Coding, Capacity and Duration

Question 1

Define Coding

Answer 1

The process of converting information between different forms

Question 2

Define Capacity

Answer 2

How much information STM can hold at one time

Question 3

Define Duration

Answer 3

How long information stays in the STM and LTM

Question 4

Research into Coding

Answer 4

Alan Baddeley (1966) gave different word lists to four groups of participants to remember:
* Group 1 - words that sounded similar (cat, can, cab)
* Group 2 - words that sounded different (cat, dog, fish)
* Group 3 - words with similar meanings (large, big, grand)
* Group 4 - words with different meanings (good, huge, hot)

Participants were shown the original words and asked to recall them in the correct order
- When they did the task IMMEDIATELY (STM), they tended to worse with acoustically similar words
- When they did the task 20 minutes after (LTM), they did worse with semantically similar words

Suggests information is coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM

Question 5

AO3 Research into Coding

Answer 5

Artificial Stimuli
- lacks external validity

Question 6

Research into Capacity

Answer 6

Joseph Jacobs (1887) measured the digit span
- Researcher read out 4 digits and the participant recalls them aloud in the correct order. If correct, the researcher moved to 5 digits, then 6 etc
Found that the:
- Mean span of digits was 9.3
- Mean span for letters was 7.3

George Miller (1956) found patterns of 7 in everyday practice
- 7 deadly sins, 7 days of the week, 7 notes on a musical scale etc
Suggested that capacity was 7 +- 2 in STM

Question 7

AO3 Research into Capacity

Answer 7

Miller has support
- Jacobs (1887) ‘s digit span
- average span of 7.3 letters and 9.3 words

‘Chunks’ of information
- Miller didn’t specify how large
- Unable to conclude exact capacity

Other Factors
- didn’t take into account other factors such as age, health, etc

Question 8

Research into Duration

Answer 8

Peterson & Peterson (1959)
Asked students to recall 3 letter trigrams (THG, XQF, ABC)
To prevent rehearsal practice, they then asked students to count backwards in 3s/4s from a specific number until asked to recall the letters

Concluded that STM has limited duration of 18-30 seconds

Question 9

AO3 Research into Duration

Answer 9

Sample
- 24 psychology students
- small sample size
- demand characteristics

Low Ecological Validity
- unlikely to have to recall trigrams in daily life

Highly Controlled
- easy to replicate