Coding, capacity and duration of memory

Question 1

Coding

Answer 1

Process of converting information between different forms

Question 2

What did Baddeley give participants in his study into coding?

Answer 2

Different lists of words

Question 3

In Baddeley’s study into coding, how many groups of participants were there?

Answer 3

4

Question 4

Give three of the four lists that Baddeley gave groups of participants in his study about coding

Answer 4

Any 3 from acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar and semantically dissimilar

Question 5

Acoustically similar

Answer 5

Words that sound similar such as cat, cab, can

Question 6

Acoustically dissimilar

Answer 6

Words that sound different such as pit, few, cow

Question 7

Semantically similar

Answer 7

Words with similar meanings such as great, large, big

Question 8

Semantically dissimilar

Answer 8

Words with different meanings such as good, hot, huge

Question 9

In Baddeley’s study into coding, participants were shown the original words and asked to…

Answer 9

recall them in the correct order

Question 10

In Baddeley’s study into coding, what happened when participants recalled the words immediately from short-term memory?

Answer 10

They tended to do worse with acoustically similar words

Question 11

In Baddeley’s study into coding, what happened when participants recalled the words from long-term memory after a 20 minute interval?

Answer 11

They did worse with semantically similar words

Question 12

What did Baddeley’s study into coding suggest?

Answer 12

Information is coded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM

Question 13

True/False: Baddeley’s study into coding identified a clear difference between two memory stores

Answer 13

True

Question 14

After Baddeley’s study into coding, later research showed that…

Answer 14

there are some exceptions, but his findings have stood the test of time

Question 15

Why were Baddeley’s findings from his study into coding an important step in our understanding of the memory system?

Answer 15

Led to the multi-store model

Question 16

True/False: In Baddeley’s study into coding, artificial stimuli were used rather than meaningful material

Answer 16

True

Question 17

What is the weakness of using artificial stimuli rather than meaningful material in Baddeley’s study into coding?

Answer 17

The words had no meaning to participants and may not tell us much about coding in different kinds of memory tasks, especially in everyday life. Limited real-life application

Question 18

How did Jacobs find out the capacity of memory?

Answer 18

By measuring digit span

Question 19

How did Jacobs measure digit span?

Answer 19

Researcher reads out four digits and the participant recalls them out loud in the correct order. Continues by adding a digit each time until the participant cannot recall the order correctly

Question 20

What indicates an individual’s digit span?

Answer 20

When the participant cannot recall the order correctly

Question 21

The mean digit span for letters/items was 7.3 whilst the mean digit span for letters/items was 9.3

Answer 21

letters, items

Question 22

Why did Miller think the capacity of STM was about 7 items +/- 2?

Answer 22

He’d observed through everyday practice that things often came in 7s. 7 days of the week, 7 deadly sins, 7 notes on a musical scale, etc.

Question 23

True/False: Miller noted that people can recall five words as easy as five letters

Answer 23

True

Question 24

Miller noted that people can recall five words as easy as five letters by doing what?

Answer 24

Chunking

Question 25

Chunking

Answer 25

Grouping sets of digits or letters into units or chunks

Question 26

Miller may have over/underestimated the capacity of STM

Answer 26

overestimated

Question 27

Further research concluded that the capacity of STM is about...

Answer 27

4 +/-1 chunks, suggesting that the lower end of Miller's estimate is more appropriate

Question 28

True/False: Jacobs' study into capacity of memory hasn't been replicated

Answer 28

False, it has

Question 29

What weakness of Jacobs' study into capacity of memory was eliminated by recent controlled studies?

Answer 29

It was an old study and therefore there may have been confounding variables

Question 30

Who tested 24 students in 8 trials when researching the duration of memory?

Answer 30

Peterson & Peterson

Question 31

In Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory, on each trial the student was given what to remember?

Answer 31

A consonant syllable

Question 32

In Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory, what were participants asked to do?

Answer 32

Count backwards from a 3 digit number given until told to stop

Question 33

In Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory, what did counting backwards from a 3 digit number prevent?

Answer 33

Mental rehearsal of the consonant syllable

Question 34

In Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory, when were participants stopped?

Answer 34

Varying periods of time. Seconds going up in 3s until 18s

Question 35

In Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory, at what point was average recall about 80%?

Answer 35

After 3 seconds

Question 36

In Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory, at what point was average recall about 3%?

Answer 36

After 18 seconds

Question 37

In Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory, participants were told to stop after varying periods of time, known as...

Answer 37

retention interval

Question 38

True/False: Findings suggest that STM duration may be about 18 seconds

Answer 38

True

Question 39

Findings suggest that STM duration may be about 18 seconds, unless...

Answer 39

we repeat the information over and over

Question 40

What is repeating information over and over known as?

Answer 40

Verbal rehearsal

Question 41

One weakness of Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory was...

Answer 41

stimulus material was artificial

Question 42

In Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory, stimulus material was artificial. Why is this not completely a weakness?

Answer 42

Because we sometimes try to remember fairly meaningless material such as phone numbers

Question 43

In Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory, stimulus material was artificial. Why may this be considered as a weakness?

Answer 43

Recalling consonant syllables doesn't reflect most everyday memory activities

Question 44

Why did Peterson & Peterson's research into the duration of memory lack external validity?

Answer 44

Stimulus material was artificial

Question 45

In their research into the duration of memory, who studied 392 American participants between 17 and 74?

Answer 45

Bahrick et al.

Question 46

In Bahrick et al.'s research into the duration of memory, what was obtained and how did methods of obtaining this differ?

Answer 46

High school yearbooks were obtained from the participants or directly from some schools

Question 47

True/False: In Bahrick et al.'s research into the duration of memory, recall was tested in the same way throughout participants

Answer 47

False, recall was tested in various ways

Question 48

In Bahrick et al.'s research into the duration of memory, what were two of the different ways that recall was tested?

Answer 48

There was a photo-recognition test consisting of 50 photos, some from the participants' high school yearbooks. There was also a free recall test where participants recalled the names of their graduating class

Question 49

In Bahrick et al.'s research into the duration of memory, participants tested within 15 years of graduation were about __% accurate in photo recognition

Answer 49

90

Question 50

In Bahrick et al.'s research into the duration of memory, participants tested within 15 years of graduation were about __% accurate in free recall

Answer 50

60

Question 51

In Bahrick et al.'s research into the duration of memory, participants tested after 48 years of graduation were about __% accurate for photo recognition

Answer 51

70

Question 52

In Bahrick et al.'s research into the duration of memory, participants tested after 48 years of graduation were about __% accurate for free recall

Answer 52

30%

Question 53

What did Bahrick et al.'s findings from his research into the duration of memory show?

Answer 53

LTM may last up to a lifetime for some material

Question 54

True/False: Bahrick et al.'s research into LTM lacked external validity

Answer 54

False, it had high external validity

Question 55

Why did Bahrick et al.'s research into LTM have high external validity?

Answer 55

Researchers investigated meaningful memories. When studies were conducted with meaningless pictures, recall rates were lower

Question 56

The fact that Bahrick et al.'s findings have high external validity suggests that...

Answer 56

their findings reflect a more real estimate of the duration of LTM