Week 9 Short Term Memory Flashcards
Recoding and STM requires:
- Chunking scheme
- Time to apply scheme
What happens in recency effect?
The last few words have the benefit of not being bumped out of short-term memory by any new information
What is primacy effect in serial position effect?
Reflecting the superior recall of early words
What are the two components of serial position effect?
- primacy effect
- recency effect
What manipulation can be used to describe temporal effects of STM?
Seriel position curve
- study a list of items (e.g., words)
- Then recall as many of the words you can in any order
- Dependent Variable = % of items recalled as a function of serial position on the studied list
What task is used to manipulate capacity in short-term memory?
Digit span test
- # of digits that could accurately be recalled
What is encoding?
Refers to getting information into the system by translating it into a neural code that your brain processes
What is elaborative rehearsal?
Involves focussing on the meaning of information or relating it to other things we already know
what are some characteristics of short-term memory?
- capacity
- duration
- retrieval
- temporal
What represents what our memory system does with information?
- encoding
- storage
- retreival
Describe STM as working memory?
A mental workspace that actively and simultaneously processes different types of information and supports other cognitive functions such as problem-solving and planning and interacts with long-term memory/
What are some of the different memory codes?
- Visual encoding - mental image
- phonological encoding - sound
- semantic encoding - foucs on meaning of stimulus
- motor encoding - patterns of movement
which type of rehearsal is more effective?
Both types of rehearsal keep information active in short term memory but elaborative rehearsal is more effective in transferring information into long-term memory which is the more permanent memory store
How can the retention effect be manipulated?
Eliminating the last words from short term memory this happens when the recall test is delayed even buy as little as 15 or 30 seconds and you are prevented from rehearsing the last words such as being asked to briefly count as series of numbers immediately after presenting the last word. Should not effect primacy
Describe the sensory memory?
Holds incoming sensory information just long enough for it to be recognized.
- Large multi-modal capacity, but very brief
what are the two types of rehearsal?
- Maintenance rehearsal
- Elaborative rehearsal
What is the benefit of rehearsing information
Can extend the duration in short-term memory and definitely
What is the three component model?
Proposes that memory has three major components:
- sensory memory
- short-term memory
- long-term memory
What is a memory code?
The formats of information encoded into memory.
why do the intermediate words get forgotten so easily?
The first words usually go to long-term memory but as the list gets longer short term memory rapidly fills up and there are too many words to keep repeating before the next word arrives therefore be on the first few words we cannot rehearse the items and they are less likely to get transferred into long-term memory but then the last few words don’t get bumped.
Describe the whole versus partial report method for sensory memory
After a participant fixates on a screen a matrix of letters is flash for 1/20 of a second
- in one condition the whole report participants do not hear any tone it must immediately report as many letters as they can
- in another condition the partial report a high-, medium- ,or low- pitch tone signals the participant report the top middle or bottom row.
- If the tone occurs immediately participants typically can report three or all four letters no matter which row signalled.
What is the capacity of short-term memory?
- 7 +/- 2 as individual units
- 4 +/- 1 as chunks
How can the primacy effect be manipulated?
preventing people from rehearsing the early words say by presenting a list at a faster rate - double or triple the speed - so that memory does not trasnfer to LTM. does not manipulate recency effect
Who originally developed the three component model?
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968
what happens in the primacy effect?
According to the three stage model as the first few words into short term memory we can quickly rehearse them and transfer them into long-term memory.
What is retrieval?
Pulling information out of storage when we want to use it.
how can duration in short term memory but being manipulated without the effect of rehearsal?
Brown-Peterson Paradigm
- Presenting participants with three letters syllables (all consonants) such as BSX followed by a three digit number such as 140. upon seeing the number of participants counted backwards by threes which prevented them from rehearsing the letters.
- After counting backwards for as little as 18 seconds few syllables were recalled
What is chunking?
Combining individual items into larger units of meaning
- Increases digit span
- Mneumotic strategy for increasing memory
What can short term memory also be referred to as? why?
Working memory
- Because it consciously processes. codes. and works on information.
What is maintenance rehearsal?
Simple repetition of information by continuously saying it to yourself either out loud or silently
In a serial position test what positions are most likely to be recalled first?
Most experiments find that words at the end and beginning of the list are the easiest for participants to recall creating a U-shaped pattern in the serial position curve.
What is storage?
Involves retaining information overtime once in the system information must be filed away in saved.
What are the two types of sensory memory?
- Iconic: visual information
- echoic: auditory information
What is the serial position effect?
The finding that recall is influenced by words position in a series of items/
What is the recency effect of serial position effect?
Representing the superior recall of the most recent words
Human memory is highly ________
dynamic
What is the approximate duration of short term memory?
~20sec
Describe the short term memory storage
Holds the information that we are conscious of at any given time
