Types of memory, capacity & duration

Question 1

What is it meant by coding?

Answer 1

It is the form the information is stored in.

Question 2

What is it meant by duration?

Answer 2

How long the information lasts.

Question 3

What is it meant by capacity?

Answer 3

How much information can be stored in a memory store.

Question 4

What is it meant by retrieval?

Answer 4

This is the process of accessing information stored in LTM.

Question 5

What is it meant by attention?

Answer 5

It is the idea of having a mental focus on an object.

Question 6

What are the three different types of memory coding?

Answer 6

Episodic, semantic and acoustic.

Question 7

What is episodic memory?

Answer 7

Memory that has a narrative.

Question 8

What is semantic memory?

Answer 8

Memory that has a meaning.

Question 9

What is acoustic memory?

Answer 9

Memory that is based on sound/words/rhythms.

Question 10

What is meant by cognitive psychology?

Answer 10

It is when psychologists try to understand the mind by comparing if to a computer.

Question 11

What is short term memory?

Answer 11

The memory store that contains small amounts of information which we’re currently aware of.

Question 12

What type of coding does short term memory use?

Answer 12

Acoustic.

Question 13

How are informations kept in short term memory?

Answer 13

Using a process known as rehearsal.

Question 14

What is the capacity of short term memory?

Answer 14

Very limited. Between 5-9 (or 7±2) items or chunks.

Question 15

What is the duration of short term memory?

Answer 15

Between 18-30 seconds.

Question 16

What is long term memory?

Answer 16

The memory store where information go through from STM and can be stored more permanently.

Question 17

What type of coding does long term memory use?

Answer 17

Semantic.

Question 18

How can information in long term memory be recalled when needed?

Answer 18

Through a process known as retrieval.

Question 19

What is the capacity of long term memory?

Answer 19

Unlimited.

Question 20

What is the duration of long term memory?

Answer 20

Very long. Potentially a lifetime.

Question 21

What are the two key studies that demonstrates the capacity of short term memory?

Answer 21

Jacobs (1887), also known as the digit span test, and Miller (1956).

Question 22

What did Jacobs’ digit span test show about the capacity of short term memory?

Answer 22

When participants are asked to recall a string of numbers, the mean digit span was 9.3 items. Whereas when letters, the mean letter span was 7.3, which supports the idea that the capacity of STM is 7±2 items.

Question 23

What did Miller’s study show about the capacity of short term memory?

Answer 23

He supported the ideas of 7 items being the average capacity, with range of 5-9 items. He also added that more information can be remembered by chunking information, in which can you can remember 5-9 chunks.

Question 24

What is an EVALUATION point you could make about Miller’s study on the capacity of short term memory?

Answer 24

There is uncertainty around how large a chunk of information could be, therefore the exact capacity of STM still needs more research to conclude.

Question 25

What is the key study that demonstrated the duration of short term memory?

Answer 25

Peterson & Peterson (1959).

Question 26

How did Peterson & Peterson test duration of short term memory?

Answer 26

They gave participants a string of three consonants and three numbers. They had to recall the string backwards every three second interval.

Question 27

What did Peterson & Peterson find about the duration of short term memory?

Answer 27

The longer the interval the less accurate participants’ recalls were. By 18s only 10% of recall were correct. This provided evidence that short term memory had a duration of around 18s.

Question 28

What is an EVALUATION point you could make about Peterson & Peterson’s study?

Answer 28

Asking people to remember consonant syllables as a way of testing STM was artificial and lacked ecological validity because it hardly reflects situations people would encounter in real life. This could mean findings are invalid and cannot be generated to the real world, where duration of memory could be longer for more important information.

Question 29

Which key study demonstrated the duration of long term memory and how?

Answer 29

Bahrick (1975). He tested people by asking them to recall names from their high school year book, 15 or 48 years after graduation and found that LTM has a very long duration, potentially a lifetime.

Question 30

Which key study demonstrated the coding types of short term memory and long term memory?

Answer 30

Baddeley (1966).

Question 31

How did Baddeley find the coding types responsible for short term memory and long term memory?

Answer 31

By asking people to recall acoustically similar words immediately or after a while, or do the same with semantically similar words. When recalling immediately (STM) acoustically similar words had poor recall rate, and when tested after a while (LTM) semantically similar words had poor recall rate. Suggesting STM used acoustic coding and LTM semantic.