memory as they saw the STM as processing information so task can be accrued out not just a store for information.

Question 20

WMM model components with their sub components - central executive and phonological loop.

Answer 20

Central executive- the central executive has overall control. It processes information in all sensory forms and directs attention to important tasks and decides which of its “slave systems” does these tasks. It’s capacity is limited.

The rest of the of components are the “slave components”

Phonological loop-temporarily stores and rehearses word based information to keep it fresh in your mind. It stores it in the order it arrives. It can be broken up into two sub stores 
Phonological store (inner ear)- holds information in speech based form for 1-2 seconds and written words are converted into spoken ones before entering
Articulatory process (inner voice)-  it maintains word based information through rehearsal.

Question 21

WMM model 4 components

Answer 21

Executive controller
Phonological loop
Visual spatial sketch pad
Episodic buffer

Question 22

WMM model components with their sub components - visual spatial sketch pad and episodic buffer.

Answer 22

Visual spatial sketch pad(inner eye)- stores and manipulates a limited amount of visual and spatial information which helps us keep track of where we are in relation to other objects in our environment. It has a limited capacity and can be broken up into two stores.
Visual cache- stores visual data
Inner scribe- remembers the arrangement of objects in a space.

Episodic buffer - added later in the year 2000 as people pointed out the model didn’t interact with the LTM at all. It acts as a backup store for information, it integrates information from the other store and communicates with the long term memory. It looks at visual, spatial, and verbal information. It is under the control of the central executive and sends information to the LTM.

Question 23

Coding and capacity of each store (WMM)

Answer 23

Central executive- limited capacity and can store information in any sense form

Phonological loop- two seconds worth of what you can say capacity, acoustic coding

Visual spatial sketch pad- capacity is 3/4 objects, codes visually

Episodic buffer- capacity is about 4 chunks, stores visual, spatial, and verbal information.

Question 24

strengths of WMM

Answer 24

• ) it can account for dual tasking as we can do two tasks at one if one is word based and the other is visual suggesting the STM has multiple stores. Research support for this Baddeley study has people follow light spot with a pointer and do either a visual or verbal task. They found it easier to do the visual and verbal task together.
• ) case studies such as KF support it, KF was injured in a motorbike accident and receive brain damage. He had a poor verbal STM because of this damage but his visual STM was much better suggesting there are multiple stores.
• ) it explains how we can do everyday tasks such as verbal reasoning and reading with the phonological loop, or problem solving with visual controller. This means it has greater face validity the the MSM (face validity means you can see the validity in everyday life).

Question 25

WMM weaknesses

Answer 25

• ) exact role of central executive is unclear , it has been said it directs attention and decide what system dies what task but this is quite vague.
• ) the evidence from brain damaged patients can’t be generalised the the whole population as they are single cases which are each unique.
• ) the WMM is restricted to the STM and doesn’t talk about the LTM and sensory memory, so we can say it’s not a comprehensive model of our memory.