4.1.2 SENSORY MEMORY

Question 1

what is sensory memory?

Answer 1

• when information come in from the senses it has to be stored for a very short amount of time
• this is until the processing systems decide what to do with it
• this processing is carried out in the sensory memory

Question 2

what is the duration and capacity of the sensory memory?

how does it encode information?

Answer 2

• duration = 1/2 a second up to several seconds at maximum
• capacity = between 12 and 16 items (large)
• encoding = using all 5 senses (also known as modalities)

Question 3

what are the 5 types of sensory memory?

Answer 3

1) iconic memory
2) echoic memory
3) haptic memory
4) olfactory memory
5) gustatory memory

Question 4

what is the:
- iconic
- haptic
- echoic
memory?

Answer 4

• iconic = visual information from eyes / light
  things you see
  stores as images
• haptic = tactile information from touch
  stores as feelings
• echoic = auditory input from the ears
  things you hear
  stored as sounds
• stored in the same form as the senses

Question 5

what are the:
- olfactory
- gustatory
memory?

Answer 5

• olfactory = information from smell
  from the nose
• gustatory = information from taste
  from the taste buds

Question 6

how is information processed?

how is it moved into the short term memory?

Answer 6

• stored in an unprocessed form
• moved to the short term memory via attention

Question 7

what did Crowder investigate and when?

Answer 7

• 1993
• the sensory register
• echoic store

FINDINGS
- sensory register retains i ono mic information for a few milliseconds
- echoic store lasts 2/3 seconds

Question 8

what did Sterling investigate and when?

Answer 8

• 1960

METHOD
- presented a grid of letters for less than a second
- used tones to cue participants to recall a specific row

FINDINGS
- recall int he specified row was high
- demonstrates we have a large capacity in sensory memory