Duration

Question 1

What is duration?

Answer 1

The length of time info can be held in memory.

Question 2

name the 3 people who investigated duration

Answer 2

Margaret and Lloyd Peterson, Henry bahrick

Question 3

what was the aim of peterson’s study?

Answer 3

to test the duration of the STM

Question 4

what was the procedure of peterson’s study?

Answer 4

they tested 24 students who took part in 8 trials each. on each trial, the ppt was given a consonant syllable trio (eg YCB) to remember. They were also given a 3 digit number to remember. The student then had to count backwards from this number until told to stop and recall the original (to avoid mental rehearsal). On each trial, they were told to stop after varying periods of time: 3,6,9,12,15,18 secs

Question 5

what were the findings of peterson’s study?

Answer 5

after 3 seconds, average recall was around 80%, after 18 secs, it was about 3%.

Question 6

what was the conclusion of peterson’s study?

Answer 6

short term memory duration may be around 18 secs unless we repeat info over and over

Question 7

what was the aim of Bahrick’s study?

Answer 7

to test the duration of the LTM

Question 8

what was the procedure of bahricks study?

Answer 8

392 American pps aged 17-74 were chosen. High school yearbooks were obtained. recall was tested in various ways:
1.photo recognition test consisting of 50 photos , some from the yearbooks.
2.free recall test where pps recalled all the names of their graduating class

Question 9

what were the findings of bahrick’s study?

Answer 9

pps tested within 15 years of graduation were around 90% accurate in photo recognition. After 48 years, recall declined to around 70%. Free recall was less accurate than recognition as it was 60% accurate after 15 years and 30% accurate after 48 years.

Question 10

what was the conclusion of bahrick’s study?

Answer 10

LTM may last up to a lifetime for some material

Question 11

what is a limitation of Peterson’s study?

Answer 11

it has artificial stimuli and material. Whilst the study may not be completely irrelevant as we do sometimes try to remember meaningless material such as phone numbers , recalling consonant syllables doesn’t reflect most everyday memory activities. the study lacked external validity.

Question 12

what is a strength of Bahrick’s study?

Answer 12

one strength is that it has high external validity. this is because the researchers investigated meaningful memories. This suggests the study’s findings reflect a more “real” estimate of the duration of the LTM