Memory - Coding, Capacity And Duration Flashcards

1
Q

What is meant by duration of memory?

A

The length of time information can be stored in memory.

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2
Q

What is meant by capacity of memory?

A

The amount of information that can be stored in memory.

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3
Q

What is meant by coding of memory?

A

Memory encoding is a process by which the sensory information is modified and stored in the brain.

Visual, acoustic and semantic are the most common forms.

There is evidence which shows that LTM and STM are distinct and separate stores with differences in coding, capacity and duration.

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4
Q

What are the different types of memory stores?

A

Sensory memory/ sensory register, short term memory, long term memory.

(SM) is the initial contact for stimuli.

(STM) is the information we are currently aware of or thinking about.

(LTM) is continual storage of information which is largely outside of our awareness.

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5
Q

What is the capacity of sensory memory?

A

Has a very large capacity.

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6
Q

What is the capacity of STM?

A

Has a limited capacity (between 7+/-2 items)

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7
Q

What is the capacity of LTM?

A

Has a potentially unlimited capacity.

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8
Q

How is STM often assessed?

A

Often measured using a digit span task.

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9
Q

What did Jacob’s research find on capacity?

A

Jacobs (1887) was among the first to use this technique to assess the capacity of STM. He found the average span for numbers to be 9.3 items. For letters the average decreased to 7.3 items.

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10
Q

What did Miller’s research find on capacity?

A

George Miller (1956) reviewed psychological research and concluded that ‘the magic number is 7 plus or minus 2.’ He found we are good at remembering between 5-9 items. He found people could recall around 7 dots, 7 letters, 7 musical notes.

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11
Q

What did Miller suggest about chunking?

A

Milgram argued that our capacity for remembering information can be increased if we chunk items together.

If we find links between things and group them together then we will remember more.

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12
Q

Digit span

A

How many numbers you can repeat after the researcher has verbally said them.

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13
Q

What is the duration of memory in the sensory store?

A

Less than one second.

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14
Q

What is the duration of STM?

A

Approximately 18-30 seconds unless information is rehearsed.

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15
Q

What is the duration of LTM?

A

Potentially lasts infinitely.

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16
Q

What was the procedure of Peterson & Peterson?

A

On each of the 8 trials, participants were given a consonant trigram and a three-digit number.

They were asked to recall the constant syllable after intervals of 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds.

To prevent rehearsal participants were asked to count backwards from their 3-digit number.

Given them something else to remember which has displaced what they were trying to remember.

17
Q

What were the findings of Peterson & Peterson?

A

3 seconds – 80% successful recall
9 seconds – 20% successful recall
18 seconds – less than 10% successful recall

18
Q

What was the procedure of Bahrick et al?

A

Tested photo recognition and free name recall from the participant’s high school yearbook.

19
Q

What was Bahrick’s aim?

A

To investigate the duration of LTM.

20
Q

How many participants were in Bahrick’s experiment?

A

392 participants from the US aged 17-74

21
Q

What were the findings of Bahrick et al?

A

Photo recognition:
Participants tested within 15 years of graduation were 90% accurate.
After 48 years recall declined to 70%.

Free recall:
After 15 years 60% accurate.
After 48 years 30% accurate.

22
Q

What did the participants have to do in Bahrick’s study with photo recognition?

A

Has to recall the names of students form 50 photos in the high school year book.

23
Q

What did the participants have to do in Bahrick’s study with free recall?

A

Asked to list the names they could remember from their graduating class.

24
Q

How is information encoded in the SS?

A

Modality specific (encoded in the same way it’s received).
It is visual, auditory, tactile information.

25
Q

How is information encoded in the STM?

A

Acoustically – auditory information.

26
Q

How is information encoded in the LTM?

A

Semantically – meaning of something.

27
Q

What are acoustically similar words?

A

Cat, cab, can.

28
Q

What are acoustically dissimilar words?

A

Pit, few, cow.

29
Q

What are semantically similar words?

A

Great, big, large.

30
Q

What are semantically dissimilar words?

A

Good, huge, hot.

31
Q

What was the procedure of Baddeley (1966)?

A

Participants were shown in the list of words and were asked to record them in the correct order.

To test short-term memory, participants recalled the words immediately after hearing them, whereas the time interval of 20 minutes was given for long-term memory recall.

32
Q

What were the findings of Baddeley (1966)?

A

Participants had difficulty remembering acoustically similar words when tested immediately (STM) but had no difficulty remembering acoustically similar words after 20 minutes (LTM).

Participants had difficulty remembering semantically similar words when tested after 20 minutes (LTM) but had no difficulty remembering semantically similar words when tested immediately (STM).