coding, capacity and duration

Question 1

what is coding

Answer 1

coding is how info is changed or stored in memory - differs depending on the memory store

Question 2

what is capacity

Answer 2

capacity is how much info can be held in memory at any one time

Question 3

what is duration

Answer 3

duration is how long info can be held in memory

Question 4

how many types of memory are there

Answer 4

2

Question 5

what are the 2 types of memory

Answer 5

short term memory
long term memory

Question 6

define short term memory

Answer 6

short term memory is used for immediate events and things that have only just happened

Question 7

define long term memory

Answer 7

long term memory is used for things that happened in the past e.g. holiday when i was seven

Question 8

what are the different ways memory can be coded

Answer 8

• visually (picture)
• acoustically (sound)
• semantically (meaning)

Question 9

how is the short term memory coded

Answer 9

information is mainly coded acoustically (through sound)

Question 10

what is the capacity of short term memory

Answer 10

5-9 items

Question 11

how long can info be kept within short term memory

Answer 11

18-30 seconds

Question 12

how is long term memory coded

Answer 12

information is mainly coded semantically (through meaning)

Question 13

what is the capacity of long term memory

Answer 13

unlimited

Question 14

how long can information stay within long term memory

Answer 14

unlimited duration

Question 15

who did research into capacity (2 individuals)

Answer 15

• jacobs
• miller

Question 16

what was Jacobs research into capacity of memory

Answer 16

• participants presented with 4 digits which must recall in correct order out loud
• repeat task with increasing no. of digits until mistake
• average span - 9.3 digits
• mean span - 7.3 digits

Question 17

what does digit span mean

Answer 17

digit span is the number of items an individual can recall correctly without making mistakes

Question 18

what are the two topics Miller undertook capacity research on

Answer 18

• magic numbers
• chunking

Question 19

what is chunking

Answer 19

chunking is grouping sets of digits/letters into units or chunks in order to aid recall

Question 20

what was outcome of Millers research into chunking

Answer 20

he spotted people can recall 5 words as well as 5 letters

Question 21

what did Miller suggest about magic numbers relating to capacity of STM

Answer 21

Miller suggested that the capacity of STM is about 7 items +/- 2

Question 22

evaluation point for millers research into capacity

Answer 22

• miller stated that STM had capacity of 7 items +/- 2
• alternative researchers cowen and vogel et al suggest capacity of STM is actually about 4 items suggesting lower end of Miller’s range (5) is more appropriate

Question 23

evaluation point - research for capacity and chunking

Answer 23

SIZE OF CHUNK
- simon found people have shorter memory span for larger chunks (8 word phrases) than smaller chunks
- suggests people arent able to remember large chunks compared to smaller ones which may be seen as easier to remember

Question 24

evaluation point relating to digit span with further research- capacity

Answer 24

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Jacobs also found digit span increased with age
- suggests may be increase in brain capacity in brain capacity and people may develop strategies (chunking) to improve their digit span

Question 25

who provided research into coding

Answer 25

Baddeley

Question 26

outline Baddeley's study for coding

Answer 26

- gave different list of words to 4 groups (acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar, semantically dissimilar) - participants where shown original words and asked to recall in correct order - when doing it immediately (STM recall) after hearing they tended to do worse acoustically - when participants were asked to recall after 20 min interval (LTM recall) they did worse with semantically similar words

Question 27

what does acoustically similar mean

Answer 27

words sound similar e.g. cat, cab, can

Question 28

what does acoustically dissimilar mean

Answer 28

words sounding different e.g. pit, few, cow

Question 29

what does semantically similar mean

Answer 29

words with similar meaning e.g. great large big

Question 30

what does semantically dissimilar mean

Answer 30

words that all have different meaning e.g. good, huge, hot

Question 31

evaluation point relating to coding and baddeleys research

Answer 31

- using artificial and meaningless stimuli - weakness because theory does not reflect how memory works in everyday life so lacks external validity

Question 32

who did research in duration of long term memory

Answer 32

Bahrick et al

Question 33

what study did bahrick et al undertake to look at duration of LTM

Answer 33

- tested participants aged 17-74 using high school yearbooks - recall tested through (1) photo recognition test of 50 photos and (2) free recall test where participants recalled those who where in their graduation class

Question 34

results for bahrick et als yearbook photo recognition study

Answer 34

after 15 years 60% were able to free recall and 90% correctly recognised from yearbook. after 48 years 30% were able to recall and 70% correctly recognised from yearbook

Question 35

summary of bahrick et als study relating to duration of LTM

Answer 35

he got participants to recall or recognise classmates and found that as years increased since graduation memory decreased

Question 36

who did research relating to duration of STM

Answer 36

peterson and peterson

Question 37

what was peterson and petersons research about relating to duration of STM

Answer 37

- asked particpants to recall trigram (series of 3 letters) - participants had to count back from 3 digit number until told to stop (time stopped varied - 3,6,9,12,18 seconds) - found that the longer participants had to count for the poorer their recall was

Question 38

what is retention interval

Answer 38

the period of time between exposure and being tested

Question 39

evaluation points of duration of STM and LTM

Answer 39

- bahrick et al's study has high external validity because there were low levels of control and may have been variables affecting recall such as rehearsal (looking at yearbook before) or popularity