Coding, Capacity + Duration

Question 1

Is STM acoustic or semantic?

Answer 1

Acoustic

Question 2

Is LTM acoustic or semantic?

Answer 2

Semantic

Question 3

Outline the study on coding: (+who did it?)
(+ findings)

Answer 3

Baddeley et al. Had a list of either acoustically similar words or semantically similar words. He found that immediate recall was worse with acoustically similar words (STM = acoustic) but recall after 20 minutes was worse with semantically similar words (LTM = semantic).

Question 4

Outline the study on capacity on LTM:
(hint: digit span)

Answer 4

Jacobs et al. tested digit span. He read a list of 4 digits and increased until the participant couldn’t recall the order correctly. Digit span for numbers = 9.3. Word span = 7.3.

Question 5

What was the digit span and word span?

Answer 5

Digit span was 9.3. Word span was 7.3.

Question 6

Outline the study on capacity of STM:
(+ findings)

Answer 6

Miller et al. said everyday items come in groups of 7. Span of STM is 7 + or -2 items and is increased by ‘chunking’.

Question 7

What is ‘chunking’?

Answer 7

Grouping sets of digits/letters into meaningful units.

Question 8

Outline the study on duration of STM:
(hint: consonants + findings)

Answer 8

Peterson and Peterson. 24 students were given a consonant syllable & a 3 digit number to count back from. Retention intervals varied. After 3 seconds, average recall was 80% but after 18, it was 3%. So: STM duration without rehearsal is up to 18 seconds.

Question 9

Outline the study on duration of LTM:
(hint: yearbooks + findings)

Answer 9

392 American participants aged from 17 to 74. Had two tests: recognition test where asked to recognise 50 photos from yearbook and free recall test, listing names of class. Recognition test: 90% accurate after 15 years and 70% after 48 years. Free recall: 60% recall after 15 years and 30% after 48 years.