unit 4: immediate/short term memory

Question 1

What are the capacities and durations of each of the memory systems in the modal model?

Answer 1

Sensory memory: large capacity; very brief duration
Short-term memory: small capacity; short duration
Long-term memory: large capacity; very long duration

Question 2

example of a method used to investigate sensory memory

Answer 2

-“Span of apprehension” - what the system registers in one glance (flash of words)
4-5 items
-Whole Report vs. Partial Report
Entire array vs. specific line in an array

Question 3

What is the Brown-Peterson task? In general, what does it demonstrate?

Answer 3

1. present items to be remembered (count backward by 3s starting with 954)
2. prevent participant from rehearsing
3. request recall of info after a delay
4. record proportion of info recalled

used to demonstrate the limited duration of STM

Question 4

According to Miller, what is the “magical number”?

Answer 4

7 +/- 2 (amount of discrete items held in STM)

Question 5

Why does the primacy effect occur?

Answer 5

initial items are stored in long-term memory more efficiently

Question 6

Why does the recency effect occur?

Answer 6

last few items are still in working memory and are readily available

Question 7

What is meant by “chunking”?

Answer 7

• A unit or grouping of information held in STM
• functionally increases how much we can hold in STM
• PANAMA = 1 chunk, NA MA PA = 3 chunks

Question 8

What factors might influence whether a person is able to chunk info in STM?

Answer 8

-characteristics of presentation like speed
-knowledge base (expert vs. novice chess players)

Question 9

What is the Word Length Effect?

Answer 9

List of short words are recalled better than long words

Question 10

What is the Phonological Similarity Effect?

Answer 10

Similar sounding items are more difficult to remember than different sounding items

Question 11

What are two explanations of why we forget info in STM?

Answer 11

Decay: loss of info due to passage of time
Interference: loss of info due to influence of other info

Question 12

proactive interference

Answer 12

earlier info interferes with ability to remember later info

Question 13

retroactive interference

Answer 13

later info interferes with ability to remember earlier info

Question 14

What is meant by “release from proactive interference”?

Answer 14

the improvement of memory that occurs when new information is dissimilar to previously learned information

Question 15

Short-term memory

Answer 15

-where current and recently attended info is held
-sometimes loosely equated with attention & consciousness

Question 16

Working memory

Answer 16

-maintains features of STEM, but more complex
-where conscious processing takes place
-contains executive controller
-in charge of devoting conscious processing resources to the various other components in the memory system

Question 17

Articulatory loop

Answer 17

phonological store: temporarily hold info
subvocal rehearsal: rehearse/repeat info
not necessarily vocal

Question 18

Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad

Answer 18

for storage & manipulation of visual and spatial info

Question 19

What is meant by “articulatory suppression”?

Answer 19

Speaking while being presented with an item to remember
no word length effect or phonological similarity effect

Question 20

What’s the basic purpose of the Central Executive in Baddeley’s model of WM?

Answer 20

Controls attention
deploys appropriate resources
responsible for higher level thought processes

Question 21

What’s the basic purpose of the Episodic Buffer in Baddeley’s model of WM?

Answer 21

-Temporary storage of multimodal code
-integrates info from various WM components, integrates across time and space, integrates with LTM
-controlled by CE and interacts with LTM

Question 22

Dual-task method

Answer 22

visual-spatial sketchpad and articulatory loop do not interfere with one another

Question 23

Neuropsychological evidence

Answer 23

different components of WM correspond to activation of different brain areas

Question 24

What is a simple span task, and what does it measure?

Answer 24

Recall items in order after they have been presented in a sequence
measures STM

Question 25

What is a complex span task, and what does it measure?

Answer 25

-read equation aloud
-determine if equation is correct or incorrect
-read the target word aloud & try to -remember it for a later recall test
measures WM

Question 26

complex span performance predicts…

Answer 26

• a variety of higher-order cognitive tasks
• better inhibition (being able to ignore distractions)

Question 27

Systems view

Answer 27

refer to separate memory systems to explain memory function
- modal model
- working memory

Question 28

Unitary view

Answer 28

claim that immediate memory is not a separate set of mechanisms or processes, but rather, it’s the currently activated portion of long-term memory