Memory: Key Terms Flashcards
Duration
the length of time information remains in storage within memory (how long a memory lasts)
Sensory Register
a memory store that holds impressions of info received by th five senses
- short duration and a large capacity
Short-term Memory
a temporary memory store for events in the present or immediate past
- short duration + small capacity
Long-term Memory
a more permanent memory store for events that have happened in the more distant past
- long duration and large capacity
Capacity
the amount of info that can be stored in memory at a given time
Coding
The way in which information is changed so that it can be stored in memory
Miller’s Magic Number
- Miller (1956) reviewed research into capacity of STM
- found people can remember about 7 items
- argues capacity of STM is 7, plus or minus 2
- found people can recall 5 words as well as 5 letters - we chunk things together and then can remember more
Ionic Store (Sensory Register)
visual info
Echoic Store (Sensory Register)
auditory info
Haptic Store (Sensory Register)
physical info eg touch
Coded Acoustically (STM and LTM)
coded in terms of how it sounds
Coded Semantically (STM and LTM)
coded in terms of meaning
Coded Visually (STM and LTM)
coded in terms of the image
Duration of SR
Sperling (1960):
- 0.5 seconds
- decays rapidly
Duration of STM
Peterson + Peterson (1959)
- 18 seconds
- could recall 80% of trigrams after 3 seconds but fewer than 10% after 18 seconds
Duration of LTM
Bahrick et al (1975)
- long (>30 seconds)
- recognition is better than recall
Capacity of SR
Sperling (1960)
- large capacity
- managed to recall when didn’t know which row so assume all was held
Capacity of STM
Jacobs (1887)
- 5-9 items
Miller (1956)
- 7 items plus or minus 2
- increases with age
- chunk things together
Capacity of LTM
Linton (1975)
- large capacity
- memory for real life events decreased at rate of 5% a year
Coding of SR
Crowder (2003)
- different depending on store
- few milliseconds in ionic
- 2-3 seconds in echoic